I started making this one after reading that red peppers beat oranges on vitamin C and wanting to see whether it actually tasted of anything. It does. The peppers come through sweet and a little savoury, the cucumber keeps it fresh and light, and the lemon sharpens the whole lot up. It is the lightest juice on the site, around 70 calories a glass with about 9 g of sugar, which is low as juices go. If you are trying to cut back on the sweeter fruit juices, this is a good place to start.
Why these ingredients work
Red peppers are the reason to make it. Raw red pepper carries about 128 mg of vitamin C per 100 g, roughly two and a half times the 53 mg in a sweet orange by weight, so a single pepper gives you several times the 40 mg reference intake for the day. Red peppers are the ripe ones, which is why they hold more of the carotene pigments than the green ones, including the lutein and zeaxanthin that build up in the back of the eye. Cucumber is nearly all water at about 15 calories per 100 g, which is what keeps this glass so low in sugar and calories. The lemon adds a little vitamin C of its own and, more usefully, stops the drink reading like a liquidised salad.
The honest bit. Vitamin C does not stop healthy adults catching colds, which is the claim you see everywhere; the Cochrane reviews found it can shorten one slightly but does not prevent them, so drink this because it is a good habit rather than a shield. Straining the pulp takes out most of the fibre you would have got from eating the pepper and cucumber whole, so it will not fill you up the way the same vegetables on a plate would. Because it is acidic, have it with a meal and rinse your mouth with water afterwards rather than brushing straight away. If you take warfarin, keep your vitamin K intake steady and mention any change to your clinic: there is a modest amount here, around 32 µg a glass.
FAQ
Does red pepper juice help with weight loss?
No juice burns fat, and anyone promising that is selling something. What this one does is give you a genuinely low-calorie, low-sugar glass, about 70 calories and 9 g of sugar, to stand in for something far more calorific like a soft drink or a fruit juice. That swap is where any benefit comes from, not the pepper itself. Weight loss still comes down to what you eat and drink across the whole day.
Do red peppers really have more vitamin C than oranges?
By weight, yes. Raw red pepper is about 128 mg per 100 g against roughly 53 mg in a sweet orange (USDA FoodData Central), so a whole pepper comfortably clears the 40 mg UK reference intake on its own. Two things follow from that. Vitamin C is water soluble and not stored, so you need it regularly rather than in one big hit, and it does little for a normal person’s cold risk (Hemila and Chalker, Cochrane, 2013).
What does it taste like?
Sweet and fresh rather than green, with real sharpness from the lemon. Red peppers are the sweet ones, so it is nothing like a green vegetable juice. Drink it cold. If you want it sweeter, push half a green apple through with the peppers, and if you want a bit of heat a small piece of root ginger works well.
More weight loss recipes: see the full Weight Loss collection.
Red Pepper, Cucumber and Lemon Juice
Equipment
- Juicer A masticating or cold press juicer gets the most out of peppers and cucumber, but a centrifugal one works fine if you alternate the soft cucumber through with the firmer pepper.
- Budget cold press juicer The cheapest sensible way in if you are not sure you will stick at it.
- High-speed blender Use this route if you already own a blender and no juicer.
- Nut milk bag Only needed for the blender method, to strain the pulp out.
Ingredients
- 2 red bell peppers about 300 g in total, tops and cores removed and the seeds shaken out
- 1 cucumber about 300 g, ends trimmed but the skin left on
- 1 lemon unwaxed, peeled and quartered
Instructions
Juicer method
- Cut the tops off the peppers, pull out the core and the seeds and shake out any loose white pith. Cut the flesh into pieces small enough to fit your juicer's feed tube.
- Trim the ends off the cucumber but leave the skin on, then peel the lemon and leave as much of the white pith behind as you can. Quarter it.
- Feed the peppers through the juicer first, then alternate the cucumber and the lemon through with them. If your machine is centrifugal, add a piece of cucumber between the pepper pieces so it keeps moving.
- Stir the juice, pour it into two glasses and drink it straight away. It separates as it stands, so give it another stir before you drink it.
Blender method
- Chop the peppers, cucumber and peeled lemon and put them in a high speed blender with 150 ml of cold water.
- Blend on high for 60 seconds, until no lumps are left.
- Tip the lot into a nut milk bag or a fine sieve set over a jug, then squeeze or press it hard to get as much liquid out as you can. This is the slow part, but it is what makes it a juice rather than a smoothie.
- Serve over ice and drink it the same day.