Best Ever Homemade Limoncello Recipe

A few years after a summertime trip to the Amalfi Coast in Italy, my lemon tree started bearing fruit in large enough amounts that I no longer needed to buy lemons at the store.  After one such harvest, I got the notion to try a homemade Limoncello recipe but, I was a little gun shy.

I first fell in love with Limoncello on a breezy summer day on the Amalfi coast.  This is not unique, I think this is where nearly everyone falls for this lovely liqueur.  As you drive the roads that weave their way through the towns that hang off the cliffs of Amalfi, you see lemon trees everywhere. 

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Life Gave Me Lemons

Here in the U.S., the saying is when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.  In Italy, the Italians take lemons to the next level, as they do with most foods, and make Limoncello. Typically Italians will serve Limoncello as a digestive after their evening meal. However, if you like lemons, any time can be Limoncello time!

But I’d gone down the home fruit processing road once before.  My father-in-law has a huge, decades-old Mission Fig tree in his yard that bears tons of fruit.  The thing about figs is you must let them ripen on the tree, which leads to one massive harvest. 

These figs are tasty, but after you pick them, they only will last about a week.  So I decided to make fig preserves.  I watched my grandmother make preserves from plums, peaches, and apricots all through my childhood.  I thought, how hard can this be? 

Recipes for making preserves are not involved.  They are pretty easy.  The hard part is dealing with gallons of molten hot fruit.  Getting the preserves into jars and then processing the jars.  It was a very long and sweaty day.  But I was so excited to finally hear the first “thwack” of the lids sealing the jars.  That sound made it worth the work.

Of course, for any type of canning, you need certain supplies. A big pot for processing the jars and the jars are a necessary component. For Limoncello, you just need an attractive bottle. I find using clear bottles the best. This lets the beautiful color shine through.

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Researching A Homemade Limoncello Recipe

So, I hesitantly started my research into making a recipe for homemade Limoncello.  Wow, this is the easiest recipe I’ve ever made!  High-proof grain alcohol, lemon peels, water, and sugar.  That’s it, the whole list of ingredients.  But how you mix them together makes all the difference.

You need to find good high-proof grain alcohol, also known as a “rectified spirit.”  Most recipes call for vodka, as this is the most accessible of these spirits. Most vodka’s on the market are 80 proof or 40% alcohol.

It used to be you could find “Everclear” at almost any liquor store.  Everclear is a brand name of grain alcohol that is bottled at strengths starting at 120 proof and going as high as 190.  In California (where I live), the highest level of alcohol allowed for sale now is 153 proof. If you can find Everclear in your neck of the woods, the best limoncello recipe is one made with Everclear.

Important Note:

You should not drink any rectified spirit, vodka, Everclear or moonshine, with a level of alcohol nearing 100%. These spirits are intended to be mixed or blended.  Drinking high-proof alcohol on its own will most likely make you sick, which could lead to alcohol poisoning and even death.

Proof is a fancy way of saying what percentage of alcohol is in the mix. 120 proof is equal to 60% alcohol.  For a frame of reference, your typical cabernet sauvignon is around 14%, and a good IPA (Indian pale ale) is around 6%.  So it would seem to be that 120 proof would make for a pretty strong Limoncello.

However, part of the process of a good homemade Limoncello recipe is extracting the lemon oils and flavor out of the lemon peels.  Just like vanilla extract is made by soaking vanilla beans in alcohol.  The stronger the alcohol, the better the extraction.  So it makes sense to get the highest proof spirit you can find. 

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Patience is a Virtue, and Limoncello is Your Reward

Homemade Limoncello is a recipe that takes patience.  As you will see from the directions below, the first thing you do is peel the lemons, place the lemon peels into the alcohol, and wait. You don’t need to worry about the fruit getting moldy or any sort of bacteria growing, the alcohol prevents this from happening.

The longer you wait, the more flavor will be extracted.  So you wait.  Three to four weeks from now, you can finish the recipe and have your first sip of your Limoncello.  Yes, you can shorten the time.  Much of the color and flavor will be extracted from the peels in the first week or so.  But the longer you leave the peels in the alcohol, the better the final outcome.

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Mixing Your Homemade Limoncello

Now that a month has passed, you are ready to blend your Limoncello.  While the recipe is easy, it will take some trial runs to make your perfect Limoncello. 

Depending on the level of alcohol you use, you will need to use more or less “simple syrup.”  If you start with 80-proof vodka, you will only need enough simple syrup to cut the lemon blend in half.  This will render you with Limoncello which is around 40 proof or 20% alcohol.  This is still pretty strong, but remember, you only sip a small liqueur glass at a time. 

If you started with a higher-proof spirit, you would need to dilute your lemon mixture further to get to a level that is near 20%.  Yes, you are going to need to do some math.

Another thing you will want to consider is just how sweet you want your Limoncello.  For example, my lemon tree is a “Meyer” lemon.  Meyer lemons are much sweeter than the Eureka lemons that you usually find at the store.  When making my “simple syrup,” I generally use less sugar to compensate for this. Instead of using the typical 1:1 ratio of sugar and water, I use a 0.75:1.

Lastly, and this is truly just for cosmetics.  If you mix the simple syrup with the lemon/alcohol base before the syrup is completely cool, your Limoncello will be opaque.  It will not be clear as it cools. The Limoncello will still be delicious, and you will enjoy every last drop. But, If you want a clear end product, make sure all liquids are at room temperature before mixing.

Yay! You’ve Made Your First Batch of Homemade Limoncello!

This limoncello recipe is easy. And homemade limoncello makes a wonderful gift to give to your friends and family. Now what do you do with ten (10) naked lemons?