Easy Lemon Syrup

This easy lemon syrup is made with just two ingredients and a bit of time—zero cooking required! This luscious syrup is perfect in drinks, fruit salad, or for flavoring whipped cream.

When you’re a food blogger married to someone who loves to cook, you go through a lot of lemons.

Part of me always felt a little weird tossing out my spent lemon rinds. It always felt like there should be something I could do with them beside tossing them in garbage.

I mean, you can definitely compost them (and I have), but some people caution against adding too much citrus to your compost since it can mess up the pH balance, etc. Science, blah blah.

A couple years back, I saw an Instagram reel from Sohla El-Waylly about how she uses her spent lemon rinds to make a super simple lemon syrup. 

I immediately had to give it a try and was amazed at how delicious it was. And that was that. I’ve never looked back—it’s my favorite little trick now.

The easiest no-cook lemon syrup

Italians make something called oleo-saccharum—a syrup made from lemon peels. This easy lemon syrup is a twist on that process.

This syrup uses two ingredients: the rinds from juiced lemons and sugar. That’s it.

It’s a really great way to make use of what is left after you have juiced and zested a bunch of lemons for lemon curd or lemon chiffon pie. Save the rinds in a bag in the freezer and use them to make this syrup whenever the bag is full.

This recipe is also a cold-process simple syrup, so it requires zero cooking.

That’s right! It’s so easy. And you’re left with a luscious syrup with the perfect lemon flavor that can be used in drinks, on fruit salad, in whipped cream, in cakes…the options are endless.

How to make this lemon syrup

This lemon syrup is so easy and so delicious, it’s bound to become a repeat recipe for you. 

What you’ll need

You only need 2 ingredients for this recipe:

1. 2 parts spent lemon rinds (by weight)
2. 1 part granulated sugar (by weight)

Notice that I say that you are going for a 2:1 ratio of lemon rinds to sugar by weight? Yes, that means that you will need a food scale for this recipe. 

Listen, I promise that you’ll find all kinds of uses for a food scale once you have one. It is so useful for baking, especially for things like bread recipes. 

(And if I’m being honest, I use mine for weighing packages before mailing them, too. 🤣) 

You want to use juiced lemon rinds for this recipe. It is fine if some or all of them have also had the lemon zest removed. You may get a bit more of a bitter edge in your syrup if a lot of the rinds have been zested, but it’s the good kind of bitter.

I know, that sounds weird. But just trust me here. It’s delicious.

I like to save up my spent rinds by storing them in a bag in the freezer. I add them over the course of a couple of months and make a batch of this syrup once the bag is full.

Making this recipe

To figure out how much sugar you will need to make your syrup, weigh the lemon rinds.

Place a large (non-reactive) bowl on a food scale. Tare (zero out) the weight of the bowl, then add the lemon rinds.

Take the weight of the lemon rinds and divide it in half. This is how much sugar you will need to add to the bowl. I prefer to measure all of this in grams.

Add the sugar and stir to coat the rinds. Cover and let this hang out on the counter for 3-4 hours, or as much as 12 hours. Give it a stir every hour or so.

If your rinds are frozen when you start, you’ll probably need to go a full 12 hours. Don’t stress if you can’t stir it every hour; it’ll be fine.

You’ll know the syrup is ready when the lemon rinds have broken down, the sugar has dissolved, and the mixture is super syrupy.

Strain the syrup. I like the press the rinds with a muddler or wooden spoon to get as much of the syrup out of them as a I can. 

And that’s it! Your easy lemon syrup is done!

Storage

Store the lemon syrup in clean jars or bottles in the refrigerator for up to a month. If needed, shake the syrup before using, but I find this is only necessary if it has been in the fridge for more than a few weeks.

You could also freeze the syrup in an airtight container for up to 3 months.

Uses

How are we using our easy lemon syrup?

My go-to is to use it in drinks!

You can make some great cocktails with it, such as a lemon drop martini. But honestly cocktails are just the tip of the iceberg.

• Make a delicious sparkling lemonade by mixing it with sparkling water. Add in some muddled berries or watermelon juice for a fruity twist.
• Add it to hot tea or iced tea—perfect for any time of year.
• Mix it with ginger beer for a sweet, slightly spicy, summery drink.

But don’t stop there! It is perfect for breakfast and desserts, too. Try drizzling it over fruit salad, using it to flavor whipped cream or adding it to pancakes or waffles.

Mix it with sliced strawberries for strawberry shortcake or use it as a drizzle on homemade yellow cake or pound cake.

It also makes a great gift! Package it up in a pretty bottle or jar, add a tag to the lid, and you’ve got a gorgeous host gift for any occasion.