Key Lime Pie
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my full disclosure policy.
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
More Cool, Creamy Pie Recipes You’ll Love
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.
See more recipes:
Add a Comment
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Love this recipe. Can you freeze this and defrost for later use?
Glad you like it! 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!
This is the worst recipe i have ever followed. Never again
And why is it the worst?
It’s a shame when someone posts a negative review without any sort of explanation as to why. Why bother? How is simply stating it was the worst recipe ever supposed to be helpful? Was it too sweet in your opinion? Did it not set up? Was it not “lime-y” enough? Did you follow instructions exactly, or are you actually reviewing your own version with modifications? Or did you post a review on the wrong recipe? Or????
How exactly is this the worst recipe ever? What was wrong with it? I am an avid key lime pie critic. It is the only type of dessert I like. In fact I LOVE key lime pie, and I am not a fan of sweets at all. I have eaten key lime pie from all over the country, including dozens of places in the Florida Keys. This is by far the most authentic tasting key lime pie I have eaten outside of Key West itself (and better than many of the places in Key West). The only change I made to this recipe was using a mixture of key limes and regular limes for a little extra tartness.If you think this is the worst recipe ever, you absolutely did something very wrong when making this, or else you must have a hatred for limes.
As someone who’s lactose intolerant to some extent, and prefers desserts not-too-sweet, using 2 cans of sweetened condensed milk felt extreme to me. So I added less sweetened condensed milk (~1.5 cans) and more greek yogurt (~1.5 cups), and the pie turned out perfect!
The filling set really well: firm but still smooth and creamy. I think having more greek yogurt guarantees it won’t get too runny. It was still considerably sweet, so I don’t think it would disappoint anyone with a sweet tooth. I might even consider doing 1 can sweetened condensed milk and 2 cups greek yogurt next time, just to make the flavor more delicate. I used 10 fresh key limes, and was only able to get 1/2 cup of juice out of them – but I think it was more than sufficiently tart!
Thanks for the tip. I also felt the sugar content was too much (personal preference) but everything else was excellent. I’ll try adding more unsweetened yogurt instead of the extra can of sweetened condensed milk. I considered substituting evaporated milk but I think that would have altered the texture, not good.
So good! We added some extra lime juice and zest and used a gluten-free crust. It was a hit! The consistency is amazing, and the whipped cream was perfect for piping as decoration!
My SIL loves Key Lime Pie, so I made this during a recent visit. This pie is quick and easy to put together. It’s absolutely delicious and has a wonderful consistency. I made the recipe exactly as written (I used 5% Plain Greek Yogurt and the full amount of lime zest). However, I only ended up only getting 1/2 c. of lime juice from my limes, so I added 1/4 c. fresh lemon juice to make up the difference. I was worried that it wouldn’t be as good without all lime, but everyone loved it. Will definitely make again.
This is a great recipe! The pie turned out delicious.
I’ve never made any pie before, let alone a key lime pie. I didn’t even know you were supposed to use eggs. But it’s my husband’s favorite, so I looked up a recipe to use and landed on this. Came out absolutely perfectly the first time, and I even used vanilla Greek yogurt instead of plain on accident. I added a little of the lime juice to the whipped cream mixture but this is amazing and incredibly beginner friendly … thank you !! My husband is born and raised Floridian and we’ve been to the keys many times.. this is delicious ❣️
I’ve used this recipe three times with rave results including winning a pie contest at work using it. Although I manage pretty well in the kitchen, I am by far a professional. Easy to make and tastes great! Thank you.
I made this as written. 5 stars. Made the day before. The crust didn’t get soggy, though I used a store bought graham cracker crust. So good topped with real whipped cream. My son who initially turned his nose up had 2 slices!! Would love to try with real key limes someday.
And just I don’t see eggs listed on the ingredient list or the instructions. But I see comments where people said they didn’t know they were supposed to use eggs? Can someone help me are we supposed to use eggs in this recipe? It’s not on the ingredients list
Hi Christina, no eggs are necessary for the recipe. 😊
If I only have one can of condensed milk, can I substitute for something else?
Hi Amanda, I’d stick with all sweetened condensed milk here for the most predictable results. Sorry!
One person said they used 1 can condensed milk and 2 cups yogurt so it was not so sweet if that helps.
How long does the pie keep in the fridge?
Hi Mel, you can make both the crust and the filling a day ahead, but filling should be added on the day of serving, otherwise, the crust will get soggy.
If I am making the pie 1 day ahead, should I still pour the filling into the crust and bake?
Yes 🙂