The Best Way To Serve Ice Cold Lemonade Without Diluting Any Flavor

When made well and served chilled, lemonade is a definite crowd pleaser thanks to its refreshing, citrus-packed flavor, especially on hot days. Warm or watery lemonade definitely doesn't deliver the same experience, but if you're serving lemonade when it's hot outside, those ice cubes lingering in your drink may end up melting way faster than you anticipate, diluting your beverage. Luckily, there's an easy solution: Make a little more lemonade than you need and freeze the extra in ice cube trays or molds rather than freezing plain water. That way, you can use the cubes to keep your lemonade chilled, but as it melts, it'll just mix seamlessly with your lemonade rather than watering it down.

If you find yourself regularly serving up large batches of lemonade, you may need to invest in a few extra ice cube trays for this purpose, but don't worry — an ice cube tray is a surprisingly versatile kitchen tool, as there are many unexpected uses for it, from freezing single-serve portions of cookie dough to saving leftover wine for cooking purposes. They won't go to waste in your kitchen.

Additionally, for a tip that requires a bit less time than freezing lemonade ice cubes, try pre-chilling the glasses and pitcher you're planning to use for your lemonade. This won't have the same cooling effect as ice cubes, but it'll help keep your lemonade's temperature lower for a little bit longer without diluting the drink.

The simplest way to make lemonade-flavored ice cubes to chill your drink is to use the exact same lemonade you're planning to serve. Our classic lemonade recipe is a great place to start — just increase the amount to make enough for your ice cube trays as well as your lemonade pitcher. However, there's also an opportunity to flex your culinary creativity when making your own ice cubes.

For those looking for a slightly elevated take on the citrusy favorite, there are a few things you could be adding to your lemonade, including fresh herbs like basil, mint, or rosemary. Just toss the herbs into your ice cubes, and your guests can select which one they'd like to enhance their lemonade with. In a similar vein, you can add a few dollops of fruit puree into your lemonade ice cubes, creating raspberry, blackberry, strawberry, or peach lemonade, just to name a few possible variations. And again, using the ice cube tray means you can create a few different flavors, so every guest will find something for their particular palate.

Finally, for an aesthetic upgrade, consider freezing edible flowers in your lemonade ice cubes. They're not quite as visually appealing in the cloudy lemonade mixture as if you froze crystal-clear ice cubes, but they'll give your lemonade a sprinkle of floral charm as they melt.