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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Sorry, it’s NOT a Key Lime Pie. It’s a lime pie. The whole POINT of a Key Lime Pie is that it IS, as you put it, “bracingly tart.” So this pie cannot taste “every bit as authentic as the real deal.” And BTW, I live in northern Virginia and we get authentic key limes at my local market two or three times a year. Because the vast majority of them come from Mexico – not south Florida. I just squeezed a pound of them today to get 8 ounces of fresh key lime juice to make “the real deal.”
So did you actually make the recipe? You gave it 3 stars, but did not mention the recipe itself except to complain about it.
I followed the recipe as stated and got approval from every family member! In case anyone is wondering about alternatives: I struggled to find low fat Greek yogurt so I used fat-free, and the filling still turned out great. I also didn’t want to use graham crackers, so I used a mix of digestive oat cookies and butter cookies, and all worked out.
Fabulous recipe! Made exactly as written and wouldn’t change a thing. Family loved it.
Absolutely amazing recipe, thank you so much, it turned out amazing 😘👏
Pie itself turned out great! However my crust was super soggy but also hard? It wouldn’t come out of my pie dish. Is there something I can do to correct this? The pie itself was great and I’d love to make this again. I’m just not sure where I went wrong with the crust.
Hi Gabi, I’m sorry you had a problem with the crust. If you found it to be hard, you likely need to bake it for a bit less time. Regarding the sogginess, did you assemble the pie ahead of time? Letting the filling sit inside the crust Can make it soggy.
I made this recipe as stated. It was fabulous. Everyone loved it. By far the best key lime pie we ever ate and we have chased them through the keys! With comments about how this recipe did not turn out well I can only say it wasn’t followed correctly. You must use the right Greek yogurt, not low fat, not fat free. After mixing it was almost set up before it even went in the oven for 15 minutes! Will do again, and again. Thank you!!! Delicious!
This recipe looked so easy that I was a bit skeptical. It turned out to be fabulous and got 5 *’s from all of my guests. I will definitely be making it again. Thanks, Jenn.
Hello. Can this pie be frozen?
Hi Barbara, 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 made this recipe today and I was skeptical at first but WOW – this recipe is delicious and simple! The directions were so easy to follow and everything went exactly as expected. This is definitely a recipe I am saving for the future!
Made it, loved it. It was a big hit and everyone at the party agreed!
My Key lime pie loving step-dad loves when I make this for his birthday. I’ve made this recipe twice now, and it’s simple and easy. I shouldn’t have added the juice and rind of one extra lime, and it was a little too tart for the rest if us, even with the cream on top, but he loved it. I grated and juiced the limes 3 days prior, which was a time-saver, except the colour had yellowed on the rind and the decorative slices I placed on top, which didn’tlook so great. So leave the decoration until the day, or the day before.
The base unfortunately was soggy. Not sure how to change that from happening.
(Couldn’t see the option to upload a photo)
Hi Sandy, glad your step dad enjoyed it but sorry that the crust was soggy. I believe the answer to this is no, as you mentioned, juicing the limes and refrigerating the lime juice a few days ahead, but did you happen to assemble the pie ahead of time?