How Much Juice Is In One Lime?

There’s a lot more juice in a lime than you might think. A good rule of thumb to remember when cooking (or baking) is that one lime produces about 2 tablespoons (or 1 ounce) of juice.

Of course, variation in yield is natural, but with this estimate you can easily decipher how many limes you’ll need to pick up at the grocery store in order to make that Key lime pie recipe you have been eyeing, or a big batch of margaritas for a cookout.

Knowing how to pick limes and the best way to juice them will also help you get the most out of each citrus fruit. Read on to see our best tips and tricks for juicing limes.

How To Pick Limes

Not all limes are created equal. Here are a few things to look for when picking out fresh limes.

• Weight: Select limes that feel heavy for their size. This is a good indication of how much juice each contains.
• Give: Give it a good squeeze. Juicy limes will have a gentle give, while those that are hard as a rock will have a much lower yield (and might be pretty dry inside). That said, if the limes are so soft your fingers leave indentations, the fruit is probably overripe.
• Skin: Look for thin-skinned limes with smooth rinds free of brown spots.

Tips For Juicing Limes

You’re probably thinking, I know how to juice a lime, or I have tool for that. Sure, but we have a few expert tricks to know for extracting the most out of the fruit.

• If you keep limes in the fridge, they tend to harden. To help extract more juice, try zapping them in the microwave briefly (about 20 seconds) to soften the fruit, making it easier to squeeze. (This works better than just rolling on them on the counter.)
• Cut your limes into “cheeks.” Working in restaurants, I learned to cut limes around the core, like you might have been taught to do with an apple. This means making four slices around the core, yielding four perfectly seedless “cheeks” which are super easy to squeeze, helping you yield more juice when squeezing by hand.
• If not squeezing by hand, I prefer to use a simple manual reamer to juice citrus. It’s inexpensive, doesn’t take up a lot of drawer space, and gets the job done with having to be plugged in.