Cucumber Lemonade with Mint is a refreshingly all natural drink on a hot day. Fresh squeezed sweet tart lemonade combines with cucumber juice and muddled mint. It’s especially delicious iced, so try this refreshing cold sip on a sweltering summer day.
Let me start out by saying we’re not big cucumber people around here. I know. My apologies if you are. But we aren’t, and so that means we also aren’t big pickle people either. (Gulp.)
Sacrilege. And furthermore, we don’t have have an abundance of ripe cucumbers waiting to be harvested off the vine in our garden. So there’s that.
BUT. That does NOT mean that we aren’t big Cucumber Lemonade people. Because we are. I discovered that a few weeks ago.
I love it when birthday celebrations stretch on for days, weeks and even months. Don’t you? That’s what happened to me this past summer. A friend took me out for a fun birthday lunch for my mid-July birthday at the end of August.
It was a sweltering day and there, chalked on the specials board, was Minted Cucumber Lemonade. No question, I had to have it.
It was a beautiful drink, pretty in every way. So refreshing and hit the spot. When our server asked if I’d like another – the truth was, I did. But I said, no thank you. (I do have manners.) I said no on account of the fact I’d rather spend my remaining calories eating than drinking…
So that was my first very pleasant encounter with Cucumber Lemonade with Mint and it won’t be my last.
I didn’t think my guys at home would go for it, but I made a batch this week. But first let me tell you how I came to have several lovely cukes in the house.
I was at church and there they were sitting in our give-one, take-one blessing basket. Since I was one of the last out the door and there were still a few left, I couldn’t let good produce go to waste, now could I?
So there you go. That’s how these garden cucumbers arrived in my kitchen fruit bowl.
And the next hot, sweltering day (which happened to be Labor Day), all I could think of was that delicious refreshing birthday cucumber lemonade and what I’d do for another glass. The rest is history.
I shared some with my guys too. And aware of their resistance to all things cucumber, I conveniently failed to mention the cucumber factor when I said “lemonade”. Oops.
But smart, yes? Because they loved it, every sip. And so will you!
Tips for Making Cucumber Lemonade w/Mint:
- Use fresh cucumbers.
- A blender or Magic Bullet works great to puree the cucumber.
- Use fresh squeezed lemon juice if you can, but bottled works too.
- If you’re cutting down on sugar, make this without sweetener and sweeten by the glass. I tried it with stevia and it worked great. You could try honey, maple syrup or other sweeteners.
- If you add cucumber and lemon slices to the pitcher and it sits for a while, you’ll need to add more water. (The flavor intensifies over time as the juices release.)
- Make striped cucumbers for pretty garnishes by running a vegetable peeler down the length of the cucumber before slicing into rounds.
- Add more water if it’s too strong.
- How to muddle mint? Place a sprig of mint in your serving glass and use a wooden spoon to lightly crush it.
Cucumber Lemonade with Mint
Ingredients
- 10 " fresh cucumber chunked
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice or bottled
- water
- mint sprigs
- extra lemon slices & cucumber slices for garnish
Instructions
- Puree fresh cucumber chunks with a small amount of water in a blender or Magic Bullet until well blended.
- Pour cucumber pulp into a metal sieve (or coffee filter lined colander) with a bowl underneath to catch the cucumber juice.
- Let drain for 10-15 minutes.
- (You'll want to use 1 to 1 1/4 cups of cucumber juice in this recipe.)
- Meanwhile, combine 1 cup sugar and 1 cup lemon juice in a 2 quart pitcher.
- Add 5 1/2 cups water and stir well.
- (Discard cucumber pulp or set aside for another use.)
- Stir in 1 cup cucumber juice.
- Taste test and add more water if needed.
- You may add extra cucumber juice if desired.
- Muddle a sprig of mint in each serving glass.
- Add ice and pour cucumber lemonade over all.
- Garnish with a sprig of fresh mint and cucumber and lemon slices.
Other delicious ideas to use up fresh garden cucumbers: Feisty Cucumber Mint Martini, Sugar Glazed Cucumber Bread, and Cucumber Tomato Salad .
You may also like: Strawberry Basil Lemonade
Denise Q. says
Allie, this looks delicious! I could have used it today after being outside for over an hour in the heat. Putting this one on my list!
Allie says
Thanks D!!! I think you’ll love it.
Susie Mandel says
Awesome! This sounds perfect for the return of our hot, muggy weather down here. You are hilariously sneaky. 🙂
Allie says
I know Susie! You gotta watch your back around here or someone might sneak veggies in your lemonade!
Sue says
Absolutely delicious! This recipe is a keeper for sure!
Allie says
Many thanks Sue, hope you enjoy it. You know, this might be a fun project w/the grands. Squeezing lemons, pureeing the cucumber down to pulp and squishing it in the colander for juice….Hmmmm….your crew might really enjoy this project…not to mention drinking it!
Carol says
Just trying to track down a problem.almost like detective work lol I have sent messages to you on different postings of yours. I do not do that on many sites. Now I noticed that I am not able to send messages on most sites and it seems like I had not heard from you for a long time. Is there anything you can think of that might have caused this problem. The reason I think you might be able to help is that you are the last person I was able to send messages to in this manner. Lets hope this goes through and doesn’t disappear like the other messages I try to send.
Allie says
Hi Carol – It’s wonderful to hear from you!!! I’m not sure what is going on with your messaging, sounds very frustrating, especially when you are taking the time to connect. Sometimes your messages and those of others are caught in my blog’s spam filter. So they are not published publicly right away when you write them. But every day I go through the spam messages to see if there are some legitimate ones, and then I can approve them to be published. I don’t know why yours would go to spam, but it may be that they are sometimes longer than a sentence or two, and my spam filter can be sensitive to length. I’m not sure. But I’m so glad I got this message today. Thank you! I hope you are doing well. I hope it finally stopped snowing there. Wasn’t it snowing in like June? LOL. Hope you and your family are well and you are baking delicious things with your red Kitchen Aid! 🙂 XO
Kathy @ Beyond the Chicken Coop says
I love cucumbers and I love lemonade, but I haven’t ever had them together! Right now our cucumbers are going gang busters in our garden. Guess what I’m going to make now??? Yep, a nice refreshing batch of cucumber lemonade!!! 🙂
Adina says
I always have cucumbers in the fridge, but I have to admit I have never had cucumber lemonade. However, I do add cucumbers to smoothies sometimes, they are so refreshing. I will definitely try this, I am really curious about it.
Shashi at SavorySpin says
What??? You don’t like cucumbers??? That is Sacrilege indeed! Haha! I love your churches’ idea of a take-one-leave-one blessings basket! And, am with you, produce should never go to waste! And you put it to good use in these refreshingly delicious looking drinks! I am on a farm tour in Kansas right now and after a day of walking around farms in this dry heat, I could drink a gallon of this – gosh, where are my manners eh?!
Allie says
How fun to hear you’re in Kansas on a farm tour now. I’m reading your comment now, having just arrived back in VT for a few days with my mom, cousin and aunt. We are having a lovely visit here. I knew you’d think my lack of cucumber love would be sacrilege too. Ha ha. Yes, give us both a straw and you and I could suck down a gallon (or two) together. And enjoy every delicious sip. XO