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This DIY homemade gatorade has become a viral trend as “nature’s gatorade” – a natural sports drink with electrolytes. This recipe is for 3 fruit flavors – mango, kiwi, and wild blueberry. No fake dyes or artificial ingredients, just a simple mix of fruit and coconut water!
A Quick Look: Homemade Gatorade
This homemade Gatorade with coconut water is one of my favorite ways to stay hydrated during migraine attack days, or running around with the kids during the heat of summer. And these recipes saved me during the worst stomach bug!
- Natural electrolytes – Coconut water and Redmond’s real salt contain natural electrolytes like magnesium and potassium.
- Real fruit – Kiwi, blueberry and mango give tropical flavors without any artificial flavorings, dyes, or ultra-processed ingredients.
- 5 minute recipe – This is one I can actually make when I don’t feel well because it only takes 5 minutes and uses frozen fruits!
- When to use it – I love to freeze the kiwi flavor into ice cubes and use it in cooled chamomile tea for a kiwi chamomile iced tea that’s great for a calming bedtime routine. The strawberry ginger is ideal for my migraine attack days or any time I need a boost of energy. And mango and blueberry are favorites for a cool summer time drink with electrolytes!
If you’re looking for more homemade gatorade style recipes, you may also love my coconut water electrolyte drink and electrolyte popsicles, or this green grape hydration drink, packed with natural electrolytes.
Table of Contents
Ingredients
These are just some interesting facts I found on what to buy from recipe testing a few different versions of this nature’s gatorade, with frozen fruit and without.
- Fresh or frozen fruit – This provides the color and flavor for each drink. Instead of using store-bought juices, we use frozen fruit which is good year-round. This gives the homemade gatorade a more concentrated fruit flavor. Citrus is used for a refreshing flavor, but can easily be omitted and substituted as needed for those in elimination. Please see the edits below!
- Blueberry flavor – A combination of frozen blueberries and lemon juice. Frozen blueberries offer the best concentration of blueberry flavor. I love wild blueberries for their impact on brain health. While you can use fresh blueberries here, we found the flavor wasn’t as strong in testing. The color is also much lighter.
- Mango flavor – More tropical flavor with mango and lime juice. Frozen or fresh mango will work! Mangoes are high in vitamin C and natural electrolytes.
- Kiwi flavor – Frozen or fresh kiwi and lime or lemon can be used!
- Strawberry ginger flavor – Fresh strawberries and ginger with a hint of lemon give this a strawberry ginger lemonade flavor that is super refreshing. I found that using fresh strawberries produced a clearer consistency over frozen, and it was preferable. However, if you want a more concentrated strawberry flavor and don’t care about a thicker texture, use frozen strawberries.
- Coconut water – I use Trader Joe’s, Vita Coco, or Harmless Harvest. Keep in mind some like Harmless Harvest have more of a pink color which can affect the color blend. With one cup you get 470mg of potassium and 30mg of sodium.
- Real salt – Redmond’s is not only a source of sodium, it also contains trace minerals of calcium, magnesium, and potassium. A great natural source of electrolytes compared to kosher or table salt. Sodium helps draw water into cells for hydration during exercise or sweating.
- Honey or maple syrup – This is completely optional and up to personal preference. I’ll give recommendations for amounts in the recipes below, but if your fruit is in peak season, you may not need any additional sweetness.
Recipe Tip
If using frozen fruit, I find the flavor to be more concentrated and the appearance to be more cloudy, even after straining. If you want a clearer consistency like store-bought Gatorade, I recommend using fresh fruit over frozen for all the flavors.
Substitutions and Variations
- Fruit – Other fruits can be substituted, like frozen strawberries or raspberries. I went with these flavors because I find more tart flavors to be helpful when I have nausea.
- Citrus – I have reintroduced lemon and lime with no issues for my migraine attacks, so I love it for this recipe and for those on a Mediterranean-style diet. If you’re on the HYH diet or low histamine, you will need to use a citrus substitute. I recommend pairing blueberry with pomegranate juice as a substitute for the lemon, mango with peach juice instead of lime, and kiwi with mango juice would be great.
- Coconut water – We tested plain electrolyte water as a substitute, but the flavor was watery and it did not work as well. I have heard birch water can be a good substitute but this was not tested. I recommend trying my watermelon juice recipe instead.
- Salt – Omitting the salt will alter the hydration potential, but it will still be a refreshing drink for those looking for lower sodium!
- Hydration ice cubes – Freeze the mixture into an ice cube mold like these small ice balls or larger cubes. The Souper Cubes trays are my favorite for long term storage, especially if I have leftovers I want to keep on hand.
- Add mint or basil – Blending mint into the mango flavor, or basil with the blueberry elevates the flavors making more grown up versions!
How to Make Homemade Gatorade
Step 1: Add the fruit, juice (citrus or subs), mineral salt, and coconut water to a blender.
Step 2: Blend till smooth and combined.
Step 3: Strain the juice mixture through a fine mesh strainer. Taste and adjust for sweetness, if needed.
Step 4: Pour into a glass with ice and serve!
Recipe Tip
Because we’re using fresh fruit for flavoring, a fine mesh strainer is needed to extract the pulp so the drink is smooth and refreshing. If you don’t mind a little more fiber, feel free to add the pulp to your drink. This works fine with the mango version!
Storage Information
Homemade gatorade can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 week in glass containers. I highly recommend these glass bottles for storage!
If you have leftovers and you don’t want to use them immediately, you can freeze these into popsicle molds or ice cubes.
Nature’s Gatorade Ice Cubes
This is one of my favorite ways to use these natural gatorade recipes, especially on days you don’t feel well and don’t want to blend anything.
- Ice cube molds – You can use large round balls, which are great for a non-alcoholic spritz and melt much more slowly. You will need these small funnels to fill them. Smaller balls melt a little faster, giving you more concentrated flavor in a fun way. The trick is to overfill these. Or these silicone cubes are my favorites for everyday use.
Recommended Mixers
- Filtered water – This is best if you want a watered down version that may be helpful on sick days.
- Sparkling water – Best for a fun mocktail or spritz. This goes with all four flavors. Often I like to combine filtered water with sparkling water and the nature’s gatorade ice cubes.
- Ginger ale – This flavor pairing is best with the mango, strawberry ginger, and blueberry. You can even do a homemade ginger ale.
More Electrolyte Drink Recipes
Whenever I’m not feeling well I rely heavily on smoothies like this ginger smoothie or my homemade rotisserie chicken broth. I also love homemade ginger ale!
For more natural electrolyte drinks like this one, you can try my viral electrolyte drink with coconut water, ginger mint drink, or watermelon mint juice.
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 review in the recipe card! Don’t forget to tag me @thedizzycook on Facebook and Instagram, and follow along on Pinterest for more great recipes!
Homemade Gatorade (4 Flavors)
Equipment
- 1 High speed blender
- 1 Fine mesh strainer
Ingredients
Mango
- 1 cup fresh or frozen mango
- ⅛ teaspoon Redmond’s real salt or similar/Himalayan salt
- 1 lime, juiced (optional)
- 3 cups coconut water
Kiwi
- 3 kiwis, peeled and chopped
- ⅛ teaspoon Redmond’s real salt or similar/Himalayan salt
- 1 lime, juiced (optional)
- 3 cups coconut water
Blueberry
- 1/2 cup fresh or frozen wild blueberries
- ⅛ teaspoon Redmond’s real salt or similar/Himalayan salt
- 1 lemon, juiced (optional)
- 3 cups coconut water
Strawberry Ginger
- 1 cup fresh strawberries, hulled (10 strawberries or roughly 8 ounces)
- 2 cups coconut water
- 1 inch piece ginger, ½ to 3/4 ounce
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons honey or maple syrup
- ⅛ teaspoon Redmond’s real salt
- ¼ cup sparkling water
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients, except sparkling water, to a blender and blend on high speed for 15-20 seconds.
- Strain pulp (for kiwi, blueberry, and strawberry flavors), no need to for mango unless you want to!), enjoy or store in a jar for up to 3-4 days.
- Sparkling water – Adds a little fizz which is nice for high-nausea days. I love to top with 1/4 cup on all flavors, but especially the strawberry ginger. Add this to each glass after blending and straining.
Video
Notes
- Hydration ice cubes – Freeze the mixture into an ice cube mold like these small ice balls or larger cubes. The Souper Cubes trays are my favorite for long term storage, especially if I have leftovers I want to keep on hand.
- Citrus substitutes – For those who cannot tolerate citrus or on a migraine diet, you can substitute the following for lemon/lime – pomegranate juice (blueberry and strawberry), peach nectar (mango), mango juice (kiwi). Substitute 1-2 tablespoons in place of the citrus.
- Blueberry flavor can also be substituted with frozen mixed berries.
- Mineral salt – Added for natural electrolytes, this can be omitted for low sodium.
- Homemade juice will store up to 4 days in the fridge but also is great frozen into popsicles or ice cubes!
- Serving size – 1 flavor makes 3 drinks total! Nutrition calculation is for the blueberry flavor.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I saw your post recently on the kiwi flavor and freezing it and then pouring tea over the cubes. I couldn’t find what kind of tea you used or would recommend. Would love to know what kind you recommend!
Hey! I used chamomile tea in that recipe. I like this brand since they don’t have plastic in the tea bags, but still a good price.
Came across this and tried the blueberry today. Love it! Definitely need to stick up on coconut water to make the other flavours. Thanks! 😃
What would you substitute for a coconut allergy?
Hey – so this recipe isn’t very flavorful with regular water (I tested it) so I’d recommend my watermelon juice if you want the electrolytes or this blueberry ginger mocktail instead.
thank u ♡
Just made the mango one without lime juice. I was skeptical because there seems to be a lot of coconut water and not a lot of fruit. I am pleasently surprised in how good this is. I definately prefer it over my unflavored LMNT. Much cheeper too! Thanks so much for your recipes and time.
Thank you so much – that’s really sweet! You can definitely add more fruit if you want to, but then I found it wasn’t as clear as actual gatorade but becomes more of like the “naked juice” texture – which is still amazing. Just depends how fruit forward you want it to be.
Tried the Mango recipe-a little thicker consistency.
Really a great option for headache sufferers
Thank you!! Glad you enjoyed it. I do love that it’s a little thicker!
So great for summer!! I also used these during a stomach bug I picked up on a plane and it was nice to have an alternative from the storebought versions. I made the blueberry and the mango and I think mango was my favorite.