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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Planning on making this today with sweetened condensed coconut milk and vegan sour cream, since my daughter is gluten free and dairy free. Have you ever made it this way with success? Hoping it’s as amazing as all the reviews have said, even with these changes in major components.
Hi Becky, I can’t say I’ve made it with those ingredients so I don’t have any wisdom to share – I’m sorry! Please report back after you make it — I’m sure readers would love to hear how it turns out with these alternatives! 🙂
Any luck with this? Would love to “veganize” for my daughter!
Absolutely delicious and super easy to make! Everyone devoured it! I can always count on Jenn’s recipes to be the best!
scrumptious delumptious 😊😋 made it yesterday for my family and we all loved it.
I made this for my boss’s birthday. I can’t believe it was so easy yet such a great hit with everybody. As another reviewer suggested, I used the coconut cream pie base – which is now my new favourite base. I had leftover filling so threw it into premade tart shells and gave it to my tenants. They keep requesting more. I will definately be making this again soon. Thank you!!!
Key Lime Pie is my family’s all time favorite pie and they loved this recipe. They said it is hard to stop eating it because it is so good.
Jenn, they asked me though if they could freeze it?
Hi JE, while I don’t think this is the kind of pie that I’d suggest making ahead and freezing for future use, if you have leftovers, you may be able to get away with freezing them. Please keep in mind I haven’t frozen it myself. (And I’m glad to hear the family enjoyed it!)
This came out PERFECTLY! Might be the best dessert I’ve ever made and it was a huge hit! Super easy to follow too. I will say I made the mistake of assuming 12 graham crackers would equal the exact amount i needed for the crust but it was a little too much so i had to melt an extra tbs of butter to make them moist enough for the crust but other than that there isn’t anything I’d change! I better invest in a juicer because I will be making this again and again!
So delicious!! First time trying homemade key lime pie and I’m so glad I found this recipe! Easy to follow, minimal ingredients, and very tasty. Thanks for this great recipe!
My husband said this is the best recipe he has had that is homemade and as close to the pie he had in key west as they come. Definitely a keeper recipe and I am so grateful to have found this. Thank you Jenn so much for sharing this!
Can I use sour cream in place of Greek yogurt? I just substituted Greek yogurt for sour cream in a sour cream raisin pie and that exchange worked great!
Sure, Phyllis, sour cream will work here. Enjoy!
This is an absolutely delicious and simple dessert. I actually prefer it without the whipped cream because I love the pure tartness of the lime. Question: I’m planning to make it again and unfortunately the grocery shopper in my house bought regular whole milk yogurt, rather than Greek yogurt. Since I can’t run to the store to get more, would you recommend using the nonfat Greek yogurt I have, straining the regular yogurt, or some other option? (I suppose I could wait until we go back to the store, but those limes are burning a hole in my pocket!🤗) thank you!
So glad you like this! You can use regular yogurt but should strain it first. Sour cream or crème fraîche would also work here. Hope that helps!
Can you leave out the sugar in the crust given that graham crackers are already fairly sweet? This looks like a wonderful recipe but we’re trying to reduce sugar consumption here!
Hi Charlotte, I wouldn’t completely omit it, but you could cut the brown sugar in the crust by a few tablespoons. Hope that helps and that you enjoy!