How Much Juice is in a Lemon? Get Easy Conversions for Your Recipe!

There are a lot of ways to measure how much juice is in a lemon, and the best one for you might depend on the recipe that you're working from. Here we have some basic conversions, including how many ounces of juice in a lemon, to make your cooking life as simple as possible.

Please note that these are all US measurements.

How much juice in one lemon:

Juice in one medium lemon = 2 tablespoons = 1 fluid ounce

Juice in one large lemon = 3 tablespoons = 1.5 fluid ounces

How many lemons for 1 cup juice:

You need 8 medium lemons or 6 large lemons to get 1 cup of juice (8 ounces).

How many lemons for 1/2 cup juice (and more):

You need 4 medium lemons or 3 large lemons to get 1/2 cup of juice (4 ounces).

You need 3 medium lemons or 2 large lemons to get 1/3 cup of juice (2.66 ounces).

You need 2 medium lemons or 1.5 large lemons to get 1/4 cup of juice (2 ounces).

Try this simple method for getting even more juice out of each lemon. As an added bonus, your hands won't hurt so much after trying to mash every last bit of juice out of a lemon half. Or was that just us?

1. Store your lemons at room temperature.
2. Fill a bowl with warm water. Drop your lemons in and let sit for 60 seconds. The warmer fruit is easier to juice.
3. Cut your lemons into quarters length-wise (see above). The quarters are easier to squeeze, plus you get more juice this way.
4. Squeeze your lemons over a strainer to catch seeds.