How to Make Your Own Lemon Pepper Seasoning
One of my favourite spice blends would have to be Lemon Pepper Seasoning. It is so easy to dehydrate it yourself. This ensures you always have a good supply for home use or gift giving.
Why Make Your Own
We have an abundance of citrus over the winter months, and I am all about seasonal eating. I love to use Lemon Pepper seasoning in my cooking. Once I bought my fantastic Biochef 9 Tray Dehydrator, I started to make my own.
I like that I can make enough of this seasoning for a whole year’s supply and even gift some away. I then know what is in it and that my lemons are spray free. It also saves me money and it’s just another thing that I don’t have to buy at the supermarket.
Why Do You Need to Condition?
Fruits are considered dried when they are pliable and don’t stick together. They have a higher percentage than vegetables. Conditioning helps to make sure they are in suitable condition for longer storage.
When drying peels, you want them to be crispy. You can find out this by taking a peel out of the dehydrator and letting it cool. Try and break the peel in half, if you can’t you need to dry for a little longer.
Once you think they are brittle enough and cold, pop them into a jar with a good fitting lid. Give the jar a shake every day twice a day. You are looking for the peels to stay brittle and not clump together. If after 3 days, they are good then you are now safe to blend the ingredients together.
How I like to Use it
- Over chicken breast, then pan fried
- Fish
- Chicken drumsticks
- It is lovely in a creamy pasta
- Over braised cabbage
- In sauces
Other Information and Links
I have a couple of videos on my YouTube showing you how I make this up.
Four Homemade Seasoning Salts | Great for gift giving!
It’s a LEMON Kind of a Day | Lemon Meringue Pie | Lemon Pepper Plus Steam Canning the Juice
It is hard to really write up a recipe for this as you have more of less required amounts. The recipe card below is a rough estimate of how I made mine. Use less or more it is entirely up to you. If you like more pepper add more, and if you prefer less salt, simply add less. The best way to figure it out is to use some and see what you like. Use it as a guideline.
How to Make Your Own Lemon Pepper Seasoning
Equipment
- Dehydrator I have a Bio Chef 9 Tray, and I highly recommend it
- Oven set the oven to the lowest setting
Ingredients
- 2 kilos lemons You can make as little or as much as you like. This is just a guideline
- 2 tbsp whole peppercorns you can use already cracked pepper if that is all you have
- 1 tbsp salt I like to use flakey sea salt
Instructions
- Peel all the lemons, making sure not to leave too much pith (white part) which is bitter. If you see there is a lot of pith you can use a small knife to shave it off the peels. This task takes a while, but it makes a better result.
- Place the lemon peels in your dehydrator or oven. Set it to the lowest temperature.
- Dehydrate until the peels break easily when you break it in half. You might need to take it out of the dehydrator to cool before you do this.
- It is best to then condition the peels by placing the cold peels in a jar and shaking them every day for 3 days. If the peels are not dry enough, they will clump together. This means the peels are not ready to blend. Please read the post for full explanation.
- Once they have been conditioned, place the peels and peppercorns into a high-powered blender or coffee grinder. You may have to do this in several batches.
- Lastly, add salt and blend again. You can have the seasoning as chunky or as smooth as you like. I like it as a happy medium.
