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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Fantastic recipe. I made candied limes as a finishing garnish on top. Loved everything about it. Thank you!
This is a great recipe. I’ve made it twice now. Delicious and easy to make. Just wondering if it would freeze properly.
Hi Steve, So glad you like it! while I don’t think this is the kind of thing that I’d suggest making ahead and freezing, if you have leftovers, you may be able to get away with freezing them (please keep in mind I haven’t frozen it myself).
Can you tell me why the filling has to be baked since there are no eggs in it? I make a no bake cream cheese pie called Cherry O Cream Pie… it is an old recipe from my aunt….It has lemon juice, condensed milk and cream cheese in a graham cracker crust. The filling thickens really nice because of the lemon juice reacting with the other ingredients… but anyway.. all the ingredients in your lime pie filling are safe to eat raw.. why does it need to be baked? Does it firm up the filling? With no eggs, they are not going to firm up as in a custard pie. It seems like all you are doing is heating up the filling, then cooling it back down again in the fridge. I planned to make this and read the recipe quick, then looked at it again and wow…I would have missed bake for 15 min.. lol. It looked just like a refrigerator type pie from the get go.
Hi Diane, you pose a great question! I’ve seen Key lime pie w/ no eggs done both ways – – with the filling baked and unbaked. Not sure how I decided on going the baked route, but I’ve been making it this way forever and it works. If you try it unbaked, I’d love to hear how it turns out!
Hi Jenn, thx so much for the recipe! If I don’t want it to be so sweet, can I use 2/3 condensed milk and an extra TBSP of lime? Prefer sour and not so sweet, or will that affect the consistency of the filling? Thanks much, Helen
Hi Helen, I wouldn’t recommend decreasing the amount of sweetened condensed milk but you can add an additional tablespoon of lime juice to the filling. If you want to reduce the sweetness further, you can omit the sugar from the whipped cream topping and reduce the sugar a bit in the crust. Hope that helps and that you enjoy!
I have not tried this recipe but wonder in no Fat yogurt can work. I doubt but is it worth a try.
Sure, Tom. It won’t be as creamy but technically it will work. Hope you enjoy!
Hi Jenn,
Your recipe is the baked one so I’m confused by your answer, do we bake or no?
Can’t wait to make this!
Hi Kathleen, Sorry for the confusion. I accidentally switched baked and unbaked! You should definitely bake it for reliable results. 🙂
Okay. This is getting ridiculous. This week I have made this pie, your chocolate cream pie, and the salmon with cucumber/ onion salad. Last week, I made the shrimp tacos (yes! grilling the tacos on the BBQ), the chocolate cream pie, Peruvian chicken with green sauce, and the French apple cake (sixth time). I have since made the green sauce twice.
Yowser, girl. You are making me look like a star. Thank you!
Your superfan in Mill Bay, BC
😊
Guess what? You forgot to include oven temperatures both for the crust and the filling.
What’s up?
HELP I’m eager to make this pie. Your food site is the only one I use. It’s sane, beautiful,
all tried recipes great, and user friendly.
Thanks!
Hi Gail, Are you looking at the actual recipe underneath the step-by-step photos? If you go to the top of the page and click the “jump to recipe” button, it will take you to the recipe card with all the details. Sorry for the confusion!
This is a fantastic recipe. My Mum and I had bake off 🙂 She baked her usual one which has eggs and a meringue topping and I baked this one. Blind taste test by kids and partners followed. This was the winner. It has a lovely baked cheesecake like consistency and super easy to make. Thankyou for yet another great recipe.
Made this on Father’s Day for hubby – his exact words: ‘This is a miracle’. Pretty hard to top that. Jenn, you’ve saved me many times from being a disenchanted cook day in day out for a family of four. I have your cookbook and turn to your website weekly for fresh and new ideas as your recipes are refined, but not too difficult to pull off. Much appreciated and wondering if you’d ever consider adopting me as your older sister? 😉
LOL – so glad you like the recipes! ❤️
Another winner! I made this for my husband for Father’s Day and he loved it. We all did. Easy to prepare and delicious.
Just went to the store yesterday to pick up my limes. Will be making this for at least the fourth time. The only complaint I received when I made at Thanksgiving was “How come you didn’t make two?”