Lemons are one of the world's most versatile fruits — a squeeze of juice can brighten a salad, a slice can transform a glass of water, and grated zest can add citrus punch to baked goods. But if you're tracking calories, carbs, or micronutrients, it helps to know exactly what that lemon contributes to your daily intake. The Lemon Nutrition Calculator does the math for you: enter the number of whole lemons, cups of juice, tablespoons of zest, or grams you plan to use, and instantly see calories, carbohydrates, sugars, fiber, protein, vitamin C, and potassium.
Whether you're meal prepping, counting macros, managing a low-sugar diet, or just curious how much vitamin C your morning lemon water delivers, this tool gives clear per-serving and per-100-gram values in one view. Use it while planning recipes, building grocery lists, or logging food in your favorite tracking app — and let precise citrus data take the guesswork out of your day.
🍋 Lemon Nutrition Calculator
Estimate calories, carbs, sugars, fiber, protein, vitamin C and potassium for whole lemons, lemon juice, lemon zest, or by weight.
| Nutrient | Your serving | Per 100 g | % DV |
|---|
📐 Step-by-step breakdown
* Daily Values are based on a 2,000-calorie diet. Vitamin C DV = 90 mg; potassium DV = 4,700 mg; fiber DV = 28 g.
How to Use This Tool
Pick the form of lemon that matches what you are actually using — a whole fruit, juice measured by volume, or finely grated zest — then enter the amount and press Calculate. The results panel shows total nutrition for the exact serving you entered, the same nutrients expressed per 100 g, and percent Daily Values whenever the “Show % Daily Value” option is left on.
- Whole lemons: the preset assumes a medium lemon with peel weighing about 58 g. If your fruit is noticeably larger or smaller, weigh it on a kitchen scale and switch to the gram option for the most accurate result.
- Lemon juice: choose a cup, fluid ounce, or tablespoon measure. A single medium lemon typically yields 2–3 tablespoons of juice, so one small fruit supplies roughly 6–10 calories’ worth of juice.
- Zest: use the tablespoon option whenever a recipe calls for grated peel. Zest is much more concentrated than juice in fiber and vitamin C weight for weight, so it can noticeably change your totals in baking.
How the Numbers Are Calculated
The calculator starts from reference values published in the USDA FoodData Central database for raw lemon with peel, lemon juice (raw), and lemon peel (zest). For each unit you choose, the tool multiplies the nutrient value of one reference unit by the number of units you entered:
Example: 1 cup of lemon juice contains 94.4 mg of vitamin C, so 0.5 cup supplies 94.4 × 0.5 ≈ 47 mg.
The per-100 g column lets you compare lemon against other foods on an equal-weight basis, and the % Daily Value column uses FDA reference intakes for a 2,000-calorie diet: 275 g carbohydrates, 28 g fiber, 50 g protein, 90 mg vitamin C, and 4,700 mg potassium.
Worked Examples
Reference Data: Lemon Nutrition at a Glance
| Form (100 g) | Calories | Carbs | Sugars | Fiber | Vitamin C | Potassium |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lemon with peel | 29 kcal | 9.3 g | 2.5 g | 2.8 g | 53 mg | 138 mg |
| Lemon juice, raw | 22 kcal | 6.9 g | 2.5 g | 0.3 g | 39 mg | 103 mg |
| Lemon zest (peel) | 47 kcal | 16 g | 4.2 g | 10.6 g | 129 mg | 160 mg |
Values rounded from USDA FoodData Central entries for lemons (raw, without seeds), lemon juice (raw), and lemon peel.
Tips for Accurate Tracking
- Weigh the fruit with its peel included when logging whole lemons — that is how the database records them.
- When a recipe calls for “juice of 1 lemon,” use 2–3 tablespoons or about 30–45 g of lemon juice in the calculator rather than logging a whole lemon.
- Vitamin C is sensitive to heat and light. Freshly squeezed lemon juice stored in the fridge loses vitamin C slowly; cooked lemon dishes will retain less than the raw values shown here.
Frequently Asked Questions
A medium lemon yields about 2–3 tablespoons (30–45 ml) of juice. The calculator’s tablespoon option is handy here: 2 tablespoons of juice provide about 7 calories and 11.6 mg of vitamin C.
For health purposes it can be — a tablespoon of zest contains roughly 0.6 g of fiber and 7.7 mg of vitamin C, which adds up in recipes using several lemons. It also contributes negligible calories per serving.
58 g is the USDA average for a medium lemon. Grocery-store fruit commonly spans 45–70 g. If you weigh your lemon, enter that number with the gram unit for a personalized result.
It depends what you eat. The nutrient values for “lemon with peel” describe the whole fruit as typically used in cooking. If you eat only the flesh segments, use the gram option with about 40 g for a medium seedless lemon; if you use juice only, the juice options are the better match.
Additional Resources
- USDA FoodData Central — searchable nutrient data for thousands of foods, including lemon and lemon juice.
- NIH Office of Dietary Supplements — Vitamin C — recommended intakes and the role of vitamin C in health.
- NIH Office of Dietary Supplements — Potassium — daily needs and food sources of potassium.