Homemade Electrolyte Drink: A Precise g/L Recipe with Canadian Ingredients
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Set your batch size and the grams are worked out from the grams-per-litre recipe published in this guide.
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Weigh, don't scoop — a pocket scale with 0.01 g precision is recommended. Volume measures are unreliable for powders of different densities.
How this is calculated
Each amount is the grams-per-litre figure published in the recipe table above, multiplied by your batch size. Nothing is extrapolated beyond what this guide states.
Elemental contributions are the approximations published in this guide. Exact mineral content varies by grade and lot — check the Certificate of Analysis for the lot you receive.
This is a formulation aid, not medical or nutritional advice. Consult a qualified professional before changing your electrolyte intake.
Store-bought electrolyte drinks cost $2-4 per serving. Made from bulk salts, the same drink costs about $0.15. Here is the exact recipe, in grams per litre, with the reasoning behind each number.
Dissolve in warm water first, then top up to 1 L and chill. The citrates dissolve faster than the chloride forms and taste far less harsh.
Why citrates instead of table salt
Most DIY recipes call for table salt (sodium chloride) and a potassium chloride salt substitute. That works, but chloride salts taste metallic and bitter at the concentrations you need. Citrates deliver the same minerals with a clean, slightly tart flavour, and the citrate ion itself acts as a buffer that is gentler on the stomach.
Light activity or daily hydration: halve the sodium citrate to 0.75 g/L. You do not need 380 mg of sodium sitting at a desk.
Endurance, heat, heavy sweating: keep the full 1.5 g/L, or push to 2.0 g/L for sessions over two hours in the heat.
Keto or low-carb: drop the dextrose and raise sodium citrate to 2.0 g/L. Carbohydrate restriction increases sodium loss. See the keto electrolyte formulation guide for the full rationale.
Kids or sensitive stomachs: halve everything and add a little more dextrose for palatability.
Should you include the dextrose?
Sodium and glucose are absorbed together through the same transporter in the gut, so a small amount of carbohydrate genuinely speeds up water uptake. That is the mechanism behind oral rehydration solutions. For hydration alone, 20-30 g/L is plenty. For fuelling a long workout, 60-80 g/L is the usual range, though at that point you are making a sports drink rather than an electrolyte drink.
At bulk pricing, the mineral salts work out to roughly $0.10-0.15 per litre, and the dextrose adds a few cents more. Against $2-4 for a commercial bottle or stick pack, a single kilogram of each salt makes hundreds of litres.
Practical notes
Weigh with a scale that reads to 0.1 g. Volume measures are unreliable for salts because bulk density varies with particle size.
Mix a dry master batch if you want convenience: multiply the per-litre grams by 20, blend well, and scoop one twentieth per litre.
Store the dry salts sealed and dry. Magnesium citrate in particular picks up moisture and cakes.
Made-up drink keeps 3-4 days refrigerated. Without preservatives, do not leave it at room temperature.
The short version: 1.5 g sodium citrate, 1.0 g potassium citrate, 0.5 g magnesium citrate and 1.0 g citric acid per litre, with dextrose to taste. Adjust the sodium up or down for how hard and how hot you are working.
