Meyer Lemon substitute

Best substitute

Regular lemon juice plus orange juice (the standard formula)

3 parts fresh lemon juice to 1 part fresh orange juice, used 1:1 for Meyer lemon juice

Best for lemon curd

Close match

The closest and most reliable answer, and the one to reach for by default. The lemon supplies the sharpness, the orange rounds the edge off and adds back some of the floral sweetness.

Other meyer lemon substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Regular lemon zest plus a little orange or tangerine zest
Close match
3 parts lemon zest to 1 part orange zest, used 1:1 for Meyer zest
For zest the difference between Meyer and regular is mostly aroma, not acid, so this blend gets you almost the whole way there.
What changes
Best for
cakes and cookies, shortbread, gremolata, sugar cookies, pasta and risotto, roast chicken
Grate finely and rub the zest into the recipe's sugar with your fingers for a minute before mixing. Meyer skin is thinner and less bitter than a Eureka's, so zest the regular lemon lightly and stop before you reach the white pith.
3Regular lemon on its own, with the sugar adjusted
Different taste
Use the same amount plus about 1 extra tablespoon sugar per cup in sweet recipes
Perfectly acceptable in most recipes, and honestly the swap most cooks should make when they have nothing else.
What changes
The dish will taste good, just brighter and sharper.
Best for
lemon bars, lemonade, vinaigrettes, roasting fish and chicken, pan sauces
Expect a noticeably more aggressive sourness and none of the floral note, so a Meyer lemon curd made this way tastes like a good ordinary lemon curd rather than a perfumed one. The extra sugar compensates for acidity; it does not restore the aroma.
4Lemon juice plus a tiny amount of mandarin or clementine zest
Close match
Use the same amount lemon juice, plus the zest of half a clementine per ½ cup juice
A neat trick when you want the Meyer perfume but do not want to dilute the acidity at all, for example in a curd or a set custard where the acid does structural work.
What changes
Best for
lemon curd, lemon posset, pie fillings, sorbet, cocktails
The aroma lands squarely in Meyer territory while the tartness stays at full lemon strength, so this reads as sharper than a true Meyer. Best when you plan to sweeten to taste at the end anyway.
5Lime juice plus orange juice
Different taste
2 parts lime to 1 part orange, used 1:1
A workable emergency option when there is no lemon in the house at all, and better than it sounds in dressings and drinks.
What changes
Best for
vinaigrettes, cocktails, marinades, ceviche, sorbet
Lime is more bitter and much more aromatic in a green, resinous direction, so the result reads tropical rather than floral. Fine in a drink or a dressing, wrong in a delicate cake or a curd where the flavour is the entire point.
6Bottled Meyer lemon juice or preserved Meyer lemon
Different taste
Use the same amount for bottled juice; for preserved, use 1 rinsed quarter and skip added salt
Worth knowing about because bottled Meyer juice does exist in some supermarkets and specialty shops, and preserved Meyer lemons keep for a year.
What changes
Best for
dressings, braises and tagines, marinades, drinks
Bottled juice loses most of the floral top note that makes Meyer worth seeking out, so add a little fresh orange zest alongside it. Preserved Meyer is salty and intensely aromatic and belongs only in savoury cooking, never in a dessert.

What is Meyer Lemon?

Meyer Lemon is The Meyer lemon is a cross between a lemon and a mandarin, with thin deep-yellow skin, noticeably less acidity than a regular lemon, and a sweet floral perfume in both the juice and the zest.

Cooking tips

The reason so many recipes call for Meyer lemons and so few shops stock them is that Meyers bruise easily and do not ship well, so they are mostly a home-garden and farmers-market fruit with a winter-to-early-spring season. Most supermarket lemons are Eureka or Lisbon, and that is the gap this page exists to close.
Meyer lemon skin is thin, smooth and much less bitter than a regular lemon's, which is why recipes for Meyer marmalade or candied slices use the whole fruit. If you make those with a Eureka lemon instead, blanch the sliced peel in fresh water twice before you start, or the result will be harsh.
In any recipe where acid does structural work, such as a curd that must set, a posset, or a ricotta you are curdling, do not blindly dilute lemon juice with orange. Keep the lemon juice at full strength and add the orange note as zest instead, so the set is not compromised.
A Meyer yields more juice than it looks like it should, roughly a third more than a same-sized Eureka. If a recipe says the juice of 2 Meyer lemons rather than a measurement, budget about 1/4 cup and check by volume rather than counting fruit.
Meyers are less acidic, which means they are also less good at preventing browning. If you were relying on Meyer lemon juice to keep sliced apples or avocado from going brown, use a regular lemon for that job.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just use a regular lemon and ignore the difference?

Yes, in most recipes, and this is what the majority of cooks do. In a vinaigrette, a marinade or a roast chicken nobody will notice. Where it genuinely matters is in dishes where the lemon is the whole flavour and there is a lot of sugar involved, such as Meyer lemon bars, curd, olive oil cake, marmalade or a sorbet. There, add a splash of orange juice and pull back the sugar slightly.

Can I just leave the Meyer lemon out?

Rarely. It is usually functioning as the acid that keeps a rich dish from tasting heavy, or it is the headline flavour. If you have no citrus at all, a mild vinegar such as white wine or rice vinegar can cover the acid job in a savoury dish, at roughly half the volume. In baking there is no way around needing some acid and some aroma.

Is a Meyer lemon just a sweet lemon?

Not exactly. It is a lemon crossed with a mandarin, so it is less acidic than a regular lemon rather than sweeter in the way an orange is sweet, and it carries a distinctly floral, almost thyme-like perfume in the peel. Juiced on its own it still tastes clearly sour, just gentler and rounder.

What can I use instead of Meyer lemon zest specifically?

Regular lemon zest with about a quarter as much orange or tangerine zest mixed in. Zest is where the Meyer character lives most strongly, so this blend matters more than the juice swap. Grate finely, avoid the pith, and rub it into the sugar before mixing to release the oils.

Are limoncello and Meyer lemon interchangeable?

No. Limoncello is a sweet alcoholic liqueur made from lemon peel and is not an acid at all, so it cannot do the sour job a Meyer lemon does. It can add lemon aroma to a dessert, but you would still need real citrus juice for the tartness.

Related substitutes

More fruits substitutes

Meyer Lemon substitute

Other meyer lemon substitutes

2Regular lemon zest plus a little orange or tangerine zest

3Regular lemon on its own, with the sugar adjusted

4Lemon juice plus a tiny amount of mandarin or clementine zest

5Lime juice plus orange juice

6Bottled Meyer lemon juice or preserved Meyer lemon