Creamy Coconut Milk Brazilian Lemonade (Limeade)

This easy Creamy Coconut Milk Brazilian Lemonade (Limeade) is such a refreshing drink that is made with just 3 ingredients (plus ice and water)! Tart and tangy limes are blended with coconut milk, then naturally sweetened with maple syrup for a tropical, zesty and creamy beverage perfect to enjoy on hot summer days ☀️.

If you want to take your tastebuds on a tropical vacation, you have to try this simple refreshing Brazilian Coconut Milk Lemonade! This icy non-alcoholic drink is sweet and citrusy with a touch of creaminess, it has it all!

Brazilian Lemonade, Limonada Suíça, is traditionally made with lime pieces, including the peels, sugar, water. The ingredients are blended together and strained, then served over ice. It became popular, probably starting in America, to add sweetened condensed milk to the beverage giving it a sweet and creamy upgrade.

In my version of Brazilian Lemonade, I substitute coconut milk and maple syrup for the sweetened condensed milk making this refreshing lime drink vegan and also refined sugar free!

Why Is It Called Lemonade, Not Limeade?

It seems odd to call this lime drink a lemonade, haha, but the reason for this is because limes are essentially the same citrus fruit as lemons in Brazil. All the “lemons” possess the dark green color we identify as limes in other parts of the world. Also, the word for both lemons and limes in the Portuguese language is the same word- limão. Yellow colored limão are rare.

It doesn’t matter if you want to call this zesty little drink lemonade or limeade- you’ll be calling it yummy with every sip! 😜

The Ingredients

Limes 🍋‍🟩. For this Brazilian Lemonade recipe you will need 1 whole lime, maybe another half if you desire the lime flavor to be stronger. I preferred the lighter burst of lime paired with the creamy coconut milk.

Be sure to wash the lime thoroughly, cleaning the outer peel because you’ll be blending the whole lime, and we want to wash off any dirt or pesticides that may be on the skin.

Water 💧. You will need 4 cups of water to blend with the lime.

Coconut milk 🥥. A lot of Brazilian lemonade recipes call for sweetened condensed milk, which isn’t dairy free or vegan, so I have taken the modernized Brazilian Lemonade recipe and adapted it to be vegan by using coconut milk, which definitely gives this limeade a more tropical vibe anyway! 🌴 I’m using one can of coconut milk in this recipe. You can use full fat coconut milk or lite coconut milk.

Maple syrup 🍁. We’re keeping this lemonade natural sweetened with maple syrup. This recipe calls for 1 cup of maple syrup.

Ice 🧊. After you blend the lime with coconut milk, water, and maple syrup you’ll pour the drink over ice and enjoy! You can’t beat an ice cold burst of citrus on a hot summer day.

How To Pick The Best Limes

When you’re at the supermarket trying to pick out the best, juiciest limes you’ll want to take note of a few things:

Select limes that are slightly soft but not too squishy. Those are the limes that will be the juiciest. You don’t want to pick out rock-hard limes, they’ll be very tart and won’t yield much lime juice.

The heavier the lime, the more juice it contains. This might be hard to tell, but if you select a lime that is heavy for its size, chances are it’s juicier!

Take a whiff, if you scratch the skin and it smells fragrant and lime-ish, it’s ripe. It’s the ol’ scratch-n-sniff test 🤗. Under-ripe limes won’t have much of a scent.

Pick lighter, less green limes! Yes, you read that correctly- LESS green. If they are vibrant, dark green they aren’t quite ripe yet. More of a green-yellow lime is juicier, less tart with a sweeter, more limey flavor- possibly why Brazilian limes are known more as lemons! By the way, I’ve been picking the greenest limes until now 😆🤷🏻‍♀️. We’re all learning!

The color should be uniform, meaning the whole lime should be pretty much the same greenish-yellow color. If the lime has some lighter spots than others, it’s most likely due to growing in shaded areas without enough sun exposure. That doesn’t mean that’s a bad lime, it just might not be as sweet and juicy.

Source: Twisted Citrus

How To Make Vegan Brazilian Lemonade

This Creamy Coconut Milk Brazilian Lemonade can be made with a blender (preferred method) or if you don’t have a decent blender, you can make it by hand. I’ll go over each method below.

Blender Method (preferred)

If you’re making Brazilian Lemonade using the preferred blender method, first wash the lime(s) thoroughly. Next, cut off the ends of the lime(s), and cut the lime into wedges. Place the lime, including the peel, in a blender and blend with the water, coconut milk and maple syrup.

TIP: Blend for about 30 seconds (any longer and the limes get a bit bitter).

Strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer or you can use a nut milk bag (affiliate link), then pour over an ice-filled glass and enjoy!

I love my Vitamix Blender and use it all the time! So if you’re looking to make a great investment for your kitchen, check it out!

Hand Squeezed Method

If you don’t have a blender, you can still enjoy this citrus beverage. Use 1/2 cup of freshly squeezed lime juice, stir in the water, coconut milk and maple syrup. Zest 1 lime with a citrus zester into the mixture (if desired), stir, pour over ice and enjoy.

Can I Use Bottled Lime Juice?

I would highly suggest using a whole, fresh lime, but I suppose if you can’t find fresh limes you can use bottled pure lime juice, which may be harder to find actually. If you do swap fresh limes for bottled lime juice the final beverage won’t taste as zesty as using real limes because you’re losing, well, the… zest part.

What Can I Use Instead Of Coconut Milk?

There are a couple of brands that make vegan sweetened condensed milk. You can substitute the coconut milk for sweetened condensed milk if you prefer. You’ll want to use about 3 tablespoons, maybe more to taste. It’s hard to find dairy-free sweetened condensed milk in stores, which is another reason why I chose to use coconut milk; it’s more common and readily available in grocery stores. If you do use the sweetened condensed milk, I would then omit the maple syrup.

You could also use another plant milk, such as oat milk, cashew milk, or almond milk but I recommend sticking with coconut milk as I think it offers the best flavor combination with the lime and creates the creamiest lemonade consistency. I have not tried another plant milk, so I can’t say for sure if it will work or not.

How To Store This Drink

Unfortunately, this tangy beverage doesn’t keep well for more than a couple of hours, and the longer it sits the stronger the lime taste gets (and it can get a bit bitter tasting). This refreshing drink is best enjoyed right away. We never have any problems finishing the whole batch, I bet you won’t either 😉.

What To Do With Leftover Limeade

As mentioned above, this Brazilian Coconut Milk Lemonade is best enjoyed right away. I don’t foresee you having an issue finishing it all, haha but just in case you do, you could always make refreshing popsicles with leftover limeade! Simply pour into a popsicle mold and freeze. Again, the lime flavor intensifies the longer it sits.

This Creamy Coconut Milk Brazilian Lemonade (Limeade) is a great non-alcoholic mocktail option for those who don’t consume alcohol, or a great refreshing summer drink to make your kids! I hope you love this quick and easy lemonade (limeade) recipe as much as I do! 🍋‍🟩🥛 Let me know what you think down below in the comments section, as well as giving it a five star rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ so that others can discover this tropical drink recipe bursting with flavor! Tag me on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest!

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