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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Fabulous recipe! Made it 24 hours before the birthday dinner and next day leftovers tasted even better!
Was delicious, came out wonderfully first time! Good recipe!
I am not a dessert person BUT…..Key Lime pie is my childhood favorite that I got to enjoy for a few weeks every year when we vacationed in Broward County from Massachusetts. It is a pie like no other pie and I just might have to make this wonderful recipe. Thank you Jenn.
I made this pie for a women’s retreat this weekend, and we all agreed that it was the best key lime pie we’d ever eaten. So easy to make (I cheated and used a store-bought graham cracker crust)! It set up well, was creamy and the lime flavor was not overwhelming, just perfect. Thank you, and I am adding this to our family favorites.
Made this pie in advance in smaller, individual servings. Are you able to freeze? Want to keep the crust crisp but will serve in 3-4 days
Hi Allie, I’ve never frozen this and wouldn’t think it was a great candidate for freezing, but a few people have mentioned that they have, and have been happy with the results when thawed. Keep in mind though that the crust will not stay crisp if the filling sits inside it (either in the freezer or the fridge). Hope that helps!
I wanted to give this recipe 5 stars for the flavor but the crust is a major problem. I’ve made graham cracker crusts before so maybe I should have known this one would be a problem when it didn’t want to hold together as I pressed it into the pie plate. Sure enough, the crust turned into crumbs when I tried slicing the pie. It was impossible to get a nice looking slice with the crust intact.
Afterwards, I noticed that many of the reviewers said they added extra butter. That tells me there is an issue with the recipe the way it is written.
I will use this recipe again, now that I know I need to make a revision to the crust. I wish I could have rated it higher because it really is delicious.
I think you must have done something wrong. I have made a few times and no problem with the crust.
hi im not much of a baker – was wondering can i make this inside of a cast iron instead of a pie dish? or a corningware? or one of those older pyrexes (the top of the top/bottom set is short…its glass)…or one of those pans where the bottom comes out (tho its not short).?
which of those is best/ok?
..im not fussed about pretty sides (obviously lol)….and dont want to buy a pie dish
im putting a 5star bc i know it will be lol
Hi Lulu, out of all the options you mentioned, assuming the cast iron pan is similar in size to a deep dish pie plate, I’d go with that. Please LMK how it turns out if you try it!
The only thing I would watch out for with cast iron is that it retains heat for a lot longer than a traditional pie dish after you take it out of the oven. Because the cooling rate is so important for a recipe like this, I’d be interested to see how things work out with cast iron.
This pie is everything I was looking for in a key lime pie 🙂 Refreshing taste and beautiful texture. I’ve made this roughly 8-10 times now and this is a crowd pleaser, highly requested and a favorite.
I do want to note I added one more tbsp of butter into crust and I buttered the bottom of the pie dish as the crust was sticking to the bottom.
Thank You for sharing this delicious recipe 😘
Can I substitute the sweetened condensed milk for sweetened condensed coconut milk?
Hi Meaghan, I’ve never made this with condensed coconut milk, so it’s hard to say for sure – I’m sorry! Please report back how it turns out if you try it!
Hi–I made this recipe and both my husband and I really loved it….very delicious. There were 2 ingredients that I altered a bit. I added 2 more tablespoons of melted butter to the crust and I used 4 fresh regular limes for part of the lime juice (about 1/3rd cup) and I used bottled juice for the remainder since I didn’t have any more limes. Also, if you are baking the crust in a higher end type of oven (mine is a French door Viking Oven), check the crust after 5 minutes of baking. Mine was done well before the 10 minute mark. I will definitely make this again! Thanks for the recipe : )