Name: Lemon verbena sorbet
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 10 min
Yield: 6 people
Cuisine: France
Ingredients: 8 branches offresh verbena (large (about 80 g with stems)); 300 g ofgranulated sugar; 40 cl ofwater; 6 lemons (small); 30 cl oftonic water (or lemonade); 2 egg whites; ice cream maker; Chinese

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Updated on 25 November 2025 by

ratatouille

8 reviews 4.2 : Very good

Diet

GFDF Gluten-free Lactose-free Vegetarian

Level

Easy

Calories

92 pour 100g

Preparation

20 minutes

Cooking

10 minutes

Wait

5 hours

Here is my recipe for lemon verbena sorbet, which I adapted from a recipe by Petit Fréd (thank you, oh great chef 🙏).

Table des matières

Lemon Verbena

If you’re lucky enough to have a lemon verbena plant, don’t just save it for your herbal teas! It’s a real gem in the kitchen…

This shrubby plant, also known as lemon verbena, is native to South America. It shouldn’t be confused with common verbena, which has a more herbaceous flavor.

You can use this verbena fresh, to accompany red berries for example (strawberries, raspberries). But it also works wonders as an infusion in recipes, such as this irresistible sorbet!

Tasting

This cloud-light frozen mousse barely melts in your mouth. It then releases a true explosion of flavors… The verbena’s fragrance and its lemongrass notes harmonize perfectly with the lemon’s tartness and freshness. And to balance it all, there’s just the right amount of sugar!

This verbena and lemon sorbet will delight all your guests, young and old alike. I was able to confirm this recently at a dinner party where I served it for the first time!

Preparation

The secret to this recipe? It’s the egg whites and sparkling water, which give this sorbet its fluffy texture. Add a highly concentrated verbena infusion, and you’ve got this little gem!

If you make this sorbet, don’t throw away the egg yolks. You can use them to make ice cream, such as . This ice cream will actually pair very well with your verbena sorbet—what a coincidence! 😋

Making this verbena sorbet isn’t particularly difficult; you’ll just need an ice cream maker or something similar to make it.

Personally, I use a good old-fashioned ice cream maker that churns inside the freezer, so I’m providing instructions for that model. But you’ll just need to adapt them to your machine, whether it’s a bowl-chilling ice cream maker, a compressor-style model, or an “ice cream blender” like the “Ninja Creamy.”

Give it a try!

I hope you’ll be tempted by this lemon verbena sorbet recipe, and that it brings you lots of joy around the table!

Enjoy, and thank you in advance for your comments 😃

For

people

Add to shopping list

8 branches of fresh verbena large (about 80 g with stems)
300 g of granulated sugar
40 cl of water
6 lemons small
30 cl of tonic water or lemonade
2 egg whites

Appliances and kitchenware
ice cream maker
Chinese

1
Rinse the verbena sprigs once or twice.
Remove the leaves from the thick stems of the verbena. You can leave the thin sprigs whole.
Set the leaves aside in a bowl.
2
Squeeze the lemons.
3
Pour the water, granulated sugar, and lemon juice into a saucepan.
Bring to a boil.
4
Add the fresh verbena, then let it cool off the heat.
5
Strain the tea through a fine-mesh strainer and squeeze the leaves well to extract as much of the fragrant liquid as possible.
6
Separate the egg whites from the yolks, and set the yolks aside for other recipes (see the introduction).
Fold in the sparkling water and the egg whites.
7
Let the mixture cool in the sink filled with cold water and a few ice packs. Then
continue cooling it in the refrigerator for a few hours.
8
Pour the mixture into the ice cream maker’s bowl and churn.
Follow your ice cream maker’s manufacturer’s instructions for the next steps.
In my case, the ice cream maker stops automatically once the mixture has reached the right consistency.
At that point, I can transfer my sorbet to its final container.
Then I let the ice cream set in the freezer for a few more hours before enjoying it 😋

Notes

SERVING SUGGESTION: You can serve this lemongrass sorbet with fresh or roasted red berries (raspberries, strawberries, redcurrants, etc.). And for a "gourmet" dessert, place a small piece of sponge cake or yogurt cake—still warm—next to your sorbet, and drizzle your roasted red berries and their coulis over the top—a guaranteed "wow" effect! 🤩