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Wondering how much lemon juice is in a lemon? Or how many lemons you need for a certain quantity of juice? Then you are in the right place! Find answers to all your lemon juice questions below!
How Much Lemon Juice In One Lemon?
Did you come across a recipe calling for the “juice of 1 lemon” and wondering how much that is? The average lemon yields 3 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice.
1 lemon = 3 tablespoons juice
Of course there are variations based on the size of the lemon and how juicy it is. This is the standard measurement based on the average juice of one lemon.
How Much Juice In Half A Lemon?
1/2 lemon = 1 1/2 tablespoons juice
How Many Lemons Are Needed?
Have you ever come across a recipe that calls for a specific quantity of lemon juice and wondered how many lemons you need to buy? These lemon juice conversions should help!
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice = 1/2 lemon
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice = 1 lemon
- 1/4 cup lemon juice = 1 1/2 lemons
- 1/2 cup lemon juice = 3 lemons
- 3/4 cup lemon juice = 4 lemons
- 1 cup lemon juice = 6 lemons
- 1 1/2 cups lemon juice = 8 lemons
- 2 cups lemon juice = 11 lemons
Note: The number of lemons have been rounded up in cases where it would involve a strange fraction. For example, 1 average lemon = 3 tablespoons of juice so 1/2 cup lemon juice would equal 2.7 lemons. To make it easier, this was rounded up to 3 lemons since you will need to purchase 3 lemons in order to get that 1/2 cup of juice.
Knowing how much juice is in a lemon or lime can come in handy. Get a PDF with lemon and lime juice conversions below.
How To Juice A Lemon
There are plenty of tricks out there like heating up the lemon a bit or stabbing it repeatedly with a knife first (sounds a little psycho!). I jut like to keep things easy with the following method:
- Roll It: First roll the lemon on a cutting board or the counter using your palm. This helps to soften it up and maximize the amount of juice you get out of the lemon.
- Slice In Half: Slice the lemon in half crosswise.
- Squeeze: Squeeze the juice out of each half. Squeeze by hand or with the help of something like a hand-held juice press or citrus reamer.
Skewer Trick
This is a fun trick when you just need a bit of juice and don’t want to cut open the lemon. Roll the lemon first on the counter to soften it up. Then all you have to do is poke a hole in the non-stem end of the lemon with a skewer about an inch deep. Remove the skewer and squeeze a bit of juice out of the hole. Store the lemon in the fridge in a reusable food storage bag until you want to use it again.
How Much Zest Is In A Lemon?
One regular lemon yields about 1 tablespoon of lemon zest. However, most recipes that call for the “zest of 1 lemon” aren’t overly picky on the exact amount. I like to use a microplane grater to zest a lemon.
Tip: If a recipe calls for both lemon zest and juice, it’s much easier to zest the lemon first before you juice it.
More Lemon Juice FAQ
You may come across a recipe that asks for the juice of 1 lemon. This simply means to squeeze the juice out of a fresh lemon and add it to the recipe. If you are using pre-squeezed juice, the conversion is: 1 lemon = 3 tablespoons juice.
You will need 6 average size lemons for 1 cup of juice. Technically 5 and a quarter lemons but 6 is easier to buy! For more conversions, see the chart above.
Freshly squeezed lemon juice will keep for 2 to 3 days in the fridge.
You sure can! Simply pour the juice into ice cube trays or these awesome Souper Cubes trays and freeze. Once frozen, pop the lemon juice cubes into a freezer bag or freezer safe container. For the best quality, use within 3-4 months but it will still remain safe in the freezer beyond that.
Recipes With Lemon Juice
Looking for something to make with that juice? Here are a few recipes that feature fresh lemon juice:
What about limes? Check out this post to answer all your lime juice conversion questions: How Much Juice Is In One Lime
