An Arnold Palmer is a refreshing cold beverage made with half sweet tea and half lemonade. It's perfect for hot summer days, picnics, and outdoor grilling.

Recipe summary
Flavor: Refreshing, sweet, smooth.
What is an Arnold Palmer? A cold drink made with half tea and half lemonade. The name comes from the professional golfer who requested and enjoyed this beverage.
Made with few ingredients: All you need are black tea bags, sugar, and lemon juice.
Yield: 1 gallon (128 ounces)
Great for: Hot summer days, picnics, Fourth of July
You may also like: Sweet Tea, Fresh Squeezed Lemonade, and Lemonade Slushie
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Ingredients and substitutions
- Tea - Traditionally, an Arnold Palmer is made with regular black tea. For this recipe, you'll need 8 regular sized tea bags or 2 family size tea bags. I'm using family size tea bags in the photos.
- Lemon juice - For this recipe, I highly recommend juicing lemons to make fresh lemon juice. Bottled lemon concentrate doesn't taste nearly as fresh as squeezing your own fresh.
- Sugar - Granulated sugar sweetens your Arnold Palmer and can easily be adjusted to suit your tastes.
- Water - This recipe makes one gallon of Arnold Palmer, so you'll need 122 ounces of water, just shy of a gallon.
How to make an Arnold Palmer
- Bring water to a boil. Remove from heat and add tea bags. Allow to steep for 5 minutes before removing tea bags. Add sugar and stir until dissolved.
- Pour tea, remaining water, and lemon juice into a large pitcher and stir to incorporate. Refrigerate until chilled and serve cold.
Tips and tricks
Use a heat-safe pitcher - I don't recommend preparing your Arnold Palmer in a glass pitcher if you're not sure it's heat-safe. Some glass pitchers can shatter if hot liquid is added.
Adjust sugar to suit your tastes - This recipe makes a moderately sweet drink. For a less sweet beverage, try adding ⅔ cup of granulated sugar (while testing this recipe, we found that ½ cup of sugar was too tart). For a very sweet drink, add 1.5 cups of sugar.
Don't boil the tea bags - Don't add your tea bags to boiling water. This can burn the tea, which adds a bitter taste. Instead, bring water to a simmer, remove from heat, then add your tea bags to steep.
Don't over-steep your tea bags - Tea bags only require about 5 minutes of steeping in hot water. Steeping for too long can add a bitter taste to the tea.
Don't add ice to a warm drink- Adding ice to a warm drink dilutes it and makes it taste watery. Instead, allow your drink to chill in the refrigerator before serving over ice.
Frequently asked questions
Arnold Palmer is commonly made with 50% tea and 50% lemonade. However, you're welcome to adjust the ratios to suit your tastes. It's common to make an Arnold Palmer with 75% tea and 25% lemonade.
This is entirely up to your tastes. Prepared lemonade and sweet/unsweet tea can be combined to create an Arnold Palmer with your preferred sweetness. For this recipe, we're preparing the tea and lemonade together, so you'll need to use less sugar for a less sweet drink. The lemonade portion of the recipe does require some sugar to balance with the tartness of the lemon juice, so you don't want to omit it entirely.
Arnold Palmer tastes best within a day of preparing, but will keep for 3-4 days in the refrigerator before it begins to taste "off".
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📖 Recipe
Arnold Palmer
Ingredients
- 122 ounces (3628 g) water, divided
- 8 regular black tea bags, or 2 family size tea bags
- 1 cup (198 g) granulated sugar
- ¾ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice, from about 4 to 5 lemons
Instructions
- Add 2 cups of water to a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat. After water has stopped boiling, add tea bags and steep for 5 minutes. Remove tea bags from water.
- Add sugar and stir until dissolved.
- Pour tea concentrate into a 1-gallon pitcher and top with remaining water and lemon juice. Stir to combine.
- Refrigerate for 2-3 hours, or until chilled. Serve over ice.
Equipment Recommendations
Notes
- For a less sweet drink: add ⅔ cup of sugar.
- For a sweeter drink: add up to 1.5 cups of sugar.
- Storage: Arnold Palmer has the best flavor within 1 day of preparing, but will keep for 3-4 days before flavor starts to taste "off".
- Optional garnishes: Add lemon/orange slices or fresh mint to glasses before serving.
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