Fresh ginger and club soda make this ginger lemonade a sparkling warm weather treat! An easy ginger simple syrup both sweetens this homemade lemonade recipe and provides just enough of a ginger flavor without much of a bite.
It's lemonade season! And iced tea, cold brew coffee, and frozen drinks season. And 90-degrees-and-humid-bad-hair-days season, but we won't get into that one.
Lemonade in all forms is always welcome in these warm weather months, but I wanted to make a more grown-up version for sipping on when it's hot and sunny out, but your to-do list is a mile long and lounging around living the rosé all day life isn't going to fly.
Basic ingredients
Enter this sparkling ginger lemonade.
Just a few, inexpensive ingredients are needed for this pleasantly sophisticated and adult, yet non-alcoholic summer sipper. In addition to water, you'll need:
- fresh lemons
- granulated sugar
- ginger root
- club soda
We'll need around one cup of freshly-squeezed lemon juice, so five large lemons or six or seven smaller/medium ones usually do the trick.
Then the sugar and fresh ginger are used in making a ginger simple syrup. This simple syrup brings all of this ginger lemonade's sweetness, as well as a ginger flavor that works so well in lemonade.
Simple syrup is the way to go when sweetening cold beverages like lemonade, iced tea, and cocktails. Because the sugar dissolves while the syrup is heating on the stovetop, it will be perfectly liquid-y and not gritty whatsoever when it comes time to sweeten your cold drinks.
And last we have club soda, which replaces some of the typical water in a homemade lemonade recipe for a healthy fizz.
Recipe steps
To make the simple syrup, bring equal parts water and sugar to a boil with fresh ginger slices, then let steep for 20-30 minutes. Next strain out the ginger, and there you go. A lemonade sweetener and extra flavor addition all in one.
This ginger lemonade recipe would be perfect for those of you with a mandolin, because you'll want the ginger slices to be as thin as possible so the syrup has a bold flavor. I'm not a mandolin owner, so I very carefully sliced the ginger and it worked fine. But it would definitely be easier and quicker with a mandolin.
Once the ginger syrup chills, you'll squeeze some lemons as you would for all lemonade recipes, but an easy switch takes this ginger lemonade to the next level - club soda!
Subbing in a liter of club soda for water added to the lemonade when it's being stirred up gives it an effervescence sort of like kombucha, except for all that fermentation going on there. I also added a cup of cold water along with the club soda to mellow out the flavor a bit, but that step is up to you.
If you find the flavor of this ginger lemonade too strong even after preparing the recipe as written below, just add additional water (or club soda) until it reaches your liking.
Recipe notes
- Thinly-sliced ginger root (versus cubed or larger pieces) allows more flavor to transfer to the simple syrup.
- If you're into the idea of a ginger simple syrup, you may also like lemon ginger iced green tea and a fresh strawberry ginger margarita.

Sparkling Ginger Lemonade
Ingredients
Ginger Syrup:
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 4 oz ginger root peeled and sliced thinly
Lemonade:
- 1 cup freshly-squeezed lemon juice from about 5 large lemons
- 1 liter club soda
- 1 cup cold water
- Mint leaves for garnish (optional)
Instructions
For the ginger syrup:
- Add 1 cup of water, sugar, and thinly-sliced ginger to a small saucepan set over medium-high heat and stir. Bring to a low boil for 2-3 minutes, and then remove from heat. Cover the saucepan and let steep for 25 minutes.
- After 25 minutes, pour the ginger syrup through a fine mesh strainer and refrigerate until chilled.
For the lemonade:
- Combine chilled ginger syrup, lemon juice, club soda, and 1 cup cold water in a large pitcher. Add ice and fresh mint leaves, if you like.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as an estimate. As it can vary due to many factors (brands used, quantities, etc.), we cannot guarantee its accuracy.
Food Safety and Nutrition Disclaimer
Saba says
Made this and it came out great! Had a wonderful balance of lemon and ginger. One person thought it was a tad too sweet, but most thought it was perfect.
Alyssa says
I'm so happy you enjoyed it, Saba! Thank you for letting me know how it went. 🙂
Jacqueline DiNuoscio says
This looks like the perfect refreshing summer drink! I wish I had a glass right now!
Sarah says
I love this! My kids do too and they are not big fans of homemade sparkling beverages. Thanks!!~