Brazilian Lemonade is my most favorite drink, ever. I fell it love with it while living in Brazil where at most restaurants and homes, fresh squeezed tropical beverages are the norm. It’s tart, but sweet, made with fresh limes and a secret ingredient (spoiler alert: sweetened condensed milk) that makes it mildly creamy. It looks a little strange but is refreshingly delicious and unlike any other beverage!
The first question that people generally ask about Brazilian Lemonade is why it’s called lemonade when it’s actually made with limes?? In Brazil, lemons are not common. Their word for lemonade, “Limonada” actually refers to limes. And in Brazil, they actually call this beverage Swiss Lemonade. This is because the signature ingredient there, Nestle brand sweetened condensed milk, shows a Swiss milkmaid on the label. So. We’ve got Brazilian lemonade, which they call Swiss Lemonade, which is actually limeade. Got it? All you need to know is that it’s DELICIOUS.
Make a Simple Syrup and Mix Limes
The first thing you’ll do is make a simple syrup, and it’s not cooked or anything. You’ll simply stir sugar into water and stir until it’s dissolved. You’ll place part of that in a blender and add fresh limes, peel and all (no substitutes for fresh here).
Pulse Mixture in Blender
Strain the Brazilian Lemonade
Add Sweetened Condensed Milk
Then the secret ingredient: sweetened condensed milk. You can often buy mini cans in the latin section of the grocery store. This recipes needs about 1 1/2 little cans. Since you’ll probably want to double this recipe, that’s 3 cans. They also sell a squeeze bottle in the Latin foods section which is also helpful. Or just open a regular sized can and make some chocolate sauce with the leftovers!
The sweetened condensed milk makes the drink itself look like milk, which is sometimes confusing to guests! It’s unique and so crazy good that I love serving this to people who have never had it before.
Chill and Pour
You’ll want to avoid adding ice to your actual pitcher because it will water it down. Instead, add ice to the glasses before you pour.
Brazilian Lemonade
- Yield: 4 servings
Description
Citrus and sweetened condensed milk may sound like a strange combination, but trust me on this amazing Brazilian beverage that’s cool, creamy, sweet-tart and refreshing!
Ingredients
- 4 juicy limes (try and find ones with thin, smooth skins; they’re the juiciest and the thin skin cuts down on the chance of your drink being bitter)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 6 cups cold water
- 6 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
Instructions
- Mix cold water and sugar very well and chill until ready to use. This step can be done ahead of time.
- Wash limes thoroughly with soap (hand-dishwashing soap or regular hand soap works great). Cut the ends off the limes and then cut each lime into 8ths.
- Place 1/2 of the limes in your blender.
- Add 1/2 of the sugar water, place the lid on your blender, and pulse about 5 times. Place a fine-mesh strainer over a pitcher (the one you’ll serve the lemonade in) and pour the blended mixture through the strainer and into the pitcher. Use a spoon to press the rest of the liquid into the pitcher. Dump the pulp and stuff in the strainer into the trash. Repeat with remaining limes and sugar water.
- Add sweetened condensed milk and stir. You may want to taste test it at this point; Sometimes if you use bitter limes, it will need more sugar and maybe a little more milk. *In Brazil, they will actually place the lime liquid back into the blender to blend the sweetened condensed milk in- this creates kind of a frothy consistency that’s super good! Feel free to do this, or simply stir the milk in as directed in this recipe.
- Serve immediately over lots of ice. This does not keep well, so don’t make this in advance (although you can cut the limes, mix the sugar water, and measure the sweetened condensed milk in advance).
Notes
Serving Note
- Serves 4, technically, although I can pretty much guarantee you that people will want more. You can double, triple, etc. the recipe. Just make in batches that will fit in your blender.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4
*Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.
Questions & Reviews
I tried this today… it was yummy!
I have to tell you that I found a squeeze bottle of Sweetened Condensed Milk in the “latin” section at my Super Target. It was on the bottom shelf near all the other Latin Milks. It is perfect for this recipe!! (I did take a picture of it if you want me to email it to you)
This drink was delicious. Very refreshing and perfect for the Louisiana heat
I made this for Thanksgiving with my extended family (I know, weird huh), and although all the food was to die for, my father-in-law said that this drink was the best thing he tasted.
I’ve made this many times for dinner parties and it’s always, always, a hit.
I could never find the little cans of the sweetened condensed milk, but I did find a larger squeeze bottle of the stuff in the Latin food section at Walmart that I can just keep in my fridge for weeks –then I don’t have to worry about leftovers from the can. Plus it’s good for when I need just a little bit for other stuff like sweetening fruit salsa and making frozen melon pops!
Thanks for this recipe!
I made this for my husband, and now I may as well be superwoman! Thanks for making me so impressive!
this is to DIE for! SO SO yummy!
Thanks for the great recipe! We loved it! We love getting it at Tucanos and it tastes just like their recipe!
This is DEE-LISH!! Do you know if I can add food coloring to change it up a bit?
I loved this!! Your awesome!!:)
This sounds great!!!!!:)
I absolutely love this drink. Thank you thank you thank you for bringing this into my life…..it is the little things… That’s it. 🙂
I just finished making this and it is officially my new favourite drink!!!
I only had three juicy limes on hand so I used three limes and one lemon and it’s tart and so refreshing. It’s a great mix of sweet and sour and just so fresh!
I’m also thinking of trying to add a little rum or tequila to this for a party but on it’s on it is so delicious!
This sounds amazing but I have given up sugar! Do you know if there is any substitute for sweetened condensed milk? I only use natural sweeteners such
as Stevia & Xylitol.
I honestly don’t, I’m so sorry!
My mom is from Brazil and makes this all the time too. Everyone loves it! She uses vanilla soymilk though instead of sweetened condensed milk. I imagine you could use regular milk and add stevia.
Delicious!!! Thank you so much for posting!
Why is this called lemonade when it’s made with limes?
Because in Brazil they don’t really have yellow lemons. The little green things we call limes, are called lemons in Brazil!
At Rodizios they have flavored brazilian lemonades. my favorite is coconut. do you think they add actual coconut milk or coconut flavored syrup? i think i’m going to make some this weekend. yum!!!
I’m not sure; I never order the flavored ones- I like it straight up! I imagine though, that they add coconut syrup.
So delicious! Thank you THANK YOU for sharing!
Made this tonight. It was excellent.
Where’s the Vodka??
If you have leftover sweetened condensed milk from the larger cans, we use it to dip apple slices in. Tasty!
I just made this and I loved it, shared with my son (12) who thought it was delicious.
What would mix best with this? I assume capirinha would work best but that’s impossible to find. I was thinking 1800 Silver Tequila or Malibu Rum. Thoughts?
delicious! In response to an earlier question, you can totally make it with key limes. I didn’t even think about it when I bought the ingredients, and key limes were on sale so I just used those. Followed the directions the same way and it turned out perfect. Now, I just need to sit down and eat my baked creamy chicken taquitos and sip my brazilian lemonade! thanks for a yummy dinner!
mmmmmmm….. this is so good!
Was really good. The whole family loved it.
I wondered if Ali tried this with coconut milk. I had been curious about making it with other than animal milk for my vegan friends.
I do plan to try it with the sweetened condensed milk tomorrow. I am taking the ingredients for the Brazillian lemonade and a completed eggplant spread made from heirloom eggplants and the other fresh ingredients from my CSA along with a homemade focaccia to visit my DD, DSIL and new GD.
We enjoyed this great, refreshing drink and included it as an option for our most recent lemonade stand. See our review here: http://www.ratetheplateutah.com/2011/08/eat-in-brazilian-lemonade.html.
My son always wondered why the drinks looked milky while he was in the Brazilian Amazon. Now he knows and we make this for all the time. It is so good and refreshing. Thank you.
Made this last night and it was awesome. Found the thinnest skinned limes I could get and used my Breville juicer. In the pitcher I used my hand blender to whip it good. I think I am gonna make again and this time put in popcicle mold for some yummy popcicles.
Delicious! Perfect with our taco salads tonight-thanks so much! I’m so glad I found your blog.
Just made this 1 min. ago!! Tastes delicious, especially in this hot weather! What’s also great about it is that it looks like milk and my husband hates milk so I bet I’ll have this all to myself!!