For a clean, bright smelling home just whip up a batch of Pressure Cooker Lemon Extract! This extract gives a perfect lemon-y punch to any dish.
Caution: Never make Extract in a stovetop pressure cooker or near an open flame. My recipes are written for electric pressure cookers only. Always use a Natural Release, never a quick release.
This Pressure Cooker Lemon Extract takes the cake for “Prettiest Extract”. I mean just look at the bright yellow, lemony sunshine in a jar! Super fragrant, happy, refreshing, Lemon Extract!
Now the first time I made this it was bitter and soapy tasting. The reason being that I was using a very dull vegetable peeler and was getting a lot of the white, bitter pith with my strips of peel.
Then came along this heavenly fruit peeler, and my zest peeling abilities have gotten seriously fierce!
Compared to commercial lemon extracts, that to me taste and smell very artificial, this Pressure Cooker Lemon Extract gives an incredible punch of fragrant lemon to whipped cream, ice cream, Berry Lemon Compote (so good mixed in yogurt!), and this delicious lemon curd by my dear friend Barbara at Pressure Cooking Today. She is an amazing person and I wouldn’t be where I am today without her. She also has a cookbook coming out this fall, and if you’ve spent time on her blog, you just know the book is going to be good!
I went a bit heavier on the amount of lemon peel that I put in this extract compared to other recipes I’ve seen and I think it’s well worth it considering how cheap it is to make it.
Now go make your house smell like citrus heaven!
Be sure and check out the other extracts: Cinnamon, Vanilla, Peppermint, Maple, and Almond.
And just look what my sister Cami made up for us! Free printable extract labels for all the extracts posted about here.
Enjoy!
*This post contains affiliate links. Thank you!
PrintPressure Cooker Lemon Extract
Pressure Cooker Lemon Extract is bright, powerful, and will make your house smell squeaky clean.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes High Pressure
- Total Time: -25402145.133333 minute
Ingredients
- Zest of 3 medium size lemons (try not to get any white pith)
- About 1 cup Vodka (I like red label Smirnoff Vodka 80 proof)
Instructions
- Place the lemon zest in a pint size Mason jar and add vodka, leaving 1 ½-2 inches of headspace. Top with a canning lid and ring and barely tighten.
- Add 1 cup of water to the pressure cooker pot and place trivet inside. Put the Mason jar on the trivet. Secure the lid and turn pressure release knob to a sealed position. Cook at high pressure for 30 minutes.
- When cooking is complete, use a natural release.
- Carefully remove the Mason jar, swirl it lightly, and place on a cooling rack overnight.
- Once cooled, top with a pourable lid and use in all your favorite recipes that call for lemon extract or lemon juice.
Notes
- Caution: Never make Extract in a stovetop pressure cooker or near an open flame. My recipes are written for electric pressure cookers only. Always use a Natural Release, never a quick release.
- Alcohol smell may be strong at first but will diminish over a week or two. If still overpowering at that point, return it to the pressure cooker for another 30 minutes.
- The pressure cooker will fit up to three jars at a time, so feel free to double or triple the recipe.
Sister pretty please put a link in for the pressure cooker you use and love in each recipe! We want to support you and I’m late to the game and want to buy the kind you as the EXPERT like best!
Lea, HAHA! Great tip, I’ll start being more consistent with posting that. But just for you, I love the Instant Pot DUO (the one with the yogurt function) and the Fagor Lux Multicooker.
Would you use food grade glycerin with this as you did with vanilla?
Sally, I’ve never tried the other extracts in glycerin, but I believe it would work great.
So, I zested my lemon peel which of course gave me a bunch of tiny bits of the rind minus the pith. Do I strain the zest out now or leave and strain before use??
Beth, I would just leave it in. For at least a couple months. Plus the tiny bits of zest might be amazing in your food!
So if I’m dividing it into smaller jars for gifts, do I go ahead and leave the peeling, aka zest in each jar? The same with the cinnamon sticks? Or do those get reused?
KLynne, If the bottles are large enough to put some of the peel, cinnamon sticks, etc, in, I would. But if they won’t fit, it will be fine. If you’re making them even a month in advance, I’d go ahead and strain that stuff out. Most of the flavor will be extracted by that point anyways.
Thank you! I left the cinnamon and lemon in the jars. I filled 4 oz mason jars, so there was room. Each batch (3 each) made two jars. Soaking the fenugreek seeds now. Can’t find vanilla beans, even on the site you referred us to that weren’t still expensive. Getting ready to smash a bunch of peach seeds as this is peach season here in CO so have enough for three batches! All batches are Xmas gift related but will give early as these girls will need it all to do their Holiday Baking! 😁 Thanks again! Still getting used to my Instant Pot!
Klynne, How amazing are you! You’re friends are gonna love it! I keep hoping the frontier brand of vanilla beans will get back in stock. There are organic ones available in that brand but they are really pricey. Kind of frustrating! I’ll report back if they come back in stock. Nice work though!
I’m breaking peach seeds open and the pits keep breaking into small pieces. Is that ok or can I only use the whole pits? Which are few are between?
Thanks for keeping an eye out. I’m keeping my eyes peeled as well. Cost me $33 for Six just to throw in the Maple and hopefully tonight the Almond Extract. But can I throw in out crumbs, aka broken pieces, and still be ok? Very few broke uninjured and was shocked how many seeds didn’t have pits!
Klynne, I broke my pits just about every time, so yes totally fine to throw those in there. If anything, I think it helped to extract the flavor. That surprises me too about the peach pits! I don’t think I ever had one without a pit. What peach variety is it?
Thank you for these recipes. Have you experimented with mint extracts? I am currently working with the slow method and would love to speed it up! Thank you!
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Megan, yes! I posted that recipe here https://tidbits-marci.com/pressure-cooker-peppermint-extract/
I’m terrified to use the broken pit seeds and waste Vodka unless you give me the thumbs up.
Are you guys really talking about making extract from peach pits? The insides of stone fruit contain cyanide and should not be consumed.
https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/ingredients/slideshow/foods-that-can-kill-you
Patricia, I talk about that in the almond extract post. There’s lots of good info there and I even sent my extract off for testing to see what the cyanide levels were and the levels were far below what exists in some of our common day foods like beans and spinach. Check out the almond extract recipe for more info.
Hi Marci! These extracts look wonderful!!! I’m getting on this bandwagon with the lemon one and will make it this week asap. First use for it that comes to mind is of course in desserts, but I’m thinking that in a pinch it could also be added to the last stages of a hot pasta dish or chicken, or OMG, lemony potatoes (!!!) when recipe calls for lemon zest and life hasn’t given me any lemons that day 😂. Worth a try! Thanks for these amazingly tasty creations!!! Xoxo 🍋 🍋 🍋
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Roberta, it is so versatile! I used it in a breakfast cake last week and It was amazing! I love the idea of finishing off savory dishes with it. What a great idea!
How long will this lemon extract store for? Does it need to be stored in the fridge? I’m looking at making a couple batches for Christmas gifts and was hoping it stored a few months.
Val, Extracts are typically indefinite, but for me, since this was made with fresh ingredients, I may strain out the lemon in 4 months or so. No need to store it in the fridge!
Thanks so much for posting and sharing! I love the vanilla extract, and am excited to try these. Do you think you could do a jar of lemon, peppermint, etc at the same time? Or would flavors transfer? I’m also wondering about raspberry extract: maybe dehydrate the berries first? Thanks for any insight!
Theresa, I would worry the taste might transfer a bit. They were each so powerful when I opened the lid, I would probably do them each separate. I did freeze dried bananas that actually worked really well, but the bananas were kind of black and scary looking so I decided not to post that one! I think raspberries would work great! Especially freeze dried ones so you didn’t have to worry about contamination. Let me know if you try it!
In this recipe it says zest but in the picture it looks like lemon peels so which is it. I want to try and make some of these extracts for gifts. Thanks so much for recipes, info and your time.
I have had an instant pot for a few months now, but haven’t ever tried extracts. If I wanted to make a larger batch of lemon (or any kind) would you recommend using a larger mason jar and double or tripling the recipe, several mason jars being “cooked” at the same time, or doing individual batches and “cooking” them seperately? If doing one big or multiple regular jar(s) at the same time would you change the amount of time in the pot? Sorry for so many questions! I appreciate your help!
I just re-read your recipe and saw your mind comment about double or tripling the recipe. Oops… haha! Same cooking time?
Morgan, yep! Same time!
I love this recipe so can’t wait to try it.
Any ideas on how to make a coconut extract? My mom goes through TONS of it so I would love to make some for her.
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Tammi, I used some dried coconut and it wasn’t very strong. If I tried it again, I would use fresh and add a whole bunch of it. Or maybe even try it again with the dried coconut but fill the jar with half and half coconut and vodka. Now I’m curious again!
Orange rind for orange extract? Yea or nay?
Denise, Absolutely! The Lemon works well, I’ll bet the orange is amazing!
Curious if you have the link for the template to print out the labels just as you posted for the vanilla? Thank you!
Kayla, Yep! Here ya go https://www.tidbits-cami.com/printable-vanilla-extract-labels/
Hi there! I’d love to try lemon extract but I have a question. Are you using canning jars with the lid & ring so they seal during the pressurization? I thought the electronic pressure cookers weren’t supposed to be used like that? Maybe I’m wrong…I certainly have been in the past!! I just want to make sure that’s what I’m reading. If I don’t use a jar could I just cook it in small pot inside the IP then transfer it to a sealed jar after cooking?
Amy, You are right, electric pressure cookers are not for canning. The purpose of the flat and ring in this scenario is to keep the alcohol from evaporating to a point where it won’t be as shelf stable. I talk about that a bit more in the Vanilla/FAQ post. Hope that helps!
Can I use dried rinds? I can order some of that in bulk. Just wondering if it would work.
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Nicole, that’s a great idea actually, I bet it would work great. Maybe up your cook time to 40 minutes