Lemon Simple Syrup

Sweet, bright yellow and full of tangy zesty citrus flavor this is basically like summertime in a jar. Try out this bright and beautiful lemon simple syrup next time you’re looking for a little sweet and a little tart to add into your next beverage or food.

What is Lemon Simple Syrup?

Lemon simple syrup is a liquefied sweetener that is made from sugar, lemon juice and water. The resulting syrup has that classic tangy citrus mixed with sweet flavor.

This syrup is quite sweet and refreshing. It’s like tasting a little bit of summer sunshine in your glass or on your plate.

Using simple syrup instead of regular granulated sugar is a common practice for most beverages. Since it is a liquid it more easily dissolves and has a smoother less gritty texture.

Here are just a few of the reasons why this recipe works so well:

• It’s super simple. You literally only need three ingredients to make this recipe and they’re all easy ingredients that you likely have in your kitchen right now.
• Bursting with citrus. That’s sweet, tangy citrus flavor is undeniably delicious. Once you add it to your food or drink it’s short to add a little bit of sweet summertime.
• Tons of uses. You can use this on so many different foods and in so many different beverages. From sodas to cocktails and from breakfast to dessert.

Equipment

• Saucepan
• Wooden Spoon (or any long handle spoon)
• Mason jar or Small Pyrex
• Measuring Cup

Ingredients

• 1 cup Sugar
• .5 cups Water
• .5 cups Lemon Juice

Instructions

Step one

Make sure you’ve got everything ready to go including lemon juice, sugar, water, measuring cups, wooden spoon, jar with lid and pot.

Step two

Get one cup of sugar and pour it into the pot.

Step three

Get half a cup of lemon juice and pour it into the pot with the sugar.

Step four

Get half a cup of water and pour it into the pot with the sugar and lemon juice.

Step Five

Heat your ingredients together at medium heat for around 10 minutes allowing it to simmer. Stir well while heating.

Then, remove it from the heat and pour your syrup from the pot into your jar. Put the lid on the jar and place it into the refrigerator for about 2 hours so that it has time to cool off and thicken up.

How to Use

There are so many exciting opportunities to use this syrup. Here are a few of our favorites:

• Drizzle it on muffins. Add a little sweet lemon flavor on top of a muffin, scone or other sweet bread-based food.
• Moisten your cake. Brush this between layers of your cake or over the top of it to add a sweet citrus flavor and keep your cake moist all at the same time.
• Use it in cocktails. You can use this in a wide variety of different cocktails. Sour cocktails are a good choice like this whiskey sour or cherry vodka sour. Additionally, you can add it in cocktails like a lemon drop martini.
• Use it in lemonade. You can already use plain simple syrup to sweeten your lemonade. But, if you want to double down on the lemon flavor you could substitute it for this recipe instead.
• Make a lemon soda. Want your own lemon soda with a little less sweetness and artificial flavoring? Pour 2 oz of this into a glass full of club soda for a lightly sweet lemon fizzy drink.
• Sweeten up fruits. Add a drizzle of this over top of your fresh fruit platter for a little sweetness and citrus tang.

Variations

Here are a couple of suggestions for ingredient substitutions or flavor modifications:

• Use lemon zest. You can use a little bit of lemon zest two really ramp up the lemon flavor in this syrup. Zest the peel of one lemon and add it into the mixture as you heat. If you do this, you will need to strain the mixture to remove all the zest before you use the syrup.
• Use lemon extract. Although this will not give you quite the same bright fresh lemon flavor you can certainly use lemon extract if you want. Substitute the lemon juice for 1 tablespoon of lemon extract and increase the water to one cup.
• Cut out the water. You can cut the water out in this recipe and have a stronger lemon flavor by using one full cup of lemon juice.

Top Tips & Storage

These process tips and storage tricks are sure to help you have the best syrup possible:

• Squeeze your own lemon juice. If you want the freshest flavor possible you can squeeze your own lemon juice instead of using store-bought bottled lemon juice. Make sure to roll the lemon around on the counter a little to soften it and make it easier to squeeze the juice out of.
• Stir as you simmer. While you simmer the mixture make sure to stir it frequently so that the sugar dissolves evenly and that none of the liquid starts to burn to the bottom of the pot.
• Store it right. You can keep this fresh for up to 4 weeks as long as you keep it in the refrigerator and in an airtight container.
• Freeze it right. If you need to store it for a longer time, it’s really easy to freeze in an ice cube tray. Simply pour your syrup into the tray. Then, after it’s frozen, pop the cubes out and you can keep them in a freezer bag to use as needed.

Even More Easy Syrups

• Orange Simple Syrup
• Mint Simple Syrup
• Plain Simple Syrup

Recipe