Lemon Sorbet
In Italy, lemon sorbetto is served both as dessert and between courses to refresh the palate. We steep the zest in warm syrup so the sorbet tastes of the whole lemon, not just its sour juice. There’s a fair amount of sugar, but without it you’d have ice — sugar is what keeps the crystals fine.
- Prep
- 25 min
- Cook
- 5 min
- Rest
- 5 h
- Total
- 5 h 30 min
- Servings
- 6
- Level
- Easy
- Per serving
- 155 kcal
Ingredients
Makes: about 900 ml, 6 servings
Shopping list
The ingredients for the servings you chose — copy them or send them to a messenger. Tick what you already have at home: only the rest goes on the list.
Method
-
Step 1: Zest and juice
Scrub the lemons in hot water. Finely grate the zest of two — just the yellow layer, as the white pith is bitter. Then squeeze 200 ml of juice from all of them.
-
Step 2: Infuse the syrup
Bring the water and sugar to the boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves and the syrup is clear. Take off the heat, add the zest and salt, cover and leave for 20 minutes.
-
Step 3: Add the juice
Stir the lemon juice into the warm syrup. Strain out the zest if you want a perfectly smooth sorbet, or leave it in for flecks of colour and a stronger aroma.
-
Step 4: Chill
Cool to room temperature, then cover and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
-
Step 5: Churn
Churn for 25–30 minutes until the sorbet turns pale, gains volume and looks like wet snow. Transfer to a container and freeze for another 3 hours.
-
Step 6: Without a machine
Freeze in a shallow metal container for 1 hour, then break up the crystals with a fork every 30 minutes, 4–5 times. For a creamier finish, blitz it in a blender at the end and freeze for another 1–2 hours.
-
Step 7: Serve
Give the sorbet 5 minutes at room temperature, then scoop into chilled glasses or bowls and top with a strip of zest.
Tips & variations
-
Tip
Lemons vary a lot in acidity. Taste before freezing: if it makes your tongue tingle, dissolve another 1–2 tbsp sugar in the warm mixture.
-
Variation
For lemon-mint sorbet, steep a handful of mint leaves in the hot syrup with the zest, then strain.
-
Tip
Squeeze the juice fresh: bottled juice tastes flat and often contains preservatives.
-
Storage
Keeps up to a week in a sealed container; if it hardens, blitz it again in a blender.
Nutrition
| 1 serving | Whole dish 6 servings | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 155 kcal | 930 kcal |
| Protein | 0 g | 0 g |
| Fat | 0 g | 0 g |
| Carbohydrates | 39 g | 234 g |
Approximate values calculated from standard ingredient data.
Cooked it? Rate the recipe
No ratings yet — yours will be the first.
