Dried Lemon Peel, or dried lemon zest as it is also known, is a great ingredient to have in the kitchen. It adds a zesty flavor and aroma to dishes when you don't have fresh citrus fruits to hand.
Plus, it is essentially a free ingredient! If you are juicing a lemon, usually the remains would be thrown in the garbage! If you zest the lemon before you juice it, you are getting something extra!
With these two easy methods, you can learn how to dry lemon peel. Then you will always have dried lemon zest at home, perfect for recipes or to give as cute gifts.
How to make dried lemon peel without a dehydrator
Lemon zest/lemon peel can be quickly dried at home using the oven, or if you have more time, you can leave it on the counter (maybe near a sunny window), and it will dry over a few days.
The first job is to zest the lemon. Like I mentioned above, you always want to zest the lemon before you juice it!
How to zest a lemon
Zesting a lemon just means removing the thin yellow skin or peel.
To zest a lemon:
- Wash the lemon in warm water and dry well.
- Use a microplane grater, a small hole grater to get a very fine zest.
- Use a cocktail zester to produce thin pieces of lemon zest.
- Use a vegetable peeler to get long strips of the peel.
- Make sure you only grate/peel the yellow part of the lemon. The white part, called pith, is bitter.
- Grate/peel the lemon over a small bowl or chopping board to collect all the zest.
- Keep turning the lemon around until you have removed as much of the peel as possible.
Drying lemon peel/lemon zest
You can use the oven or leave it to dry naturally. Using the oven will give you a slightly darker result, but it is quicker. Both methods are detailed below.
Drying lemon zest in the oven
Set your oven as low as it will go. My current oven has a warming setting that is 50ºC/120ºF, but most ovens start around 150ºF-175ºF (65ºC-80ºC).
Just set your oven as low as it will go.
Spread the lemon peel on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and place it in the oven. There is no need to pre-heat the oven, so put the lemon into the cold oven and let it warm up with the oven.
Depending on the size of your zest, how much zest you have on the baking sheet, and the low temperature of your oven, the zest will take between 25-45 minutes to dry completely.
If you have used a vegetable peeler and have thicker strips of the peel, they will take a couple of hours to dry in the oven.
Air drying lemon zest
This method works if you have a small amount of lemon peel.
Spread the peel out onto a sheet of kitchen paper and place the sheet on a plate or in a small casserole dish. Leave the dish on the counter in your kitchen or near a bright window. Avoid anywhere that will get dusty or with too much breeze. Every day give the lemon zest a move about to ensure it dries evenly.
Depending on the time of year, the heat in your house, and the humidity. The lemon zest will take between 2-3 days to dry completely.
Storing your dried lemon peel
Once dried, the lemon zest will keep in an airtight container for 6-12 months.
Please make sure the container is airtight, as any moisture in the air can make the peel soft, and then it can go bad.
What lemons to use for dried zest
Because you are going to eat the skin, I try to use organic lemons. (Or those picked off a friend's almost wild tree).
If organic lemons aren't an option, you can use regular lemons. Ensure you wash the lemons well in warm water to remove any wax or residual pesticides on the skin.
Can you dry other citrus fruit peel?
You can make dried citrus zest with many different fruits.
Try these fruits for your own DIY dried citrus peel.
- Lemons
- Oranges
- Limes
- Grapefruit (pink or yellow)
- Tangerines
- Mandarins
- Key lime
- Yuzu
- Pomelo
- Meyer lemons
Dried lemon zest vs fresh
Dried lemon peel/zest is about half of the volume of fresh zest.
Meaning one teaspoon of dried zest is two teaspoons of fresh zest.
How much lemon zest is in one lemon?
1 medium-sized lemon will give you about 1 tablespoon of zest. When dried, this is about 1 ½ teaspoon of dried lemon zest.
My recipe asks for lemon peel powder.
Lemon peel powder is just dried lemon peel that has been ground into a powder.
You can do this with your DIY dried lemon peel. Firstly ensure it is completely dried and cool, then place it in a spice grinder or a mini blender and pulse chop it until you have a fine powder.
Using your dried lemon zest
As mentioned above, you will need less dried lemon zest than you would fresh.
Use around half the amount suggested in a recipe.
I find for best results, crushing the dried peel lightly between my fingers before adding it to the dish helps to release its oils better.
What to do with Dried Lemon Peel
The dried lemon zest can be used in place of fresh, but there are plenty of other ways to use it.
Some ideas are:
- Make your own lemon pepper seasoning. - see my recipe here.
- Add dried lemon zest to your marinades. Lemon is excellent with chicken or fish or beef, while orange is great with duck and pork.
- Add the dried peel to your desserts. Try sprinkling dried zest on cupcakes or puddings.
- Mix it into butter and add it to the top of cooked vegetables or grilled meats.
- Make flavored sugar. Mix 1 cup of white sugar with 1 tablespoon of dried zest. Stir it well, and then keep it in an airtight container for at least a week before using it.
- Make flavored salt. Mix 1 cup of salt with 1 tablespoon of dried zest. Stir it well, and then keep it in an airtight container for at least a week before using it. (you can add dried rosemary to the mix as well)
- Use it to flavor salad dressings.
Using your lemons up
Once you have zested your lemons, they will dry out quite quickly, so use the juice in other recipes. Or juice them and freeze it in ice cube trays for adding to recipes at a later date.
Here a few lemony recipes that can use all that lovely juice:
- Really Easy Hollandaise Sauce
- Charred Lemon, Rosemary and Coriander Gin & Tonic
- Lemon and Oregano Chicken Skewers - whole belly foods
- Belgian Lemon Tea Cake - it's not complicated
- Meyer Lemon French 75 Cocktail - grits and pinecones
- Lemon Garlic Butter Chicken Tenders - recipes from a pantry
- Quinoa and Kale Salad - from a chefs kitchen
- Lemonade popsicles - keep calm and eat ice cream
Enjoy x
Get the Recipe
How to Dry Lemon Peel
Ingredients
- lemons (as many as you like) - see note 1
Instructions
- Wash the lemons in warm water and dry well.
- Use a microplane grater, a small hole grater, or cocktail zester to produce thin pieces of lemon zest. Or, for thicker strips, use a vegetable peeler or pairing knife. Make sure you only grate the yellow part of the lemon. The white part, called pith, is bitter.
- Keep turning the lemon around until you have removed as much of the peel as possible.
To dry your zest in the oven
- Set your oven as low as it will go, there is no need to pre-heat the oven. (See note 2)
- Spread the lemon peel on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and place it in the oven.
- Depending on the size of your zest, how much zest you have on the baking sheet, and the low temperature of your oven, the zest will take between 25-45 minutes to dry completely. (or around 2 hours for large strips)
To air-dry your zest
- Spread the lemon peel out onto a sheet of kitchen paper and place the sheet on a plate or in a small casserole dish.
- Leave the dish on the counter in your kitchen or near a bright window. Avoid anywhere that will get dusty or with too much breeze.
- Every day give the lemon zest a move about to ensure it dries evenly.
- Depending on the time of year, the heat in your house, and the humidity. The lemon zest will take between 2-3 days to dry completely.
How to store your dried lemon peel
- When the lemon peel is completely dry, allow it to cool and then store it in an airtight container.
Notes
- One medium-sized lemon will give you about 1 tablespoon of zest. When dried, this is about 1 ½ teaspoon of dried lemon zest. If you have a lot of zest to dry, then using the oven is much easier.
- My current oven has a warming setting that is 50ºC/120ºF, but most ovens start around 150ºF-175ºF (65ºC-80ºC).
Nutrition
Nutrition is per serving
Mary says
THANK YOU !! Process is as I thought it to be drying out naturally. I covered mine with cheese cloth and placed lid to container slightly ajar and placed in window..
Claire McEwen says
You're welcome 🙂
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