Lemon Honey Recipe: A Simple Favourite from Our Kitchen

October 8, 2026

We like our honey raw, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun with it in the kitchen. From the simplest everyday pleasures to a bit of experimenting, there’s no shortage of ways to enjoy a good jar of honey. This time, we’re giving it a citrusy twist.

Lemon Honey Recipe:

While a spoonful of raw honey straight from the jar is hard to beat, there are plenty of ways honey finds its way into our family’s kitchen. One of Mum’s favourites is this simple lemon honey. It’s hardly a recipe at all, but once you have a jar in the fridge, you’ll find plenty of reasons to reach for it.

What Is Lemon Honey?

There’s nothing particularly complicated about lemon-infused honey, and maybe that’s exactly why we like it. Lemon honey is simply fresh lemon slices preserved in raw honey. As the lemons sit, the honey draws out their juice and gradually becomes thinner and more syrup-like. At the same time, the lemon slices absorb some of the sweetness from the honey. At first, the lemons will still be quite tart, and the rind can have a noticeable bitterness. Don’t be tempted to judge it too soon. After a week or two, the flavours begin to settle and mellow out. The honey takes on a lovely fresh citrus flavour, while the lemon slices become sweeter.

How to Make Lemon-Infused Honey

Lemon Honey Recipe

Lemon-infused honey is made with just two ingredients. The quantities are flexible – choose a jar, fill it generously with thinly sliced lemon, then add enough raw honey to completely coat the slices and fill the spaces between them. We made a little video while putting our jar together – you can find it on our Instagram page *here*

Ingredients

Fresh lemons, enough to generously fill your jar
Raw honey, enough to completely cover the lemon slices

As a guide: We used around 8 lemons and 1kg of Bees from Bundaberg raw honey for a large jar. You can easily scale this up or down depending on the size of your jar and lemons.

You’ll also need

A clean, dry glass jar with a tight-fitting lid
A clean, dry spoon or utensil

Method:

Wash and thoroughly dry your lemons and jar.
Slice the lemons as thinly as you can, removing the seeds as you go.
Pack the lemon slices generously into your jar.
Slowly pour the raw honey over the lemons, allowing it to work its way into the spaces between the slices. Continue until the lemons are well coated and the jar is filled.
Seal the jar and store it in a cool, dark cupboard for the first few days. Once or twice a day, gently turn the sealed jar or stir the lemons with a clean, dry utensil so the slices stay coated in honey.
As the lemons release their juice, you’ll notice the honey becoming thinner and more syrup-like. After the first few days, transfer the jar to the refrigerator. If you notice small bubbles before then, refrigerate it sooner.
You can enjoy it straight away, but for a mellower flavour, give it a week or two. The lemon will gradually soften and sweeten while the honey takes on more of its citrus flavour.

Storage

Keep your lemon honey refrigerated after the initial few days and always use a clean, dry utensil when serving.

What Does Lemon Honey Taste Like?

Patience pays off with this one. Freshly made, the lemon can be sharp and the rind slightly bitter. Over the following couple of weeks, those flavours blend and mellow out.

What you end up with is a wonderfully fragrant honey syrup with plenty of fresh lemon flavour, along with tender slices of lemon that have taken on the sweetness of the honey. We actually enjoy eating the lemons too – rind and all.

Our Favourite Ways to Use It

The simplest way is straight from the spoon. A little honey, a slice of lemon, and that’s it. But, of course, there are plenty of other ways to use it:

Spoon some into hot water for a simple lemon and honey tea.
Add it to iced or sparkling water for an easy homemade lemonade.
Drizzle over blueberry pancakes, crepes, crumpets, or buttery toast.
Use it as a cocktail ingredient or make hot toddies.

For something savoury:

Try it with creamy goat’s cheese and lavosh.
Spoon it over roast chicken or root vegetables.
Use some of the lemony honey in a salad dressing.
I also love to put a few spoonfuls in a miso-sesame chicken marinate.

There really aren’t many rules. Get creative!

A Few Important Tips

Because fresh lemon introduces water into the honey, lemon honey needs a little more care than an ordinary jar of honey. Keep an eye on it during those first few days and make sure the lemon slices aren’t sitting exposed at the top of the jar. Stir or turn the jar regularly so everything stays coated.

The added moisture can eventually encourage fermentation. A few small bubbles are a good sign that it’s time to move your jar into the fridge. We usually refrigerate ours after the first few days anyway, which slows the fermentation process and helps keep the flavour just as we like it.

Always use a clean, dry spoon or utensil when dipping into your jar.

*And, as with honey itself, lemon-infused honey should never be given to babies under 12 months old.

It Starts With Good Honey

With a recipe this simple, there’s nowhere for the ingredients to hide. Fresh lemons and a good raw honey really are all you need. For lemon-infused honey, we prefer a relatively mild, floral honey. You want enough flavour for the honey to still have some character, without anything so strong that it competes with the fresh citrus. The two should complement each other.

We might be a little biased, but we think there’s something especially nice about making it with local, raw honey – harvested from our hives here in Bundaberg.

Our raw Bundaberg honey works beautifully because it already carries the floral character of the local bushland, and because it isn’t heat-treated or heavily processed, you’re starting with honey much as it came from the hive.

If this recipe has given you a little inspiration for your next jar, you’ll find our latest harvest of raw honey available here

However you choose to enjoy your Bees from Bundaberg raw honey, we hope you enjoy it as much as we do.