Love lemon? My lemon recipes incorporate this bright and sunny citrus fruit into desserts, breakfasts, drinks, and even dinner! Keep scrolling to find your favorite.
20+ Lemon Recipes
Lemon recipes are my favorite this time of year. Bright, tart, refreshing and yet still perfectly indulgent. Today I’m gathering all of them in one spot so you lemon lovers can easily find your favorites!
It’s a bit hard to pick my favorite, so I’m going to highlight my most popular lemon recipe (my #1 pick here!): lemon blueberry cake. This cake is frosted with my lemon frosting that’s infused with lemon curd (and no extracts or flavorings!), so it’s packed with lemon flavor. It’s a must-try!
1. Lemon Blueberry Cake
One of my most popular cake recipes! You will be amazed at how flavorful it is. I also have lemon blueberry cupcakes, if you’d prefer to make those.
This lemon blueberry cake is studded with blueberries and frosted with a bright and refreshing lemon icing. Perfect for spring and summer!
LEMON BLUEBERRY CAKE RECIPE
2. Lemon Cheesecake
Highly requested! This recipe perfectly balances lemon and cream cheese flavors with a crisp graham cracker crust.
Homemade lemon curd adds a bright and sunny flavor to lemon cheesecake. My recipe is simple and uses NO water bath!
LEMON CHEESECAKE RECIPE
3. Lemon Meltaway Cookies
As the name suggests, these cookies truly melt in your mouth!
You can make these lemon meltaway cookies with just seven ingredients! This recipe is so simple and flavorful.
LEMON MELTAWAY COOKIES RECIPE
4. Lemon Poppy Seed Scones
Lemon and poppy seed are a classic pairing. This recipe incorporates them into buttery scones!
This recipe comes together easily in the food processor for tender, buttery, flaky results. You will love the bright lemon flavor!
LEMON POPPY SEED SCONES RECIPE
5. Lemon Tart
A bright and sunny lemon recipe! It’s perfect for summer, especially with some fresh raspberries (or raspberry sauce!) for decoration.
Made with a crisp, shortbread-esque crust and a smooth, bright lemon filling, this lemon tart is so refreshing! It’s perfect for warmer weather.
LEMON TART RECIPE
6. Lemon Pound Cake
A classic! This recipe transforms traditional pound cake into a sweet citrus dessert.
Lemon pound cake is moist and dense, yet incredibly tender and soft. It’s topped with a sweet and simple lemon glaze for that classic flavor!
LEMON POUND CAKE RECIPE
7. Lemon Crumb Bars
A bit different from traditional lemon bars (listed below), these lemon crumb bars have a creamy filling and buttery streusel topping.
These creamy lemon crumb bars are so refreshing and easy! We’ll use the same shortbread crumble for the crust and the topping.
LEMON CRUMB BARS RECIPE
8. Lemon Meringue Pie
Another classic lemon recipe! Use my homemade pie crust for the best results.
My recipe has a perfectly set filling and billowy meringue that won’t weep–every single time! It’s made with just 10 ingredients.
LEMON MERINGUE PIE RECIPE
9. Lemon Cookies
These pretty lemon cookies are made without any pudding mixes or food dye.
No chilling required! Infused with real lemon flavor, this dough comes together easily and can be baked right away.
LEMON COOKIES RECIPE
10. Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Lemons for breakfast? Yes please! I’m sharing a version without poppy seeds a little further down in the list.
These super simple lemon poppy seed muffins can made in 30 minutes WITHOUT a mixer! They are lemony, buttery, and pillowy-soft.
LEMON POPPY SEED MUFFINS RECIPE
11. Lemon Curd
Homemade lemon curd is easy to make and perfect for topping scones, crepes, and so much more.
You’ll never go back to the store-bought version after you try my easy recipe!
LEMON CURD RECIPE
12. Lemonade
This 3-ingredient lemonade is perfectly balanced every time. I have a few other variations too: watermelon, strawberry, raspberry, and blueberry!
Nothing beats homemade lemonade! You only need sugar, water, and lemons to make this classic.
LEMONADE RECIPE
13. Lemon Cake
Looking for a light lemon recipe? My lemon cake is fluffy and topped with an airy cream cheese frosting. I also have a recipe for lemon cupcakes!
This lemon cake is filled with homemade lemon curd and topped with a whipped cream cheese frosting. No pudding or extract required!
LEMON CAKE RECIPE
14. Lemon Pie
Similar to key lime pie, lemon pie is served chilled and is so refreshing.
Summery lemon pie is the cousin to classic key lime pie. It’s so refreshing on a hot summer day!
LEMON PIE RECIPE
15. Lemon Frosting
One of my favorite lemon recipes, I am so proud of this lemon frosting! No extract or food coloring needed!
My lemon frosting gets its bright flavor from real lemon curd! It’s silky smooth and pipes beautifully.
LEMON FROSTING RECIPE
16. Lemon Bars
I simply can’t share lemon recipes without mentioning lemon bars! They cut beautifully and are so buttery with a crisp (never soggy!) shortbread crust.
These sweet and tart lemon bars have a tart lemon curd served on a crisp and buttery shortbread crust. A classic!
LEMON BARS RECIPE
17. Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies
Lemon poppyseed again, but this time in buttery, chewy cookie form. Yum!
No artificial flavors or extracts! These soft and chewy lemon poppy seed cookies are bright and buttery, just like their muffin counterparts.
LEMON POPPY SEED COOKIES RECIPE
18. Lemon Muffins
Fresh lemon muffins with a two-ingredient glaze–that’s my kind of breakfast!
My soft and fluffy lemon muffins are topped with an easy two-ingredient glaze. No artificial flavors!
LEMON MUFFINS RECIPE
19. Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
Smooth and creamy with just the right amount of tart lemon flavor. This would be especially tasty on my zucchini cake or strawberry cake!
This lemon cream cheese frosting is so simple to make with 100% pure and REAL lemon flavor (no extracts or curds!).
LEMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING RECIPE
20. Lemon Brownies
With the texture of classic brownies and a sweet, tart flavor, these lemon brownies are a refreshing alternative to the norm.
Lemon brownies are every bit as chewy, rich, and moist as the classic chocolate version.
LEMON BROWNIES RECIPE
21. Lemon Pasta
Ending my lemon recipes on a savory note! This creamy lemon pasta is so fresh and satisfying. Feel free to add chicken or shrimp for some protein!
Ready in just 30 minutes! This lemon pasta is made with a creamy, fresh lemon sauce. Makes a great weeknight dinner!
LEMON PASTA RECIPE
Frequently Asked Questions
In some instances it’s fine (like when making my buttermilk substitute or macerated strawberries), but most of my lemon recipes benefit from fresh lemon juice. I typically indicate in the recipe if fresh is necessary (like in my lemon meltaway cookies or hummus).
I suppose you could try substituting another type of citrus in most of these lemon recipes (and my olive oil cake!), but your results will vary. Oranges are sweeter, while limes and grapefruits tend to be a bit bitter. You will need to keep this in mind if you do choose to substitute another fruit.
My lemonade recipes and lemon pie recipe all use 1 cup of lemon juice, which is about 8 lemons for me. You could also make my lemon meringue pie, lemon curd, lemon bars, lemon tart, lemon crumb bars or lemon cheesecake, which all use about 4 lemons.
If you’ve tried some of these lemon recipes, I’d love to know which one is your favorite. If you haven’t, hopefully you’ve found one here that piques your interest.
Is there a lemon recipe you’d like to see that isn’t included in this list? Please send me your requests in the comment section below. I love sharing reader requests!
Enjoy! 🍋
If you try any of these recipes, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
More Lemon Recipes