This Watermelon Limeade Requires Just 3 Ingredients

Any time of year, a fruity beverage can be just the refreshing thing to hit the spot. You can quench your thirst in under five minutes and with just three ingredients, creating a delicious watermelon limeade that lives up to its hype. To make the easiest watermelon limeade, simply combine fresh watermelon, a liquid sweetener (like honey, simple syrup, or agave), and lime. Once you've got that all mixed together, top it off with water and ice as well — which we suppose notches it up to five components if you want to get technical. 

Think of the drink as something similar to agua fresca de sandia (Spanish for fresh watermelon water), which is Food Network Star Bobby Flay's go-to grilling drink. There are some distinct differences between the two, though. While both beverages feature just three primary ingredients, agua fresca de sandia is made using watermelon, water, and sugar.

While you could use large chunks of watermelon, if you cut it into smaller cubes, you'll have an easier time smashing it into submission. You could blend it all together, but that will give you a very homogeneous drink. If you want something more rustic, we suggest using a muddler, which is a bartender tool and a must-have for any bar cart. It's used to crush fruits and herbs, gently bruising them to release their flavor. But if you don't have a muddler, don't despair — other kitchen tools can get the job done, such as a wooden spoon, a pestle, or a French rolling pin. Essentially, any blunt kitchen utensil will do.

Juice your lime and add it to the mix, drizzle in your honey, and then muddle away until you have a nice, pulpy consistency. Once your drink is nicely muddled, pour in ice and a cup of water, shake to mix (or stir very vigorously), and enjoy!

This watermelon limeade can be taken in various directions. For a pop of even more freshness, try adding some mint or basil. You could follow creamy Brazilian limeade tradition and use a blender to blitz an entire lime, skin and all. This approach is actually an alternative technique to muddling a drink's ingredients, and if you add the ice too, you can make a slushie version of the beverage.

In the absence of fresh watermelon, you can swap for watermelon juice (or even melted popsicles) — but you'll lose out on the texture. Another easy swap is to switch the subtle lime for the more potent lemon — it's brighter and has more of a kick to it. But really get creative with it! Try putting in cucumber, blueberries, or cranberries — even a touch of salt to bring out the flavor of the watermelon. If you want to really jazz things up, ditch the water and swap it for something like guava juice for additional sweetness, and use sparkling water or coconut water.

Some boozy twists are a no-brainer for this drink, as well. Mezcal, which is an agave-derived Mexican distilled liquor, brings gentle notes of smokiness. Bring the fun with some fruity coconut rum, or keep it classic with a shot or two of tequila. Vodka is another spirit that would work well here, being neutral enough to let the watermelon flavor shine. Gin also pairs well, and one could take a Bellini direction by adding some sparkling wine (Veuve Clicquot is the best type of Champagne to use for Bellinis).