Lime extract is one of the best ways to add a burst of citrus flavor in your bakes, dishes, and beverages!
In fact, it’s way easier and much more convenient than squeezing out a bunch of limes – who’s got time for that? Using lime extract, you get that delicious citrus flavor in a super concentrated liquid, meaning you can add that tasty goodness with just a few drops!
Now, with so much great flavor at your fingertips, you want to be sure that you have a lime extract that’s actually good – there are too many products out there that use bad ingredients, have a poor flavor, or are not worth the money for many other reasons!
But don’t worry – we’ve gone ahead and done all the research, reviewing many lime extracts in order to create a list that ranks all our favorite ones and that we can recommend to you.
Let’s check them out!
What is lime extract?
Simply, lime extract is a concentrated flavoring agent made from lime zest or oil, which comes from the lime peel. This is then steeped in alcohol, being left for a long time – the alcohol, which is usually unflavored vodka, extracts all the flavors from the zest or oil. This liquid is then filtered, leaving us with lime extract!
Lime extract is perfect for adding a citrus boost, and does so with a really powerful flavor. Just a couple of drops usually does the trick in adding the great taste to anything you’d like!
You’ll see that we talk about lime emulsions later on, which is basically the same thing as an extract – an emulsion is water based, while an extract is alcohol based. This makes changes to the boiling points, which means that emulsions don’t bake out the way extracts do. This can be good or bad depending on what you want, as emulsions will leave a stronger flavor in your bakes than extracts will for the same amount added.
How to use lime extract in recipes
Lime extract can be used in many different recipes, including in cakes, drinks, breads, muffins, pies, yogurt, sauces…the list goes on and on!
You can also use it as a substitute for orange extract if you don’t have any, or use it instead of lime juice – use 1 teaspoon of lime extract for every 2 teaspoons of lime juice. You can also substitute lime zest at a 1:1 ratio for lime extract!
You’ll want to be careful with this stuff, as it’s pretty strong. Just a couple drops will usually do the trick, and you can slowly add more as desired. I recommend starting with ½ to 1 teaspoon of lime extract when you’re flavoring standard batches of bakes, or ¼ to ½ a teaspoon for beverages – again, it’s easier to add more if the flavor is not strong enough, but you can’t take any away if you added too much!
Basically, use it to add a citrus punch to pretty much anything!
2 great recipes to use your lime extract
Lime extract can be used in recipes that call for it, but you can also use it to simply add or enhance the citrus flavor, or use it as a substitute:
- Coconut lime bars: This delicious treat is the perfect companion to your coffee, and can be made right in your kitchen rather than driving to Starbucks for it! The frosting uses lime zest for the flavor, but you can simply replace it with lime extract like we talked about!
- Coconut milk chicken with lime: You’ll find this to be a delicious and unique meal – with lime being a tasty addition! The recipe calls for lime juice, but you can replace it with lime extract. However, you can also just add a couple drops of lime extract additionally, enhancing the lime flavor even more!
How to choose the best lime extract
You’d usually need to do a bit of research, and maybe some trial and error, when finding the best lime extract. Lucky for you, we’ve already done all that! We’ve also created this list of criteria that filters out all the low-quality lime extracts – only the good ones get through:
- Ingredients: We avoid artificial flavors and colors, and look for the highest-quality ingredients for the highest-quality lime extracts!
- Consumer feedback: It’s important to listen to what other people have to say, as that tells us a lot about what’s good or bad about a product! It’ll also tell us if a brand listens to their customers.
- Track record: A brand needs to be in good standing for us to support them – no scandals and sketchy ingredients lists, we want practices that we’re proud to support!
- Price: Everything from budget-friendly options to lime extracts that are a bit more expensive, we’ve got something for everyone!
With all that said, let’s get into the rankings!
#1 Best Overall: McCormick
The best overall lime extract is McCormick!
If you’ve ever used flavoring agents, you’ve likely heard of or even used McCormick’s products – they’re super popular, basically being synonymous with “flavoring agents!”
Their lime extract is amazing, with a wonderful balance of flavors. It’s strong, and will liven up any dish with its citrus taste! McCormick lime extract also boasts 4.7 out of 5 stars, with hundreds of positive reviews!
It is slightly pricey, coming in at $4.77 per fluid ounce – however, it is well worth it!
Ingredients: Alcohol, Lime Oil, and Water.
#2 Best in Bulk: Cook’s
The number 2 spot goes to Cook’s!
These guys are great, and make some amazing flavoring products! Their lime extract is no different, boasting an amazing taste while being kosher-certified – plus, you can get it in a 32 fluid ounce option, making this the choice for you if you want to buy lime extract in bulk!
Not only that, but you get to support a family-owned business, and that at the amazing price of $1.72, which is the most budget-friendly option on this list!
Give this one a try!
Ingredients: Alcohol, water, and terpeneless lime oil.
#3 Best Non-GMO: OliveNation
Looking great at the number 3 spot is OliveNation for the best non-GMO lime extract!
It’s kosher-certified, gluten-free, non-GMO, and vegan, making it a great choice for adding that zesty citrus flavor into whatever you want! The flavors are great – OliveNation is known for making some amazing flavoring products, being among the top of our “bests” lists quite consistently!
You’ll definitely love adding this one to your pies, fruit salads, and other dishes!
Ingredients: Alcohol, water, and terpeneless lime oil.
#4 Best Value: Happy Home
The number 4 spot goes to Happy Home!
This brand is a small family-owned business based in Virginia, USA, which is something we love to support! Their lime extract is amazing, with a great flavor profile that’s sure to get lots of use in your culinary creations!
It comes in at $2.50 per fluid ounce in a 4 fluid ounce options, making it the best value lime extract out of this entire list! Plus, Happy Home’s lime extract is tried-and-true – they’ve been at it for over 90 years!
See why Happy Home has succeeded in this business for so long!
Ingredients: Natural Flavors, Propylene Glycol, Alcohol, Polysorbate 80.
#5 Honorable Mention: Native Vanilla
We want to give a special shout-out to Native Vanilla for their awesome lime extract!
They’re a small business that’s dedicated to only using natural and sustainable products, helping to take care of the earth all while creating absolutely delicious flavoring agents! Their lime extract is great, and really a testament to their attention to detail.
It’s slightly pricier at $3.75 per fluid ounce, but over 1600 reviews will show you how worthy that price tag is! Plus, you get to support a small business fighting for the environment!
Try this one out!
Ingredients: Alcohol, water, and cold-pressed oil of lime.
#6 Honorable Mention: Silver Cloud Flavors
Another honorable mention goes to Silver Cloud Flavors!
These guys are also known as Apex Flavors, and boast some great reviews throughout the internet! Their lime extract is solid, and will meet your needs without a hitch!
They’re not as big as McCormick or Watkins is, for example, but you can tell that they put work into their flavoring agents, as is evident in their lime extract.
Try them out if you’re wanting a different brand from the normal ones!
Ingredients: Ethyl alcohol, water and lime oil.
#7 Honorable Mention: Bakto Flavors
Our number 7 spot belongs to Bakto Flavors, who get an honorable mention here!
Now, they have a lime emulsion, not extract. This, again, means that there are different boiling points – Bakto Flavors lime emulsion won’t bake out like extracts do, meaning that a stronger lime flavor will linger.
This is good or bad depending on your preferences, but either way, this is a solid lime emulsion that’ll definitely do what it needs to! It’s also made from key limes, which are a little smaller and more acidic from regular limes – you probably won’t notice a big difference, but it’s something to keep in mind.
Ingredients: Water, acacia gum, xanthan gum, natural flavor, citric acid, sodium benzoate.
#8 Best Keto: LorAnn
Rounding out our list is LorAnn!
This is another key lime emulsion, and is a decent choice if you’re looking for a way to add a citrus flavor to your dishes! LorAnna is known for being really popular, and they make some really great flavoring agents – however, this particular one is the most expensive on this list, coming in at $8.85 per fluid ounce.
Now, as great as it is, I’d check out some of the cheaper options on this list, as they’re just as great! Otherwise, you won’t be disappointed with this one.
Ingredients: Natural flavors.
Others we reviewed
Not all the lime extracts we reviewed made the cut, with Dolce Foglia being one of those.
Dolce Foglia is generally a great brand that makes some solid flavoring agents, and their product here isn’t terrible – except it’s not really a lime extract. It’s actually a flavoring, which acts and tastes differently than extracts do. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but we believe that you’d have a much better experience using lime extracts as a flavoring agent!!
Check out the many extracts in the rankings above, and you’ll see why lime extracts are so great!
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