Easy Lemon Drop Martini Recipe with Recipe Video

Serve this easy drinking lemon drop martini extra cold. It has the perfect combination of sour and sweet. This is one of our absolute favorite cocktails to make at home. Period. (Make sure you watch our quick recipe video above for to see how we make it).

Recipe Video – The Perfect Lemon Drop Martini

Three Rules for the Perfect Lemon Drop Martini

Rule 1: Use real lemon juice. Nothing from a bottle, instead use freshly squeezed lemon juice. You can see in our lemon drop martini recipe video that we used fresh lemon juice — it’s so worth it. (By the way, if you’ve got some time, we’ve got lots of delicious recipes with fresh lemon around here).

Rule 2: Use good vodka. By good, we mean something you actually enjoy. For us, that means we’ll splurge a bit and reach for something close, if not on the top shelf. We’ve used Grey Goose and Belvedere, but to be honest, usually stick to our stand-bys, which are Kettle One  and Stolichnaya (Stoli). Again, use a vodka you enjoy the flavor of — they do all differ, so go with your gut.

Rule 3: Keep things cold. A lukewarm martini is no fun, so be sure to shake the heck out of that lemon drop martini– if you want to go the extra mile, chill the martini glasses, too.

A Lemon Drop with Lemon-Sugar Rim

To make this lemon drop martini extra special, we made a simple lemon sugar to dip the rim of our glasses into. You could certainly stick with plain sugar, but since you’ve already bought all those lemons for the fresh lemon juice, you might as well whip up this zesty sugar, right?

It’s an easy recipe, really — 1/2 cup of sugar plus the zest of one lemon. Mix it all up then watch as the oils from the lemon zest ooze out into the sugar.

One more thing — you’ll need simple syrup for this. You could buy simple syrup at the store for convienence, but if you would prefer to make it at home, follow our step-by-step instructions for how to make simple sugar. (We made it in our recipe video, too — it only takes a few minutes).

There you have it, when making a lemon drop martini, they must be ridiculously cold, use freshly squeezed lemon juice and have a sugar rim (preferably a lemon sugar rim).

After one (or two) of these fabulous cocktails, we were definitely smiling!

If you enjoyed this recipe, take a glance at some of our other vodka drinks. Or, you may like a few of these:

• Champagne Cosmopolitan Cocktail from Inspired Taste
• Oprah’s “Legends Lemon Drop Martini” from Oprah.com
• Classic Gin Fizz Recipe from Inspired Taste
• Lemon Drop Martini Recipe from Food.com
• Perfect Cosmopolitan Cocktail Recipe from Inspired Taste

Easy Lemon Drop Martini Recipe with Recipe Video

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Total time

10 mins

 

There are three rules for making the perfect lemon drop.

Rule 1: Use real lemon juice — it’s so worth it.

Rule 2: Use good vodka. By good, we mean something you actually enjoy. For us, that means we’ll splurge a bit and reach for something close, if not on, the top shelf. We’ve used Grey Goose and Belvedere, but to be honest, usually stick to our stand-bys, which are Kettle One and Stoli. Again, use something you like the taste of — they do all differ, so go with your gut.

Rule 3: Keep things cold. A lukewarm martini is no fun, so be sure to shake the heck out of that lemon drop — if you want to go the extra mile, chill the glasses, too.

Created By: Joanne and Adam Gallagher

Serves: 1

Ingredients

FOR Lemon Drop Martini

• 2 ounces Citron Vodka
• 3/4 ounce Cointreau or triple sec
• 1 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 3/4 ounce simple syrup
• ice
• lemon wedge
• lemon sugar
• edible flowers, if desired

FOR Lemon Sugar

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• zest of 1 lemon

Method

FOR Lemon Drop Martini

1. Moisten the rim of each martini glass with a lemon wedge, turn the glass upside down and twist into the lemon sugar (recipe below), set aside.
2. Add vodka, Cointreau (or triple sec), lemon juice, simple syrup and a handful of ice to a cocktail shaker, and then shake for 30 seconds to a minute.
3. Strain cocktail into martini glass and garnish, if desired, with an edible flower.

FOR Lemon Sugar

1. Rub the sugar and zest together with fingers, and then place on a plate.

Notes

Simple syrup can be purchases in some stores — we have seen it at Trader Joe’s, however, if you are unable to purchase it, it is quite easy to make at home. To see how to make it at home, see how to make simple syrup.

Since we love this recipe so much, we’ve made a quick recipe video for a lemon drop cocktail.

3.1.09

About the Author

Adam

I'm Adam Gallagher and alongside my wife, Joanne, I photograph and share favorite recipes from our kitchen. Sharing our recipes began as a hobby, turned into a dream and now has become our business. I just love that.