How Much Juice Is in One Lemon?

Wondering how much juice in one lemon? Here’s the formula you need, plus tips on how to juice a lemon, zesting, recipes, and more.

Making a recipe with lemons and need to know how much juice you’ll get? Here’s our expert answer: honed after making hundreds of lemon recipes throughout the years.

How much juice is in one lemon?

This is a common question when you’re working with citrus, especially if a recipe calls for lemon juice in tablespoons. The answer to this question all depends on the size. All lemons are different, but here’s a basic guide. How much lemon juice in one lemon?

• A medium lemon yields 3 tablespoons juice, and a large lemon yields 4 tablespoons juice (¼ cup). A very small lemon yields about 2 tablespoons juice.

Other FAQ

With this ratio in mind, here are a few more answers to common questions about lemon juice:

• How much juice is in 2 lemons? Two medium lemon equals about 6 tablespoons juice, and two large yield ½ cup juice.
• How much juice is in ½ lemon? Half a medium lemon yields 1 ½ tablespoons juice; half a large lemon yields about 2 tablespoons juice.
• How many lemons do I need for ½ cup juice? You’ll need 3 medium or 2 large lemons. (We’d recommend buying 3 lemons to be safe.)
• How many lemons do I need for 1 cup juice? You’ll need 6 medium or 4 large lemons; again, buy 6 to err on the safe side.

How to juice a lemon

What’s the best way to juice a lemon, once you’ve purchased your fruit? There’s really no wrong way to do it: though if you use your hands you might end up with lots of seeds and pulp. Here are a few ways to juice a lemon:

• Roll the lemon on the countertop for a few seconds. This helps to release the juices inside the fruit.
• Cut the fruit in half width-wise.
• Place in a press juicer: A press juicer is the quickest and easiest method: it gets out the most juice and saves your fingers from tiring out from squeezing. Place the fruit into the press juicer cut side down and squeeze the handles together.
• Or, press in a handheld citrus juicer. Place the fruit cut side down onto a handheld citrus juicer and twist the lemon to release the juices.
• Don’t have a juicer? Simply squeeze out the juice with your hands into a small liquid measuring cup, then strain it to remove seeds.

What about lemon zest?

Does your recipe also call for lemon zest? One lemon medium lemon yields about 1 tablespoon lemon zest. Always zest a lemon before juicing it! If you juice it first, the shape of the lemon collapses and it’s difficult to rub it against the grater blades.

Our favorite method for zesting? A microplane grater is a handheld grater with sharp holes in it and it’s quicker and easy to clean than a box grater. Go to How to Zest a Lemon for more.

Lemon recipes

What are the best recipes for using the juice and zest of this citrus fruit? Here are a few of our top lemon recipes:

• Lemonade: Try 15 Best Lemonade Recipes, like classic Fresh Lemonade (a favorite!), Pink Lemonade, Strawberry Lemonade and more
• Muffins: Go for Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins or Lemon Blueberry Muffins
• Pasta: Try Lemon Ricotta Pasta
• Pancakes: Grab tasty Lemon Ricotta Pancakes
• Drinks: Sip on Lemon Tea or Lemon Soda
• Sauce: Make a Lemon Butter Sauce

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Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

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Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

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15 Best Lemonade Recipes

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Lemon Butter Sauce

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