With a bright, tart, and unique citrus flavor, Yuzu Sorbet makes an irresistibly tasty dessert that refreshes the palate. It‘s easy to make at home with just 3 ingredients! Use an ice cream maker or my no-churn method.
Have you tasted yuzu (柚子) before? This citrus fruit tastes like a combination of lemon, mandarin orange, and grapefruit. Yuzu juice and peel are used in Japanese cuisine especially in fall/winter when it’s in season.
Having fresh yuzu in the kitchen really excites me not only because they are rare fruits outside of Japan, but the amazing fragrance and flavor of yuzu in the air awaken my senses. If you have the chance and come across fresh yuzu, you must make this Yuzu Sorbet (柚子のシャーベット).
Watch How To Make Yuzu Sorbet
Refreshing and delightful sorbet to refresh your palate, super easy to make, and irresistibly tasty with a citrusy-floral essence of yuzu fruit.
Every year during the yuzu season, I buy one or two yuzu fruits to enjoy. They are quite expensive at the local Japanese supermarkets and to be honest, they are hard to find elsewhere. Some readers told me that farmers’ markets in their local area sometimes sell them. So if you do see fresh yuzu, you know you’ve just found yourself gold as they are hard to find.
Fresh Fruit for Yuzu Sorbet
This year, Santa came early for me. My friends have two yuzu trees that started to produce fruits this year and I was so fortunate to pick my own fresh yuzu fruits off from their trees.
Unlike lemon or lime, each yuzu produces a very little amount of juice as they have these gigantic seeds inside those small fruits. So even though I had 40 yuzu to use in total, the amount of juice extracted was not much. I made yuzu sorbet and marmalade and stored the rest of the juice/peel in the freezer.
Super Easy Yuzu Sorbet Recipe
This yuzu sorbet is very, VERY easy to make with or without an ice cream maker. I started with an ice cream maker but had to stop the churning early as I had to leave the kitchen (one of those “multi-tasking” leading to failed project incidents) and the sorbet was still too loose. So I finished off making the sorbet with the manual method.
This no-ice-cream-machine method doesn’t require much effort. You just need to stir the sorbet every 30-60 minutes while it’s in the freezer until it’s done. I recommend making the sorbet after dinner so you can set a timer for every 30-60 minutes and stir the sorbet while you are watching your TV shows or relaxing.
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Yuzu Sorbet
Video
Ingredients
- 6 yuzu
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup sugar
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Make the simple syrup first. In a small saucepan, combine 2 cups water and 1 cup sugar over medium heat. Whisk the mixture until all the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
- Clean 6 yuzu thoroughly. For 2 yuzu, zest the entire yuzu fruit into a small bowl using a microplane or grater. Be sure to zest only the thin outer peel or colored portion (do not zest bitter white part). Then, cut the fruits crosswise in half for juicing (Step 4).
- For the other 4 yuzu, cut off the top one-quarter of the yuzu to make a cup and lid.
- Squeeze the juice out of all the yuzu (4 yuzu cups from Step 3 and 2 yuzu from Step 2). Strain the juice into the small bowl, making sure to separate the seeds. You should have about ¼ cup of juice and zest.
- Hollow out the 4 yuzu cups with a spoon. Be careful not to tear the yuzu cups when you are removing the seeds and flesh.
- Add the yuzu zest and yuzu juice into the simple syrup and combine well. Transfer the mixture into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the mixture cool in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. I put the saucepan in the refrigerator directly, but it takes more time to cool as the saucepan is still a bit warm.
To Churn in an Ice Cream Maker
- Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and churn for 20–25 minutes until frozen.
- Transfer to a shallow container and smooth out the surface. Stuff the yuzu sorbet in the yuzu cups and put the yuzu lids on. Pack the yuzu cups tightly in a container so they won’t fall over. Store the yuzu sorbet and yuzu cups in the freezer. If the yuzu sorbet is still watery after you finished churning, you can continue with the no-ice-cream-maker method below.
To Make without an Ice Cream Maker
- Pour the mixture into a container (preferably metal), cover, and place the mixture in the freezer. Stir with a fork every 30–60 minutes to get rid of any large ice lumps until the sorbet becomes smooth and frozen throughout, about 2–3 hours.
FYI – There was a Japanese farm selling Japanese fruits and vegetables, including yuzu, at the California Ave farmer’s market in Palo Alto. Yuzu was $2.
Hi Hmucha! Thank you so much for sharing this info! I feel like more and more farmers market sell yuzu these days. So happy! Hopefully yuzu will be easy to find like lemons in the near future. 😀
If Yuzu is not available, what would be the next best substitution?
Any citrus would be great! You need to adjust the amount of sugar though. Yuzu has slightest sweetness to it compared to lemon. 🙂
i wish i read this article about 2 months ago, when summer so hot in Indonesia. But still i like it.
Haha! I know, but unfortunately Yuzu is ONLY available in short winter months! It’s now in season!
DEFINITELY trying this. I can’t wait for yuzu to be affordable again! One of the hardest parts about moving to Japan from California has been getting used to how expensive off-season produce is 🙂
Hi Naomi, May i know 1 cup of water in this recipe is only 120ml? Thanks.
Ahhh! Thanks so much for noticing! It’s a TYPO (and video too as we “cut and paste” text. I cup is 240 ml (precisely 236 ml), so 2 cups is 480 ml.
Thank you so much for letting me know. Updated…
How lucky you are! Here it’s absolutely impossible to find. Every year I bring back several fruits from Japan and it always saddens me to see the end of the beautiful treasures… I cannot even imagine how fantastic this sorbet must be. I love sorbets (I am not a fan of ice-cream, apart from dark chocolate) so I’m sure I’d love it.
Not only have I not tried Yuzu, I’ve never heard of it! They look exactly like Meyer lemons and I could see someone being very surprised when they cut one open and find those huge seeds! The sorbet looks amazing. I love a sweet, light dessert like this after an indulgent holiday meal. So pretty too!
I have bottled yuzu juice but never have I seen a fresh one, I hope to one day to try this delicious sorbet, love the presentation.
Wow! So, so simple yet I can imagine delicious explosion of flavor. I never tried yuzu, and will look closely to see if we have it here. One more winning recipe!
I’ve never tried Yuzu before… I like the recipe, so easy to make.
Absolutely gorgeous, Nami! Citrus sorbets are so refreshing!
look at that sorbet! Look at that color and it looks and sounds so refreshing and delicious.
This sorbet looks perfect, even in this horrible weather I am having here. Wonderful recipe
It’s true – so simple and easy to make! Thanks for the nice video, Nami! I hope yuzu becomes more visible outside Japan 🙂
Julie & Alesah
Gourmet Getaways xx
So interesting about the yuzu, they look like smallish Meyer lemons. I’m on the look out for them now…would love to try it. Your yuzu sorbet is gorgeous, Nami. The way you used the yuzu as a dish couldn’t be any more cuter. 🙂 Thanks for introducing me to a new fruit!