Lemonade Concentrate substitute

Best substitute

Lemon juice plus sugar plus water

Per cup of concentrate: ½ cup lemon juice, ½ cup sugar, water to make 1 cup

Best for sherbet and frozen desserts

Close match

The genuine equivalent, and the one to use whenever the concentrate matters to the outcome. Stir the sugar into the juice until every grain has dissolved, then top up with water to the volume the recipe wanted.

Other lemonade concentrate substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Frozen limeade concentrate
Different taste
Use the same amount
Built exactly the same way, with lime instead of lemon, so it slots straight into any recipe that calls for the lemon version.
What changes
Best for
punches and pitcher drinks, sherbet and sorbet, marinades, freezer pies
Sharper and more floral, and it tints pale desserts faintly green rather than cream, which is only a problem if you were expecting yellow. Sweetness and acidity are close enough that no adjustment is needed.
3Powdered lemonade mix
Taste and texture differ
Use Enough powder for 2 quarts for every 12 oz can, minus 1 ½ cups of the recipe's water
Work out how much powder makes the same amount of lemonade the can would have made, then add it plus the water the concentrate would have contributed.
What changes
Best for
punches, sherbet, slushes and freezes, sweet marinades
Most powders get their sourness from citric acid rather than juice, so the tang is there but the aroma is flat and slightly artificial. Adding a teaspoon of fresh lemon zest or a tablespoon of lemon juice makes a real difference. Some are sweetened with sugar and some with sweeteners, and the sugar-free versions will not set or freeze the same way in a sherbet or a pie.
4Ready-made bottled lemonade, used in place of concentrate and its water together
Different texture
4 cups bottled lemonade replaces 1 cup concentrate plus 3 cups water
Rather than trying to concentrate a bottle, work backwards: wherever the recipe would have ended up with diluted lemonade, use the same volume of ready-made instead.
What changes
Best for
punches and party drinks, granitas and slushes, jellies, iced tea blends
Only works when the recipe dilutes the concentrate anyway. It is useless for a sherbet or an icebox pie where the undiluted concentrate provides intense flavour without much liquid, since bottled lemonade would flood the mixture. Sweetness varies wildly between brands, so taste before adding sugar.
5Frozen orange juice concentrate plus lemon juice
Different taste
Use 1 cup OJ concentrate plus 2 tbsp lemon juice for every 1 cup lemonade concentrate
For punches and marinades where you mainly need a sweet, thick, frozen citrus base and the specific lemon identity is negotiable.
What changes
Best for
punches, marinades and glazes, smoothies and slushes, fruit salads
Much sweeter and considerably less tart, so a punch made this way tastes rounder and more orangey and can end up cloying. The added lemon juice restores some tension but not all of it. Avoid it in a sherbet or a pie that relies on acidity to set, since orange juice is far less acidic than lemonade.
6Lemon curd or lemon pie filling thinned with water
Taste and texture differ
Use ¾ cup curd plus ¼ cup water and 2 tbsp lemon juice for every 1 cup concentrate
A last resort, but a usable one in baked and frozen desserts because curd already contains lemon juice, sugar and strong lemon flavour.
What changes
Best for
freezer pies, cake fillings, mousses, trifles
Curd contains butter and egg, so it adds richness and thickening the concentrate never did, and it will make a sherbet dense and creamy rather than icy. Never use it in a punch or a drink, where the fat will float. Not suitable if the recipe's texture depends on staying lean.

What is Lemonade Concentrate?

Lemonade Concentrate is sweetened lemon juice with most of the water removed, sold frozen in a 12-ounce can that makes about two quarts of lemonade once you add three cans of water, which means that in a recipe it is doing two jobs at the same time: supplying sharp lemon acidity and a large amount of sugar.

Cooking tips

One 12-ounce can of frozen concentrate is 1 and a half cups thawed. That single conversion answers most substitution questions, since recipes are written in either cans or cups.
When a recipe says thawed, undiluted concentrate, do not add the water the can instructs you to add. The recipe is using it as a flavouring and sweetener, not as a drink.
Remember that the concentrate is roughly half sugar. If you build your own from lemon juice, do not also add the recipe's full sugar again, and if you improvise with something sweeter, taste before adding any more.
In a lemon sherbet or a frozen pie the acid does structural work as well as flavour work: it thickens the dairy slightly and keeps the mixture from tasting flat. Keep the total acidity roughly the same when you substitute or the texture changes as well as the taste.
For marinades, plain lemon juice with a teaspoon of sugar per quarter cup is a perfectly good stand-in, but do not marinate fish in it for more than about twenty minutes or the acid starts to cook the flesh.

Frequently asked questions

How much lemon juice equals a can of frozen lemonade concentrate?

A 12-ounce can is 1 and a half cups of concentrate, which you can rebuild from about three quarters of a cup of lemon juice plus three quarters of a cup of sugar, stirred until dissolved and topped up with water to 1 and a half cups. Lemon juice alone at the same volume is not equivalent, because it contains none of the sugar.

What does thawed, undiluted mean?

It means let the can soften until you can scoop the concentrate out, then use it exactly as it is, without adding the three cans of water on the label. Recipes for sherbet, icebox pies, punch bases and marinades almost always mean undiluted, because they want intense flavour and sugar without extra liquid.

Can I use powdered lemonade mix instead?

Yes, with two adjustments. Use enough powder to make the same amount of lemonade the can would have made, and add the water the concentrate would have supplied, about 1 and a half cups per can. The flavour will be flatter, since most powders use citric acid rather than juice, so add a little lemon zest or juice. Check whether your mix is sweetened with sugar or with a sweetener, because sugar-free versions behave differently in frozen and baked desserts.

Can I just leave it out?

Only if it is a minor flavouring in something else. In a punch, a sherbet, a frozen lemonade pie or a marinade built around it, the concentrate is supplying the sweetness, the sourness, the flavour and part of the liquid all at once, so removing it leaves you with an unsweetened, unflavoured base rather than a subtler version of the recipe.

Is lemonade concentrate the same as lemon juice concentrate?

No. Lemonade concentrate is sweetened and designed to be diluted into a drink. Lemon juice concentrate is unsweetened, far more acidic, and used spoon for spoon in place of fresh juice. Swapping one for the other without adjusting the sugar is the main way this substitution goes wrong.

Related substitutes

More beverages substitutes

Lemonade Concentrate substitute

Other lemonade concentrate substitutes

2Frozen limeade concentrate

3Powdered lemonade mix

4Ready-made bottled lemonade, used in place of concentrate and its water together

5Frozen orange juice concentrate plus lemon juice

6Lemon curd or lemon pie filling thinned with water