Lemon Pepper Substitutes: A Homemade Blend and Other Swaps

Out of lemon pepper? It’s a blend, not a single spice, so your best substitute is usually a quick homemade batch of dried lemon zest and cracked pepper. Store blends are mostly seasoned salts, though not all: McCormick’s lists salt first, while The Spice House’s leads with pepper.¹² So before you pick a substitute, figure out which of the three jobs you need covered: salt, pepper heat, or lemon aroma. A homemade blend made with table salt comes out under a third as salty as McCormick’s, so if your recipe was written around a store blend, add salt to taste at the end.

Quick answer

How the ratios on this page are labeled

• Computed: based on a measurable physical relationship.
• Attributed: a named source publishes this ratio. We quote it as theirs.
• Disputed: named sources give different answers to the same swap. You get each one, side by side.
• Method: our starting point, based on how the two compare. Taste and adjust.

Where the flavor comes from

The pepper half is black pepper. The lemon half is the aroma of lemon peel oil, and its citral is what several of the lemon-scented herbs below share with lemon.³ Many store blends also add citric acid. McCormick’s gets its lemon from lemon oil, while The Spice House’s uses dried peel and citric acid.

If you need the whole blend: make it

1. A homemade lemon pepper blend

A basic homemade lemon pepper, about 1/4 cup: 2 tablespoons dried lemon zest, 4 teaspoons cracked black pepper, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder and 1/4 teaspoon onion powder. Mix and store airtight somewhere cool and dry.⁴

The UC Master Food Preservers of El Dorado County publish a version built the same way: mostly dried zest and cracked pepper, with salt, garlic and onion powder, plus a little sugar that they call optional but say balances the flavors.⁴

Ratio (Method): Use the blend one for one in place of store-bought lemon pepper. That’s what it’s for.

2. If you want it as salty as a store blend (Computed, salt only)

Store blends vary. McCormick Signature Lemon Pepper lists 170 mg of sodium per 1/4 teaspoon,⁵ about 680 mg per teaspoon. Morton iodized table salt lists 590 mg per 1/4 teaspoon,⁶ about 2,360 mg per teaspoon. So matching one teaspoon of that McCormick blend takes about 0.29 teaspoon of table salt, a generous 1/4 teaspoon.

Made with table salt, the homemade blend above carries roughly 1/12 teaspoon of salt per teaspoon of blend (1 teaspoon in about 12), or about 200 mg of sodium per teaspoon. That’s approximate, since it’s measured by volume, but it’s under a third as salty as that McCormick product. If a recipe was written around a store blend, add salt to taste at the end. This math covers salt only, and only for the named products.

If you want lemon and pepper without the salt

1. Dried or fresh lemon zest plus black pepper

Lemon oil is pressed from the peel, so the zest is the part you want. The zest and pepper from the homemade blend, 3 parts dried zest to 2 parts cracked pepper by volume, make a salt-free base. Salt the dish separately.

Fresh zest (Attributed): NDSU Extension says 1 teaspoon dried lemon peel equals 1 to 2 teaspoons grated fresh peel, or the grated peel of one medium lemon.⁷ Fresh zest is moist, so it’ll clump in a dry rub. It’s best stirred into butter, oil or a marinade.

Lemon extract (Attributed): NDSU says 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract equals 1 teaspoon dried lemon peel.⁷ Mix it into the oil or butter, then add pepper.

Pepper ratio (Method): For every teaspoon of lemon pepper called for, start with about 1/2 teaspoon dried zest and a scant 1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper, then taste.

If you want a softer, herbal lemon note

1. Lemon thyme plus black pepper

Lemon thyme is a thyme with a lemon scent. UF/IFAS Extension says it adds a citrus overtone to the usual thyme flavor and suggests it for any recipe that calls for lemon juice, lemon zest or lemon flavoring.⁸ One study describes lemon thyme oil as a natural source of geraniol and citral,⁹ and citral is a compound it shares with lemon peel. It has no pepper heat of its own, so add black pepper.

Ratio (Method): Start with about 1 teaspoon chopped fresh lemon thyme leaves and 1/3 teaspoon black pepper per teaspoon of lemon pepper, salt separately, and taste. You’ll taste herb first, lemon second.

2. Lemon myrtle plus black pepper

Lemon myrtle is an Australian leaf whose oil is mostly citral.¹⁰ Katzer calls it “more lemon than lemon.”¹¹ Ground dried leaf gives you a strong, salt-free lemon note.

Ratio (Method): Start with a pinch, about 1/4 teaspoon per teaspoon of lemon pepper, with black pepper as above, and taste.

If you want tartness, or some heat

1. Sumac plus black pepper

Sumac is tart, not lemon-scented. Katzer describes it as tart and sour with slightly astringent overtones,¹² and a 2021 review notes that it’s used to give minced meat a lemony taste.¹³

Ratio (Method): Start with half as much sumac as the lemon pepper called for, plus black pepper and salt to taste.

2. Shichimi or nanami togarashi

These Japanese chile blends include citrus peel and Japanese pepper, but no lemon. Yagenbori’s shichimi uses roasted chile and mandarin peel among its seven ingredients.¹⁴ S&B’s nanami togarashi lists chili pepper, orange peel, sesame, Japanese pepper, ginger and seaweed.¹⁵ Just One Cookbook calls the Japanese pepper in shichimi sansho, and names noodle soups, gyudon and yakitori among its uses.¹⁶ Expect chile heat that lemon pepper doesn’t have.

Sichuan pepper on its own is another way to get a lemony pepper aroma without chile. Katzer describes its aroma as lemon-like, with warm and woodsy overtones.¹⁷ It brings its own tingle, too. See Sichuan pepper.

Ratio (Method): Start with half as much as the lemon pepper called for, taste for heat, and add salt separately.

What isn’t known

• There’s no standard lemon pepper recipe, so no substitute can match “lemon pepper” in general. The salt figure above is for one named product.
• NDSU’s conversions for dried zest, fresh zest and extract are a guide, not a test.

Related

• Lemon pepper, black pepper and black pepper substitutes
• Lemon thyme, thyme vs. lemon thyme, lemon thyme uses, lemon myrtle
• Sumac, shichimi togarashi, nanami togarashi, Sichuan pepper
• Seasoned salt, too much pepper, the master list of herbs and spices