How to Make Moroccan Preserved Lemons

If you’re going to be cooking Moroccan dishes with any regularity, even if only occasionally, you’ll want to keep preserved lemons on hand.

The good news is that they’re surprisingly easy and inexpensive to make at home, requiring only two ingredients—fresh lemons and coarse salt—and just a few minutes of active prep time.

The photos and instructions below show just how easy it is to make preserved lemons so you can use them in dishes such as Moroccan Roasted Chicken with Preserved Lemons and Olives.

Step 1 – The Lemons

The varieties of lemon used to make Moroccan preserved lemons are called doqq and boussera. Both are round in shape, golden yellow to yellow-orange in color, thin-skinned and fragrant.

Boussera, which sports a flat apex and prominent nipple, is the variety shown here.

Outside of Morocco, you’ll probably find Meyer lemons to be the best choice. If Meyers aren’t in season, look for Eureka.

Otherwise, use whatever variety can be found. Most supermarket lemons, however, will be more acidic, larger in size, and thicker-skinned than the Moroccan varieties.

I’d suggest buying around 10 to 12 lemons if you’re making preserved lemons for the first time, but there’s no set quantity. Wash them well before proceeding.

For every 10 lemons, set a few aside, then get to work with the bulk of them.

Step 2 – Salt, Salt and More Salt

Salt is the key to making simple, unadulterated preserved lemons. You salt the lemons. The lemons release their juices. And voila—you have lemons pickling in their own juices. It’s truly that simple.

To get the pickling-preserving activity started, you need to cut the lemons into four attached wedges. Do that by slicing the lemons from top to bottom without cutting all the way through.

Pry the wedges open, but be careful not to detach the wedges. Generously fill each crevice with coarse kosher salt, then close the lemon as much as possible.

Step 3 – Pack Those Lemons Into a Jar

Transfer the salted lemons to a clean jar that’s barely large enough to hold them. Purists will insist on using a glass jar but the plastic jar I used here worked fine.

The most important factor aside from the jar’s cleanliness is size. The goal is to eventually have tightly packed lemons covered in juice.

If there’s too much room in the jar, the uppermost lemons might rise to the surface once they soften. Long term exposure to air is a no-no, so select a jar that truly requires packing and squeezing those lemons into place. That squeezing helps release some of the juice from the onset, which is a good thing.

Once the lemons are packed as tightly as possible, cover the jar and set it aside for a few days.

Step 4 – Add More Lemons as Room Allows

After a few days, the salted lemons will have begun to soften and macerate, creating more room in the jar.

Salt one or two new fresh lemons (or however many lemons will fit) and pack them into the jar with the others. Cover and set the jar aside for a few days, repeating the entire process until the jar is as full as it can be.

This is what the jar looked like three days later. The lemons had compressed and released quite a bit of juice. I was able to squeeze in another three salted lemons.

Step 5 – The Waiting Game

When no more lemons can be added, cover the top layer of lemons with salt.

Make sure all lemons are tightly packed and submerged in juice. If they’re not, compress them further and add enough freshly squeezed lemon juice to cover them.

Close the jar, place it in a cupboard, and leave the lemons to cure for at least one month or for as long as a year. Thicker-skinned lemons will take longer to cure than thin-skinned varieties.

The longer preserved lemons are left to age, the more mellow in flavor, darker in color, and softer in texture they will become. This is a good thing!

Step 6 – Homemade Preserved Lemons

Here are the lemons seven months later. Quite dark. Very mellow. Very awesome.

Now that I’ve opened the jar, they’ll go into the fridge because I don’t want them to soften beyond this. Plus, the fridge avoids the worry of mold now that I’ll be poking into the jar occasionally.

You don’t need to age the lemons to this degree of softness. They will indeed be ready to use after just a month or two, in which case they’ll be firmer in texture and will more closely resemble the lemons in the photo at the top of the page.

Don’t worry if an oily looking layer shows up on the top of the brine. It’s perfectly normal and isn’t cause for concern unless mold is present.

Rinse the lemons before using to clean them of the brine and excess salt, but be forewarned—preserved lemons are by nature salty,  and that saltiness will be imparted to any dish calling for them. Take that into account when seasoning stews, sauces, or salads.

Leaving Preserved Lemons Whole

If you visit Morocco, you’ll notice that the preserved lemons sold in shops and souks are usually left whole.

If you prefer that to the attached-wedge method, be sure that you have a thin-skinned variety of lemon such as the doqq, boussera, or Meyer mentioned above.

Make a deep slit or two in each lemon near the nipple. Pack them into a clean jar with lots of coarse salt between lemons.

Every few days, compress the lemons to make room for another lemon or two, until no more lemons can be added and the top lemons are completely submerged in lemon juice brine.

Set the jar in a cupboard and allow time for the lemons to cure and soften. This will take a bit longer than the wedge method since less of the lemon is exposed to the salt. I’d suggest allowing at least two months before using them.

Aged Preserved Lemons

If you’re buying preserved lemons in Morocco, you’ll notice that some are bright golden yellow in color while others are quite dark, almost to the point of taking on a brownish hue.

The dark preserved lemons have been aged longer, are much softer in texture, and more mellow in flavor. Below you can see some aged preserved lemons as sold in a Moroccan market.

Which to use is a matter of personal preference. If I have aged preserved lemons on hand, which I usually do, I’ll reach for them first.

Aged preserved lemons are so soft that they might fall apart when using them in cooking. It’s best to add them to the pot only for the final few minutes of reducing a sauce or to place them on the serving dish as a condiment.

Brighter yellow preserved lemon wedges tend to stay intact when added to the pot and they make a beautiful, colorful garnish. You’ll often see Moroccan dishes adorned with strips of preserved lemon rind, such as this Moroccan Mallow Salad.

Either type of preserved lemon can be used in your cooking. You can age your own lemons as long as you like.

Once your homemade preserved lemons have aged sufficiently, be sure to try them in one of the most classic and famous Moroccan dishes: Chicken with Preserved Lemon and Olives.