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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
A delicious way to keep yourself cool this summer is to make yourself a homemade drink! These are a few more of my favorite recipes. They’re super delicious and easy to make!
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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.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Add a little rum and BAM – totally rocking drink!
I’m Brazilian and a botanist,. What most Brazilians think is a lemon is actually a green lime, and what we call a lime (“lima”) is actually an orange. The yellow-football-shaped lemon is called “limão siciliano”, and it’s very expensive here. This particular recipe, although it’s genuinely a Brazilian invention, can be found in any restaurant menu under the name “Swiss Lemonade – limonada suiça”. As for the recipe, I prefer to keep the rind for the zesty flavor, but to remove the pith (the white part underneath) since it adds a bitter aftertaste..
I know in Brazil they speak Portuguese, but when I lived in Mexico the word for lime was “limon.” The yellow lemons we use in America don’t seem to exist south of the Rio Grande. So I’m guessing Brazilian Lemonade is really “limonada” or the Portuguese equivalent of it. All the time I lived in Mexicon, and on my travels in Guatemala, Venezuela and Ecuador, I never saw a yellow lemon, just green “limons.”
Hi, Im from Brazil and the whole confusion about the lime/lemon can be very simple to understand. In Brazil, we distinguish the lemons by their color (yes, the green, the yellow, the orange, they are all lemons!) so we refer to it like this: green lemons, yellow lemons, orange lemons (they do exist!).
Hope I clarified your doubts.
Mariana.
I never heard the term yellow lemon in my life! I am used to (Sicilian lemon). I think that the only lemon with a color in its name is the limão rosa (that is actualy orange and in most states its called limão-cravo). The trhuth is that we (brazilians) have lots of problems with lemons =P
ha! This means I really can drink sweetened condensed milk. SCORE!
In Brazil we practically only use limes and use condensed milk for lots of dessert recipies and joices, so that is probably the reason for the name 🙂
I was wondering why the name is brazilian lemonade. I’ve never tried it here in Brazil.
But what you said makes sense. 🙂
I think that this lemonade is what we call “limonada suiça” em some states in Brazil (some use carbonated water in the recipe, some use only milk or condensed milk and so on…). I am used to the version with carbonated water and lemon peel but I saw it in many (and weird) variations with the same name
Probably a very stupid question… but should the rind be on the lime when you put them in the blender? I’d love to try this, but don’t want to mess it up. Thanks!!
Not a stupid question at all because I wondered the same thing! 😉 and yes you put the entire lime in there including the rinds. 🙂
Thanks Alyssa! 🙂 Going get a bunch of limes today so I can try this!!!
I went to a Brazilian Restaurant and the waiter explained that in Brazil Limes are just green lemons and they are used interchangeably, it still should be called Limeaid though. Looks delicious.
Anything with limes/ lemons and I’m there. This reminds me of a lemon or key lime pie that you make with eagle brand milk, lime /lemon juice and whipping cream. I’m sitting here running my pantry items through my head to see if I have the ingredients on hand. Thanks so much for the recipes. I will definitely be making this !
Limon is how you say lime in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and French. Somewhere along the way, be ause it sounds so close to our lemon, the limonade got anglicized to lemonade and that’s how you got lemonade that’s really limeade.
Actually in portuguese it’s limão not limon . It might sound similar for a foreigner but it is VERY very very very different for a brazilian 😉
This might be a stupid question, but do you put the lime peels in too, or just the fruit?
Not a stupid question at all because I wondered the same thing. ;). You put the entire lime in including the rinds. When you pour it through the strainer it will remove the excess chunks. 🙂
Thanks! I was wondering the same thing about the whole lime, peel and all. Sounds good!
ITs all the citrus family.. Any thing back years gone by.. MAde from citrus from a drink was called ADE..
LEmonADE, LIMEADE, CitrusADE, ORangeADE…. It was all citrus..
As for lemon or lime souring milk? Right away it won’t.. But if you let it sit long it will..
To make fresh buttermilk for cooking,.. You would have tablespoon of Lemon (or vinegar), .. Add enough milk to make one cup… let sit, about 5 minutes at least, then add to any recipe.
HEavy cream on hand, an lemon, or vinegar, make real buttermilk… Most don’t have heavy cream on hand now. USe to be a staple in every household.
I’m from Brazil and there we make lemonade from limes. It’s called “limonada”.
Hi! Just thought I might clear up some of your confusion about the lime/lemon thing. Not sure it if is exactly the same in Brazil, but my mother is from Mexico and to her what we call limes in english are “limons” and the yellow ones are called “limas.” She always used to say that that lemons weren’t real “lemons” and the green ones were. So this could just be a regional/language difference.
I agree with Christina – I was going to post the exact same thing! To them limes ARE lemons (in a way!) hehehe my hubby is Mexican and I think it’s similar for Brazil. This sounds YUM!
That’s so funny because my parents from Mexico and call both limes and lemons “limon” except it’s either limon verde or limon amarillo. Which confuses me and my step dad. To us limon is lemon and lima is lime.
Well all of you are correct, just one thing, here in Mexico we have a lot of diferent kind of “lemons” and what we call “limes” are another kind of citric and are sweet.
Hi,
I’m from Brazil and there’s a bit of confusion over here about what is a lime. We usually call limes lemmons and lemmons are called sicilian lemmons. The only fruits I recall being called limes are sweet limes which we call persian limes, but when I looked up the term persian lime on Wikipedia, I realized it’s actually the most common type of lime sold in Brazil which we call tahiti lemmon. Wat a mess!
About the recipe, I can’t remember ever drinking a “swiss lemonade” (as we call it here) with condensed milk, but I’m willing to give it a try. It’s usually limes, sugar and water (and sometimes Sprite) in a blender.
I hope I cleared up the confusion, though I believe I made it worse. 😉
That’s totally it, i’m from Brasil and the first time I saw what you guys call lemon i was like “it’s yellow! Lemons arent yellow!” Hahahahaha
Wouldn’t lemons spoil the milk?
Delicious ! Going to make some this thrusday!