Last updated on April 30, 2023
Lemon sorbet 🍨🍋 Italian recipe with ice cream maker
We are Italians and share the original lemon sorbet recipe, with lemon juice, sugar, water and egg whites with the ice cream maker
Lemon sorbet, sorbetto al limone
In Italian lemon sorbet is called 🔊 sorbetto al limone. It's made with lemon juice, sugar, and water; as opposed to regular ice cream, it does not contain milk or whipping cream.
Lemon sorbet, however, is the creamiest sorbet of all, because we traditionally make it with egg whites: and that makes our sorbet creamy and tasty.
Very popular is also the sgroppino, which you may have tasted when you attend a wedding in Italy. Sgroppino a typical Northern Italian alcoholic drink made with a scoop of lemon sorbet dipped in a glass of sparkling Prosecco. In Italy it is often served in restaurants between courses.
With the ice cream maker, you get a perfect homemade lemon sorbet, probably better than the one from the ice cream shop; but you can also try making it without an ice cream maker.
Learning Italian 🇮🇹
The Italian words of this page:
| 🔊 Sorbetto | Sorbet |
| 🔊 Limone | Lemon |
| 🔊 Sorbetto al limone | Lemon sorbet |
Lemon sorbet with egg whites
Homemade sorbet and ice cream don't always contain eggs. On All Italian we often write that you can make almost all ice cream flavors at home, both with and without eggs. And especially that eggs don't fit in fruit flavours.
Eggs make the ice cream creamier, but also change the taste. That is why to make very creamy flavours like gelato alla crema we use egg yolks.
While egg whites make sorbet soft and foamy. It is needed in lemon sorbet because lemon juice is just liquid, unlike the pulp of the other fruits we use in sorbets.
👉 Do I need to pasteurize eggs to make sorbet ice cream?
When we make ice cream with egg yolks, we heat the mixture of the ingredients to remove the bacteria: in Italian we say 🔊 pastorizzare, and it's a necessary step accordint to the American CDC.
And for sorbet?
The easiest way is to use ready pasteurized egg whites (in certain countries called liquid egg whites), which are commonly found in supermarkets. A safe choice that speeds up the preparation of sorbet ice cream.
Lemon sorbet 🍨🍋 Italian recipe with the ice cream maker
4.9
(11) reviews
- 👩🍳 Easy
- ⏰ 50 min preparation
- 🤗 Guaranteed result
Making lemon sorbet ice cream is a bit different from all other fruit sorbets. Instead of mixing all the ingredients in a blender, we first prepare a sugar syrup, we cook it on low heat, and we let it cool down after.
The preparation is therefore slightly longer than your regular sorbet. We also add the egg white, not included in other fruit sorbets.
Ingredients
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Sugar 1 cup -
Water 0.85 cups -
Lemon juice 0.85 cups -
Egg white 0.25 cups
Ingredients and quantities
👉 0.25 cups corresponds to about 1 egg white.
With the amount of ingredients we have indicated you can make approximately 32 ounces (600 grams) of ice cream: good for 3 people.
You can make such quantity of ice cream it with all ice cream makers in the market.
Do you have a larger ice cream maker and want to make more ice cream? Just multiply all ingredients by 1.5 or by 2.
👉 Especially if you're just starting out, don't fill the ice cream maker completely: making ice cream in small quantities is easier.
🍋 Make sure you use organic lemons with edible peel.
Whether the peel is treated or not is usually specified on the label.
Instructions
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Mix water and sugar
Pour the water and sugar into a saucepan; stir over low heat.
Add the grated peel of half a lemon and cook for a few minutes until it boils.Then remove the pan from the heat and let it cool for half an hour at room temperature.
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Prepare the lemon juice
Squeeze the lemons; for our recipe we use 0.85 cups of lemon juice, which is about 4 lemons.
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Turn on the ice cream maker
The ice cream maker needs to be cold and ready before pouring the mixture.
Our compressor ice cream maker takes just under 10 minutes, and we pour the ice when it marks a temperatura of almost -22 °F (-30 °C).
If you use an ice cream maker with a freezer bowl, make sure the bowl is already well frozen.
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Mix the ingredients
When the sugar syrup is cold: add the lemon juice, the egg white and mix everything with an immersion blender.
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Pour the mixture into the ice cream maker
Pour the mixture into the ice cream maker already cold through the opening on the lid of the machine.
👉 This is an important step to always get an excellent ice cream.
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Stir for 30 minutes
The sorbet is usually ready in a shorter time than a regular ice cream. After 20 minutes, the mixture will increase in volume and soften. After about 30-40 minutes, our lemon sorbet ice cream is ready.
Your Italian lemon sorbet is ready, light and tasty. It is very good eaten as an ice cream, in a cup or cone; or mixed with Prosecco in the sgroppino, a typical Italian aperitif perfect for spring. 🔊 buon appetito 🍨🍋
Did you like it? Rate this recipe
In the restaurant in Italy, when you finish eating, the waiter will ask: 🔊 andava tutto bene? (was everything fine?)
Ciao, I'm Gianni.
I am the author of this page
I am Italian from Trentino. I studied philosophy in Padua and worked for many years between Milan and Amsterdam in the field of media and culture.
Since 2021 I write on All Italian to practice foreign languages; meanwhile I share with you the customs and traditions of my country, and the recipes that I prepare at home.