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
These turned out great! Not bitter at all. I did get off most of the rind. I used these to decorate a cake- beautiful! Thanks
Love this recipe. I make them every year with lemon and orange peel then add them ( chopped) to my challahs for Rosh Hashanah along with cranberries and raisins.
Thank you for the recipe I am a caterer and have an event coming up that Im doing all differant summer cupcakes one being Strawberry Lemondade I was looking for something lemony to add to the fresh strawberry I put on top. This is it! thx!
What a great idea!
Thanks for the post, I love the recipe and the sour taste of lemon.
I always make lemon ginger tea with honey and feel horrible wasting a pile of lemon peels so this is a great recipe! I added a tiny drop of vanilla extract while they were cooking and it’s really delicious! The simple syrup is perfect for soda stream fizzy water!
These are beautiful and delicious. I am using them on a lemon bundtettes for a bridal shower. I did use a good peeler and sliced into strips and blanched them twice. I cooked them 60 minutes. They still have a lemony flavor and are tender maybe because the peeler made the strips thin. You might need a third blanching if yours are thicker. I tossed them in sugar and they are drying now. They are not sticking . I jarred the lemon simple syrup that they cooked in and put labels on them as hostess gifts. It was too good to toss. Will make great lemonade or cocktails. I will store the candied peels in a jar, I assume at room temperature. This is a win, win recipe. Thanks for sharing!
So happy to hear that Lucy! I agree, that lemon simple syrup is precious liquid. 🙂
Has anyone tried this with erythritol/monkfruit? A Keto-esque version?
First of all, I love this recipe! I have used it multiple times to make lemon peels and I just eat them straight as a snack. I often crave candy, so I figured it would be better for me to eat these than to grab a bag of Sour Patch Kids or something. And I was right! These are SO GOOD, and there are actually some health benefits! I also ended up making a “lower sugar” version of these, just to try it out. I did the blanching step 3 times, and I only used 1 cup of sugar instead of 3 in the water/sugar mixture. These dried peels were so good I barely needed any sugar on the outside of the peels! I basically threw them in a container, threw in some sugar, put on the top, and shook it all up, just to help limit the peels from sticking together.
Quick question – has anyone tried this with lime peels? I tried orange peels and I didn’t care for the taste. I am hoping to try blood orange peels, but they are hard to get where I live. I thought lime might be good, but I wonder if it will still have enough flavor?
Excellent photos and description.