The drink that screams SUMMER with a little fun: sparkling strawberry lemonade with fresh strawberry boba! This drink not only embodies the cool, refreshing lemonade everyone loves, it's also filled with the flavor and aroma of fresh strawberries, spritzy bubbles, and some fun, chewy boba.

Front angled view of a tall glass of the sparkling strawberry lemonade with a small bowl of strawberry bobas.

In the last couple of weeks, we've heard so many cries of despair on social media because many boba tea shops are experiencing boba shortages. Although we're not affected too much down in Louisiana, we thought maybe we can alleviate some of that despair by sharing a boba recipe! Which, led us to this sparkling strawberry lemonade with fresh strawberry boba!

Yep, you've read it right. Not a classic boba recipe. It's strawberry bobas! We were inspired to make fresh strawberry bobas after watching Tiktok videos of people making mango bobas. We were blown away! Why didn't we think of making different flavor bobas?! Well now, we've indulged in making wayyyy to many flavors of bobas, lol. But all jokes aside, we are in love with these fresh strawberry bobas. That are a beautiful shade of pink and tastes full of strawberry flavors. Best of all? They're such a nice, fun complement to this sparkling strawberry lemonade!

Front view of a glass of sparkling strawberry lemonade garnished with a strawberry and thyme.

Use good strawberries

Just as our culinary instructors have always emphasized, "The best ingredients make the best dishes." This quote cannot be more true for making these homemade, fresh strawberry bobas. Essentially, the only flavors these bobas will have are tapioca flour, strawberry, and some sugar for additional sweetness. So with such little ingredients, the most prominent-flavored ingredients will taste most prominent, of course.

We really encourage you to find good strawberries for this recipe, for both the bobas and the macerated strawberries. It really makes a world of difference in flavor. Trust us. We've tried making this recipe with both, mediocre strawberries from grocery stores and good strawberries from our local farmers market. It's unbelievable how much more strawberries flavor was in our bobas and how much better tasting our sparkling strawberry lemonade was. So do your tongue a huge favor, and go get some good strawberries!

A bowl of fresh strawberry boba before cooking. — The bobas might look imperfect right now, but after boiling, they will look smooth.

The microwave: an alternative method for cooking the initial boba dough

We know. What's better than cooking or baking up some rewarding, yummy food? Of course it's doing less dishes and/ or simplifying the process of making the rewarding, yummy food! So if you ever feel this way...like us...great news! You can make the initial part of this fresh strawberry boba dough in the microwave!

For this alternative method, combine the finely chopped strawberries, 2 Tablespoons of sugar, and a packed Tablespoon of tapioca flour in a medium microwave safe bowl. Thoroughly mix the mixture until no more clumps of tapioca flour is visible. Place the bowl into the microwave and microwave the mixture for about 15 to 30 seconds, depending on the power setting of your microwave. The dough is ready when it starts bubbling up and looks translucent and gloopy. However, don't microwave for too long! It will cook out too much moisture and will result in the dough not absorbing enough tapioca flour.

Knead the dough while its hot! (and with caution)

Now, one very very important step in making bobas, aka tapioca pearls, is that the initial, starter dough must be kneaded with the rest of the tapioca flour while it's hot. If the starter dough cools too much, it will not be able to absorb the needed amount of tapioca flour to get the dough to the right consistency and texture for making tapioca pearls. If the starter dough is too hot to handle with your hands, initially, use a rubber spatula to help you fold and knead the dough until you can knead the dough with your hands.

Holding the finished fresh strawberry boba dough in both hands. — This fresh strawberry boba dough is slightly on the wetter side, but we prefer this texture a bit more because it's easier to shape.

Proper texture of boba dough

Ideally, boba doughs should feel velvety when smooth, not sticky but very slightly tacky, and feels dry but still soft and moist enough for you to roll into pearls without crumbling. After making several batches of boba and also testing boba doughs for different recipes, we've decided that we can expand the margin acceptance for what proper tapioca dough should be. We can't really show you exactly what we look for when we decide if a batch of boba dough is good because a lot of the is by touch. So I recommend to make a few batches of boba and see the difference and what you prefer.

For us, the first thing we look for is how tacky the dough is. The dough should be slightly tacky but not sticky. Next, our dough should be able to be rolled into a smooth ball. The smooth surface should feel pretty velvety. Last but not least, the dough needs to be dry enough to hold its shape but no so dry that it's crumbly. This last checkmark is probably the most variable. For starters, I'd much prefer to make a dough that's slightly on the wetter side than dry, because dry dough cracks easily and breaks up when you boil the pearls.

Homemade boba shaping hack!

When we first got inspired by this hack, both Kyong and I were mind blown! Like wow! This everyday baking gadget saves us so much time when we make homemade bobas. Plus, the sizes are always consistent! So what is this mysterious boba shaping gadget?! It's a simple wire rack we use for cooling our baked goods.

Rolling a slab of fresh strawberry boba dough through a wire rack with a rolling pin. — Using a rolling pin, roll the dough through the wire rack to make boba pieces.

Using the index finger to go over each line of fresh strawberry boba. — Using a rolling pin, roll the dough through the wire rack to make boba pieces.

All you have to do to take advantage of the wire rack is to first, roll the boba dough to a little thicker than ¼ inch. Then, place the slab of boba dough onto the wire rack and roll the dough through the holes of the rack with a rolling pin. With this step, I personally prefer rolling from the edges first because the dough goes through the wires much easier. Next, dust a small amount of tapioca flour on the just-cut tapioca dough (as needed) and start rounding each piece of tapioca dough into pearls. Do also cover the dough with a clean, damp towel while working on the pearls so that they don't dry up and crack.

One last note, if you are using this hack for boba making, I do recommend purchasing a wire rack that have holes about 1 cm x 1 cm or ¼ in x ¼ in. In our opinion, they make the perfect size bobas that won't get stuck in boba straws.

Boba doneness

If you've ever made boba drinks with pre-made bobas before, the packages most like instructed to boil the bobas for about 10 to 15 minutes. Indeed, the bobas are probably done within that time, however, the texture of the bobas are not perfect. Turns out, bobas have the best texture if you slightly overcook them. For our bobas, we usually like to boil them for about 20-25 minutes, depending on the size of the boba. To check if the bobas are done, bite a boba pearl in half. The interior of the boba should look kind of translucent and no longer white, powdering, and starchy.

Fresh strawberry bobas in a strainer after being drained and rinsed. — Cooked bobas always look a little translucent. Best way to check is to bite one in half to see if the starch on the inside is cooked through.

How long does the lemon syrup take to cook?

This recipe's lemon syrup is a little different than a classic lemon syrup that features just the lemon juice. For our recipe, we are using almost the entire lemon and making the entire lemon edible. This process usually takes about 10 to 15 minutes, depending on how thick the lemon slices are. The thinner, the lesser time needed; the thicker, the more time is needed. To determine if the lemon syrup and slices are ready, look at the rinds of the lemon slices. Once the rind starts to look translucent, the syrup and lemon slices are ready. The reason why the lemon slices must be cooked until the rinds are sort of see through is to make them not bitter and therefore, edible.

Front view of a glass of sparkling strawberry lemonade with a small bowl of strawberry bobas in sunlight.

Why macerate the strawberries?

Honestly, there are many ways you could go about sweetening the strawberries to make this sparkling strawberry lemonade. We decided on macerating the strawberries. Why? Let's start with what it means to macerate.

To macerate, in reference to fruits, is to soak and/ or marinade fruits in liquid, usually to enhance or elevate its flavor. Our macerated strawberries are soaked in its own juice with the help of sugar because sugar draws out moisture. This way, the strawberries will still taste fresh, sweetened, and be a much better complement for a glass of lemonade that's refreshing. Plus, no cooking needed and the strawberries won't taste like jam.

A glass of sparkling strawberry lemonade being stirred with a straw.

If you're looking for other summer refreshments, you should check these out!

Cook with love!
Mei ❤️

If you’ve made this recipe or any recipes from our blog, please tag us on Instagram using #twoplaidaprons! You can also tag us in your Instagram stories using @two_plaid_aprons. We would love to see your creations! It absolutely makes our day! 🥰

Sparkling Strawberry Lemonade (with Fresh Strawberry Boba)