Lemon Pepper seasoning is a zippy spice blend featuring the citrus tang of dried lemon zest and bold heat of black peppercorns. Simple to make, this seasoning blend adds delicious flavour to fish, chicken and even popcorn!
It’s nice to know what goes in your food. Lemon Pepper seasoning is available ready made in the spice section of most grocery stores, but the ingredient list is a lot longer than lemon zest, peppercorns, garlic powder and salt. Most commercially made lemon pepper blends contain a long list of preservatives, artificial flavours and even yellow food dye. They also usually contain way too much salt. The good news is that you can make your own lemon pepper seasoning with a few simple ingredients giving you full control over what goes in it. It does take a while to dehydrate the lemon zest in the oven, but that’s ‘hands off’ time, leaving you free to do something else while the oven fills your home with the fresh sent of lemons. The rest of the recipe is quick and simple. Here’s another thing: This homemade Lemon Pepper Seasoning tastes far better than the store-bought version. Packed with real lemon peel and fresh peppercorns, this DIY mix delivers a fresh, zippy, citrusy punch that leaves the store-bought stuff in the dust.
What goes in Homemade Lemon Pepper Seasoning?
- Lemons: You’ll use just the zest of the lemons for this recipe, which is to say, just the bright yellow part of the skin. When you’re removing the zest be careful to take just the top yellow layer of the skin, leaving the bitter white pith behind. Look for fresh lemons with unblemished skin for tastiest results. The first part of this recipe involves dehydrating the fresh lemon zest in the oven until it is fully dry. You can also use a dehydrator for this task, if you have one.
- Black Peppercorns: You can use a few tablespoons of ground black pepper in this recipe, but you’ll get much better flavour from grinding whole peppercorns. Peppercorns lose their potency as they age, so consider buying fresh ones to get maximum flavour in your spice mix.
- Garlic powder: Not all Lemon Pepper Seasonings contain garlic, but I recommend it for the depth of flavour it adds to this spice blend.
- Kosher salt: Most commercially prepared Lemon Pepper Seasonings contain far too much salt. You can omit the salt in this recipe all together if you’d like, or add more or less to taste. You’re in control! I use kosher salt, but sea salt is also delicious.
How to Grind the Seasoning
Turning the dehydrated lemon zest and hard black peppercorns into a delicious blend is an easy task with a small food processor or spice grinder. Simply add the ingredients and pulse until you reach the consistency you like. If you’d like to see yellow pieces of lemon zest in your spice mix, you can grind the zest and peppercorns separately, then stir them together in a bowl along with the other ingredients. While grinding the ingredients separately might make for a slightly prettier mix, I personally prefer the taste of the Lemon Pepper Seasoning when all ingredients are ground together and the flavours have melded. This is the mini food processor that I use to make quick work of this recipe.
SERVING SUGGESTIONS
This versatile seasoning has a long list of uses! Keep a jar in your pantry to add flavour to fish, chicken, chicken wings, shrimp and veggies. Stir it into melted butter to brush onto cobs of corn or to drizzle over popcorn. Mix with olive oil for a delicious dip for fresh bread. Mix it into softened butter and add a pat to the top of a freshly grilled steak.
BRIGHT IDEA
Don’t waste the lemons! This recipe uses just the zest, so what to do with the rest of the lemons? Try one of these delicious recipes to use up the juice!
GIFTABLE
A pretty jar of Homemade Lemon Pepper Seasoning makes a delightful gift. Tie it up with a pretty ribbon and give it along with a bottle of good olive oil, a loaf of fresh bread and a wooden cutting board. It makes a lovely surprise for a host, a friend or a neighbour.
Homemade Lemon Pepper Seasoning
Ingredients
- 5 Lemons
- 4 Tbsp Black Peppercorns
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 150F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Rinse the lemons to remove any surface dirt and pat dry with a kitchen towel. Using a vegetable peeler, remove the zest from each lemon, being careful to remove just the yellow zest and not the bitter white pith. Place the lemon zest onto the parchment lined baking sheet, then transfer to the oven to dry, about 3 hours. (Or use a dehydrator, if you have one). When the zest is completely dry, remove it from the oven and allow it to cool to room temperature.
- Using a small food processor or spice grinder, pulse the dehydrated lemon zest, black pepper, garlic powder and salt until the mixture is ground, with a few larger pieces of black peppercorn remaining. Store in an airtight container for up to 6 months, or in the freezer for up to 1 year.
RECIPE NOTES
- It takes a while to dry out the lemon zest, but don’t be tempted to crank up the heat on the oven to speed things up. The dehydration process is low and slow and should leave you with bright yellow, crispy bits of zest. Turning up the heat may cause the zest to brown, which can alter the flavour.
- This lemon pepper seasoning will keep for a long time, but will lose flavour as it ages. Store it in an airtight container (I use a glass spice jar), in a cool, dark place for up to 6 months. To preserve the flavour for longer, store any that you don’t feel that you will use in the next few months in a resealable bag in the freezer for up to 1 year.
- Give the jar a shake before using your Lemon Pepper Seasoning, since the larger pieces of peppercorns will settle to the bottom over time.
