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This lemon pepper seasoning gives you that classic bright, peppery flavor for wings, chicken, seafood, and vegetables. It uses dried lemon peel, coarse black pepper, and simple pantry spices, so it takes just a few minutes to mix and stores well in the cabinet.
I like keeping this homemade blend salt-free because the focus stays on the lemon and pepper. You can use it in a dry rub, stir it into melted butter, add it to a sweeter lemon pepper sauce, or sprinkle it over roasted vegetables without the seasoning blend taking over the whole dish. Use it for oven-baked Lemon Pepper Chicken Wings, Air Fryer Lemon Pepper Wings, or Pan Seared Tilapia when you want bold lemon pepper flavor at home.
Why You’ll Love This Lemon Pepper Seasoning
- Quick to make: You only need a few pantry spices and a minute or two to mix everything together.
- Bright lemon pepper flavor: Dried lemon peel and coarse black pepper give this blend a bold lemony bite that works on wings, chicken, seafood, and vegetables.
- Salt-free and flexible: Since this blend does not include salt, the lemon and pepper stay front and center. That makes it easy to use in dry rubs, marinades, buttery wing sauces, or sweeter lemon pepper sauces.
- Easy to adjust: Make it tangier with citric acid, milder with less pepper, or finer with a quick pulse in a spice grinder.
Ingredients Needed
This blend is simple, but a few small choices make a big difference in the flavor and texture.
- Dried lemon peel: This gives the seasoning its lemon flavor without adding moisture. Use dried lemon peel instead of fresh lemon zest so the blend stores well.
- Coarse black pepper: Coarse pepper gives the seasoning a stronger bite and the texture most people expect from lemon pepper seasoning. Fine black pepper works if that is what you have, but the texture will be softer.
- Garlic powder: Adds savory flavor and helps round out the lemon and pepper.
- Onion powder: Gives the seasoning more depth so it tastes balanced instead of sharp.
- Citric acid: This is optional, but it makes the lemon flavor taste sharper and brighter, more like the tang you get from fresh lemon juice or some bottled lemon pepper blends. The dried lemon peel gives the seasoning its lemon flavor, while citric acid adds that extra pop. If you do not have it, you can skip it and finish the cooked food with fresh lemon juice instead.
How to Make Lemon Pepper Seasoning
Mix the spices
Add the dried lemon peel, coarse black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and citric acid, if using, to a small bowl or jar.
Shake or stir well
Mix until the lemon peel, pepper, and finer spices are evenly combined. This helps each spoonful taste balanced.
Store for later
Transfer the seasoning to an airtight container and keep it in a cool, dry place. Shake the jar before using since the lemon peel, pepper, and finer spices can settle over time.
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Tips for the Best Lemon Pepper Seasoning
- Use dried lemon peel for storage: Fresh lemon zest adds moisture, so it is better for fresh marinades, sauces, or finishing a dish.
- Stick with coarse black pepper: It gives the seasoning better texture and a more noticeable peppery bite.
- No citric acid? Finish with lemon juice: The blend will still taste lemony from the dried lemon peel. For a brighter finish, squeeze fresh lemon juice over the cooked food right before serving.
- Salt the dish separately: Add salt directly to the final recipe so you can control the flavor based on what you are making. I usually use about teaspoon of sea salt per pound of whatever I’m cooking unless there is something else truly salty like soy sauce in the dish.
- Shake before using: The ingredients are different sizes, so a quick shake helps keep the flavor even.
Easy Ways to Adjust It
- For a milder blend: Use a little less black pepper so the lemon flavor comes through more.
- For more lemon flavor: Use the citric acid or finish the cooked dish with fresh lemon juice.
- For a finer texture: Pulse the blend briefly in a spice grinder so it clings more evenly to chicken, fish, or vegetables.
- For a simple budget version: Leave out the citric acid and let the dried lemon peel do the work.
- For a salt-added version: You can add salt to the jar, but I prefer keeping the blend salt-free and seasoning the food separately.
Best Ways to Use Lemon Pepper Seasoning
This homemade spice blend is useful for more than wings. Here are some of my favorite ways to use it.
- On wings: You can use it before cooking, then add a little more after cooking if you want a stronger lemon pepper finish. It is especially good in oven-baked Lemon Pepper Chicken Wings and Air Fryer Lemon Pepper Wings. I add lemon pepper seasoning in the sauces as a finishing touch.
- On chicken: Toss it with oil and salt before cooking. Try it with Air Fryer Boneless Chicken Thighs, grilled chicken, or baked chicken.
- On seafood: Use a lighter hand since fish and shrimp do not need as much seasoning as chicken. This works well on Air Fryer Salmon, Pan Seared Halibut, shrimp, scallops, and mild white fish like Pan Seared Tilapia.
- On vegetables: Toss vegetables with oil first so the seasoning sticks. It is great on Air Fryer Green Beans, roasted cauliflower, broccoli, asparagus, potatoes, or zucchini.
- In sauces: Stir it into melted butter, honey butter, or a sweet lemon pepper sauce when you want the lemon and pepper flavor to come through clearly.
- In marinades: Mix it with olive oil and lemon juice for chicken, seafood, or vegetables. Add salt separately based on what you are cooking.
More Homemade Seasonings to Try
If you like having a few homemade seasonings ready for quick dinners, these are good ones to make next:
- Cajun seasoning: A bold, savory blend for chicken, seafood, wings, and roasted vegetables.
- Blackened seasoning: A smoky, peppery option that works especially well on fish, shrimp, chicken, and skillet dinners.
- BBQ seasoning: A smoky-sweet blend for chicken, wings, pork, and roasted vegetables.
- Ranch Seasoning Mix: A herby pantry blend for dips, dressings, chicken, vegetables, and quick sauces.
Lemon Pepper Seasoning Questions, Answered
Most lemon pepper seasoning blends include lemon peel, black pepper, salt, and savory spices. This homemade version uses dried lemon peel, coarse black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and optional citric acid.
This version is salt-free, so the flavor comes from dried lemon peel, black pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. You can add salt separately depending on whether you are making wings, seafood, vegetables, sauces, or marinades.
Use citric acid in the blend or finish the cooked food with fresh lemon juice. Dried lemon peel gives the seasoning its base lemon flavor, while citric acid or fresh lemon juice makes it taste brighter.
Fresh lemon zest works better for recipes you are using right away. For a dry seasoning blend that you want to store, dried lemon peel is the better option because it does not add moisture to the jar.
Use it on chicken wings, chicken thighs, chicken breasts, fish, shrimp, scallops, roasted vegetables, potatoes, sauces, and marinades.
It can be, especially if you want more control over the flavor. You can keep it salt-free, adjust the pepper level, make it more lemony, and skip anything extra you do not want in the blend.
How to Store Lemon Pepper Seasoning
Store the seasoning in an airtight container in a cool, dry place for up to 6 months. Keep it away from heat, light, and moisture so the flavor lasts longer. Shake the jar before using to help the lemon peel, pepper, and finer spices mix evenly again.
Lemon Pepper Seasoning
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Ingredients
- 3 tbsp Dried Lemon Peel
- 1 tbsp Coarse Black Pepper
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- ½ tsp Onion Powder
- ½ tsp Citric Acid, optional for more lemony flavor
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to an airtight container
- Mix the spices until incorporated
- Store for up to 6 months
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Recipe Notes
- Salt-free blend: This lemon pepper seasoning keeps the focus on lemon and black pepper, so you can salt the final dish to taste.
- Use dried lemon peel: Fresh zest adds moisture and is better for recipes you’re using right away. Dried lemon peel helps this seasoning store well.
- Citric acid is optional: It adds a sharper lemony tang. If you don’t have it, finish the cooked food with fresh lemon juice.
- Shake before using: The lemon peel, pepper, and finer spices can settle differently in the jar.
- Best uses: Try it on wings, chicken, seafood, vegetables, melted butter, marinades, and sweeter lemon pepper sauces.
Nutrition Details
The nutrition facts come from entering the recipe ingredients into Spoonacular API, a database of food ingredients. They may vary for any recipe based on the exact product used.
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