If you've ever enjoyed lemon pepper salmon at a restaurant, you know how delicious this particular spice can be. Make your own homemade lemon pepper seasoning using our easy instructions and simple recipe. You will love how this simple seasoning blend dresses up your favorite foods.
Flavorful lemon rind is perfectly balanced with salt, pepper and garlic to make a homemade seasoning mixture you will reach for over and over.
Equipment Needed
Baking sheet. For drying out the lemon rind. You can also use a dehydrator.
Spice Grinder. You can also use a coffee grinder or a mortar and pestle.
Storage Container. A Mason jar or old spice jar works perfectly.
Microplane grater. For the lemons
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Inexpensive. Making your own seasonings is less expensive than purchasing store-bought versions. You only need five simple ingredients
No preservatives. When you make your own spice blends, you know exactly what goes into the jar and it is an easy way to tailor them to your taste.
Easy recipe. It's as simple as drying out the lemon zest and putting the ingredients together in a jar. Shake it up and you are good to go!
Ingredients for Homemade Lemon Pepper Seasoning
- Lemons. Get the largest fresh lemons you can find.
- Black Pepper. Use your favorite freshly ground black peppercorns for best results.
- Garlic Powder. A finely ground powder will work better than garlic granules.
- Sea Salt or Kosher salt. Any salt that is a little more coarse will work.
- Onion powder.
How to Make Lemon Pepper Seasoning
Making your own lemon pepper seasoning is incredibly easy. Start by grating the zest from three large lemons. This is just the yellow part of the skin. Spread this zest out on a single layer of parchment paper on a sheet pan. Bake it until it is dried out. Then remove it from the oven and grind it up. You can use a spice grinder, coffee grinder, or mortar and pestle.
Mix the resulting ground lemon zest with pepper, garlic, and sea salt to combine. Place it in a glass jar with a lid to store it in your cabinet and use as needed. Give it a good shake before seasoning food to keep it well mixed.
Use this section for process shots, alternating between the step and image showing the step. Users don't like seeing process shots cluttering up the recipe card, so include your process shots here.
Combine all spices into a large bowl and mix thoroughly into lean ground beef
Form into ball shape with your hands
Press into patties on the tray
Place into oven at 350 fahrenheit
Tips for Best Results
Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Make sure you do not use any of the white part of the lemon skin, which is called the pith. It will add a very bitter taste to your lemon pepper seasoning.
Use your lemon pepper within six months for best results. You can put lemon pepper on aspargus, broccoli, salmon, potatoes or almost any variety of vegetable.
It's one of my favorite seasonings for salad dressing and vegetables. Roast your asparagus or broccoli in the oven with lemon pepper and olive oil for about ten minutes for a delicious side dish! It's so easy!
Store your lemon pepper in a cool, dry place, out of direct sunlight.
FAQ
What is in Lemon Pepper Seasoning?
Our recipe includes fresh lemon zest, salt, pepper and garlic. That's it! You can leave out the garlic if you prefer.
How do I use Lemon Pepper Seasoning?
You can put this delicious spice mixture on so many things! Use it to flavor roasted vegetables, chicken, wings, or fish and your food will get rave reviews. It is fabulous on asparagus.
Is Lemon Pepper Seasoning Keto-Friendly?
Yes. This simple spice mixture is very healthy and very low carb. If you have health issues with salt, just leave it out! You will still have a very good spice mix.
What is Lemon Pepper Seasoning?
This simple spice mixture is a blend of lemon and pepper with a little salt to intensify the flavors and a little garlic to take it up a notch.
Is Lemon Pepper Seasoning Gluten-Free?
Yes. It does not contain any gluten or potentially contaminated ingredients.
Dried lemon zest (or lemon peel) may be subbed for fresh lemon peel.
More Homemade Seasoning Recipes
- Make Your Own Taco Seasoning
- Homemade Tomato Ketchup
- Buffalo Sauce Recipe
- Light Coleslaw Dressing
- All purpose seasoning
Lemon Pepper Seasoning
Ingredients
- 2-3 large lemons
- 2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon seas salt
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 275 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Wash the lemons, and use a cheese grater to zest only the yellow part of the lemons.
- Spread the lemon zest in a single layer on the parchment paper.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until it is dried out.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
- Grind the dried lemon zest using a spice grinder, coffee grinder, or mortar and pestle.
- Add ground lemon zest, pepper, garlic, onion powder and sea salt to a small bowl and stir until combined.
- Store in an airtight container.
Nutrition
If you are not yet subscribing to my CELEBRATE THE SEASON newsletter, you can subscribe here. I share easy recipes for the season and a few things that I don’t share here. I email you only once a week as I know how valuable your time is and respect that tremendously!
If you try this recipe or any other recipe on Organized Island, please don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know where you found it in the comments below, I love hearing from you! To see what I am up to, check out my stories on Instagram and let me know you are following. It would bring me much joy!
Want to streamline your weekly meals? Check out my Beginner's Guide to Meal Planning book on Amazon.
Tamara
So smart about drying out the rind - I think we have a dehydrator. This is a great seasoning!