Lemonade is summertime in a glass — and, conversely, summer weather definitely calls for ice-cold lemonade. But there’s no need to be tempted by the sugary stuff. This super-easy-to-make, 3-ingredient, slushy, low-carb and keto lemonade will cool and nourish you and your family without excess carbs. Cheers to that!
Tips for preparing the 3-Ingredient Slushy Keto Lemonade
This version of lemonade is based on freezing whole (actually, wedged and deseeded) lemons. Together with sweetener and water, they’re all you need to create a tasty, slushy and extremely refreshing keto lemonade.
Let’s take a look at how to prepare this kid- and grownup-friendly drink:
Take four large organic lemons.
Wash them properly and pat dry.
Cut them into wedges. (If there are lots of seeds, you might want to cut the lemons into smaller chunks for easier removal of seeds. See the video in this post.)
Remove the seeds and discard them.
Freeze the lemon wedges until completely frozen.
Here we go.
Place the frozen lemon wedges into a blender jar.
Add sweetener (like powdered erythritol) to taste…
…and the ice-cold water. You can adjust the “slushiness” with water. The less water, the slushier the consistency; the more water, the more watery consistency. Simple!
Blend until smooth and slushy.
Like this.
Slurp in!
My slushy keto lemonade experiments
I just love creating low-carb and keto drinks. Several years ago, I published a book of drink recipes. I still make those recipes on a regular basis, but unfortunately not all the ingredients are available anymore (like those Stevita Drink Mixes that used to make great drinks), so recently I have to use flavored liquid stevia or these Water Drops instead.
Yes, you can make great keto drinks with flavored stevias and other drink mixes. But relying on specific products like these makes you dependent on them. And then what happens when the manufacturer stops making your favorite product? Your recipe is doomed, that’s what. And that’s why I wanted to create a recipe that doesn’t require dependence on a third-party product. In the low-carb space, I’ve seen many good products come and go over the years. Just when you succeed in developing a great recipe using a particular product, the manufacturer stops making the product! It can be very frustrating.
Nowadays, I start my day with freshly squeezed lemon juice and some collagen powder. But my love affair with the lemon is a relatively new thing. I used to ignore lemons at best, and even hate them for their sour flavor. But somehow I’ve gotten addicted to them over the past few months, and I wanted to create a keto drink recipe using lemons. Well, lemonade would be the obvious choice, but I wanted to make mine a little more exciting. I love slushy drinks, too, so I decided to make a slushy keto lemonade. But I had a twist in mind: I wanted to freeze the lemons instead of using ice cubes or crushed ice. I didn’t have any clue whether that would work, but I had to try it to find out!
The thing I was most worried about was the blender. Since we are still in our summer house, I don’t have my “full” kitchen to hand, so I haven’t got access to a very powerful blender. At home I have a great Blendtec that I use to make slush – or actually snow – just from ice cubes, but this blender here in the summer house isn’t that powerful. It doesn’t even make a proper smoothie! Oh well. I decided to see how it would work for my lemonade anyway.
I took some organic lemons (I always use organic! The pesticides they use on non-organic lemons are just terrifying…), washed them, patted them dry and cut them into wedges. Some of the lemons had seeds, so I decided to remove them, in case they lent a bitter flavor to the lemonade. I was already planning to use whole lemons — with all that pith and peel — which would already be pretty bitter (hopefully not too bitter, but I was just too lazy to peel the lemons)!
I froze the lemon wedges overnight. Next day, I took the lemon wedges and placed them in a blender jar. I also added a carefully-calculated amount of powdered erythritol. I often use powdered erythritol in my lemonades; there are different brands available, so you’ll never be dependent on a certain product. Plus, I like to make my own powdered erythritol from granulated erythritol with my powerful blender at home, and I had taken some homemade powdered erythritol with me to the summer house.
In addition to the frozen lemon wedges and sweetener, I also added (obviously!) some water, for volume and to help the blender do its work properly. Excitedly, I pressed the on button to see what would happen. To my big surprise, my not-very-powerful blender made a very nice slushy lemonade! (That said, I bet the result would have been even better with my home blender. And I had to make the lemonade in two batches because the blender jar was so small.)
Eagerly, I took the first gulp. What a great taste! Actually, I could have decreased the amount of sweetener a bit to make the drink more refreshing. The consistency was great — and the taste wasn’t bitter, even with all that pith and peel. It was perfectly tangy, and definitely not too bitter. The peel also lent a very bright, fruity taste; it was definitely a good decision to use it.
Here’s the recipe. Just try it: it’s easy and super-refreshing!
- 4 large organic lemons
- 1 cup = 240 ml (or to taste) powdered erythritol
- 1 1/2 quarts = 1.4 L ice-cold water
- Wash the lemons and pat dry.
- Cut the lemons into wedges. Remove the seeds and discard them.
- Place the lemon wedges in the freezer until completely frozen, about 6 hours or overnight.
- Place the frozen lemon wedges, sweetener, and water into a blender jar.
- Blend until smooth and slushy.
- Serve immediately.
| Nutrition information | In total | Per serving if 8 servings in total |
| Protein | 2.0 g | 0.3 g |
| Fat | 0.5 g | trace g |
| Net carbs | 11.5 g | 1.4 g |
| kcal | 103 kcal | 13 kcal |
Tips for variation
Instead of powdered erythritol, you can use liquid stevia or stevia powder. Play around with different stevia flavors (if you can get those)!
And here are some more exciting variations:
You could add coconut oil to this as well or even HWC if you wanted to make it creamy and add fat
I expect coconut oil turns into tiny lumps, MCT oil would be better — but I still would consume my fat separately 🙂
By the way your recipe for lemonade slushie, sounds delicious I’m going to try it. As a matter of fact I think I’ll even use the lemons with terrifying chemicals, LOL.
You are absolutely free to use the lemons with chemicals. Maybe at some point you might want to do some research on those, but for now, let’s hope the chemicals just pass your system without doing any harm! Well, maybe you at least wash the lemons first. You never know if some animal peed or pooped on them. I bet you wouldn’t like to consume those chemicals 🙂
I would like to see the research that your comment is based on,in regards to “terrifying pesticides” used on lemons. The whole organic thing is just another way to separate the consumer from their money, you most likely have more “terrifying” chemicals under your kitchen sink, than what is put on any citrus. No I am not a lemon grower, nor am I affiliated in any way with one. I would just like people to be a bit more responsible with statements such as yours.
Fantastic creation! Lemon peel and pith packs so many antioxidants and vitamins! Lemon peels contain as much as 5 to -10 times more calcium, magnesium, and potassium than the juice itself.
And, for sure – low carb/keto has made my palate really adore the contrast of lemon juice. The alkalinizing power of lemons is very refreshing, and this slushy lemonade is a perfect easy sorbet-in-a-glass. Thank youuuuu!
Hi MC, thanks for the great info! Using the whole fruit makes also less waste — would be pity to throw all those precious nutrients in the bin!
Ever tried water kefir? The kefir grains eat sugar you remove them put fruit in the sugar from the fruit gets eaten in the second ferment and results in a good bacteria fizzy drink which makes the best lemon aid I have ever had, I do cola anything really! I had a look at your other recipes all of them could easily be converted!
Hi Claudia, wow, that sounds great! I have to give it a try. Kefir indeed is great for the gut and it sounds delicious, too 🙂
Very nice! I’m going to try it. 2 questions: Are you supposed to eat the whole lemon, rind and all? #2 is erythritol your sweetener of choice, and why (I guess that’s 3?) Thanks as always.
Hey Kev, yes, the whole lemon goes there and even I was very suspicious when creating the recipe, it tastes great! Not bitter at all but wonderfully fruity. I prefer powdered erythritol because it dissolves well and tastes more neutral than, let’s say, stevia. You can of course use your favorite sweetener. Let me know how you like it if you try it out!
I like the flavor profile of using stevia glycerite with erythritol. Its more sugar-like tasting. So I’ll add about 1/2-1t stevia glycerite to this and decrease the erythritol (not sure, but probably to 2/3-3/4c).
Im trying this slushie soon!
Hi Hélène, it’s a great idea to combine different sweeteners for the best taste. Hope you’ll like it!