When life gives you lemons, candy them!! Candied lemons are a beautiful, edible treat that can be used as a garnish for desserts or cocktails, or just as a snack on their own! These candied lemons are super easy to make and look stunning on my favorite lemon lavender layer cake!
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Ingredients
You only need 3 ingredients to make candied lemons! [And one is water so it barely counts as an ingredient.]
Lemons - I love using Meyer lemons but regular lemons work just fine! You can also use the same recipe to candy similar citrus fruits like oranges, limes, or grapefruit! I especially love to make candied blood oranges!
Granulated Sugar - The sugar is what makes the simple syrup solution that candies the lemons! It's important to use equal parts sugar and water!
The complete list of ingredients and amounts is located in the recipe card below.
Special Tools
To get thin, evenly sliced lemons you can either use:
- Mandoline - This is the best way to thinly slice the lemons that are all the same thickness!
- Sharp serrated knife - This is my favorite knife for thinly slicing delicate items like tomatoes or citrus, but you can also just use a sharp bread knife!
How to Make Candied Lemon Slices
Using a mandoline or very sharp serrated knife, thinly slice the lemons (⅛ to ¼ inch) and remove the seeds.
Bring a pot of water to a rapid boil and blanch the lemons for 1 minute and then transfer them to an ice bath to cool. This step helps maintain that bright yellow color and removes some of the bitterness from the rind.
In a large skillet, bring the water and sugar to a simmer. When the sugar is fully dissolved. Add the lemon slices and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour or until the rinds are translucent.
Remove the lemon slices and let cool completely on a wire rack.
Tip: Strain and use the leftover simple syrup for cocktails! The lemons infuse some of their flavor into the syrup which taste great in margaritas or a lemon drop martini!
You can either let the lemons cool on the wire rack at room temperature for about 24 hours. This option is great for when you want the candied lemons to be flexible and sticky (like for this lemon layer cake).
Or you can bake them in the oven at 200°F for 30 minutes to an hour, or until they start to stiffen up.
Sugared Lemons - You can leave the candied lemons plain, or you can roll them in granulated sugar for a pretty, sparkly garnish!
Just note that the candied lemons will be sugary and tacky even after drying.
How to Use Candied Lemon Slices
Use these candied lemon slices for decorating cakes or tarts, as a garnish for cocktails, or anything that needs a bright, citrusy garnish!
Recipe FAQ's
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Or freeze for up to 2 months!
Yes! You can eat candied lemon slices plain, sprinkled with sugar, or as a garnish!
Yes!! You can candy oranges, limes, grapefruit, kumquats, etc.! The options are endless!
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Recipe Card
How to Make Candied Lemons
Special Equipment
- mandoline optional
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large lemons, sliced
Instructions
- Using a mandoline or very sharp serrated knife, thinly slice the lemons (⅛ to ¼ inch) and remove the seeds.
- Bring a pot of water to a rapid boil and blanch the lemons for 1 minute and then transfer them to an ice bath to cool. This step helps maintain that bright yellow color and removes some of the bitterness from the rind.
- In a large skillet, bring the water and sugar to a simmer. When the sugar is fully dissolved. Add the lemon slices and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour or until the rinds are translucent.
- Remove the lemon slices and let cool completely on a wire rack.
- Tip: Strain and use the leftover simple syrup for cocktails!
- You can either let the lemons cool on the wire rack at room temperature for about 24 hours. This option is great for when you want the candied lemons to be flexible and sticky. Or you can bake them in the oven at 200°F for 30 minutes to an hour, or until they start to stiffen up.
- Sugared Lemons - You can leave the candied lemons plain, or you can roll them in granulated sugar for a pretty, sparkly garnish!
- Just note that the candied lemons will be sugary and tacky even after drying.
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Kendal Elizabeth Wesley says
can i cut them int0 4ths once done, or should i do that before making them
Kyleigh Sage says
You could do either!
Patti says
perfect recipe for decorating lemon cakecakes. and the simple syrup is great for margaritas.
KIMBERLY G. says
such a nice compliment to my Lemon Cheescake 🍋 Thank you for sharing
Cathryn says
I tried these to add to your lemon cupcake recipe and they were outstanding! Quick question - does this work with limes? Going to try that next. Thank you!
Kyleigh Sage says
Yes it will work with any citrus fruit! Limes, oranges, etc!
Kristi says
beautiful, tasty candied Lemons to garnish my lemon cake!
Liz says
When drying lemons in the oven at 200 degrees, are they on a sheet pan or a rack?
Kyleigh Sage says
I’ve done it both ways! A rack over a sheet pan will get them a little drier overall, but I usually do it on a sheet of parchment on a sheet pan because the clean up is easier.
Liz says
Thank you!
Lydia Arite says
Lemon slices came out absolutely beautiful!
Ash B says
I tried these with leftover lemons and I loved them so much! What a fun sugary treat!
Brianne Clark says
Simple enough with a good result. I decided to do this last minute so used the airfryer to help dry them out a bit. Only did about 5 minutes on 80C so they remained quite soft still. Will use this again.