Stroke is the main cause for acquired disabilities. Pharmaceutical or mechanical removal of the thrombus is the cornerstone of stroke treatment but can only be administered to a subset of patients and within a narrow time window. Novel treatment options are therefore required. Here we induced stroke by permanent occlusion of the distal medial cerebral artery of wild-type mice and knockout mice for the lactate receptor hydroxycarboxylic acid receptor 1 (HCA₁). At 24 h and 48 h after stroke induction, we injected L-lactate intraperitoneal. The resulting atrophy was measured in Nissl-stained brain sections, and capillary density and neurogenesis were measured after immunolabeling and confocal imaging. In wild-type mice, L-lactate treatment resulted in an HCA₁-dependent reduction in the lesion volume accompanied by enhanced angiogenesis. In HCA₁ knockout mice, on the other hand, there was no increase in angiogenesis and no reduction in lesion volume in response to L-lactate treatment. Nevertheless, the lesion volumes in HCA₁ knockout mice—regardless of L-lactate treatment—were smaller than in control mice, indicating a multifactorial role of HCA₁ in stroke. Our findings suggest that L-lactate administered 24 h and 48 h after stroke is protective in stroke. This represents a time window where no effective treatment options are currently available.