How To Zest Lemon Without A Zester

Lots of recipes call for the zest of a lemon. In fact, lemon zest may even be a more common ingredient than lemon juice, although one of our favorite lemon-focused sweets, lemon curd, calls for both zest and juice from a lemon.

Lemon zest, or the zest of any citrus fruit, including oranges and limes, is simply the outermost layer of the peel. The official name for this layer of the fruit is flavedo.

Used in both sweet and savory dishes, lemon zest adds a little brightness and a little zing to dishes. Many marinades, sauces, and salad dressings call for lemon or lime zest, and fruit desserts like a blueberry or apple pie might incorporate a little zest into the filling.

You can buy a lemon zester for quick and easy lemon zesting, but this specialty tool is not the only way to get zest from a lemon. 

Begin By Prepping The Lemon

1. Before you go about zesting your lemon, be sure to wash the fruit. This will remove any residual protective wax. While water and a vigorous scrub should get the job done, you can also use a mixture of baking soda and water if you want to take things to the next level.
2. Once the lemon has been washed, dry it with a dish towel or paper towel. You don’t want water to dilute the zest or add unnecessary moisture to the dish. 
3. Once you start zesting, rotate the fruit, depending on how much zest you need. Avoid going too deep as the white part—the pith—is quite bitter and may impact the flavor of your recipe.

Pick A Peeler To Zest

While a lemon zester is a handy kitchen tool, it’s not needed to zest a lemon. If space in your kitchen drawers is limited or you just want to minimize the number of kitchen tools in your repertoire, you can pick up a peeler.

1. Hold the peeler in your dominant hand and the lemon in your non-dominant hand.
2. Starting at the top, or crown of the fruit, start peeling downward. You will end up with a bunch of lemon strips.
3. Take the strips and a good, sharp chef’s knife and cut or mince the strips into tiny pieces. This lemon zest will be a slightly different feel and texture of lemon zest from a zester or microplane, but it’s zest all the same. 

Select The Right Knife To Zest

A sharp chef’s knife is your best bet for zesting a lemon with a knife.

1. Hold the knife in your dominant hand and firmly grasp the lemon in your other hand.
2. Begin at the top and carefully cut into the outermost layer of the citrus fruit, cutting downwards.
3. Once the lemon has been peeled, you can proceed as with the peeled lemon.
4. Finely chop or mince the peel pieces until you have the desired size.
   

Use A Grater To Zest The Lemon

Box graters, hand graters, and microplanes are all great tools you can use to zest a lemon. Keep in mind that graters tend to be very sharp so be mindful of where the fruit and your hands are at all times while using. If possible, we encourage you to use safety gloves.

1. If you’re using a box or hand grater, choose the side with the smallest openings. This will produce zest and not risk going too deep into the fruit.
2. Use the grater to zest the lemon in a downward motion away from your body—the way you would grate cheese over a plate or a cutting board.
3. Once you have a pile of zest, you can add it to the recipe as you see fit. Since a number of recipes call for the “zest of a lemon,” the goal is to zest the entire lemon for about a tablespoon’s worth of zest.