This Brazilian Lemonade Recipe is a delightfully refreshing sugar-free beverage. Only 4 simple ingredients required to make this easy keto friendly drink! It will be the hit of your summer.
Have you ever heard of Brazilian Lemonade? Trust me, you want to become familiar with this easy and tasty summer drink as quickly as possible!
If you are unfamiliar, let me enlighten you. It’s not really lemonade at all. In fact, there are exactly zero lemons in this Brazilian lemonade recipe, since it’s made only with limes. Weird but true!
Despite this little twist, this frosty beverage is quickly becoming one of my favorite keto treats. It’s incredibly refreshing, with a flavor that’s both rich and light at the same time.
Intrigued? I thought you would be!
It’s a great recipe for summer entertaining, along with Sweet Tea Lemonade and Keto Root Beer Floats.
What is Brazilian Lemonade?
Okay so why do they call it lemonade? Shouldn’t it be called Brazilian Limeade?
For that, I refer you to a true Brazilian blogger over at Brazilian Kitchen Abroad. It would seem that the Portuguese words for lime and lemon are so close, it simply defaults to lemonade. Limão (lime) becomes limonada (the drink), which translates into lemonade.
You make this sweet summer drink in a most unusual way, with whole limes and sweetened condensed milk, along with water and plenty of ice. So it has a unique and delicious creaminess to it.
And my sugar free condensed milk is ideal for a keto version!
How to make Sugar Free Brazilian Lemonade
This may be one of the easiest drinks you make all summer. Less than 10 minutes, start to finish! I learned a few things when testing this recipe so here are all my best tips:
Use whole limes
No arduous squeezing required! You simply blend sliced limes with the liquids and some additional sweetener, and then strain it. It’s remarkably simple.
Rest assured that the whole limes do not make the lemonade bitter. The trick, as I learned from Brazilian Kitchen Abroad, is to keep the blending very brief. Less than 30 seconds is about right. This method essentially infuses the liquids with lime flavor.
Keto condensed milk
You do need to make a batch of my keto condensed milk ahead of time, but that in itself is incredibly easy to do. You can even make the milk ahead and store it in the fridge for a few days, prior to whipping up the Brazilian Lemonade.
Sweeten to taste
My homemade condensed milk is not nearly as sweet as the conventional version, so you want to add more sweetener to the mix. I found that another ⅓ cup of powdered Swerve was about right, but you can easily do this to taste.
Strain out the solids
Obviously you don’t want chunks of lime floating around your lemonade. So grab a strainer and set it over the serving pitcher, then pour the blended mixture through the strainer. Add the remaining water, plenty of ice, and your done!
Make it fresh
One of my discoveries in testing out a sugar free Brazilian lemonade recipe is that it’s definitely best made fresh. On the first day, it’s perfectly sweet and delicious but the lime continues to get a bit bitter as the drink sits in the fridge for more than 2 days.
If you plan on making this for just yourself, or you and your significant other, just make a half recipe. It’s so ridiculously easy to do, there’s no need to make a big batch.
And as I said earlier, the condensed milk can be made ahead and stored for up to a week in the fridge, so you can whip it up any old time.
How to make it dairy free
Want a dairy free version of this Brazilian lemonade recipe? That’s easy too! Just make my keto condensed milk with coconut cream, and leave out the butter at the end. I tried that out and it was just as tasty.
More delicious keto lime recipes
- Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice
- Keto Key Lime Bars
- Crab Stuffed Avocado with Lime
- Keto Margarita Cake
- Thai Chicken Soup with Zoodles
- Keto Lime Popsicles
Sugar Free Brazilian Lemonade
Ingredients
- 4 medium limes
- ½ cup sugar free condensed milk
- ⅓ cup powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 4 cups water divided
Instructions
- Chop the limes into slices and place in a blender (preferably a good strong one!).
- Add the condensed milk, sweetener, and 2 cups of the water, and blend only about 15 to 30 seconds. Strain through a sieve into a serving pitcher filled with ice.
- Stir in the remaining water. Adjust sweetness to taste and serve immediately.
Lúcia says
I’ll be doing this for sure this summer!
regarding the word Limonada, in Portuguese, lemon is limão and lime is lima. However, the Portuguese in Brazil in different.
Mariana says
I’m Brazilian and I never see that lemonade here. The recipe I knew (and saw everywhere) uses only lime, water and sugar (or sugar substitute). We only use condensed milk in our lime tart recipe. But, besides that, looks very good. Thanks for the fantastic site and recipes.
Carolyn says
Hi Mariana… Brazil is a big country so there is a lot of variation in many places. I have had many Brazilians confirm that this is how they make it, but I am sure your way is delicious too. I am from Canada and it’s also a big country, with lots of variation in “traditional” recipes. 🙂
Toni says
Yummy! Im not fond of creamy, but this is gooda also good without cream. I strained then pot it throygh my bullet with ice. Oh so good. Just add your straw.
Krista says
This looks so delicious. I can’t wait to try it. Do you have an orange or peach Julius copycat recipe?
Carolyn says
Not at this time but I will consider it! 🙂
Sharon says
I love it! Of course anything that uses sugar free sweetened condensed milk is always a win!
Crystal Bloomfield says
Could this be made with evaporated coconut milk? Unsweetened of course so the sweetener would need to be added as well.
Carolyn says
Probably but it’s going to increase the carb count by about 2g per serving.
Kelly says
Looks yummy! Did you blend on high for 30 seconds? Did you squeeze or compress the solids while straining to get all the liquid?
Carolyn says
Yes to the first, no to the second.
2pots2cook says
Heaven ! We love condensed milk and fruits combination so this is going to be our perfect summer drink this season !
Marie Keough says
Would it be ok to use canned coconut milk in this! Thank you!
Carolyn says
Hi, did you read the section on a dairy free version? 🙂
Danette says
This sound delicious! My blender would not be strong enough to chop the limes. Can you use just the juice of the limes or bottled lime juice in this recipe instead of whole limes? If so, how much? Thanks!
Carolyn says
You can and I recommend adding some of the zest too. Don’t do bottled lime juice, it really doesn’t have a good flavor. Simply squeeze the juice from 4 medium limes, zest one of them, add to a blender and follow the rest of the recipe.
Kathy Roger says
So you just…toss the limes into the blender as is? Peel and all? Also, how does this taste with a bit of rum added to it?
Carolyn says
Yup, peel and all! We tried it as a cocktail with rum. It overpowered the delicate lime flavor so I preferred it plain. But my husband liked it.
Roberta says
I loved your explanation about the origin of the name of this refreshing “lemonade” due to the translation from Portuguese: thank you for adding a bit of culture to the kitchen contest (cooking is always part of folklore, tradition and every note in that sense is always an interesting add-on to know 🙂 ).
About the recipe per se: for my taste, since my tastebuds are now used to less sweetness after years, I find better not to add any more sweetener than the amount required in your already sweet enough condensed milk (above all if made dairy-free being coconut cream already sweet by itself). I personally prefer cold and refreshing preparation more satisfying if just as minimal sweet as right to don’t be bitter, but not much more. Also with citric flavours less sweetness doesn’t mask the kick of tanginess that in summertime is always refreshing.
I was wondering if this recipe could be adapted also with raspberries ora strawberries to make a sort of quick and easy smoothie or even ice-pops… I’ll try to experiment also these options, thank you for your inspiration!
Jenn says
Mmmmm Berries! Share with us how it works out Roberta! Great idea!
Roberta says
Hi Jenn, happy to let you know that my falily loved the variation with berrier (raspberries and strawberries, and now looking for blackberries too 🙂 ), I had simply limited the sweetened as noted in my comment and dosed the lemon considering the tartness and acidity of the berries used each time… I hope you’ll enjoy this experimentation too if you’ll try!