Citrus Juice and Zest Yield Calculator

How it works

USDA FoodData Central records the average juice from one fruit: 48 g for a lemon, 44 g for a lime and 86 g for an orange. The same records give the weight of a cup of each juice, so one lemon yields 48 ÷ 244 = 0.197 cup (about 3 tablespoons), one lime 0.182 cup (2.9 tablespoons) and one orange 0.347 cup (about ⅓ cup).

To find how many fruit a recipe needs, the calculator divides the juice or zest required by the yield of one fruit and rounds up to a whole fruit; the exact quotient is shown too. Starting from a number of fruit, it multiplies instead. In every mode it also shows the juice and zest that the whole number of fruit gives.

Zest per fruit is not in the USDA data, so it is an input with typical values: about 1 tablespoon from a lemon, 2 teaspoons from a lime and 1½ tablespoons from an orange.

Formula

juice per fruit (cups) = FDC juice yield (g) ÷ FDC weight of 1 cup of juice (g)
  lemon 48 ÷ 244 = 0.1967;  lime 44 ÷ 242 = 0.1818;  orange 86 ÷ 248 = 0.3468
fruit for juice = juice needed (cups) ÷ juice per fruit, rounded up
fruit for zest  = zest needed (tsp) ÷ zest per fruit, rounded up
juice from n fruit = n × juice per fruit;  zest = n × zest per fruit

Example

The default, ½ cup of lemon juice, takes 0.5 ÷ 0.1967 = 2.54 lemons, so 3 lemons. Three lemons give 9.4 tablespoons (140 mL) of juice and about 9 teaspoons of zest.

Four limes give 4 × 0.1818 = 0.727 cup, or 11.6 tablespoons (172 mL), of juice. One tablespoon of orange zest needs 3 ÷ 4.5 = 0.67, so 1 orange.

Assumptions and limitations

• Juice yields are USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy averages (released April 2019): Lemon juice, raw (FDC ID 167747), "1 lemon yields" 48 g and 1 cup 244 g; Lime juice, raw (FDC ID 168156), "1 lime yields" 44 g and 1 cup 242 g; Orange juice, raw (FDC ID 169098), "1 fruit yields" 86 g and 1 cup 248 g.
• Real fruit vary widely with size, variety, ripeness, temperature and how they are squeezed, so a given fruit can give noticeably more or less than the average.
• Zest per fruit is a typical value, not a USDA figure, and is editable; it depends on the size of the fruit, the thickness of the peel and the zester. FoodData Central weighs lemon and orange peel at 6 g per tablespoon.
• Cups, tablespoons and fluid ounces are US measures. Bottled juice is not covered.

Frequently asked questions