Emulsifier Free Classic Lemon Sorbet
Bright, bracingly tart, and impossibly refreshing, this lemon sorbet is the kind of frozen dessert that makes you close your eyes on the first spoonful. It's built from just five clean ingredients — sugar, water, lemon zest, fresh lemon juice, and a pinch of salt — so there's nothing hiding in the base that shouldn't be there. Many store-bought sorbets and frozen desserts sneak in emulsifiers to improve texture or shelf stability, but this one achieves its silky, scoopable consistency the old-fashioned way: a well-made simple syrup, properly chilled, and a good churn. Pressing the steeped zest through the strainer before adding the juice coaxes out every bit of aromatic lemon oil, giving the sorbet a depth that goes well beyond just sour. The overnight chill before churning is worth the patience — a cold base makes for a smoother, more evenly frozen result. Once it firms up in the freezer, you've got a genuinely elegant dessert that's as clean as it gets.
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Learn more →Ingredients
6 servings
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 tbsp lemon zest (from about 3 lemons)
- 1 cup fresh lemon juice (from about 6–7 lemons)
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- 1
Combine the sugar, water, and lemon zest in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the sugar is fully dissolved, about 3–4 minutes. Do not let the syrup boil vigorously — remove it from the heat as soon as the sugar is clear.
- 2
Pour the syrup through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl or measuring cup, pressing on the zest to extract its oils, then discard the zest. Stir in the lemon juice and salt.
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