Key Lime Pie
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Bright, tangy, and ultra-creamy, this key lime pie has just the right balance of sweet and tart—perfect for warm days and easy entertaining.
I’ve been making this Key lime pie for years, and it’s one of my favorite desserts to serve when the weather warms up. Inspired by the classic pie made famous in the Florida Keys, it has a buttery graham cracker crust and a cool, creamy filling that’s the perfect balance of sweet and tart. Best of all, it’s easy to make with just a handful of ingredients—you can use regular limes from the grocery store, and Greek yogurt stands in for the usual egg yolks (trust me, it works). I’ve served this pie everywhere from summer barbecues to holiday dinners, and it’s always a crowd-pleaser.
“The best key lime pie I’ve ever had!! Tart, sweet, fresh but rich.”
Do You Really Need Key Limes?
Despite the name, you don’t need Key limes to make an outstanding Key lime pie. Over the years, I’ve made this pie with bottled Key lime juice (such as Nellie & Joe’s), fresh Key limes, and regular limes (also called Persian limes), and I actually prefer regular limes. They’re easy to find year-round and have a bright, fresh flavor that makes an exceptional pie. If you have access to fresh Key limes, though, they’re delicious too, lending the pie a slightly more floral, aromatic flavor.
What You’ll Need To Make Key Lime Pie
For the crust, you’ll need finely crushed graham cracker crumbs, light brown sugar, and melted butter. For the filling, you’ll need sweetened condensed milk, Greek yogurt, fresh lime juice and lime zest. For the topping, you’ll need heavy cream and confectioners’ sugar.
You’ll notice this recipe doesn’t call for egg yolks, like many traditional Key lime pie recipes. After testing it both ways, I found they simply weren’t necessary. The pie sets beautifully because the lime juice’s acidity reacts with the proteins in the yogurt and sweetened condensed milk, thickening the filling as it bakes (the same basic reaction that turns milk into cheese). And from a taste standpoint, I actually prefer the cleaner, brighter lime flavor that comes from leaving the yolks out. As a bonus, there’s no separating eggs, making the recipe even easier to prepare.
“Outstanding! Sets up beautifully and has the most perfect lime flavor.”
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Mix the crust. Combine the graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, and melted butter, stirring first with a fork, then finishing with your hands until the mixture looks like damp sand and holds together when you squeeze a bit in your palm.
Step 2: Press the crust into the pan. Work the crumbs up the sides of the pan first, then press the bottom—it’s easier this way. Press firmly; a loosely packed crust tends to crumble when you slice the pie later.
Step 3: Blind bake. Bake just until the edges turn a shade darker and it smells toasty. This short bake deepens the flavor of the crust and keeps the crust from turning soggy once the filling goes in, but it doesn’t need to brown deeply.
Step 4: Zest, then juice. Zest every lime you plan to juice before you cut into them—it’s nearly impossible to zest a lime once it’s been squeezed. A rasp grater makes this fast; a reamer or your hands work fine for juicing.
Step 5: Whisk the filling. Whisk the condensed milk, yogurt, zest, and juice together until completely smooth. The mixture will look thick, almost like a pudding.
Step 6: Bake and chill. Pour the filling into the warm crust and bake until the center looks just set. Let it cool for a bit on the counter, then pop it in the fridge for at least 3 hours to set completely. It’ll firm up further as it cools and chills.
Step 7: Whip the cream. Beat the heavy cream until it just starts to hold soft peaks, then add the confectioners’ sugar and continue beating until it’s thick enough to hold its shape when you lift the whisk. Don’t take it too far past this point—overwhipped cream turns grainy and starts to look more like butter than a topping.
Pro Tip: A hand whisk works fine here too if you don’t feel like pulling out the mixer—it just takes a bit more elbow grease.
Step 8: Top and serve. Top with the whipped cream shortly before serving rather than hours ahead, since cream loses its shape sitting on a cold pie for too long. A knife wiped clean between cuts will give you the neatest slices.
Key Lime Pie Video Tutorial
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Key Lime Pie
Ingredients
For the Crust
- 1½ cups finely crushed graham cracker crumbs, from about 12 whole graham crackers
- ⅓ cup (packed) light brown sugar
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
For the Filling
- Two 14-oz cans sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt (2% or whole milk)
- 1 tablespoon grated lime zest
- ¾ cup fresh lime juice
For the Topping
- 1 cup cold heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
- 1 teaspoon grated lime zest
- 8 to 10 thin lime slices
Instructions
- Make the Crust: Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C) and set an oven rack in the middle position.
- In a medium bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, and melted butter; stir with a fork first, and then your hands until the mixture is well combined. Using your fingers and the bottom of a glass or dry measuring cup, press the crumbs firmly into the bottom and up the sides of a 9 x 1½-in (23 x 4-cm) pie pan. The crust should be about ¼-in (6-mm) thick. (Tip: do the sides first.)
- Bake for 10 minutes, until just slightly browned. Let the crust cool on a wire rack.
- Make the Filling: Lower the oven temperature to 350°F (180°C). In a large bowl, whisk together the sweetened condensed milk, yogurt, lime zest, and lime juice. Pour the thick mixture into the warm graham cracker crust. Bake for 15 minutes, until the filling is almost set; it should wobble a bit. Let cool at room temperature for 30 minutes, then place in the refrigerator to chill thoroughly, about 3 hours.
- Make the Topping: In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add the confectioners’ sugar and beat until medium peaks form. Top the pie with the whipped cream. Decorate with the lime zest and lime slices. Store the pie in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Slice the pie into wedges, wiping your knife clean between slices, and serve cold.
Notes
- Make-Ahead Instructions: You can make the crust a day ahead of time, but the filling should be added on the day of serving, otherwise the crust will get soggy.
- The nutritional information was calculated using 2% Greek yogurt.
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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I love this key lime pie (and so did everyone else in my family). It’s a little rich caloriewise, but offers a nice blend of tartness and sweetness–simply delicious. If you’re good with megingues, I would substitute one for the whipping cream to cut back on the richness. I’m a terrible mergingue-maker, though, so the cream is definitely easier for me and it presents beautifully with the lime slices and zest.
Every recipe that I have tried of Jenn Segal’s (both online and from her book) has been pitch perfect. I just love what she does with food! Her interplay of spices, aromas, and textures produces fabulous results…every time.
I have a nice pumpkin pound cake in the oven right now (p. 269 in her book).
Bravo, Jenn. And thank you 🙂
Jennifer Hutchison
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I made this pie yesterday; my husband said it’s the best pie I’ve made in 40 years! I added an extra 8 ounces of Greek yogurt, and an extra 1/4 cup of lime juice to cut the sweetness of the condensed milk. It came out perfect in every way! Thank you Jenn for your clear, easy to follow recipes, and inspiration! I love your cookbook, it’s one of my prized possessions. 🤩🌻🥰💖
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Can I replace the limes with lemons?
Hi Dawn, I’ve never made it with lemons but I think it should work. Please LMK how it turns out if you try it!
I just started baking and this is the first key lime pie I have ever made and I was nervous. it turned out perfect and everyone is begging for another one.
I love the simple easy to follow recipes on Once Upon a Chef.
So very simple to prepare and absolutely delicious. I had to go out of town the next day and didn’t want to waste, so I popped about half the pie in the freezer. After several weeks, I thawed the pie overnight. Crust wasn’t quite as crisp, but it was still very tasty.
Every Friday I make lunch for our employees and this delicious, easy-to-make pie has shown up two different times to rave reviews! When your book came out, I gave every one of our 20 employees a copy for their birthdays. I remind them that this amazing recipe is available to them, but so far, I am the reigning Key Lime Pie Queen, and I am happy to wear the crown. Thanks, Jenn.
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Thanks so much for gifting the cookbook to all your employees!!
So far every recipe that I’ve tried from your cookbook has been spot on. This is the first Key Lime pie I’ve ever made and by far the best I have ever had.
If I grabbed greek yogurt from the store and realized it has skim milk, how will it effect this recipe? Thank you, this looks great and I don’t want to mess it up!
Technically it will work, but won’t be as good. 🙂
Can I use key lime Greek yogurt in place of plain? It just happens to be what I have.
Hi Joan, while you can get away with it, it will introduce more sugar to the filling. You could compensate for that by using a tad more lime juice and/or reducing the sugar a bit in the crust. Please LMK how it turns out!
Without a doubt THE best Key Lime Pie recipe I’ve ever found. Or made. Perfectly delicious. Thank you once again, Jenn, for a wonderful recipe.
Delicious! I made this twice in individual jars to take to potluck dinner parties. So easy, everyone loved it and they looked so cute not to mention much easier than cutting and plating a pie.
Hi Jenn, I am curious on how does this filling set? Is it something similar to lemon posset where acidity from the citrus works to thicken the mixture?
I am thinking of making an icebox cake with this filling – alternating layers of Graham cracker cookies and the filling, and then baking until set. Any thoughts?
PS: we love your recipes!
Hi Preethi, I’m not certain of the science behind the filling thickening, but it definitely does thicken up here. For the most predictable results, I’d actually stick with the pie version of the recipe. Sorry!
Thanks for the reply!
Once again a solid wonderful recipe! Jenn, you are the best!
And I was happy to read it was in your cookbook cause I like having that at my fingertips!
Easy to make and so delicious! I couldn’t find graham crackers at the dollar store so I bought cheap pecan cookies instead because they aren’t very sweet. Other than that I made as the recipe was written and I thought the cookie crust was excellent, but too sweet so next time I will put less sugar in the crust if I use cookies.
I ate another piece two days later and it was even better than the first time and believe it or not the crust was not soggy!! 🙂
YAY, thank you for another good one!
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