by Alyssa RiversThis website may contain affiliate links and advertising so that we can provide recipes to you. Read my privacy policy.
Brazilian lemonade is a 4-ingredient drink that is tangy, creamy, and refreshing! It’s the perfect mix of tart and sweet and will have your family hooked after first sip.
When life gives you lemons… you try out some of my other tasty lemonade recipes! For some classic lemonade, try this Chick-fil-A copycat lemonade! And if you’re wanting something fruity, these watermelon and pineapple lemonade recipes are great choices too!
Homemade Brazilian Lemonade Recipe
Here is something that I don’t understand about this recipe. Although it’s called Brazilian lemonade, it’s made with limes. That makes no sense to me! What I do know is – this drink is one of the most refreshing, delicious things I have ever tried. When I first found this recipe, I loved how it had such simple ingredients. But my favorite ingredient by far is the sweetened condensed milk. It adds the best creaminess to the drink! Remember how I said I could totally drink that stuff? Well I was partially joking, partially not. It is just so good!
Not only are the ingredients simple, but Brazilian lemonade is super easy to make as well! It’s also great for making big batches of. It’s a potluck favorite! Just a few minutes is all it takes to blend the ingredients together and you have a perfect, refreshing, summer lemonade…. or limeade. I hope someday I will find the answer to this!
Ingredients for Brazilian Lemonade
It really doesn’t get any easier than this. These 4 ingredients combine for the most incredible tropical flavor! You’ll love it! Exact measurements can be found in the recipe card below.
- Fresh Limes: Despite the name, Brazilian lemonade is made with limes instead of lemons. Unlike traditional limeade recipes, however, the whole lime gets blended instead of juiced! Since this is the main flavor of the drink, you’ll want your limes to be as fresh as possible.
- Sweetened Condensed Milk: This is what makes Brazilian lemonade stand out from the crowd! It adds the most amazing creaminess to the drink.
- Sugar: Sweetens the drink.
- Cold Water and Ice: Helps adjust the consistency of the drink and keep it cool!
How to Make Brazilian Lemonade at Home
This recipe is so simple because you use a blender to do all of the mixing! From there, just strain and serve!
- Add Ingredients to Blender: In a blender add the whole limes, sweetened condensed milk, sugar, and water.
- Blend: Blend until smooth.
- Strain: Pour it into a vase using a strainer to remove the chunks of lime.
- Add Ice: Add in ice, and serve immediately.
Substitutes and Variations
The best part about making homemade drinks is you can customize them to your liking! Here are a few easy ways to switch yours up!
- Other Sweeteners: If you’re wanting to avoid refined sugars, try sweetening your Brazilian lemonade with honey, maple syrup, or agave nectar!
- Add Herbs: Adding fresh herbs not only makes your drink look picture-perfect, but it infuses extra flavor! Basil and mint are some of my favorites to add in!
- Make it Dairy-Free: Full-fat coconut milk is a great alternative to condensed milk! It has great flavor, too!
- Make it Boozy: For an adults-only version of this drink, try adding a splash of vodka or coconut rum.
Storing Leftovers
If you have leftovers of your Brazilian lemonade, transfer it to an airtight pitcher and store in the fridge for 3-4 days. The ingredients may separate as your drink sits, so give it a quick stir before you serve it.
More Refreshing Homemade Beverages
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Mint Julep (Disneyland Copycat)
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Frozen Strawberry Lemonade
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Watermelon Agua Fresca
Brazilian Lemonade
Ingredients
- 3 fresh limes quartered
- 1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 4 cups cold water
- Ice
Instructions
- In a blender add the whole limes, sweetened condensed milk, sugar, and water.
- Blend until smooth.
- Pour it into a vase using a strainer to remove the chunks of lime.
- Add in ice, and serve immediately.
Nutrition
Serves: 4
All nutritional information is based on third party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods and portion sizes per household.
So, it was good but not great. The bitterness from the lime peel was quite unpleasant and the sweetness from the sweetened condensed milk didn’t come through as much as I thought it would. Perhaps I’ll try it again with peeled limes and more of the milk.
I’ve been making this for years, but because I’m a very lazy person, I have a shortcut. I buy Simply Limeade and mix in the condensed milk. Tastes exactly the same with fewer steps & dishes to wash!
Best lemonade my kids have ever asked for, I’m not supposed to have the lemonade because it’s for my kids birthday but I had to sneak some.
Are the whole limes with skin?
Yes!
I made it and it’s really good however, I didn’t use sugar, instead I used coco Lopez and the condense milk and water and ice,. I think it came out better. Will make it for my son when he comes to visit me ☺️ in Georgia
This version was not as good to us. Like the original Brazilian recipe best!
This is probably a stupid question, but do you peel the limes first? Or does the blending chop it up fine then you get rid of chucks when you strain it.
interesting, a new one for me, a lot of sugar but same for a lot of lemonades, I like the lime condesnsed milk combination, thank you
Do you peel the limes? Can you use any lime or are the thin-skinned key limes preferable? Thanks!
Any limes are great for this recipe.
No matter what variety (yellow or green, etc), the Portuguese word for a lime or a lemon is “limão”. Limonada is a drink made with the juice of a limão.
The answer is very simple. What we call limes… they call lemons. I had 2 brazillian exchange students and they both said the green fruit is called limon.
its spa ish, so limo means lime, lemon is called limon amarilla
In Portuguese “limão” is the same word for lemon and lime. This is where the confusion arises I believe.
Love this drink although personally I leave out the condensed milk as I was out off it growing up.
Our Girl Scout troop is doing an activity centered around Brazil. Each girl is bringing in a different Brazilian food or beverage. Do you think we could make this a day in advance? Or ev n a few hours in advance? Or would it have to be made and then served immediately?
It is best to serve this immediately after it is being made. The lemonade tends to separate after a few hours and would need to be blended again before serving. Hope you have a fun Brazil day!! XOXO
I lived in Brazil for 18 years, and I think that it is called “lemonade” because they only have one word for lemons and limes- limão.
That is awesome you lived there for 18 years! Thanks for letting me know! XOXO
Hi Alyssa.
The reason why it is called lemonade is bacause in portuguese both lime and lemon are under the same name which is limão and you can use both for this kind of drink that we call LIMONADA in Portuguese and when you translate that to English it comes up as lemonade. I personally prefer limes over lemons. I hope this helps☺️.
Maybe it should be called Limonade
Found this on Pinterest when looking for Brazilian recipes to make while watching the Olympics. So good! Its even better when you add coconut rum! 🙂
I just found this recipe and am going to have to make it for my friends coming over to watch the Rio Olympics…perfect! I’m excited for the Lime twist, and hopefully it will bring us good luck for gold.
First off, nothing against the author of the recipe. 🙂 I gave this 2 stars b/c I just made it and it is definitely not for my tastebuds! I love limeade so I was excited to make this. For me there was a very bitter taste that I couldn’t get rid off. I doubled the sugar, making it sweet + bitter. Maybe my friends will love it though. Maybe there are limes out there in the word not so bitter as mine?
Try for yourself. Thanks for sharing this recipe. 🙂
the reason for the bitter taste, if you read the paragraphs of the recipe, is overblending. just pulse a few times till the pulp of the limes/lemons are separated from the rind, but not till completely blended. i made this mistake my first try, and it was undrinkable. after i made it correctly, i’ve started to make it almost weekly as a treat.
ro you peel the limes before pulsing them?
Nope. You just put them in whole. 🙂
Hello! My name is Sabdra and I’m from Brazil. I’ll tell you why we call it lemonade. Because key lime here is called lemom, and the lemom is called Persian lime. That’s it. And I have a trick to share. Pell off your limes before pulse, and improve the taste, because the peel pulsed together made the lemonade become acid faster. And this “brazilian lemonade” here we named like “swiss lemonade” hahahaha. Best wishes! San.