Monica Nedeff

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    Home » Recipes » Desserts

    Lemon Sherbet

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    Nothing beats homemade, and this Lemon Sherbet takes the cake when it comes to refreshing, sweet summer desserts!

    lemon slice on sherbet
    Jump to:
    Homemade Sherbet
    Ingredients
    Steps
    Recipe FAQs and Tips
    More Lemon Inspired Recipes
    Lemon Sherbet

    Homemade Sherbet

    If you don't have an ice cream maker and have been dying to make homemade ice creams and sherbets - look no further for the solution!

    All you need is a food processor and a bread pan - easy peasy!

    Ingredients

    • Heavy Cream
    • Milk
    • Lemon Juice
    • Lemon Zest
    • Sugar

    Sugar and fat play important roles when making ice cream or sherbet. You need a decent amount of fat and sugar to lower the freezing point to prevent getting a solid block of ice.

    The fat in the heavy cream and sugar will help create a smooth and scoopable texture.

    The milk is like the foundation and brings everything together.

    My favorite part about this recipe is the zest! It adds soooo much flavor!

    The balance of sugar to lemon juice is in the middle in my opinion. It's definitely not super sweet. I love tangy, tart desserts, so it leans more towards the side of tart lemon.

    If you prefer desserts sweeter, you may want to add more sugar.

    Steps

    Start by whisking your sugar and lemon juice together. I used lemon juice I had in the freezer (still freshly squeezed! just left over from another recipe).

    You can heat the lemon juice up a bit to help the sugar dissolve.

    Once the sugar is dissolved into the lemon juice, you can add the rest of the ingredients.

    Once everything is mixed in well just pour it into a gallon-sized zip lock bag. Sounds weird I know - but trust me it's gonna turn into deliciousness soon!

    Put the bag on a baking sheet and freeze it. Once frozen break it up into pieces - it'll look like the picture below.

    It won't be frozen solid, it'll be bendable so easy to break off into pieces.

    pieces of sherbet on pan

    Next, put the broken up pieces into a food processor and blend away!

    Once you get a smooth velvety texture - you got soft-serve sherbet. If you love soft-serve then you don't even need to continue with the recipe - just enjoy!

    soft serve sherbet

    But if you're wanting more of a scoopable texture, get a metal bread pan out and transfer the sherbet to it.

    Cover with foil, freeze and boom you got sherbet!

    Recipe FAQs and Tips

    I don't have a food processor. Can I use a blender?

    Absolutely! It might be harder, but if you have a blender that is decently wide it should be able to blend things up well.

    How can I make this lactose-free?

    While I haven't tried making it lactose-free, if I were to try, I would swap the heavy cream for Silk's Dairy Free Heavy Whipping Cream and swap the cow's milk for whatever plant milk you have on hand. The texture and flavor may be different, but let us know if you try it!

    pan of frozen sherbet

    More Lemon Inspired Recipes

    Lemon Chia Muffins: Packed with heart-healthy fats and fiber from the chia seeds and 100% lemon flavor!

    Lemon Chicken Pasta: Perfect for weeknight dinners or meal prepped for workday lunches.

    Lemon Pancakes: These fluffy pancakes are made with buttermilk and absolutely melt in your mouth.

    Lemon Cucumber Mint Ginger Water: Refreshing and flavorful and 100% not a detox!

    cup of lemon sherbet

    Lemon Sherbet

    This easy homemade tangy, sweet no-churn Lemon Sherbet is the perfect summer dessert made without an ice cream maker!
    Print Pin Rate
    Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes
    Freeze Time: 6 hours hours
    Total Time: 6 hours hours 15 minutes minutes
    Servings: 4 people
    Author: Monica Nedeff
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Ingredients
      

    • ⅔ cup lemon juice
    • ⅓ cup sugar
    • 1 cup milk
    • ½ cup heavy cream
    • lemon zest

    Instructions

    • Whisk the sugar and lemon juice together in a bowl until the sugar has dissolved.
    • Add in the milk, heavy cream and zest and stir to combine.
    • Pour the mixture into a gallon sized bag and squeeze out as much air as possible when closing the bag.
    • Place the bag on a metal baking sheet and put it in the freezer for 4-6 hours or until frozen.
    • Take the sherbet out of the bag and break the slab up into pieces.
    • Put the pieces of frozen sherbet in a food processor and blend until smooth. Enjoy now if you prefer soft-serve! Otherwise, scoop sherbet into a metal bread pan, cover and freeze to solidify it more.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 211kcal | Carbohydrates: 23g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 41mg | Sodium: 32mg | Potassium: 162mg | Fiber: 0.1g | Sugar: 21g | Vitamin A: 539IU | Vitamin C: 16mg | Calcium: 97mg | Iron: 0.1mg

    (Nutrition values are calculated by third-party software and an estimate that can vary based on product brands and cooking methods.)

    Course: Dessert
    Cuisine: American
    Keyword: lemon sherbet, homemade sherbet, no churn sherbet
    Tried this recipe? I love seeing your creations!Mention @monicanedeff.rdn or tag #monicanedeff so I can share them with the community!
    « Lemon Chicken Pasta
    Watermelon Slushie »

    Comments

    1. Cindy says

      August 19, 2023 at 9:22 am

      Can you use a glass pan instead of metal?

      Reply
      • Monica Nedeff says

        August 20, 2023 at 4:50 pm

        You can use glass! The metal just helps the sherbet freeze faster.

        Reply

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    Hello! I'm Monica - a registered dietitian nutritionist, solo female traveler and recipe developer helping you eat healthy on the go while empowering you to nourish your body, mind and soul!

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