Brazilian Lemonade is my most favorite drink, ever. I fell in 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
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
*Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.
Questions & Reviews
OBSESSED with this. Just made it two nights in a row. Mmmmmmm so so so good. 🙂
Ha, thats funny couse here in Brazil we call this "swiss" lemonade… altough i dont think the swiss acctually drink this very often… it just makes it sound more fancy, hehe.
We LOOOVED this!
Just FYI ……I found sweetened condensed milk at Walmart on the ethnic aisle. It comes in a squeeze bottle…….so, you can just use what you need and refrigerate the rest for another time.
Thank you Best Bites Ladies. Just made a batch and did not pulvarize the limes. It was very drinkable. 🙂 My 20 month old baby loves this.
Atomic Mom- pulverizing the limes is exactly what makes it bitter because you blend the bitter pith into the drink, so definitely avoid that. If it's still bitter than it's most likely your limes. Limes can be incredibly bitter and that will ruin the whole drink. Take a taste of the juice in your limes after you cut them and make sure they taste good before you use them.
Any suggestions on making it less bitter? I've made it twice now and within minutes it's so bitter, it's undrinkable. Adding sugar does not really help. I also noticed in your pictures of the limes after they've been blended, they were not pulvarized….I've read recipes for this where it says to compeltely obliterate the limes. Could this be contributing to the bitterness?
Yes Becca, ditto Eve. Just mix it up by hand, it stirs up really easily.
I mix by hand, well, with a spoon, and it turns out great for me!
I may be a little on the airheaded side of all things cooking. so dumb question: after pouring in the S&C milk do you put it back in the blender or just mix it by hand? i'm thinking since the milk is so heavy does it stay mixed or sink to the bottom if mixing by hand?
I made this with the grilled fish tacos (which were a big hit with hubby. He balked at the idea of a grilled fish taco instead of the deep fried version but ended up loving the grilled!). Anyway, the Brazilian lemonade was delicious as well and when I went to look for a small can of sweetened condensed milk at Wal Mart I found instead a SQUEEZE bottle of the Nestle La Lechera milk! That's what I got and it was so easy to squeeze out what I needed and then put the bottle in the fridge until I need it again. So, I just wanted to give a heads up about the possibility of finding the milk in a squeeze bottle at your local Wal Mart. Thanks so much for all your delicious recipes!