Lemon zest, salt and pepper is all you need to make Homemade Lemon Pepper Seasoning! Great for seasoning fish, chicken, steak or used in salad dressing or marinade.

There are a ton of things that I eventually want to make; like my own ketchup from scratch, or sandwich bread and jam. Today it is lemon-pepper. I needed some for a recipe so I set out to make it myself.

How hard could it be? Have you ever made your own lemon pepper seasoning? Am I the only freak who would? Don’t answer that. Actually my mom is a just like me… she makes her own poultry seasoning… so there, I’m not alone.

Lemon pepper seasoning is like the all-purpose seasoning to fish and chicken, like Lawry’s is to beef and eggs and like chocolate is to pretzels.

Know-what-I-mean?

Well it is painfully simple to make and in this recipe you won’t find any artificial modified-anything! Just yummy lemony-peppery-flavory. Sorry-y.

To Make Homemade Lemon Pepper Seasoning You Will Need:

  • lemon zest
  • coarse salt
  • freshly (coarse) ground black pepper

Start with a lot of lemons, pepper and salt! Now I know four are pictured but I added the zest of another lemon.
Now if you want more lemon than pepper reduce the amount of pepper or increase the lemon zest.

So I started out with 4 to see how much I would need…

You will need a whole lotta lemon zest. So I added another lemon to the zest pile.

Scrape.

And add it to a bowl.

Add in the pepper.

I used a mixture of half black and half the “peppercorn medley” because not only does it have pink, green and white peppercorns, but it has coriander and allspice in it as well. I just tossed them in my spice grinder and gave’em a quick pulse.

Give it a good stir, mashing the lemon zest into the pepper.

There is no “exact amount” of lemon zest. I probably should have measured it all out for you. But it depends on the size of the lemons you are using. So I say between 5 and 7 lemons.

Pile it in the center of a parchment lined baking sheet.

Spread it out and bake at the lowest setting until the zest is completely dried. Mine took an hour it may take longer depending on how much set you’re using.

I checked on it every now and again and give it a toss. Spread it back out and back into the oven it goes.

It smells pretty good right about now.

Once completely dried. Add to a spice grinder.

Place the lid on tight and blitz away.

Until it resembles lemon pepper or fine sand.

You can either add the salt now or not. Just keep in mind if you like to control your salt, you may want to skip this step.

Mix until combined. And there you have it! Homemade lemon-pepper seasoning!

Enjoy! And if you give this recipe a try, let me know! Snap a photo and tag me on twitter or instagram!

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Yield: 12 servings

Homemade Lemon Pepper Seasoning

Homemade lemon pepper is easy and delicious.
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Additional Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • 5 large lemons
  • 1/3 cup crushed peppercorns, black and/or medley
  • 1/4 cup kosher salt

Instructions 

  • Zest all the lemons and mix with crushed peppercorns.
  • Spread out on parchment lined baking sheet and bake on lowest setting until the zest is completely dried.
  • Add the lemon-pepper to a spice grinder and grind until desired texture.
  • Mix with the kosher salt if desired and store in a airtight container for up to a few months.
Serving: 1tablespoon, Calories: 33kcal, Carbohydrates: 9g, Protein: 1g, Fat: 1g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 1g, Sodium: 2359mg, Potassium: 67mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 1g, Vitamin A: 10IU, Vitamin C: 25mg, Calcium: 31mg, Iron: 1mg
Author: Laurie McNamara
Course: Homemade Ingredients & Condiments
Cuisine: American