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This homemade energy drink recipe can give you a boost before a workout, but without the jitters and artificial ingredients that sometimes come with store bought drinks and powders. In addition to being safer, they’re cheaper and they taste better.
Whether you’re starting your day or looking to get out of your afternoon slump, this natural energy drink recipe can boost your energy in a healthier way. This sugar free energy drink uses the natural sugar in fruit and lightly caffeinated green tea to give you a helpful energy boost.
Why do I need an energy drink?
There are a lot of reasons someone might want an energy drink:
- to get through a workout
- something to drink instead of morning coffee
- as an afternoon pick me up
- to replenish energy after a hard workout or long run
- if you’re not getting enough sleep, your energy levels might be low and you might rely on a daily energy drink to get by
Making your own energy drink helps to hydrate and naturally energize you without making your blood sugar crash after. While less sugar is always best, no added sugar is king.
Traditional store bought energy drinks and energy shots contain several unnecessary ingredients. For example, a popular one lists these as their ingredients: Carbonated Water, Sucrose, Glucose, Citric Acid, Taurine, Sodium Bicarbonate, Magnesium Carbonate, Caffeine, Niacinamide (B3), Calcium Pantothenate (B5), Pyridoxine HCI (B6), Vitamin B12, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Colors.
Sucrose, glucose, natural and artificial flavors, and colors are items that are not optimal to be consumed daily.
A few years ago, I compared several popular energy drinks such as Red Bull, Monster Energy Drinks, and other energy beverages that give you a quick energy boost because my son was asking to drink them. I laid it all out so other parents could benefit from my research and what I found was that some of these energy drinks contain as much caffeine as three cans of Coke. The sugar content was less but many products contain artificial sweeteners instead of sugar, so I’m not convinced that’s a win.
When you’re consuming that much caffeine, your body crashes when it starts to leave your system. Making your own homemade energy drinks with a small amount of caffeine allows your body to benefit from the extra energy without the crash afterward.
Ingredients in this Homemade Energy Drink
Each of these ingredients were chosen because they’re beneficial for energy and nutrition:
- Watermelon: This fruit is super hydrating and contains vitamins C & A. Watermelon also helps post-workout because it could help relieve muscle soreness and lower inflammation in your body, and contains amino acids that help improve circulation.
- Cherry: Contain natural sugars that don’t cause spikes in blood pressure, and they’re anti-inflammatory.
- Lime: Fresh lime juice has anti-inflammatory properties and contain magnesium, which your body needs for energy production.
- Honey: Honey is a natural sweetener, there is no added sugar in this recipe. I prefer using raw honey. You could also use maple syrup.
- Unsweetened Green Tea:
- I started drinking green tea a few years ago after hearing about some of its health benefits. The nutrients in green tea are anti-inflammatory and provide antioxidants. There is caffeine in green tea, but nothing like the levels in store bought energy drinks that tend to make a lot of people jittery or shaky.
- You can easily make your own green tea, but it’s ok to buy store bought too. You’re going to want to check the label to make sure the tea doesn’t contain anything other than green tea–I like using Pure Leaf brand unsweetened green tea when I don’t have time to make my own.
How to make these healthy energy drink:
- Juice the limes and measure out the cherries, honey, and watermelon into a blender or food processor. Add the honey.
- Blend on high speed for about one minute.
- Divide the contents of your blender into two 12 ounce bottles, then fill to the top with unsweetened green tea. This mixture will be about 4 ounces, so measure two ounces into each bottle. I think the perfect ratio is 10 oz green tea to 2 ounces juice.
- You can keep this in the fridge for up to five days or so.
Can you freeze this homemade energy drink?
Definitely. You can actually freeze the juice itself in 2 oz portions or freeze the entire 12 ounce drink. I love doing this so it stays fresh and I know it’ll be easy to put one together quickly when I want one.
What other flavors can I make?
SO many! The possibilities are literally endless. Let me share a few of my favorite ingredients to mix into these:
SO many! The possibilities are literally endless. Let me share a few of my favorite natural ingredients to mix into these:
- lime and lemon juice: help with hydration and provide magnesium to help make energy. Lemons are considered to be an alkaline forming food, and they help your body heal. Even adding a lemon slice to your energy drink will help with this!
- berries: they’re rich in antioxidants and provide natural energy because of the sugars.
- pineapple: pineapple is very anti-inflammatory as well as hydrating.
- ginger: is anti-inflammatory. Ginger also helps speed up recovery and reduces muscle pain and soreness.
You can use this juice mixture to make homemade electrolyte and hydration drinks, as well! I’ve written up an entire post about why you might want to use them but know that it’s as simple as adding coconut water instead of green tea.
Recipe Tips:
- You can also freeze this mixture into ice cubes and add them to a bottle or cup of water. I love doing this during a hard workout.
- Adding a squeezed lemon slice, thin slices of ginger, or even some chia seeds to this drink mixture are a great way to power it up a bit.
Healthy Eating Plans
Weight Watchers
One serving of this homemade energy drink without the honey is 0 Points on the 2023 Plan | 0 Blue Plan Point | 0 Green Plan Points | 0 Purple Plan Points. Adding the honey to this drink would make it 2 Points on the 2023 Plan | 2 Blue Points | 2 Green Points | 2 Purple Points.
21 Day Fix/ Portion Fix / Portion Fix
One serving of this energy drink counts as one sweetener teaspoon (honey) and 1/2 purple container (for cherries and watermelon). The unsweetened green tea is not counted.
More Healthy Recipes
- Cloud Bread with Greek Yogurt
- How to make pancakes without flour
- Starbucks Egg White Bites Recipe
- Air Fryer Artichoke Recipe
- Healthy Crepe Recipe
- Healthy Crack Chicken
- Starbucks Egg Bites Recipe
Easy Homemade Energy Drink (VIDEO)
Equipment
- Vitamix Blender
- Glass Milk Bottles
Ingredients
- 2 limes squeezed
- 6 cherries pitted
- 2 tsp honey optional
- 1/4 cup watermelon
- 20 ounces unsweetened green tea
Instructions
- Juice the limes and measure out the cherries, honey, and watermelon into a blender or food processor. Add the honey. 2 limes, 6 cherries, 2 tsp honey, 1/4 cup watermelon
- Blend on high speed for about one minute.
- Divide the contents of your blender into two 12 ounce bottles, then fill to the top with unsweetened green tea. This mixture will be about 4 ounces, so measure two ounces into each bottle. I think the perfect ratio is 10 oz green tea to 2 ounces juice. 20 ounces unsweetened green tea
- You can keep this in the fridge for up to five days or so.
Video
Notes
21 Day Fix/ Portion Fix: One serving of this energy drink counts as one sweetener teaspoon (honey) and 1/2 purple container (for cherries and watermelon). The unsweetened green tea is not counted.
Nutrition
Make This Recipe?
Make sure to follow on Pinterest @bludlum and on Instagram @beccaludlum
I loved how easy this was to make!! Will be making it all summer long!
Oh this sounds so refreshing and so good. Watermelon and green tea are such an interesting combo. I MUST give this a try. I might make this right now. I have all ingredients!
this looks so delicious and super easy! can’t wait to try this!
Are there any suggested alternatives to the watermelon? This looks amazing and so good but I’m deadly allergic to watermelon :(
Anything hearty that will blend well. Strawberries, peaches, etc:)
Saving this for later! Thank you!
What brand of unsweetened green tea do you use for this?
I really like Pure Leaf!
62000 calories or am i reading that wrong? Im sorry im just a kid looking for some homemade stuff.
Just 62 calories :) kcal stands for kilocalorie or just calorie.
We don’t get cherries throughout the year can you please suggest a substitute for cherries…..
I love using frozen cherries in this! I post has several alternative fruits and flavors you can use :)
Do you have to use green tea or is that just for flavouring??
It’s for caffeine :)
I’m doing a strawberry and lemon one what do I need out of your recipe
Hi Finton, You’ll probably want to keep the green tea and honey :)
nice
Hi Becca,
I’m wondering what would happen if I dehydrated the mix (without the green tea) and then ground it into a powder. Would I be able to store it longer, or would it go bad?
I’ve never been too keen on store-bought energy drinks, therefore I have tried to steered clear of them altogether. But being fit and playing a lot of sport, I know that a home-made energy drink (where I know what I’ve put in it) will be a great asset for me. Definitely can’t wait to try it, and will share this with my family and friends.
Thanks, Amy
Hi Amy, I have no idea about dehydrating anything–I’ve never done it–I’m sorry!
Hi-i didn’t sew anything about the caffeine content? The primary reason we drink energy drinks is for the high caffeine content. Can you tell me what the caffeine count is?
About 100mg, depending on the tea you use :)
One of the best products ever
Can you use frozen unsweetened fruit, or does it have to be fresh?
Sure! Frozen fruit will make it more like a smoothie than an energy drink :)
I was wondering what would be a good substitute for cherries
Hi Haley,
Berries would be a good substitute. We’ve also made these in different flavors like lime & lemon, pineapple, and ginger. :)
THese sound delicious!! Where did you get the glass containers?
From Amazon! There is a link in the printable recipe area :)
I don’t think you realized some of the ingredients you were saying are unnecessary are actually B vitamins, it’s just the long version of the name. They list B12 as that, but B6 and B5 had the other name written out. Not everything is a scary chemical
Hello, thanks for your comment. Yes, the vitamins are not unnecessary – I definitely wasn’t talking about them. I’ve edited my post to be more clear about the “unnecessary” ingredients – sucrose, glucose, natural and artificial flavors, and colors.
While I applaud the attempt. I feel compelled to point out that while you did say there is no added sugar to this recipe – honey is quite literally liquid sugar. It has the same chemical construction as inverted sugar with a few “additives” added by bees, such nutrients are negligible at best. I understand this ingredient is optional, I just thought I’d point it out that is literally just a liquid form of sugar.
For those who like sweetness or are less sensitive to it, I feel the honey is a good addition in moderation, however based recipe I think the sugars in the fruit would provide ample sweetness. A more interesting flavor improvement would be to take a pound of cherries and pit them, then boil them for a few hours. It’s more involved but you can create a concentrated cherry flavoring without sugar. The leftover cherry fruit can be added to the drink as extra fiber and you can use a small amount of cherry concentrate to flavor the drink.