These homemade Gatorade sports drink recipes are quick and easy to make. They’re inexpensive and if you drink a lot of them, you’ll save a lot of money!
Several readers sent in their favorite homemade Gatorade sports drink recipes and we’re sharing them here. If you have one you would like to share please post the recipe in the comments! -Tawra
If you would like to add more electrolytes to these recipes, you can find electrolyte drops here. You can add a few drops per serving to any of these recipes if you like and save a LOT of money over buying pre-made sports drinks.
PrintHomemade Gatorade
Ingredients
1 pack unsweetened Kool-aid (any flavor)
2 quarts cold water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup orange juice
Instructions
- Mix all of the ingredients together in a 2-quart jug.
- Chill and serve.
This equals the electrolyte replacement found in many popular drinks on the market.
I have always found that sports drinks taste better to me and seem to work better for me if I cut them in half with water. This is probably not as frugal as making something from scratch, but it is a savings. From Barb
PrintHay Time Switchel
- Yield: 1 gallon
Ingredients
2 cups sugar
1 cup molasses
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 gallon water
Instructions
- Heat all of the ingredients in 1 quart of water until the ingredients are dissolved.
- Then add the remaining water.
- Chill and serve.
Haymaker’s Switchel
(Similar to Haytime Switchel, it just has slightly different proportions.)
Ingredients
3 1/2 quarts water
1 cup molasses
1/2 cup maple syrup or honey
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 – 2 Tbsp. ground ginger
Instructions
- Mix the liquids.
- Add the ginger and stir thoroughly.
- Take to the field in jugs.
Homemade Gatorade Recipe
- Yield: 2 quarts
Ingredients
2 quarts water
1 teaspoon baking soda
1–2 teaspoons salt (I use Sea Salt)
7 Tablespoons sugar
1 packet Sugar-Free Kool-Aid
Instructions
- Mix ingredients.
- Chill and serve.
Electrolyte Replacement
Ingredients
1 cup water
1 Tbsp. orange juice or 2 tsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. sugar – DO NOT use a low-calorie sugar substitute
1 pinch salt
Instructions
- Add the ingredients to the water.
- Shake well.
- Store in a jar or sealed container.
Notes
- This Electrolyte Replacement will keep at least 24 hours without refrigeration, and weeks if it is kept cold.
- For those who do not like citrus, use 3 oz. of cranberry juice cocktail in 5 oz. of water but do not add sugar.
Hope these suggestions help! I’m guessing this last mixture is similar to the homemade pedialyte for the mission field.
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These are great ideas. Especially for this HOT WEATHER!
lucy’s ‘lectrolyte replacement
2 qts water
1/8 tsp of NO SALT a potassium replacement used for salt for folks who have to reduce their salt intake. if on dialysis do not use NO SALT.
wylers or kool-aid brand of drink flavoring
sugar to sweeten
this is roughly equivalent to gatorade. you lose mostly potassium and sodium when you are sweating. vomiting or having diarrhea.
kids and adults like this. that container of NO SALT IS NOT CHEAP but it lasts for many, many months. i share my container with a friend.
my husband was a painting contractor and the cost of gatorade was out of sight for several workers. so i came up with this recipe and still use it.
you can also make this with tea.
i tried the one above from cheryl G But the taste was really bad & I went by the directions
It probably doesn’t have as much sugar as you are used to with regular gatorade. Tawra
I just had to say, we are in Central Valley Calif and it has been really mild weather until today. We went and bought a 24 ft x 52 in pool and it felt like we traveled to Okla. to get it. Hubby works as a supervisor for a big company that provldes major restaurants with their meat, he works in a consistently -30 work enviornment and when he spent this day off and working on the pool, all he could say was Gatorade, it’s hot, it’s humid. Over and over. I for the life of me couldn’t remember where on here I read about Gatorade.
I’m so thrilled to say, tomorrow there will be plenty of Gatorade.
Norma ;-)
just wanted to share, my sis in law has 4 boys and love the gatorade… they have always bought the powder mix and just used less of the mix and more water… she tried making it homemade and well, said it was more of a savings if she watered down the mix than what was recommended…
not sure if this is true bc well, i dont drink gatorade… but my son said he couldnt tell the difference bc when he does buy it he uses alot of ice in his cup…
thought i would share…
and i just found a place on the website that shares the last comments in each blog… this is soooooooo neat!!!!…
thanks for adding this and if it was here the whole time i am glad i was able to finally find this! :D … heehhee :D …
Mike got the recent comments on the right added last week. We are still tweaking it to try and make it more user friendly. I know it’s hard to get used to, mom isn’t even on here yet. :-)
Don’t feel bad Rose. This is now my third try at trying to reply to your post. I had to call Tawra again today because I don’t know where to go, how to post and whether a facebook is the same as a handbook like we used in Girl Scouts or another whole creature. Some how I think it is another whole creature which I am trying not to be afraid of.
I can read read everybody’s posts but I am still learning how to reply so if you don’t hear from me it’s not because I am ignoring anyone it’s only because I am lost somewhere in cyberspace and am trying to find my way back. : )
Jill
Do we have to find you mother? :-) Oh yeah, I guess we do if we want a babysitter! :-)
I just tried Cheryl G’s recipe and it is good just added a bit of extra sugar. Thank you so much for this recipe I only drink juice and Gatorade as I have some minor urinary tract issues and that is all I can drink.
Jill, You are TOO funny. Love to read the comments!
Like anything new, it’s a little hard to navigate the website til we all figure out where everything is, but it’s really a great looking website!
Don’t know where these comments go, but in keeping the house clean, when my 2 kids got older, if their dirty clothes weren’t in the hamper they didn’t get washed. If I came home from work and the kitchen was in disarray (can you say disaster), I wouldn’t cook until they cleaned up their dishes, etc. I didn’t yell or scream, just said I can’t prepare a meal in a messy kitchen. Anything left in the living room had to be picked up by 6:00 p.m. or I put it away and it was gone for a day or so.
Sounds mean, but they learned to put their things away, and I wasn’t so crazy/cranky from working and then coming home to a mess! My thoughts are we’re all in this family together so we share the work —
Good luck with the website Tara, it’s really looking super!
Donna
The comments go at the bottom of the article you are on.
Nope, not mean at all. We do similar things around here.
Donna_ I love the way you think. I am going to start that with my girls, I did it with my son when he was younger, but he was 10 when my 1st daughter was born and I am afraid I got soft in my old age. HaHa!
Donna,
I’m so glad I read your comment today! Thanks, it was definitely meant for me!!!
My boys are 14 and 8. They are staying home ‘kind of’ alone this Summer. I say kind of because my husband works nights and is there sleeping during the day. If they have an emergency, they can wake him up. Also, I only work 5 minutes away from home and they check in with me via phone calls.
Anyway, this is starting the fourth week of Summer break and the kitchen is always a mess when I get home at 5:00. They leave dirty dishes on the table and counter instead of loading the dishwasher or even rinsing them and stacking them in the sink. They also have clutter all over the living room and towels on their bathroom floor.
I have been so stressed with this but not wanting to be yelling and nagging at them in the evenings. My husband works 60 hours a week and is gone 70 with driving time and I didn’t want to waste what little time we have in the evenings with negative behavior and me stressed out over the mess.
I am putting your ‘rules’ about the kitchen and living room into effect tonight! I love it and think it will work great. I’m also going to utilize the tip on the laundry.
Thanks again!!!
Angie
What we do to help with laundry is if I find clean clothes in the with the dirty, I fold them and give them back to the kids to put up… and charge them $1 for each piece! I haven’t paid for laundry soap for awhile! :-)
The other thing that works well with us is “weeks”. Mom did this with my brother and I.
Each week we rotate chores.
An example is this week Elly loads the dishwasher, unloads the top and takes out the trash.
BJ wipes the table, unloads the bottom of the dishwasher and empties all the small trash cans.
David, clears the table, puts in a new trash bag etc. Then the next week they all move down one.
This is good because they all learn how to do the chores and they don’t get stuck doing the same thing over and over.
Then whoever’s “week” it is they get to choose: where they sit in the car, what tv show to watch and first choice on anything they are fighting over.
Another way to break it is to do something like:
Everyone pick up 15 things in 5 minutes and put them where they belong.
or
BJ pick up the living room, Elly pick up the kitchen, David pick up the dining room. It doesn’t matter whose stuff it is just pick it up.
or
Each kid picks up all their stuff. Anything I find left I will either charge them $1 or they go to bed 5 minutes early for each item.
These are great ways to get them to do it but not nag.
Tawra
I am going to try these out. My bouys and hubby go through gator like, no pun intended, it’s water! I am definitely pleased to see these on here : > Thanks again!
We go through it alot in the summer too.
I made the Homemade Gatorade using 1 level teaspoon of salt only, not a heaping teaspoon, and 1 level teaspoon of baking soda, also not a heaping teaspoon, and the recipe came out tasty. Not too salty. I like to walk and in this heat these recipe are great. I also made the Electrolyte Replacement and that is very tasty too.
An excellent source of calcium is pickling lime. An excellent source of potassium is cream of tartar. An excellent source of sodium is baking soda. An excellent source of magnesium is epsom salt. an excellent source of trace minerals is black strap molasses. You need an acid to make all these bio-available. Most of the unsweetened flavored drink mix packets contain citric acid.
So to make a gatorade type drink I do the following:
Make up the unsweetened flavored drink mix the way you like it.
Pickling lime is very strong, so you need to mix one tablespoon into a gallon of water, and then add just one tablespoon of that mix to each glass. Add one level teaspoon of baking soda, and 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar, and just a pinch of epsom salts. Add 1 Tablespoon of Black strap molasses, stir it up well and drink it down.
So I made the homemade gatorade, my husband was very skeptical he would not even try it after he seen me add the salt and orange juice. BUT, I tricked him, I put the batch I just made into a sports drink bottle and he couldn’t tell the difference AT ALL so mission accomplished! Once I told him what I did we have never bought sports drinks again. Also what I did for the oj I pre measured and froze so I didn’t have to make or buy a huge thing and have to go bad and the ingredients are always on hand!
Jill ask one of your grandkids to help you find your way home from cyberspace never never land.lol Katharine
Very funny Katharine. Of course anything I ask my grandkids about along that line makes them crack up.
Does anyone know if the homemade sport drink recipes work OK with some substitute for sugar? My DH is diabetic.
I would think it would work just fine.
I just made the gatorade receipe from Cheryl G. I agree with Sandra!! I does taste really bad, all it taste like is baking soda. Why do you put soda in it? What is that doing to it?
Way too salty. Try this:
2 qts water
1 package of flavored drink
1/2 cup of sugar
1/4 tsp of salt
1/8 tsp of No Salt
Even that can taste a little salty, but I haven’t yet tried to drink it with ice.
My kids tried it and said it was good, but tasted a little funny.
So far I’ve only made it with lemonade flavor, but will try grape and fruit punch soon.
Will also just try adding the salt and No salt to the pre-mixed (sugar already added) fruit punch, kool-aid, etc.
My homemade Gatorade recipe:
1 part of your favorite juice.
3 parts of water.
1 pinch of salt.
Mix well and drink to hopefully recover well after an physical intense effort.
Nice and simple. I make mine up similarly, but use my dehydration as an excuse to have my salt in a few corn chips rather than my drink. Or olives. I especially like orange juice for the potassium. Coconut water is a good source of potassium as well, but it is very sweet
Just remember, if you have kidney disease, do not use the “No Salt”. It is potassium and most people with kidney disease have too much potassium and should not use this without your doctor’s approval. Take it from one who knows. I am taking a very NASTY medication to pull extra potassium from my body. So don’t want anyone else to have this problem.
I think I will try making this for my son. He has a side business of mowing lawns in the summer and it gets pretty hot and humid here in VA in teh summer. He usually drinks 2 gator ade 20 oz bottles during his mowing so this would be a money-saver, for sure.
I really like the tip of adding water to “water down” a drink and cut down on some of the sugar. My father does that with his orange juice. He likes it. It makes him happy and in a way, it does save some money :) :) Love and hugs from the ocean shores of California, Heather ;)
My son was in wrestling (very demanding-lots of sweating, etc.) He was told to drink as much water as he drank gatorade, as it is still too concentrated to drink for proper hydration. Pedialite is more of the proper balance for electolytes. If you’ve ever taste it you could tell the difference. It is really icky unless you really need it, then it seems to taste good to you. The gatorade is still more of a beverage than proper electolyte solution. Try and have a good balance of water and sports beverages.
Has anyone done a cost analysis on homemade gatorade? Just curious because I buy A LOT of Powerade/Gatorade, but ONLY when it is less than $.60 for 32 oz. (which is at least once a month around here). I was wondering how that would compare to any of the homemade recipes and if I would still save significant $$. I would have to “fake out” my hubby and son initially to get them to even try homemade – buy putting it in the empty bottles:-)
My 3 boys, Love gatorade but My Oldest Son drinks it as fast as I bring it home. I tried the Gatorade recipe {the one without orange juice, and Not the Pedialite one} My boys really liked it, But I did use 2/3 cup of sugar, Its actually pretty Good! Thanks:)
I’m an avid cyclist and during the summer need energy, fluids and electrolytes. I’m a pharmacist and have been tweeking my recipe. I use generic “Kool-ade” (less than half a packet per 1/2 gallon to give it some flavor but not be overwhelming). I use MORE than the 1 cup of sugar because riding long rides with plenty of elevation gain in the Colorado foothills burns calories like crazy. I add one-half teaspoonful of salt and one-half teaspoonful of “NO SALT” which is potassium chloride. This recipe has worked well for me on long rides in hot conditions to minimize dehydration and leg camps.
what is the reason for the baking soda in the first recipe?
It has to do with the chemical “stuff” that your body needs to replenish or recharge. I’m not sure but I think it is because it is high in sodium. That is why they add salt to some of the recipes because of the high sodium.
Also speaking of salt we hear this or that is better for you so we jump on the bandwagon and start using certain things because “they” said to without knowing the facts. Be careful if you think using sea salt is better it really isn’t and it has no iodine in it like regular salt. We need iodine so if you really think you need to use sea salt just be sure you are replacing that iodine by eating extra fish or supplements.
Add sodium without making it taste as salty.
My kidney doctor says there is a special exchange between sodium and potassium that makes the kidneys function well and if you don’t have enough of either or too much of either, the kidneys don’t work well. I actually have to eat less salt but take sodium bicarb tablets (baking soda) to offset the extra potassium that my body cannot get rid of. So, when working with/making your own gaterade, please follow the instructions carefully. You don’t want to freak out your kidneys. You will need them for a long time. :)
I have four girls and my husband is very active they love gatorade. I will try the recipea and see what they like. :) thank you guys for sharing. Sarah
recipes sorry for the typo lol I’m using my cell phone.
“Electrolyte Replacement
1 cup water
1 Tablespoon orange juice or 2 tsp. lemon juice
1 Tablespoon sugar – DO NOT use a low calorie sugar substitute
1 pinch salt”
It doesn’t matter if you use sugar substitute, infact for health, you should replace it, but Electrolytes has nothing to do with sugar, and since there is salt in there, problem solved…
Hello, Christie! I have been using your Gatorade recipe for a few years now- especially when my boys are heavy into football season. I am also a nutrition student, who is currently putting together a handout on nutrition and hydration when playing sports, and I would really like to include your recipe. Would this be okay with you? Is there a particular way you would like to be cited?
Thank you in advance.
Hello, I tried these energy drinks recipe and it works just awesome. It is far better than all those chemical flavored energy drinks in the market. Thank you for sharing.
Great to hear! I got kiddos in sports.
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The host of “Top Secret Recipe” on CMT has been revealing the secrets for years, and Todd Wilbur joined News4 with a little show-and-tell.
Ingredients:
2 quarts (8 cups) water
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 1-ounce (1/3 cup total) orange-flavored Willy Wonka Pixy Stix powder
1/2 teaspoon citric acid (sour salt)
1/4 teaspoon orange-flavored unsweetened Kool-Aid powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon Morton’s salt substitute (potassium chloride)
Instructions:
Combine everything in a two-quart pitcher and stir until all the solid ingredients have dissolved. Serve cold.
I’m going to add collagen peptides to mine..
I was reading your initial recipe that uses Koolaid, it says to use sugar free but I presume you are meaning the ones sweetened with like an artificial sweetener instead of sugar as opposed to the old style ones you had to ADD sugar to the mixture correct?
No they were meaning the old style ones where you had to add the sugar but just add the amount of sugar in the recipe and not what the package says- you can adjust it though to your own taste.