Joanne Chang’s Lemon Simple Syrup Recipe

Joanne Chang is a Boston-based pastry chef and the co-owner of Flour Bakery. The award-winning pastry chef has a degree with honors in applied mathematics and economics from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Passionate about baking since her college days, Joanne left her consulting job to work in restaurants, eventually opening Flour Bakery in 2000. Since then, she expanded the bakery to eight more locations, opened a Taiwanese-inspired restaurant, won a reality TV cooking competition and a James Beard Award, and wrote five cookbooks.

Despite her long list of accolades, Joanne still delights in the alchemy of baking: simple ingredients that, when combined with the right techniques, transform into something magical. Learn to bake like a pro with Joanne Chang.

Lemon syrup is a simple syrup made with lemon juice instead of water. Standard simple syrup recipes feature equal parts granulated sugar and boiling water, stirred together over heat until the sugar dissolves. Simply replace the water with lemon juice to make a simple syrup with an intense lemon flavor.

Adding lemon juice to your simple syrup is a great way to enjoy some of the health benefits of the fruit: Lemons are a good source of calcium, vitamin C, and potassium.

Lemon syrup packs the flavor of a sprinkle of sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice into a convenient pourable format. Here are a few ways to use up a batch of homemade lemon syrup.

1. 1. Cakes: Use lemon syrup as a soaking syrup to flavor cakes and make them extra moist. Dip a pastry brush or clean paintbrush in the syrup, and carefully press it into the surface of your cake. This lemon syrup recipe can add more citrus flavor to a lemon cake or jazz up a vanilla cake.
2. 2. Beverages: Use lemon syrup to add tart sweetness to your favorite drinks, from iced tea to margaritas. Alternatively, pour a little lemon syrup into seltzer for a subtle, sparkly take on lemonade.
3. 3. Ice cream: Drizzle lemon syrup over vanilla ice cream for an easy, tart-sweet dessert.

Lemon syrup only contains two ingredients, so it’s important to get them right. Here’s what else you need to know:

1. 1. Use fresh lemon juice. Fresh lemon juice has a natural tartness that bottled lemon juice and lemon extract can’t match. Use whatever fresh, juicy lemons you have on hand—try pink lemons for a rosy color or Meyer lemons for a subtly floral scent. For more flavor, add fresh lemon zest; just be sure to pour the syrup through a fine-mesh strainer to remove any pieces of zest.
2. 2. Choose a heavy-bottomed saucepan. When making simple syrup, choose a small saucepan with a heavy bottom. If you use a thin pan, you risk burning the sugar before it has dissolved.
3. 3. Store in the fridge. Lemon syrup keeps up to two weeks, provided you let it cool to room temperature before transferring it to an airtight container or glass jar in the refrigerator. Learn more about how to store simple syrup.