Sweet with a slight tart hint, this passion fruit lemonade will be the best drink you have this summer. Perfect for those dog days of summer.
My local produce store doesn't get a lot of my favorite fruits often. So I take advantage as often as I can when I am able to stumble across something good. Something like their annual passion fruit stocking.
I missed it the past couple of years, but I was lucky this year and sold them out completely. They aren't cheap, but they are seriously worth it.
The last time I had passion fruit was when I made the passion fruit mojito. I also made a no bake cheesecake then and spread it along the top, and while I took photos, they weren't any good so they never made it to the site.
I love celebrating the delicate tart flavor of passion fruit, so I usually like to have them in their raw state like on the cheesecake or in a drink.
So I decided to make this passion fruit lemonade as a way to fully enjoy the passion fruit. Next time, I am thinking I might try and make a passion fruit creme brulee. What do you think?
If you want to make this passion fruit lemonade, but don't have access to fresh passion fruit, you can always use passion fruit puree which is found in specialty stores or online... or you can use passion fruit juice. Most passion fruit juices are mixed with other fruit and sweetened, so you will need to reduce the amount of sugar in the lemonade to account for that.
The lemonade will also lose some of that balance of sweet/tart of the fresh passion fruit, but it will still be pretty darn amazing. Plus if you are serving it to kids, they may prefer less tart....and the fact there aren't any passion fruit seeds in their lemonade!
Passion fruit lemonade has to be on your to-make list this summer, no matter what method you decide to use. Trust me, you won't regret it.
If you want more lemonade recipes, try this blackberry lemonade, blueberry lemonade, or peach mango lemonade. This kiwi mango lemonade popsicle recipe is also really great to cool you down!
Recipe Card
Passion Fruit Lemonade
Ingredients
Simple Syrup
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup water
Lemonade
- 1 cup fresh lemon juice about 5 - 6 lemons
- ¾ cup fresh passion fruit about 8 passion fruit
- 4 - 5 cups cold water
- ¾ - 1 cup simple syrup
Instructions
- Make the simple syrup by adding the granulated sugar and water together in a small saucepan. Heat on medium high just until the sugar dissolves. Set aside to cool down.
- Juice your lemons, discarding the seeds. Stir in the passion fruit.
- Add the water and the simple syrup. Stir in as much of the water and simple syrup as desired to reach your preferred level of sweetness and tartness.
- Chill until ready to serve. The passion fruit seeds will sink, so give it a good stir before serving.
Diamond says
Hi Amanda, love your work! I'm just a little confused though, why does it take almost 2 hours to make this marvelous drink? I'm just dying to know what took so long!
Amanda Powell says
Hi! I think that must have been a typo - unless perhaps you want to consider some of that time the cool down period for the simple syrup after making it!
Sean@Diversivore says
Wonderfully refreshing stuff! I love passionfruit, but I feel like it's a bit overlooked from a DIY/home-cooking perspective because of lack of education. Basically I think people aren't sure when to use them (i.e. when they're wrinkly and shrunken). And the passionfruit creme brulee sounds like a great idea - and a wonderful way to work around the often-challenging-to-photograph passionfruit seeds! Cheers.
Dana says
Passion fruit looks like so much fun! I've never worked with fresh ones before. I actually just saw some at the market and eyed them, but had no recipe ideas in mind. Next time, I will. This lemonade looks and sounds so refreshing and different—in the BEST way.
Marisa Franca says
I never thought of using passion fruit for a drink. I've got to say that just looking at the beautiful photos is making my mouth water. It is so doggone hot outside the passion fruit lemonade would be so welcome. I'm saving this recipe.
Carmy says
This looks amazing! I'm a huge fan of passionfruit but never thought to put it in my lemonade. I can't wait for a pitch of this to be ready in my fridge - it sounds like the perfect summer drink!
Amanda says
I love passionfruit, especially in drinks. It must be such a perfect flavor pairing with this lemonade. What a great sip for cooling off on a hot summer day. Also, I had passion fruit creme brulee in a restaurant not long ago! It was delicious and really was a nice twist on the classic dessert. Definitely worth making at home!
Tina says
I'm going to have to keep an eye out for passion fruit. This sounds too good to miss. I love lemonade so adding something so juicy and sweet as passion fruit totally sounds amazing. Saving this, thanks for sharing your recipe!
Pam Greer says
You are not going to believe this, but I have never had passion fruit! I'm going to look for it at Earth Fare today, because I would love to make this lemonade! It sounds so delicious!
Amanda says
It's definitely worth trying, especially if you love tropical flavors and something a little tart that plays well with other flavors!
Gloria says
You know, I have never tried passion fruit. This lemonade sounds delicious. It has been so hot here, this would be the perfect refresher to quench our thirst. I will have to hunt some passion fruits down and give this a try.
Amanda says
Passion fruit is rare to get on its own, especially fresh, but it's in a lot of different things like tropical fruit punches and other store bought things to give the product its tropical flavor, you'd probably recognize it if you had a chance to taste it on its own. Definitely refreshing and in my opinion, worth getting some passion fruit juice or puree for!
Lisa says
We get passion fruit at our local farmer's market and every time I see it, I buy at least a dozen fruits (you're right, they're not cheap). I've been baking with my passion fruit but in a drink, like this, I know it would give it that quintessential tropical flavor. Hope you don't mind if I add a shot of rum to it. LOL!
Amanda says
Oh yes, a bit of rum would be perfect here... even tequilla or vodka.. yum! haha
Susie says
What a great recipe. I never thought to use passionfruit in a drink. I would absolutely love this.
I had passionfruit for the first time this past winter in Dominican Republic. They were so tart, but I loved it. I especially love the crunchy little seeds. I think a passion fruit creme brulee would be amazing!!