How to Make Candied Lemon Peels – Learn how to candy lemon peels with this step-by-step tutorial. Easy candy recipe, only 2 ingredients required.
A few years ago I made an apple pudding from Sarah Josepha Hale, commonly known as “The Mother of Thanksgiving” in America. The historical recipe called for candied lemon peels. I’d never candied citrus peels before, so I looked at a few different tutorials online and read lots of reviews of recipes to determine the best way of going about it. After putting together the best aspects of each technique, I jumped right in and candied some peels.
Guess what? They turned out absolutely delish! I decided to post a tutorial here on my site. It’s a fun, economical food project that you can make with peels you might normally discard. They taste kind of like chewy lemon drops. My husband is addicted.
Now that I know how to make candied citrus peels, I’ll be setting aside my unused lemon peels and orange peels when I cook, reserving them for candying. Uncandied peels will last for about a week in an airtight re-sealable bag in the fridge. Candied peels will last for months, especially if you dust them in sugar. They’d make a super fun homemade food gift for the holidays… put them in a pretty Mason jar with a ribbon and a tag. You can dip them in white or dark chocolate for an extra special treat!
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How to Make Candied Lemon Peels
Ingredients
- 4 organic lemons
- 3 1/4 cups sugar, divided
- A saucepan
- 4 ounces white chocolate or dark chocolate (optional)
Instructions
- Slice the lemons into four quarters lengthwise.
- Peel the lemon flesh away from the peels. Reserve for another use.
- Use a small, sharp-edged spoon to scrape the tough fibrous parts off of the inner peel, leaving a thin layer of white left behind on the peel.
- Slice the peels into thin strips.
- Alternatively, for thinner and daintier decorative peels, you can use a serrated peeler to scrape yellow strips from the exterior of the lemon peel. Cut those peels into thin slices.
- Place the peels into a saucepan and cover with water. Bring the water to a rolling boil for 30 seconds.
- Drain the peels in a colander.Cover with water again. Bring to a boil for 30 seconds, then drain again in a colander. The boil and drain process helps to cook out any bitter flavor from the peels. You can boil and drain up to three times, but I usually only do it twice because the lemon flavor is weakened each time you do it.
- When you're finished boiling and draining, pour 4 cups of water into the saucepan along with 3 cups of sugar. Stir with a whisk while the water heats, till all of the sugar is dissolved.
- Add peels to the saucepan and bring to a rolling boil.
- Reduce heat to a low simmer. Let the peels simmer for 60-90 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Different sized peels will take different amounts of time to cook. The peels are ready when they're transparent and easy to bite through. Err on the side of cooking them longer, if you're unsure... undercooked peels will have a slightly bitter flavor.
- Drain the peels. If you want to, you can strain the peels through a mesh strainer, letting the liquid stream into a jar. The leftover lemon flavored simple syrup can be used to flavor drinks and cocktails. It will be a thick syrup, and sugar crystals may collect in the jar over time. You can reconstitute the syrup by adding water and stirring over moderate heat if the syrup becomes overly thick.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread the peels out in an even layer on the parchment. Let the peels cool for about 15 minutes until tacky to the touch.
- Pour 1/4 cup of sugar into a small bowl. Dip the peels into the sugar till coated. Sugar coating the peels will add sweetness and help to keep them from sticking together.
- Alternatively, you may let the peels dry as-is for a deeper yellow color and a gel-like texture.
- Place the peels back on the parchment. Let them dry for 2-3 hours longer if they are sugar coated, and overnight if they are not.At this point, you can serve them, or you can dip them in chocolate. For a batch of lemon peels, you will need about 4 ounces of chocolate (dark or white).
- Melt the chocolate in a small bowl in the microwave for 60 seconds, or until you can stir the chocolate to a smooth consistency. You can also melt the chocolate using a double boiler. Dip the candied peels one at a time into the chocolate, so they are coated halfway up the peel.
- Place the dipped peels on a parchment-lined baking sheet and let them dry for 30-45 minutes.
- These candied peels make a great homemade gift. They will last in a sealed jar for a few months. If you're jarring them and giving them away, I recommend sugar-coating the peels to keep them from sticking to each other. Thicker peels are more candy-like, and taste similar to lemon drops.
- Thinner peels (using a serrated peeler) will dry curly and slightly crunchy. They're perfect for decorating daintier dishes like cakes and cupcakes.
- The chocolate-dipped peels are a personal favorite of mine. I especially like the lemon peels dipped in white chocolate.
Nutrition
Excellent technique!
I had a slew of lemon rinds (no pith) from making limoncello and didn’t want to waste them. The limoncello also requires a pot of sugar and water in the same proportions so I simply slices and boiled the peels for 1+ hours and they are delicious! Of course it made my sugary water lemony – added bonus!
After a bit of drying, I dredged the peels in sugar as described and they are delicious!
Please note that I generally don’t care for candied citrus because of the bitterness of the pith. Gently peeling the lemon rind with a peeler takes care of that. I can’t wait to share my beautiful lemon creation with others!
P.S. I made lemon bars with the juice of the lemons.
I followed the recipe as written and everything came out amazing. I will be using them in my lemon cookie. Thank you!
I’m trying your recipe today….so far, so good! In one of your pictures I noticed it looks like you’re keeping the sugar water. Do you reuse for more batches or for other purposes? Just wondering 🙂 Thank you for
Yes – if you read Step 11 it will tell you about that.
I was making my Indian lemon pickle today. All 25 lemons stuffed and another 10 juiced. Looking at the remaining rinds lead me making your recipe. Although the pieces were 1/2 sized, they worked up beautifully. I only cooked them twice, and in an hour they were soft and not bitter. Costed them with sugar and drying now. It is definitely a recipe to keep. I am going to dip half in semisweet chocolate and half in white chocolate. Thanks for a great recipe.
Love the lemon peel recipe
I’ve made the same with grapefruit peels and they are an absolute winner all the way!!! Sometimes I leave them in the sugar, jaggery and date paste syrup and make it like a dulceata. I just love these candied peels whether they are made with orange, lemon or grapefruit peels!!!
I used organic lemons for this recipe and found that the actual skin of the lemon was quite tough. I followed the recipe to a tee. I’m not sure if the lemons being organic affected the skin? I haven’t seen anyone else comment about this so I’m wondering if conventional lemons are better?
As others suggested I would recommend boiling the lemons a third time to remove bitterness. Also, the peels dipped in white chocolate are quite good!
That’s very interesting! I’ve candied our own home grown lemon peels before and never had this issue. It might be dependent on the soil/climate that the lemons are grown in. We’re in California. Anyway, I’m glad you enjoyed the dipped peels!
It’s probably the variety of lemons…
If you scrub the lemons well before starting the process (while they are still whole), the skins are not tough using regular lemons, not organic.
No need for a chef’s knife if you have a grapefruit spoon. I scraped away the flesh in a single swipe! Easy peasey.
I followed your recipe with just one tweak. I boiled the entire 1/2 of lemon peel instead of cutting them up before cooking them. Once I had finished that step, I folded the lemons and took scissors and cut the lemon peels to be in a round disk shape. It was far easier to remove the extra pith once they were already boiled. I put them in the oven at 200 degrees and dried them into a delicious chewy candy consistency. Both beautiful and yummy!
I haven’t tried this yet but I want to make my own mince pies so I will try this before I try to make the mince pies. (They will be gluten, suet, alcohol and orange free – especially orange as I am ALLERGIC) Trouble is I’ve left it too late this year so… it’ll need to be next year. If that works I’ll try making christmas pudding.