Our Best Lemon Recipes

Baked Shrimp Scampi With Lemon and Garlic — The Spruce / Tara Omidvar

Lemons are a real multi-tasking citrus, adding a strong dose of fragrance, acidity, and flavor to both sweet and savory recipes. Although most varieties of lemons can be substituted for one another, each kind does have a unique profile. For example, Meyer lemons are a tad sweet and mild in flavor, while Eureka and Lisbon lemons tend toward a more intense, sour flavor. So next time you're at the market, pick up a couple of different varieties of lemons and see how they impart their unique character in recipes.

Consider this list our homage to lemons and we hope it inspires you to incorporate more of them into your life.

How to Shop for Lemons

Choose the best lemons at the market by looking for those that are firm and plump to the touch. The juiciest lemons will also be heavy for their size and emit a pleasant fragrance. Most lemons are available year round, but their peak season starts in the winter and runs until early summer.

01 of 20

Lemon Bars

The Spruce / Diana Rattray

Complete with a powdered sugar topping, lemon bars are a low-fuss, sophisticated dessert to bring to a gathering. To yield more juice from the lemons, first, microwave the lemons for 10 to 20 seconds before squeezing them.

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02 of 20

Vegan Lemon Pasta With Pine Nuts and Broccoli

Emily Hawkes for The Spruce

For a light lunch that you can make ahead of time and enjoy all week long, try our recipe for vegan lemon pasta with pine nuts and broccoli. If you’re on a budget, pine nuts can be expensive, but chopped walnuts work just as well here. This is the sort of recipe that doesn’t require you to follow any strict rules, so feel free to improvise.

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03 of 20

Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

Leah Maroney

If you want to treat yourself for breakfast, blueberry lemon ricotta pancakes will hit the spot. For the fluffiest results, whisk the batter until the flour is just barely incorporated. Over-working the batter encourages its proteins to align, resulting in a glutinous and tough texture.

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04 of 20

Lemon Butter

The Spruce / Diana Chistruga

Lemon butter sounds as good as it tastes and although it may sound a little luxe, it’s actually quite simple to make. If you need some inspiration for what to spread it on, consult our recipe roundup for the best banana bread recipes for breakfast and beyond.

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05 of 20

Baked Shrimp Scampi With Lemon and Garlic

The Spruce / Tara Omidvar

At its heart, shrimp scampi is a simple dish, consisting of shrimp dressed in butter and garlic. While there are many renditions, this shrimp scampi with lemon and garlic is a pretty classic take. Serve it with pasta, crostini, or sauteed broccolini.

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06 of 20

Lemon Curd Cupcakes

Kristina Vanni

This recipe for lemon curd cupcakes requires scooping out the middle of each cupcake and filling it with the lemon curd. Instead of wasting the leftover cupcake pieces, you can create a deconstructed version of the same recipe by tossing them in a bowl with the other ingredients.

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07 of 20

Cantarito Cocktail

The Spruce / Nyssa Tanner

The cantarito cocktail is named after the cantarito, a style of clay cup from Mexico. This recipe is bursting with citrus flavor, combining lemons, grapefruit, orange, and lime. Tequila is the go-to alcohol for this cocktail but mezcal, another Mexican spirit, would also pair well with this recipe.

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08 of 20

Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

Kristina Vanni

This lemon poppy bread is just a touch sweet, so you can also enjoy it for breakfast or slice it up as a snack. If you want, skip the lemon sugar drizzle and spread slices with a dollop of yogurt cheese.

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09 of 20

Baked Whole Trout With Lemon and Dill

The Spruce Eats / Julia Hartbeck

This recipe for baked whole trout with lemon and dill proves that simply seasoned, yet well-prepared food is all you need. Rainbow trout is similar to salmon, though you could readily use many other types of fish, too.

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10 of 20

Lemon Italian Ice

The Spruce / Diana Chistruga

If you crave a lighter alternative to ice cream, lemon sorbet is your ticket. This recipe is a great base to work from if you'd like to create other iterations, like adding a touch of coconut extract or even lavender.

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11 of 20

Preserved Lemons

Lena_Zajchikova / Getty Images

Preserved lemons have a unique flavor that can’t be replicated with other ingredients, and if you’re interested in cooking Moroccan dishes, they’re a must. The recipe simply requires salt, lemons, and bit of patience to allow for the curing process to take effect.

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12 of 20

Lemony Greek Potatoes

The Spruce

The humble potato turns magical when roasted and dosed with lemon. These lemony Greek potatoes call for Yukon golds, which are an all-purpose potato, but if you want to experiment with another variety of potato, be our guest.

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13 of 20

Lemon Cheesecake

Kristina Vanni

This lemon cheesecake manages to taste both bright and decadent, due to the balancing effect of acidic lemons and a creamy filling. If you’re feeling fancy, you can decorate the top with whipped cream, shavings of white chocolate, or slices of dehydrated lemons.

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14 of 20

Limoncello

The Spruce / Sonia Bozzo

Nothing honors lemons quite like the Italian liqueur, limoncello. Although it’s packed with lemons, the majority of the flavor comes from the lemon peel, not the juice. This results in a distinct flavor and a more fragrant drinking experience.

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15 of 20

Lemon and Yellow Squash Quick Bread

ASIFE / Getty Images

Squash bread always transports me back to the kitchen of my southern grandmother, who used to whip up a loaf every few days during the height of squash season. She also let us in on a secret—for a super moist texture, leave the loaf to cool in a Ziploc bag.

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16 of 20

Polish Lemon Sandwich Tea Cookies

The Spruce Eats / Abby Mercer

These melt-in-your-mouth butter cookies are infused with lemon zest and juice and sandwiched with a lemony frosting that give them just a hint of puckery goodness.

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17 of 20

Instant Pot Lemon Curd

The Spruce Eats / Julia Hartbeck

Lemon curd is actually a bit of a misnomer, since the original recipe was based on the method of curdling milk using a squeeze of lemon juice. Today, this spread is far more tangy and sweet than its predecessor, where it’s used in savory and sweet recipes, alike. This Instant Pot version comes together in a jar, without all the stirring that goes along with the classic recipe.

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18 of 20

Lemon and Rosemary Marinade

The Spruce / Diana Chistruga

Using fresh ingredients makes all the difference in this simple, flavorful lemon rosemary marinade recipe. To get the most out of your marinades, score the meat before leaving it to soak.

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19 of 20

Paper Plane Cocktail

The Spruce Eats / Julia Hartbeck

This modern classic equal-parts cocktail is made with a bracing combination of fresh lemon juice, bourbon, Aperol, and Amaro Nonino, a grappa-based digestif infused with herbs, spices, and aromatic roots. It's a stunning drink with proportions that make it easy to memorize.

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20 of 20

Lemon Cream Cheese Cookies

The Spruce / Julia Hartbeck

For an easy-to-make treat, try lemon cream cheese cookies. The recipe uses a basic cookie dough, infused with a bump of lemon flavor. If you want to swap the dough for another kind, shortbread or sugar cookies would also work well.

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