Homemade Limoncello
Homemade Limoncello liqueur is one of the most beautifully perfect drinks. It's tart, it's sweet, and it's incredibly refreshing-think of it as a boozy lemonade for grownups!
🔍 Recipe At-A-Glance: Homemade Limoncello
- 🕰️ Prep Time: 30 minutes
- ⏰ Infusion Time: 4 days
- 💛 Flavor Profile: Tart, citrusy, sweet, refreshing.
- 🍽️ Good For: Serve it ice cold straight-up, stir it with club soda for a fizzy lemon cocktail, or make it into a limoncello martini. Also makes a great homemade food gift!
- 🧡 Difficulty: Classic limoncello is fancy enough to serve to guests (or give as a gift!), but simple enough for even a kitchen novice to make.
"Cassie, this is the 4th year I've made limoncello using this recipe. It IS the best, because it's strong, but just sweet and tart enough to be absolutely DELISH!!!"
- DENISE -
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- 🔍 Recipe At-A-Glance: Homemade Limoncello
- 🧡 Why You'll Love This Recipe
- 🍋 The Ingredients You Need
- 🔁 Variations & Substitutions
- 🥣 Homemade Limoncello How-To
- 💛 How Much Alcohol Is There?
- 🙋🏻♀️ Homemade Limoncello FAQs
- 👩🏻🍳 My Expert Tips & Tricks
- 📥 Download the Free Labels
- 🎁 More Homemade Food Gift Recipes:
- 📖 Recipe
- 💬 Reviews
🧡 Why You'll Love This Recipe
Hiya, friend: If you've never had the pleasure of enjoying limoncello, you're in for a real treat! Limoncello is a traditional Italian liqueur made from lemons, and you won't believe how easy it is!
Here's why you'll love this recipe:
- Limoncello anytime: Limoncello is traditionally drunk as an aperitif, an alcoholic drink that is taken either before or after a meal to stimulate digestion. Some folks also use it as a palate cleanser between courses. And of course, some people (hi, me!) just like to sip it because it tastes so darn delicious!
- Great year-round: Limoncello is a common drink in the summertime because it is so refreshing, but it tastes wonderful all year! At the holidays, you can double up the lemon flavor by sipping it alongside some lemon drop cookies!
- Makes a great gift: I give so many homemade food gifts that I wrote a whole book on gifts in jars, and this limoncello is a long-standing favorite alongside my soup mixes in a jar, edible cookie dough, golden milk mix, and chai tea gift set. All of my friends and family, plus hundreds of readers, love this recipe, and you will too!
🍋 The Ingredients You Need
- Lemons: I prefer regular, organic lemons for limoncello. Yes, organic is important! Conventional lemons tend to be coated in wax or other sealers that make it difficult to infuse the lemon flavor. You'll get much more lemon flavor in your limoncello with organic lemons. You can use the smaller, less tart Meyer lemons, but you will need a lot more lemons and your flavor won't be quite as strong.
- Grain alcohol (189 or 190 proof is best, 151 or 120 proof works): Grain alcohol (known by the brand name Everclear) is the alcohol I recommend making your limoncello (or any liqueur infusion, like my homemade coffee liqueur) from...if you can get your hands on it. Because Everclear is almost pure alcohol, it has the cleanest flavor and does the best job of extracting the lemon flavor. Everclear is to always be treated as an unfinished ingredient and never ingested undiluted (our recipe calls for diluting the Everclear by more than half). Unfortunately, Everclear isn't legal in all states in the U.S. (and in some states, only the less-potent 151 or 120 proof varieties are).
- Sugar and water: It's important to dilute your lemon infusion with simple syrup after straining to turn it into limoncello. Simple syrup is made by boiling water and sugar together until the sugar is completely dissolved. We use 3 ½ cups water boiled with 3 cups sugar per 750ml bottle of alcohol. This results in a sweet, but still tart and boozy, limoncello.
Make sure to check the recipe card below for the full ingredients list, along with quantities and my expert tips and tricks.
🔁 Variations & Substitutions
- Use vodka (highest proof you can find): If you can't get your hands on grain alcohol, the next best option is getting high-quality, high proof (80+ proof) vodka. The infusion will take longer to make and you'll need to add extra lemons (which we noted in the recipe), but it should do the trick.
- Adjust the sweetness: You can adjust the simple syrup ratio (adding more or less sugar) to taste, but I do recommend keeping the water amount-3 ½ cups-the same to get proper and safe dilution of Everclear 190. If you're using Everclear 151 or vodka, you can get by with adding less water.
- Lemon spritzer: Limoncello is typically drunk chilled and straight, but you can also use it as a jumping off point for all kinds of delicious cocktails! I love it mixed with some lemon sparkling water for a Limoncello Spritzer.
- Shaken, not stirred: This homemade limoncello makes a great base for a limoncello martini!
🥣 Homemade Limoncello How-To
Step 1: Use your vegetable peeler to remove the rind of the lemons, and then use a sharp paring knife to scrape out the pith-the white part inside of the peel of citrus fruit. Too much pith will make your limoncello bitter-you just want the zest!
Step 2: Infuse the lemon peels in alcohol. Fill a jar with your lemon peels, and then cover with the alcohol. Close the jar and give it a good shake.
Step 3: Let the lemon peels infuse until the alcohol is bright yellow and the peels are leached of most of their color. This could be as little as four days if you are using full-strength Everclear, or up to six weeks for the lower proof alcohols. Shake the jar daily to help the infusion along.
Step 4: Once the mixture is infused properly, sweeten the limoncello to taste with simple syrup, strain, and then bottle. Chill and enjoy!
💛 How Much Alcohol Is There?
How much alcohol is in each serving of your limoncello depends on two factors-what proof alcohol you use to extract the lemon and how much simple syrup you add in the end. While we can't give you the exact percentage of alcohol of your limoncello (you'll need a hydrometer for that), we can give you some ballpark estimates:
| Starting Alcohol | Added Simple Syrup | Estimated ABV | Estimated Proof |
| 750ml Everclear 190 proof | 5 ½ cups | 35% ** | 70 |
| 750ml Everclear 151 proof | 5 ½ cups* | 28% | 56 |
| 750ml Everclear 120 proof | 5 ½ cups* | 22% | 44 |
| 750ml Vodka 80 proof | 5 ½ cups* | 15% | 30 |
* Feel free to use less simple syrup in these infusions to reduce sweetness and increase the alcohol content.
** This ABV is high enough to not freeze if stored in the freezer (which we recommend for a truly refreshing glass of limoncello). The other three should be stored in the fridge, unless the simple syrup addition is adjusted so the ABV is higher than 30%, which is about the point where liquor no longer freezes in standard home freezers.
🙋🏻♀️ Homemade Limoncello FAQs
This depends on what alcohol you got your hands on. When infusing in 190 proof Everclear, you can get by with infusing for as little as four or five days-although I would recommend closer to two weeks for the most lemony flavor. Lower proof alcohols will take longer (4-6 weeks wouldn't be out of the question). The best way to tell if your infusion is ready is to take a peek. Have the lemon peels lost most of their color? Is the alcohol a bright, saturated yellow? If so, then you're ready!
You have this beautiful, bright yellow, crystal clear infused alcohol and then you go add the simple syrup and BAM, suddenly the mixture is cloudy. What did you do wrong? Absolutely nothing, friend! Limoncello is almost always cloudy.
You've experienced the Ouzo Effect-or spontaneous emulsification. This tends to happen with high-proof Everclear, but can sometimes be hit-or-miss when it comes to using vodka or lower proof grain alcohol. Either way, it's fine to drink!
Limoncello is so good that it'll be long gone before it goes bad! Because alcohol and sugar are such good preservatives, you can easily get a year or even more out of stashing your limoncello in the freezer (for limoncello made with Everclear 190) or fridge (for limoncello made with other alcohols).
👩🏻🍳 My Expert Tips & Tricks
- Just the zest: Take the time to make sure you remove all the pith from the lemon peels (that's the white part on the inside of the peel). Pith = bitterness in your limoncello!
- Stay safe: Always treat Everclear as an unfinished ingredient-never drink it undiluted. If you are using fully-leaded Everclear 190, make sure to use at least 3 ½ cups of water in your simple syrup and you'll be good to go!
- Time it right: A higher proof alcohol like Everclear 190 will infuse faster, but lower proof alcohol will do the trick as well. You'll know your limoncello is done infusing when the alcohol is lemon-yellow!
- Bottle it up: You can honestly use whatever recycled glass bottle or jar you have kicking around. Just as long as it's water-tight, it'll do the trick! In these pictures, we used two different sizes of swing-top bottles (you'll probably want a funnel to fill these!): these 16 ounce swing-tops make great gifts, and these 8 ounce swing tops are perfect for stocking stuffers! Mason jars also do the trick.
- Chill it: We recommend storing your limoncello in the freezer or the fridge both for better drinking and to extend the shelf life. If you are gifting the limoncello, it'll be fine at room temperature for a few weeks. Just let your recipient know to stash their limoncello in the fridge or freezer instead of in their liquor cabinet.
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📖 Recipe
Homemade Limoncello
Ingredients
- 10-14 organic lemons
- 750 ml Everclear 190/189 Proof preferable or Everclear 151, Everclear 120 or 80+ Proof Vodka, see post for more information
- 3 ½ cups filtered water
- 3 cups granulated sugar
Instructions
- Wash the lemons well, then peel into long strips-use a light touch, you want to leave as much of the pith behind as possible. If using Everclear 190/189, 10 lemons will be enough; for the other alcohols, you'll need to peel more lemons as the proof level decreases.
- Using a sharp knife, scrape away the remaining white pith on the inside of the peels. Too much pith makes for a bitter end result.
- Place the lemon peels in a half-gallon canning jar. Cover with the Everclear or vodka. Close lid and place in a spot out of direct sunlight. Shake daily. Infuse for at least four days (in the case of Everclear 190/189) and up to six weeks (for the lower proof alcohols). The infusion is ready when the alcohol is bright yellow and the lemon peels have lost most of their color.
- When the infusion is ready, heat the water in a large saucepan over high heat. Add in the sugar, whisk, and bring to a boil. Boil until the sugar is completely dissolved, about two minutes. Let simple syrup cool to room temperature.
- Pour the simple syrup into the lemon infusion. Close the lid on the jar again, and shake well to combine.
- Strain the lemon peels out of the limoncello through a fine mesh sieve. Pour into bottles, label, chill, and serve!
Video
Notes
- We have free printable limoncello labels available for download. We printed ours onto Avery 2 ½" round water-resistant labels.
- We used both 16 ounce swing-top bottles and 8 ounce swing top bottles to bottle our limoncello for these photos.
- Never drink Everclear undiluted-wait until you've added the simple syrup to taste test!
- Higher proof alcohols will infuse faster. You'll know the infusion is ready when the alcohol has taken all the color from the peels.
- Store in the fridge or freezer for the best drink and longest shelf life. But if it needs to be unrefrigerated for awhile for gifting, it will be fine-just let your gift recipient know to chill it when they get home!
This is possibly one of the most impressive food gifts I've ever made. It was a huge hit with family members who were missing their visits to Italy!
I made your lemoncello last year and I seemed to have a film of oils on the glass when I made a drink. Do you know how to prevent that. This time I just started my second batch and I used organic lemons and plan to strain with cheese cloth. I also switched to vodka from everclear. It was a bit like boat gas lol.
It sounds like you may have used lemons that were treated with something before shipping. That or it is just lemon oil! Using organic lemons should help!
Cassie, this is the 4th year I've made limoncello using this recipe. It IS the best, because it's strong, but just sweet and tart enough to be absolutely DELISH!!! We have a very productive lemon tree and last year I made two batches. I DO suggest a ceramic vegetable peeler. It leaves the pith on the lemons and I think this is one reason my end results are sooooo good!! Thank you for posting this.
Sounds delicious
How many 16oz bottles will this fill?
Hi Darlene! This recipe makes approximately 8 cups, which is 64 fluid ounces. So one recipe will fill approximately 4 16-oz bottles!
You mentioned if using Meyer lemons that you would need to use more…how much more? I didn’t see that information in your notes.
Thank you
Hi Debbie! Since Meyer lemons are smaller than regular lemons, you'll probably need between 16-20 organic Meyer lemons for this recipe. The flavor from the Meyer lemons will be more mellow and a bit sweeter than the regular lemons. If you give it a go with Meyer lemons, please let us know how it turns out for you!