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Frozen Lemonade Slush

Frozen lemonade cubes blitzed back into a slush. Five minutes, no ice, no dilution.

Prep
10 min
Rest
4 hr
Makes
Serves 4
Jump to the recipe
A glass of crushed-ice lemon slush with a striped straw
Photo: Aram Diseño / Pexels

The obvious method — blend lemonade with ice — is the wrong one. Ice is frozen water, and as it breaks down it dilutes everything. The drink starts sharp and ends up as pale lemon water in the bottom third of the glass.

Freeze the lemonade itself into cubes instead. Nothing gets diluted because there is nothing in the blender but the drink. The color stays strong to the last spoonful.

Made with peach lemonade instead of plain, it is better still.

Sugar keeps the cubes workable. A sugar solution freezes softer than plain water because dissolved sugar interferes with ice crystal formation, so the cubes crush rather than rattling around whole. Make the lemonade slightly sweeter than you would drink it — cold suppresses sweetness, and a slush that tasted right at room temperature tastes flat frozen.

For a blended drink with protein rather than sugar, see cinnamon roll protein shake.

Blend in short pulses with a tamper. A long continuous blend generates enough friction heat to melt the whole thing back to liquid, which is a genuinely annoying way to lose four hours of freezing.

A glass of lemonade beside freshly squeezed lemons
Photo: beytlik / Pexels

Lemonade slush: the recipe card

Frozen lemonade cubes blitzed back into a slush. Five minutes, no ice, no dilution.

Four things

  • 1 cup (240 ml) fresh lemon juice, from about 6 lemons
  • 1 cup (200 g) superfine sugar
  • 3 cups (720 ml) water
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • Lemon slices and mint, to serve

Freeze first, blend second

  1. 1 Warm 240 ml of the water with the sugar, stirring just until dissolved. Cool it.
  2. 2 Mix the syrup with the lemon juice, zest and the remaining water. It should taste slightly too sweet — freezing dulls it.
  3. 3 Pour into ice cube trays and freeze at least 4 hours, or overnight.
  4. 4 Blend the cubes in short pulses, scraping down and using a tamper, until you have a thick slush. Stop as soon as it comes together.
  5. 5 Serve immediately in chilled glasses with lemon and mint.

If it will not blend

  • If it will not blend, add a tablespoon of cold lemonade, not water. Water is what you froze the cubes to avoid.
  • The cubes keep a month in the freezer, so it is worth doubling.