Grapefruit Zest substitute

Best substitute

Orange zest plus lime zest

Use the same amount total, mixed 2 parts orange to 1 part lime as the grapefruit zest you are replacing

Best for cakes and cookies

Close match

The best everyday blend. Orange supplies the sweet, full citrus body that grapefruit shares, and lime supplies the slightly bitter, resinous top note that plain orange lacks entirely.

Other grapefruit zest substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Pomelo zest
Close match
Use the same amount
Grapefruit is descended from the pomelo, so the peel oil is the closest relative available.
What changes
If your grocery has pomelos, this is the most accurate swap there is.
Best for
anything calling for grapefruit zest, desserts, salads, cocktails
Milder and slightly sweeter with less of the sulphurous bite that some people notice in grapefruit, which is an advantage if you find grapefruit aggressive. The rind is very thick with an enormous layer of pith, so zest carefully and stop at the colour.
3Orange zest on its own
Different taste
Use the same amount
The simplest substitution and perfectly acceptable in most baking, where the zest is one flavour among butter, sugar and flour rather than the headline.
What changes
Best for
cakes and muffins, shortbread, glazes and icing, marinades
What changes is the bitterness, which disappears completely, so the result tastes sweeter and more familiar. In a recipe where grapefruit was chosen specifically to cut richness, such as a grapefruit and cream cheese frosting or a citrus cure for fish, that missing edge is noticeable, and a pinch of lime zest or a grating of fresh grapefruit pith fixes it.
4Lemon zest plus grapefruit bitters
Different taste
Use the same amount zest, plus 2 dashes bitters per teaspoon
The cocktail answer, and useful in desserts too.
What changes
Bitters are a concentrated citrus peel extract, so a couple of dashes puts real grapefruit peel character back into the drink.
Best for
cocktails and highballs, sorbets and granitas, syrups, whipped cream and mousses
Bitters contain alcohol and are strongly flavoured, so this is not for a children's dessert or a dish you cannot taste as you go. Lemon on its own is sharper and thinner than grapefruit, so the bitters are doing most of the work and the lemon is the carrier.
5Tangerine, mandarin or blood orange zest
Different taste
Use the same amount
A good choice when the recipe is sweet and you would rather it lean floral than bitter.
What changes
Blood orange in particular has a faint berry note that plays well in the same dishes grapefruit turns up in.
Best for
sorbets and ice cream, custards, winter salads, cocktails
Sweetly perfumed with no bitterness at all, so a winter salad dressed with it loses the sharp contrast against bitter leaves that grapefruit provides. Add a teaspoon of the recipe's vinegar or a squeeze of lemon to restore some tension.
6Grapefruit juice (only when liquid is welcome)
Taste and texture differ
Use 1 tbsp juice for every 1 tsp zest, minus 1 tbsp of the recipe's other liquid
The right answer for dressings, marinades, drinks and sauces, and the wrong answer for anything dry or delicate.
What changes
Best for
marinades, vinaigrettes, drinks and syrups, pan sauces
The juice is acidic where the zest was not, so it can curdle cream, slacken a batter, and make a cookie dough spread. In a cake or shortbread, use zest of some kind instead. Even in a dressing, expect it to taste sharper and less perfumed, because most of the aroma lives in the peel rather than the juice.
7Leave it out and add a little more lemon (the honest option)
Different taste
Use Omit; add zest of half a lemon for every teaspoon of grapefruit zest
In a marinade, a braise or a rub with plenty of other seasoning, grapefruit zest is a grace note and the dish survives without it.
What changes
Best for
marinades, rubs, braises, savoury sauces
Not viable in a grapefruit cake, a grapefruit curd or a citrus cure for salmon, where the peel is the source of the flavour and the salt or sugar is simply the vehicle. In those recipes use the orange and lime blend rather than dropping the zest.

What is Grapefruit Zest?

Grapefruit Zest is Grapefruit zest is the grated or pared coloured outer rind of a grapefruit, and it carries the fruit's perfume and its faint pine-like bitterness without any of its juice, acid or liquid.

Cooking tips

Grapefruit pith is more bitter than lemon or orange pith, so use a microplane and stop the instant you see white. One heavy-handed pass can make a whole cake taste medicinal.
One medium grapefruit yields roughly a tablespoon to a tablespoon and a half of finely grated zest, so a recipe wanting the zest of one grapefruit needs about that much of your substitute blend.
Zest before you juice. A halved grapefruit is impossible to zest neatly, and if you only need juice you can still zest first and freeze the zest in a small bag for months.
Ruby and pink grapefruit are sweeter and their zest is gentler; white grapefruit and oro blanco are more bitter. If your recipe wants a real bitter edge, white is the one to buy, and if you find grapefruit harsh, use ruby.
In a cure for salmon or gravlax, the zest is there for perfume while the salt and sugar do the curing, so you can change which citrus you use freely without affecting whether the cure works. Do not change the ratio of salt and sugar in a cure or a tested pickling or canning recipe, since that is what makes it safe rather than merely tasty; the National Center for Home Food Preservation has the tested guidance.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use grapefruit juice instead of grapefruit zest?

Only where extra liquid and extra acid are welcome, such as a marinade, dressing, drink or pan sauce, at about a tablespoon of juice per teaspoon of zest with a tablespoon of other liquid removed. In cakes, cookies, curds and creams it is a bad swap, because the acid can curdle dairy and slacken the batter while delivering less aroma than the peel did.

Can I just leave grapefruit zest out?

In a marinade, rub or braise, yes, and adding the zest of half a lemon keeps the brightness. In a grapefruit cake, sorbet, curd or citrus cure the zest is where nearly all the flavour comes from, so substitute with 2 parts orange zest to 1 part lime zest rather than leaving a gap.

Is grapefruit zest bitter?

Slightly, and deliberately so. That gentle pine-like bitterness is why recipes choose grapefruit over orange, particularly alongside rich things like cream cheese, olive oil cake, avocado or oily fish. Any substitute made only from orange or mandarin zest will taste sweeter and less interesting unless you add a little lime.

Does the pink or white grapefruit matter?

A little. Pink and ruby zest is sweeter and more floral, while white grapefruit and oro blanco are noticeably more bitter. Either works in any recipe, but if you are substituting for a specific one, ruby is closest to orange zest plus a pinch of lime, and white needs the full 2 to 1 orange and lime blend to match.

Should I avoid grapefruit zest if I avoid grapefruit juice?

Grapefruit interacts with a number of prescription medicines, and the peel contains the same compounds as the juice, so if you have been told to avoid grapefruit it is sensible to treat the zest the same way and use orange or lime zest instead. Your pharmacist can tell you whether it applies to what you take.

Related substitutes

More fruits substitutes

Grapefruit Zest substitute

Other grapefruit zest substitutes

2Pomelo zest

3Orange zest on its own

4Lemon zest plus grapefruit bitters

5Tangerine, mandarin or blood orange zest

6Grapefruit juice (only when liquid is welcome)

7Leave it out and add a little more lemon (the honest option)