Simple Homemade Lemon Syrup

Add a little sweetness and burst of brightness to tea, iced and hot, with homemade lemon syrup. Super easy to make with just 3 ingredients in less than 5 minutes!

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Recipe Highlights

• Lemon syrup is a lemon flavored simple syrup (liquid sugar) made with three ingredients: sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest. It’s super easy to make at home in just 4 minutes.
• Use this homemade syrup to flavor and sweeten hot and cold drinks like tea and coffee. It’s especially great in iced tea since it mixes well with the cold beverage unlike sugar which can sink straight to the bottom of the cup.
• The recipe makes a cup of syrup, which can be kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 weeks.

RELATED: Mint Syrup

Ingredient Notes

• Sugar: Regular white sugar or cane sugar can be used. Brown sugar can be used too but the syrup will be a brown color instead of yellow.
• Lemon juice: About 6 lemons will be enough for this recipe. Use a citrus juicer to freshly squeeze the lemons.
• Lemon zest: The zest is the yellow part of the peel of a lemon. Make sure the peel is thoroughly cleaned before zesting. Use a grater to scrape the yellow peel but make sure not to add the white part of the lemon which can make it taste bitter. You’ll only need the zest from one lemon for this recipe.

For full ingredients and detailed instructions, please see the recipe card at the bottom of the post.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Put all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer.

Stir to make sure sugar dissolves completely.

Step 2: Take off heat and cool.

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Perfectly sized to hold a cup of syrup. The swing closure keeps the syrup airtight.

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Serving Suggestions

• Add lemon syrup in sparkling water to make lemon flavored soda.
• Pour syrup into iced tea to make lemon iced tea.
• Add syrup to butterfly pea flower tea to change the color of blue tea to purple.
• Use lemon syrup on pancakes.
• Drizzle syrup on slices of pound cake.
• Add to ginger tea to make lemon ginger tea.

RELATED: Simple Butterfly Pea Flower Syrup

Expert Tips

• The recipe makes a cup of lemon syrup which is 16 tablespoons. Use 1-2 tablespoons to flavor and sweeten a cup of tea.
• This simple syrup will keep for about 3 weeks when stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
• Don’t heat the syrup for too long on the stovetop, otherwise it’ll get too thick and won’t be as easy to add to iced drinks.

RELATED: Strawberry Syrup

Questions You May Have

Related

• 7 Benefits of Drinking Lemon Tea
• Hibiscus Syrup
• Mint Syrup
• Vanilla Syrup
• Cinnamon Syrup
• Brown Sugar Syrup

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4.84 from 6 votes

Simple Lemon Syrup

By: Jee Choe

Add a little sweetness and burst of brightness to tea with homemade lemon syrup.

Prep Time: 4 minutes minutes

Total Time: 4 minutes minutes

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients 

1x2x3x

• ▢ ¾ cup lemon juice, (juice from 6 lemons)
• ▢ ¾ cup sugar
• ▢ 1 tablespoon lemon zest

Instructions 

• Put all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer.

  Stir to make sure sugar dissolves completely.
• Take off heat and cool.
• Strain and pour syrup into an airtight container.

  Use a mesh strainer to separate the lemon zest from the syrup. The syrup will keep for up to 3 weeks in the refrigerator.

Notes

• Recipe makes 1 cup (16 tablespoons) of lemon syrup.
• Use 1-2 tablespoons of syrup for each cup.
• Don’t heat the syrup for too long on the stovetop, otherwise it’ll get too thick and won’t be as easy to add to iced drinks.

 

Syrup Uses

• Add lemon syrup in sparkling water to make lemon flavored soda.
• Pour syrup into iced tea to make lemon iced tea.
• Add syrup to butterfly pea flower tea to change the color of blue tea to purple.
• Use lemon syrup on pancakes.
• Drizzle syrup on slices of pound cake.
• Add it to ginger tea to make lemon ginger tea.

Nutrition

Calories: 78Carbohydrates: 20gProtein: 1gFat: 1gSaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 1mgPotassium: 24mgFiber: 1gSugar: 19gVitamin C: 10mgCalcium: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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