How to Juice a Lemon Without a Juicer

How to Juice a Lemon Without a Juicer – 3 Easy Ways

Last Updated on January 10, 2023

Juicers are a great kitchen tool to own if you consume a lot of fresh juice at home, or want to start. However, what if you just want to juice a lemon quickly for a specific recipe?

Is it possible to juice fruit without a juicer? Absolutely! It is quite easy to juice fruits like lemons or limes, even without a juicer. In fact, you can do it with tools you most likely already own.

If you have lemons to juice and need help on how to do it without using complex kitchen equipment, then you’re in luck. This article explains how to juice a lemon without a juicer using three different methods. All of the methods are easy, fast, and most importantly, can be executed using basic kitchen tools.

Juicing a Lemon Without a Juicer: The Basics

Before you start physically juicing a lemon or lime, there are a few things you can do to up your skill level and make the juicing process run as smoothly as possible.

How to Extract the Most Juice From Your Lemons

There are few helpful tips that will help to ensure you get the highest juice yield possible from your fruit, especially if you are trying to juice lemons or limes without a juicer. Follow these recommendations and you may be surprised how much of a difference they can make.

  1. Use room temperature lemons. While a colder juice may seem more refreshing, a room temperature lime or lemon will produce more juice overall.
  2. Put your lemon or lime in the microwave for 10 to 15 seconds. If you cut them before putting them in the microwave the exposed membrane will weaken, creating more juice, however, some may evaporate as well. You can also experiment with putting the lemons in whole to see which method gives you the best results.
  3. You could also heat up the lemons you want to juice in hot water on the hob. The water should be hot but not boiling. Place your fruit in the water and let sit for 30 seconds to a minute and they should soften nicely.
  4. Roll the lemons on a hard surface like a countertop or cutting board while applying firm pressure with your hands. This softens the fruit and again, breaks down the membranes releasing juice.
  5. After cutting them in half or quarters, use a fork to poke holes in the flesh. This helps break up parts of the lemon before the juicing process begins. You can also try poking them with a fork after you juice lemons to get every possible drop of juice.
  6. For methods 1 and 3, try cutting your lemons lengthwise instead of widthwise. This exposes more of the interior pulp surface area making it easier to get more juice out without a lot of added effort.

Supplies Needed

You will be needing a few supplies to juice your fruit. After you determine which method you will be using, we recommend gathering all of the supplies you need beforehand to ensure the process runs smoothly and efficiently.

#1: Hand Blender Method

  • Cutting board
  • Sharp knife
  • Large mixing bowl
  • Plastic wrap
  • Hand blender
  • Strainer or sieve
  • Container for under strainer

#2: Blade-Free Method

  • Toothpick, skewer, chopstick, or knitting needle
  • Glass or bowl to collect lemon juice

#3: Tong Squeezer Method

  • Large kitchen tongs
  • Strainer
  • Large bowl
  • Cutting board
  • Sharp knife

Juicing Lemons Without a Juicer: 3 Easy Methods

The following three ways will allow you to juice lemons, or other citrus fruits like limes and grapefruits, without a juicer. Methods 1 and 3 will give you a similar juice yield. Method 2 may lower your juice yield slightly, but it doesn’t create nearly as much mess. This method is a way to get the job done without using a lot of tools.

red and white hand blenderMethod #1: Using a Hand Blender

  1. For this method, you will want to start by either washing and peeling your lemons. We prefer peeling them with a knife until the skins are very thin, however, this step isn’t necessary.
  2. Next, cut your lemons or limes into quarters and put them in a large mixing bowl.
  3. Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap, or a splash guard if you have one.
  4. Cut a small hole into the plastic wrap. Make sure the hole is big enough to let your mixer enter.
  5. Stick your mixing arm in the hole and blend until the lemons, or limes, have broken down and look completely juiced. This could take anywhere from 20 seconds to a minute depending on how many lemons you are juicing.
  6. To complete the juicing process, pour the contents of the bowl through a fine strainer or sieve and into another container to separate the membrane, seeds, and pulp from the lemon juice.
  7. Remove the strainer and your juice is ready.

Method #2: Using a Skewer or Toothpick

This method is handy if you want to squeeze your lemon juice directly into a drink, like lemonade or a cocktail, or over the top of foods like your seafood.

  1. Insert your skewer, chopstick, toothpick, or fork into the end of your citrus fruit on the opposite side of the stem. Insert the skewer or fork about half to two-thirds of the way through the fruit, taking care not to pierce the lemon peel on the other end.
  2. Hold the lemon over the top of your collection bowl or glass. With the hole pointing downward, start to squeeze the lemon. You may even want to try rolling the lemon between your hands and fingers to increase the amount of lemon juice you are able to produce.
  3. Continue squeezing as many times as needed until the maximum amount of lemon juice has been released.
@jacquibaihnDid you know this?! 🍋#boredathome #lemonjuice #lemonjuicechallenge #healthyfood #foodie #healthy #nutrition #nutritionist♬ BORED IN THE HOUSE – Curtis Roach

Method #3: Using a Tong Squeezer

This method could also be considered a juicing hack or trick. It imitates a hand squeezer but instead, uses a kitchen tool that is more commonly found in homes, making it great in a pinch or for the occasional lemon juicer. Depending on the tongs you use, this method may not be quite as effective for juicing a smaller lime.

  1. Cut your larger lime or lemon in half.
  2. Position your strainer or sieve over a bowl.
  3. With the flesh side pointing down, place one half of the lemon relatively close to the hinge on your tongs.
  4. Holding the tongs over your strainer, squeeze the ends of the tongs together so that the lemon juice drops into the strainer below as you apply pressure.
  5. Rotate the lemon 90 degrees and squeeze again.
  6. Repeat this step a few times until all of the lemon juice has been extracted.
  7. Remove the strainer and use your juice in any way you choose.

How Long Will Your Lime or Lemon Juice Last?

After you make your own lemon juice, it will last for several hours at room temperature, maybe 4 to 6 maximum before the flavour starts to turn. If you store it in an airtight container in the fridge, you will increase its useable life considerably and it should last for as many as 72 hours.

Possible Uses and Benefits of Lemon Juice

salad with salmon, greens, and citrus zestLemon juice is not only versatile when it comes to cooking, but it is also good for you. Lemons boost immunity and energy levels and can potentially lead to a variety of different health benefits, mainly because of their high vitamin C content.

However, people don’t usually eat lemons alone because of their sour flavour, making it harder to incorporate into your diet. Lemon juice is a great way to add the health benefits of lemons into your diet in small amounts, and thankfully you no longer need to buy it from the store or need a juicer to make it at home.

Lemon juice can make a great addition to a wide range of recipes. The bright citrus flavour tastes great with vegetables, poultry, and seafood. You can even use it as the main ingredient in a basic ice cream or tart recipe. In addition, there will be countless opportunities to use leftover lemon juice in your cooking.

Lemon juice is also used in common drinks such as lemonade, tea, or as a garnish on sparkling water. You can even add your leftover lemon to a jug of water to give it some natural flavour.

You can also make lemon zest with the peels of the lemons you plan on juicing. This will help reduce waste and also add extra punch to your cocktail recipe. Lemon zest will also add a burst of flavour to your favourite bread or cake recipe.

Conclusion

When you started this article you may not have known that juicing a lemon was possible without a juicer. By now, you should not only know how to juice a lemon without a juicer but have also learned some useful tips to help you along the way.

Which one out of all the methods we shared will you try first? We recommend starting with whichever one you already have the supplies for or that sounds the most appealing. No matter which method you use, just remember to use room temperature or warm lemons and to roll them on a hard surface before cutting lengthwise and you’ll be enjoying fresh lemon and lime juice in no time at all.

Do you have juicing tips to share? Let us know in the comments section below.

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