Lipidated proteins play a key role in many essential biological processes in eukaryotic cells, including signal transduction, membrane trafficking, immune response and pathology. The investigation of the function of lipidated proteins requires access to a reasonable amount of homogenous lipid-modified proteins with defined structures and functional groups. Chemical approaches have provided useful tools to perform such studies. In this review we summarize synthetic methods of lipidated peptides and developments in the chemoselective ligation for the production of lipidated proteins. We introduce the biology of lipidated proteins and highlight the application of synthetic lipidated proteins to tackle important biological questions.