Enjoy this delicious and easy-to-make Key Lime Pie recipe, made with tangy lime juice, buttery graham cracker crust, and a creamy filling. This tangy dessert is perfect for any occasion.
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Whilst it is synonymous with the Sunshine State, this bright zesty pie should not be saved for when you can only source some key limes which can feel difficult, depending on where you are. Have you tried Key Lime Pie before?
Often this is a no bake dish, but that can mean your filling doesn't always set, even with whipping for several minutes. Baking our Key Lime Pie pie makes such a difference to how this turns out and means you can prepare this easily in advance without worrying how it will be when you slice into it.
Ingredients and substitutions for Key Lime Pie
- Graham crackers: The perfect base for this pie with their light and whole wheat flavor. If you are unable to source graham crackers, a great substitute is digestive biscuits.
- Butter: It needs to be melted and I prefer using unsalted, especially with those crackers adding salt, but salted won't make too much difference here.
- Sugar: Sugar in the base adds a great balance to the crackers and helps set the foundation for the zesty filling. Sugar in the cream helps offset the zesty filling.
- Sweetened condensed milk: This creates a sweetness alongside the lime juice and is an essential to any key lime pie.
- Egg yolks: The egg yolks alongside the condensed milk creates a custard texture to this filling and are best if room temperature.
- Lime juice: The very core of this recipe is the fresh lime juice which adds a bright and zesty flavor to the custard filling. Key lime juice is best, but you can replace with any other fresh lime juice.
- Heavy cream: Whipping your cream to soft peaks gives this a nice and light topping, but you can sub with canned whipped cream here.
See recipe card for quantities.
How to make Key Lime Pie:
Step 1: Crush those crackers: Crush or blend the crackers or digestives as finely as possible before adding in the melted butter.
Step 2: Press into the pie dish: Press the combined crushed cookie and melted butter into your pie dish and bake until golden.
Step 3: Filling: Beat the egg yolks and sweetened condensed milk on low until smooth. Pour in the lime juice and whip until thick and pale.
Step 4: Pour and bake: Pour into the pie crust and bake until golden and only slightly jiggly. Set aside.
Step 5: Cool completely: Cool and refrigerate for a minimum of 3 hours or overnight.
Step 6: Whip: The cream with the sugar until reaching soft peaks.
Step 7: Top: Spoon the cream over the top and swoosh. FInish with pieces of lime zest.
Step 8: Slice and serve: Dig in!
FAQ's for the best Key Lime Pie
Absolutely! Key limes can be difficult to obtain so you can substitute regular fresh or bottled lime juice in equal measure here.
Lemon meringue is usually made with a pastry base with a lemon curd cooked on the stovetop with egg yolks, juice and zest before being topped with meringue that is browned with a blow torch. Key lime has a crush biscuit base filled with a lime custard filling and topped with whipped cream. Their similarities are in using juice to add a real strong citrus flavor.
Absolutely! If you like a really creamy topping, simply increase the amount you whip to 250 milliliters or 1 cup and keep your sugar the same.
You can make the pie up to 1 day before serving, but this is best served within 2 hours of topping with whipped cream and consumed the same day or within 1 day, as leftovers.
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Key Lime Pie
Ingredients
Crust
- 225 grams / 7.93 ounces graham crackers crushed
- 75 grams / 2.65 ounces butter melted
- 28 grams / 2 tablespoons superfine/caster sugar
Filling
- 100 milliliters / โ cup key lime juice if unable to obtain, use regular limes
- 90 grams / 5 egg large yolks room temperature
- 414 mililiters sweetened condensed milk (1 can)
Topping
- 177 milliliters / ยพ cup heavy cream
- 28 grams / 2 tablespoons superfine/caster sugar
Instructions
Crust
- Preheat the oven to 190ยฐC/375F and grease a pie dish or a springform cake tin.
- For the crust, place the crushed biscuits and sugar in a bowl and stir to combine, making a well in the center.
- Add in the melted butter and stir until no dry portions remain in the bowl and the mixture resembles a rough breadcrumb.
- Spoon into your 18 cm or 7 inch pie dish and press firmly and evenly into the base and sides of your dish with a measuring cup or flat glass.
- Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes until lightly golden.
- Remove and set aside to cool.
Filling
- For the filling, place the egg yolks and sweetened condensed milk in a bowl and beat on low to break the egg yolks and get the mixture smooth, approximately 1 minute.
- Add in the lime juice and beat on medium until thick and pale, approximately 3 minutes.
- Pour the into the cooled crust, cover and place in the oven until only jiggly in the center, approximately for 20 minutes.
- Remove and allow to cool completely before refrigerating for a minimum of 3 hours or overnight.
Topping
- Just before serving, whip the pouring cream with the sugar until reaching soft peaks.
- Spread the cream over the top and sprinkle over a little lime zest.
- Slice and serve.
Video
Notes
- Graham crackers: The perfect base for this pie with their light and whole wheat flavor. If you are unable to source graham crackers, a great substitute is digestive biscuits.
- Lime juice: The very core of this recipe is the fresh lime juice which adds a bright and zesty flavor to the custard filling. Key lime juice is best, but you can replace with any other fresh lime juice.
- Sweetened condensed milk: This creates a sweetness alongside the lime juice and is an essential to any key lime pie.
- Why we bake the filling: Baking helps set the crushed base and means liquid of the filling doesn't soak through that crushed biscuit base meaning it's nice and firm and can't become soggy.
- If you donโt want to bake the pie: Simply lower the amount of lime juice to 80 milliliters or less than โ of a cup
- Make in advance: You can make the pie up to 1 day before serving, but this is best served within 2 hours of topping with whipped cream and consumed the same day or within 1 day, as leftovers.
- Pie dish: The pie dish used here is 18 cm or 7 inch which is around average, though a substitute would be a deep tart tin.
Nutrition
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Made it and loved it?
If you have made this recipe, it would mean so much to leave a review below to help more people find this.
Sonya
Found some key limes at a speciality convenience store and always wanted to try this pie. Glad to say it was so much creamier with just the right amount of cream on top so as not to overwhelm the dessert. Thanks,
Sylvie Taylor
Thanks so much Sonya! Great to hear you enjoyed this dessert