The Best Homemade Limoncello

“Sunshine in a bottle” is what I like to call it. Sweet, boozy sunshine.

If you’ve never had a sip of the Italian lemon liqueur known as limoncello, you’re in for a treat.

Homemade limoncello blows away the store-bought stuff, and it’s ridiculously simple to make.

While many commercial imports tend to be too sweet, homemade limoncello can be made as strong or as mild as you wish. Let it sit a while to age into a bright, smooth sipper, and your concoction could rival some of the finest in Italy!

The Italians have been making limoncello for over a hundred years, when those clever Sicilians figured out how to cope with their hot summer evenings.

Most of the country’s limoncello production is situated along the Amalfi coast, where the zest of Sorrento lemons (also known as Femminello St. Teresa lemons, and praised for their high oil content) is steeped in alcohol and mixed with simple syrup to create a refreshing digestif.

Served straight out of the freezer in a chilled glass, limoncello is perfect on its own, or can be used to spike lemonades and flavor cocktails.

If you’re like me and you like to do a little “gartending” (garden bartending), a tall glass of limoncello and soda on the rocks, garnished with a mint sprig, makes a delightful drink after digging in the dirt all day.

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The Best Homemade Limoncello

Makes 2 (32-ounce) bottles

Ingredients

10 medium organic lemons
1 (750 mL) bottle high-proof pure grain alcohol (such as Everclear)
3 cups water
2 cups sugar

Instructions

Since limoncello is made from the zest of lemons, you want to use thick-skinned, high-quality, organic lemons free of wax and pesticides.

Don’t skimp on this part. The best lemons will make the best limoncello! I picked Eureka lemons right off my tree, choosing the ones with the smoothest skins.

Wash and scrub off any dirt and dry your lemons thoroughly.

Using a Microplane, zest your lemons, taking care to zest only the peel and not the pith.

The pith is the bitter white part of the rind, which will give an unpleasant flavor to your limoncello. The peel is the yellow part of the rind, containing the oils that give zest its lemony flavor.

You’ll notice that even after zesting, my lemons are still yellow because I’ve only zested the thin outer layer of peel. A Microplane is essential for this reason; some people use a vegetable peeler or a paring knife, but they inevitably peel some of the pith along with it. For the smoothest flavor, avoid taking the pith off.

A Microplane also produces fine shreds of zest, rather than long strips. These fine shreds have more surface area and therefore more pockets of lemon oil to infuse the alcohol.

Resist the temptation to zest every part of the lemon clean, as you might zest some of the pith as well. With the leftover lemons, freeze some lemon slices or make lemon juice cubes (or try my rosemary lemonade) so nothing goes to waste.

I usually end up with 1 to 1 1/2 cups of zest from my lemons. Pour the zest into a clean half-gallon glass jar.

Pour the bottle of alcohol into the jar and seal with a lid.

There is much debate on using a rectified spirit, such as Everclear, over a high-proof vodka for infusing the lemon zest. In my opinion, the higher the proof, the better infused the alcohol will become in a shorter amount of time.

In California where I made my first limoncello, Everclear comes in 151 proof (unless you know someone in the military who can buy the high-octane stuff on base).

Back in my home state of Nevada, my friends used to soak cherries in 190-proof Everclear (ahhh, high-school memories).

In other states, Everclear is even illegal. So, just use whatever you can get your hands on. I recommend nothing less than 100-proof vodka (and a mid-grade vodka like Smirnoff is fine for this purpose — don’t bother splurging for the “good stuff”).

When it really comes down to it, high-quality lemons (that are properly zested) are much more important than high-proof alcohol.

With your potent mixture sealed, it’s time to stash it away for three weeks (or up to six weeks if steeping in vodka). Keep the jar in a cool, dark place and let the alcohol work its magic.

At this stage, the stuff is pretty lethal, so don’t do something silly like I’ve done before and try to take a whiff of what’s brewing in there. I guarantee your nose hairs will hate you for it.

After the waiting period has passed, examine the jar. The alcohol will have taken on a bright yellow hue by this point.

Scoop up a spoonful of zest; if the zest has become pale and brittle, its job is done and all the oils have been released.

Now it’s time to make the simple syrup. In a medium saucepan, dissolve the sugar in water over medium heat. Let the syrup cool to room temperature before adding it to the lemon-infused alcohol.

Give everything a stir, seal the jar again, and let it sit for at least another week. The limoncello will mellow out a lot during this period, and will continue to get smoother the longer it ages. (Hint: Start a batch in fall for Christmas gifts!)

Some of my best batches have sat on a shelf for more than three months before being bottled. They become bright and citrusy, with the lemon flavor really shining through.

On the other hand, “young” limoncello is pretty potent and best suited for mixing into cocktails than sipping as a digestif.

After a week or two (or even longer, if you can muster up the patience), it’s ready to be bottled. I like to use my Weck juice jars, but you can bottle them in smaller jars for gifting.

The Weck jar comes in a 36-ounce size, which gives a little extra room if you like your limoncello on the sweeter side and want to add more simple syrup. (Otherwise, two 32-ounce mason jars would work — I just recommend using these leakproof plastic mason jar lids, as the rims can get pretty sticky after a while.)

Strain the limoncello through a fine sieve to catch all the lemon zest.

Then, strain the limoncello again as you funnel it into glass bottles, using an ultra fine sieve, gold coffee filter, paper coffee filter, or layers of cheesecloth. The second straining might seem unnecessary at first, but it’s worth the effort to get the liqueur as clear as possible.

You know you’ve made a good one when you see the “lemon collar” — a ring of oil floating at the top.

Once everything is bottled up neatly, store your limoncello in the freezer, along with a couple of cordial glasses so you’re always ready for dessert!

Homemade Limoncello Sources

mDesign Round Mini Palm Scrub Brush | Microplane Premium Classic Series Zester | Ball Wide-Mouth Half-Gallon Jars | OXO Colander Large Scoop | OXO 3-Inch Mini Strainer | Weck 36-Ounce Juice Jars | Ball Regular-Mouth 32-Ounce Jars | Ball Leakproof Plastic Mason Jar Lids | Pasabahce Cordial and Liqueur Extra Mini Glasses | JoyJolt Heavy Base 2-Ounce Shot Glass Set

This post updated from an article that originally appeared on March 30, 2012.

View the Web Story on the best limoncello recipe.