My Basic Limoncello Recipe: The Control Group for Experimentation

Standard Limoncello Recipe

There are many limoncello recipes available on the internet but since I’m engaged in a pseudo-scientific endeavor here, it makes sense to publish my basic recipe. Wanna hear it? Here it go:

Limoncello ingredients:

  • Two (2) 750ml bottles of pure grain alcohol, so 1.5L of alcohol
  • The zest of 17 lemons (in one test it worked out to ~50 grams of zest, but that’s highly dependent on how you zest)
  • 3.5 cups of white sugar
  • 5 cups of filtered water

Limoncello recipe instructions:

  1. Zest the lemons, put the zest in a glass one-gallon jar with the alcohol and let it sit for 45 days.
  2. Filter the infusion 4 times using #4 coffee filters.
  3. Mix the sugar and water in a pot and bring to a boil for 5 minutes.
  4. Let the mixture sit until completely cool and then mix with the alcohol and lemon infusion.
  5. Let that mixture sit for 45 days.
  6. Bottle the liquid and put it in the freezer.

That’s the short, basic version. There’s a lot more to it though and it would be wise of you to check the long-form recipe for all the gory details.

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(54) comments

[…] latest two batches of liqueurs were limoncello and spiced rum. The limoncello comes from this recipe.  The spiced rum is based on this, but I have modified […]

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romalue keith August 5, 2018

Hi,
I just found your site. Very informative!

I was wondering if I could halve the recipe as I do not want that much limoncello.

Thanks,

Romalue

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Ben August 10, 2018

Sure you can.

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Elayne December 11, 2018

As winemaker and competitor, I am always looking for new recipes. Personally, I have never made Limoncello but I have drank it… thoroughly enjoy it & am looking forward to further newsletters.

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Audrey Waldrop December 18, 2018

Hello! I started a batch about 2 years ago, messed up the recipe somehow and wound up with not enough flavor or sweetness. I kept it and in the meantime I have added zest whenever I make lemonade and let it rest. Today I filtered it, it has a nice texture, lemony, but needs more sweetness. What do you recommend?

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Ben January 6, 2019

Just add some simple syrup until the sweetness is right. There’s no harm in that.

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Victoria January 10, 2019

Hi! Love the new look of your site! I wanted to share that we made many batches of your limoncello for our wedding favors and welcome cocktail in 2016, and it was AMAZING. We’re currently making a batch with blood oranges from our garden, and I’m thinking of doing the simple syrup with the juice of the oranges so we can get some of that gorgeous color in there. Any thoughts on that? Wondering if we should stick with 5 cups juice and 3.5 cups sugar, if we should decrease some of the sugar, or if we should do a ratio of water/juice with the sugar…? Thank you in advance!

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Ben January 11, 2019

This is a little tough, what I’d do is experiment with it to get the proportions right. The big change is that you’ll need far less sugar because OJ has a lot of sugar in it already. However, as a starting point there are roughly 215 grams in a US cup of sugar and there are 34 grams of sugar in 12 ounces of OJ (both things I just learned by Googling so you may want to cross check).

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Beth January 26, 2019

In the longer limoncello recipe, the instructions say to filter the lemon infusion BEFORE adding the simple syrup. In the standard recipe you say to add the simple syrup to the infusion. Which is the best way?

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Jerry January 28, 2019

I made some limoncello before finding your great website. In my last batch I put too much water in it so the limoncello is not as thick as I like it. It tastes fine, but I wanted to know if you have any suggestions to thicken it?

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Ben February 1, 2019

Sorry, I’ll fix that. Filter the infusion before adding the syrup.

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Ben February 1, 2019

The sugar and the cold temperature are what makes it thick. If you’re serving it near freezing already, then adding sugar is the way to do that. If you like the flavor though, I’d worry less about the consistency because fixing it will make it sweeter.

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Tim February 16, 2019

I screwed up – I filtered and added simple syrup all one day, rather than syrup>6 wks >filter and bottle. So the zests only sat in the alcohol for 6 wks instead of 12 wks. Any ideas on how to rescue the batch?

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Ben February 26, 2019

I don’t know that there’s much to do about that but it may not matter much to you. I’d test it out and see.

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Kat March 13, 2019

Hi Ben,
Was wondering if you have ever made cello with limes? If so, how may limes did you use and how was the flavor?
Thanks!

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Jean May 26, 2019

It seems you describe two basic recipes on this site — one that combines simple sugar with unfiltered lemon infusion and another that first filters the infusion and then adds simple sugar. Which sequence do you recommend?

Thanks for informative site!

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Harold Darling June 2, 2019

Thank you for your tips on unwaxed lemons and filtering. I have a questions about alcohol. I’ve found that everclear is too harsh, and I’m using 190 proof grain alcohol from organicalcohol.com which definitely is smoother than everclear. Does the 190 proof alcohol need to be filtered? And does the recipe rations need to be adjusted?

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Harold Darling June 2, 2019

Thank you for taking the time to maintain this web site. I started a batch of limoncello 5 years and forgot about it. The zest has been marinating in 190 proof alcohol and I’m wondering if I’ve waited too long?

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Ben June 3, 2019

On the alcohol filtering, that’s up to your tastes. The ratio definitely needs adjustment though.

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Ben June 3, 2019

Possibly, but give it a try anyway.

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Arlea August 23, 2019

Hi Ben, do you use the entire simple syrup mixture?

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Ben November 24, 2019

No, only as much as needed for the recipe.

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Laurie December 11, 2019

Your recipe above for your Standard Limoncello recipe does not state if your grain alcohol ( Everclear ) is 150 proof or 190 proof. I just put the lemon peels in 1Liter of 190 proof Everclear…I can follow a recipe but the ratio of water and sugar will be different based on what the proof is….. what proof is your grain alcohol above….and what would it be for 190 proof…

thanks…….

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Cheri January 4, 2020

You answered the scum issue but now that it actually applies to me I can’t find it! Will the eventual filtering fix my problem?

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Jim February 7, 2020

I am in California and they no longer sell the high proof everclear. HELP. I have made 2 batches with the high proof off of your recipe and they were both GREAT. How do you suggest proceeding with lower proof alcohol?

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Nick February 22, 2020

Have made limoncello a number of times from various recipes handed down by multiple family members (all 100% Italian, of the Southern variety too). They all said to peel the lemons, and soak in alcohol from 1-6 weeks…yada yada. When I read your recipe (both standard & “best”), the idea of using zest blew my mind. I have the good fortune of having a few lemon trees I can pluck fresh lems from. So my wife made a batch using a peeler (15 lemons; 750ml grain alcohol), and I went with zest (17 lemons, 1.5L).

Now we wait…..

🙂

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Nick February 22, 2020

Did you ever try finishing the 5-year batch? I’m curious if it’s awful or awesome.

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Stuart July 7, 2020

Hi, I think I’ve nutted out a spreadsheet to calculate sugar & water required based on desired final alc% & brix sweetness level. Using your standard recipe of 1.5L @ 75.5%, 3.5 cups sugar (700g assumed) and 5 cups water (1250ml) I am getting a final alcohol percentage of 36.1% and a brix level of 22.3. Your sugar & water amounts should give a syrup volume of 1637ml – do they? Let me know if you’d like to see my spreadsheet.

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Corinne Keith September 1, 2020

Just need some clarification on Step 9. Are you saying I need to filter it again before I bottle it? Thanks.

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Frank Stefano September 8, 2020

I started two batches in July and they have been resting well since then. I started the sugar water process on one batch this weekend but substituted pure honey in place of sugar/water. Have you ever tried this? Also, I’ve seen recipes that call for squeezing the juices from the peeled lemons into the peel/alcohol solution. Have you tried this? Thank you, great website! I am in the restaurant business and appreciate your work. Frank

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Martha September 14, 2020

Thanks for bringing this up that California doesn’t sell the higher proof. I just was starting a batch and didn’t notice! It has been a few years since making my last batch.

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Katie September 21, 2020

Why do you filter the alcohol through a brita filter? What is it removing?

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Jonathan February 4, 2021

First time maker and I have a few quick questions/comments for your simple syrup addition. When adding your simple syrup solution to your infusion, based on 1500 ml of 151 proof alcohol, do you only add the total amount of 5 cups water/3.5 cups sugar or is this just a starting point? The reason I ask is the calculator on your other pages requires 2250 ml/9.5 cups of simple sugar. This is lower than the ~8.5 cups max your simple sugar recipe will produce. Thank you.

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Evan February 14, 2021

Hi there! Thanks for posting this recipe, I’m a first-time maker and have had a ton of fun reading up on the technique and advice for making some great homemade limoncello. I had a quick question! Your long-form recipe says to target 30% abv, but this recipe yields a 42% abv limoncello. 1.5 L of 75% alcohol (151 proof) diluted with 5 C water gives a total volume of 2.68 L @ 42% abv. Also, do you use 151 proof or pure grain alcohol (190 proof)? Thanks for the help!

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Marie March 5, 2021

Hello,
Do you use the entire amount of simple syrup?

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Alfred Sabino March 23, 2021

Haven’t made Limoncello for some time, but used your recipe. Currently trying to figure out how to make simple syrup and amount needed when using 1.75L 190 proof Everclear.

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Kelsie May 19, 2021

You can plug the values into the calculator that is linked in the article. It’s truly wonderful.

https://limoncelloquest.com/limoncello-calculators/limoncello-alcohol-percentage-calculator

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Leslie September 22, 2021

Do I really need to filter the infusion four times?

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Richard Romer Cannon October 2, 2021

I have been making lemon/arancello for a year plus at this point and I am finally trying my hand at infusing mint into one of my batches. I have a batch of grapefruitcello brewing, concentrate is 750 ml of 190 proof grain alcohol with a final product of 1.5 L 90-100 proof finished product. How much mint would you add to the batch to of that size? How long would you let it steep in the concentrated solution?

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Eric November 22, 2021

Ben, what is the purpose of the additional 45 days of aging before bottling?

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Kate Anderson February 25, 2022

I had to zest 100 lemons to get 50 grams.

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Ben April 12, 2022

Makes it smoother.

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Ben April 12, 2022

That’s like 4x what I’ve ever done. Maybe my lemons have much thicker skin?

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R.V. Ehrmantraut June 1, 2022

Do you have a book? I thought I saw one somewhere.. Also how do I know how sweet it will be. What brix number should I use.?

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Aaron August 6, 2022

Good Recipes, but website almost unusable on mobile due to adverts

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Lisa September 30, 2022

We’ve tried and LOVED the results of this in the past and want to make a batch for holiday gift-giving. We realize that if we start today, using the (45+45)90-day prep/filter/steep, we are too late. Considering (40+40)80-day instead, do you think that would work? Thoughts?

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Kit Gould October 1, 2022

Hi All,
I have just started a new batch for next spring/summer I have 4.5 litres of Neutral Grain Spirit (69.9% Proof) and about 30 large Amalfi Lemons. Planning to infuse for 2-3 months before adding syrup and giving another 2-3 months before bottling.
My question is what %Brix level I should be aiming for?.
I find ‘shop bought’ Lemoncello generally too sweet, so what is the Brix range I should be aiming for so that it is quite sweet but still a bit tangy and not sickly.
I am also going to do around half as ‘Crema di Lemoncello’ – will this change the brix range. Many thanks. Kit

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Caitlin Taffe November 18, 2022

I’m confused by the second 45 day wait time. What does that do for the limoncello?

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Harry February 19, 2023

Wow. Turned out wonderful. I basically followed the recipe but increased the zest level by 2X without issue. This is how I made with 120 proof everclear and used the Limoncello Alcohol Proof/Percentage Calculator

50 g Lemon zest – no pith
750 ml of 120p Everclear (California). I didn’t bother with the filtering the everclear. https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/critical-thinking-you-asked/does-filtering-vodka-through-brita-filter-really-work

Steeped for about 4 weeks.

Using the calculator, I tried to mimic the Ben’s recipe for proof and brix.

I assumed that the final product was 76 proof and 20 brix. Therefore, the amount of sugar suggested is 272g sugar and 311 ml of water for my 750 ml of 120 proof everclear.

On a few sites on the web, 311 ml of water is roughly 1.31 Cups and 272 g of white granular sugar is roughly 1.35 Cups (1 cup sugar is around 201 g). To simplify, I figured I would just go with 1:1 simple syrup since it’s not worth the hassle of trying to measure 1.31 cups vs. 1.34. (I know I could have weighed everything, but trying to keep it simple).

1:1 simple syrup ends up giving you roughly 1.5 X the starting volume of your water. So if you start out with 2 cups of water and add 2 cups sugar, you will end up with slightly more than 3 cups of SS.

Since I wanted 1.31 cups water with my approximately 1.35 cups sugar, my final amount of 1:1 simple syrup is about 2 cups (1.31 C x 1.53 = 2.0). I used 1.5 cups good tasting bottled water and heated the in the microwave to get hot but not boiling. Added my 1.5 cups sugar, stirred and stirred and waited for solution to clear and cool. (Again, to keep thing easy, I used 1.5 cups of each because it’s much easier to to measure 1.5 cups than 1.3x cups). I also didn’t want to boil the water or simple syrup because you can “invert” of hydrolyze your sucrose by heating into glucose and fructose and I hate the tasted of fructose vs. sucrose. Probably being paranoid about this step and the inversion by boiling is probably very minimal.

After filtering out the lemon zest from the everclear as directed by Ben, I added the 2 cups of cooled simple syrup.

For this batch I got the Louching effect when I added the simple syrup (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouzo_effect) where the oils emulsify and the solution gets cloudy. To my mind it shows that I extracted quite a bit of the lemon oils in the ethanol.

The final product was perfect. Lemony, not bitter, clean sweetness and not cloyingly sweet. Best limoncello I have ever made.

Hope this helps others.

Grazie Ben!

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Kathy Frank April 1, 2023

Thank you so much for putting this together. This will be my third time using your recipe and we love it. Would there be any reason not to bottle this after the first 45 days and just tell my gift receiver not to drink it for 45 days?

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Chris April 30, 2023

The flavors mellow out over time….I just waited 5-6 weeks and just had my 2nd taste of my 1st batch…its intense lemon flavor is almost a creamy feeling along the tongue that evaporates. The longer it sits the more the flavors combine.

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