Sweet, tart & creamy lemon pie – the filling needs only 3 ingredients! Rich & delicious – no one would guess how easy it is to make!
This is one of those desserts that tastes far more complex than it it is. It’s a tart, creamy custard – almost cheesecake reminiscent.
Impressive it is, intricate it is not. It takes only three ingredients to make the filling of this pie. Lemon juice, egg yolks and a can of sweetened condensed milk. Yup, that’s it. Mix them up, pour that goodness into a graham cracker crust and bake. How easy was that?
One more mention of what this pie is not. It is not a “no bake lemon icebox pie”. Why would I mention this? I shared this recipe a few years back on a recipe sharing site. I had not one, but a few people, comment that this was a lemon icebox pie. The pie they were referring to was a “no bake” pie – the lemon “cooked” the eggs.
Funny enough (or not), in that same comment, a person complained that the pie did not set up for them. Really? They decided to totally not follow the recipe and then complained that it didn’t work. Ugh. Does lemon juice “cook” raw eggs? Although I have never tried it, my understanding is that it would take a day or two for the eggs to properly set. Is it safe to eat? I really don’t know – that’s a whole other topic of discussion.
Moral of the story – this pie here gets baked 🙂
This pie is best with a homemade graham cracker crust. I’m all for cutting corners whenever possible – but this just isn’t one of those times. A simple homemade graham cracker crust with it’s sweet, brown buttery and just a hint of salt goodness totally completes this pie.
Lemons juice best at room temperature, so if they’re in the fridge, pull them out a few hours before go time. 5 – 7 average sized lemons will give you 3/4 cup of juice.
This pie is easy to mix up and bake. It’s served best plain or with a dollop of whipped cream. I love this pie during the winter months – the bright, tart, sweetness of lemons makes me think of warmer months past and warmer months to come.
If you’re a lemon head, this pie is for you! It’s lush, creamy and tart – but not too tart. This pie is always enjoyed by all!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Happy Baking 🙂
-Amanda-
- For crust:
- 1½ cups fine graham cracker crumbs
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoon salted butter, melted
- For Pie Filling:
- ¾ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (5-7 average sized lemons at room temp)
- 4 egg yolks
- 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
- Preheat oven to 350°F
- Combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter until thoroughly combined.
- Press firmly into a 8" or 9" pie plate.
- Bake for 7-9 minutes.
- Cool on wire rack.
- Juice lemons. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, beat yolks and condensed milk with an electric mixer for 2-3 minutes until mixture lightens up.
- Slowly mix in lemon juice - mix well.
- Pour mixture into prepared crust.
- Bake for 22 - 25 minutes or until pie is set.
- Transfer to wire rack.
- Cool until pie reaches room temperature. Chill and store in refrigerator. Pie should be served chilled.
- Top with whipped cream if desired. Enjoy 🙂
My mouth is watering, Amanda! I love the 3-ingredient filling! Doesn’t get much easier than that!
Thanks so much, Thao. Easy peasy indeed 🙂 I’ve been meaning to try to substitute out the sweetened condensed milk to make a “less processed” version for quite some time, but the simplicity factor of the canned stuff always wins lol.
Can anyone tell me what the raw egg yolks do,are they helping thicken or what???
Hi Shelby.
Using just the yolks not only help thicken the pie but will add richness and creaminess.
Hope this helps 🙂
I use the 4 egg whites with 1/2 t cream of tartar & sugar to taste (about 1/4 c for me, she used 1/3 c) to make a meringue for my pie. This is my Mom’s old timey recipe (60+ years). Some of my earliest memories are of my dad beating egg whites with a fork, before the hand-held mixer became a staple in her kitchen.
Mmmmm, this pie look fabulous, Amanda. I am drooling the name! So citrusy and creamy. YUM!
Thanks so much, Anu! I love this pie! I only had one slice so I’m baking it again very soon lol 🙂
Mouth watering and gorgeous pie dear!
Thanks so much Kushi 🙂
I love lemon desserts with that sharp taste. I have pinned this for later! Thanks!
The Old Fat Guy
Thanks! Hope you love it 🙂
Didn’t work for me and followed it to a T. Sometimes good Yummly recipes and sometimes it just doesn’t work. I’ll diffently skip this one in the future…
Hi Larry. Sorry this didn’t work for you and I’d love to help you figure out where it went wrong. It’s a solid recipe – I’ve been making this pie for years & years and have had shared it on numerous recipe/cooking sites. It’s received over 20 positive reviews here: https://cookpad.com/us/recipes/332131-easy-creamy-lemon-pie?ref=recipe
Please put this on all recipes:
Are you using farenheit degrees or celsius degrees?
This is Fahrenheit. I apologize for the confusion.
I make these in a square dish and cut them out like cookies.
Awesome idea! I make this recipe fairly often, I’ll have to try cutting it into squares sometime. Thanks for stopping by Shirley 🙂
Amada, can I increase the ingredients by 50% and make this in a Springform pan? I need to serve 10-12 people.
Hi Judy. I say go for it – I can’t see you having any problems. I would probably keep the crust amounts the same, increase the pie filling ingredients as needed and bake until set.
Hope it turns out great for you! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
amanda… this recipe was absolutely perfect! i had a slice of this type of pie for the first time a few months back at a fancy french bistro and turned to google looking for the recipe. thankfully that search led me to your site! your recipe was SPOT ON and yielded the same result of said expensive restaurant! now i can enjoy this (my new favorite pie, may i add) in the comfort of my own home. THANK YOU!
AWESOME! I’m sooo happy to hear this! Crazy how easy it is to make, right!? So glad you enjoy the recipe – yay! Thanks for stopping by Jeff. Happy Baking 🙂
Can I increase the ingredients by 50% and make this in a Springform pan? I need to serve 10-12 people.
We loved this pie! Too bad we have to chill it first. I am thinking about adding one of the egg whites next time to see what happens,
Glad you enjoyed it! I’d love to hear how it turns out for you with said changes. Thanks for stopping by Don 🙂
Followed this to a t….first time making any kind of lemon pie however it is way too sweet for my taste…does have some zest to it but the lemon is overwhelming..but it turned out perfect.
We had a snow day recently and I wanted to make pie with just the ingredients I had on hand. I always have lemon juice in the fridge, so this seemed like a good idea. Unfortunately, I only had Evaporated Milk, not Sweetened Condensed. I read that you could add sugar to the evaporated milk, so I did that and simmered it just a bit, but sadly the pie did not set. We ate it with spoons, and it was still good. But, I made it again with the Sweetened Condensed milk and it worked great. So, don’t sub out the milk and you should be fine! Delicious! Thanks for posting!
Hi Christa! I’m glad you made the best out of the “boo-boo” pie! I have too many kitchen mishaps to mention, lol, and many of them aren’t so tasty 🙂
Happy to hear that you made the pie again and it turned out great for you!
For future reference – you can easily make Sweetened Condensed Milk at home with milk, sugar, butter and vanilla extract. I’ll have to share my recipe soon – but there are a bunch of good recipes online. I often make it myself – just because it’s one of those ingredients I’ll use and forget to restock.
Thanks for stopping by! Happy Baking ♥
Can I bake ahead and freeze it?
Hi Nancy. Honestly, I’ve never tried. Would love to hear how it works out for you!
It worked beautifully! The pie was delicious and the texture was not not changed because of a few days in the freezer. It is a delicious pie!
Wonderful! So glad to hear it worked out for you Nancy 🙂
wonderful recipe. Thank you for sharing.
Is it possible to put meringue on top? If so, would I put it on with the first baking of the pie or put it on after and then bake again? I like meringue and hate to waste the egg whites.
Hi Alexis!
You could definitely put meringue on top!
I don’t like meringue (gasp) so I’m not super familiar with baking times. I think it may brown before the pie sets up – so I think you’d be best adding it during or after. Hope this helps!
My Momma made this for me when I was young and she always made meringue with the egg whites, cream of tarter, sugar and vanilla. Whip until peaks are stiff and high. After pie is done, spoon meringue on, using bowl of spoon to “pull up” peaks. Be sure to seal it to crust so it doesn’t separate. Bake until peaks are golden brown. Cool. Enjoy!!
Um. I may have to give this a shot for my grandkids!
I have a bottle of REAL lemon juice. Cam I use that instead?
Hi Malynda.
Honestly, I’ve never tried, but if it’s real lemon juice it should be good. I’ve made a key lime pie with bottled key lime juice and it turned out well.
Hope this helps – thanks for stopping by!
I have made this pie several times using fresh or frozen lemon juice, squeezed from fresh lemons. I have also used a fresh baked pie crust with whip cream on top of lemon mixture. A regular pie crust isn’t as sweet as the graham cracker crust. It is also very tasty. Love this recipe.
Hello Glenda!
So glad you enjoy the recipe – it’s on of my favorites!
I’ve never thought of freezing fresh lemon juice – such a great idea! I’ll have to juice, measure & freeze for this pie the next time I find a good sale on lemons.
Thanks so much for stopping by! Happy baking ♥
Love your recipe but I am so bad at calculating ingredients – would you help me calculate for a. Giver lie for 40 persons? Thanks
Hi Cristina. 40 people – that’s a whole lotta pie 🙂
I would make 5-6 pies, depending on how big you want the slices/servings to be. I calculate this pie to be 8 servings – but I do like a big slice of pie.
Help! I’m baking it now but idk when to take it out…how is it suppose to look? It’s giggly, it’s been in 25 minutes on 350F….i stuck a knife it and it didn’t come out clean…i don’t know what I’m doing
Hi there, love your recipe I had lost the one that my mother-in-law made all the time and forgot about what to put in it. The only thing that she did different and really put a great taste it was to make the crust from the Nila wafers. Thanks again for your recipe and you might want to try the vanilla wafer crust
I followed directions but had a problem with the cooking stage … it was soupy especially in the middle so I added 10 minutes , then checked and it was super soupy still so ten more minutes .. This went on for maybe a total of 30-40 minutes extra time in oven . Is it suppose to be soupy and then it sets during the cooling ? Any help would be appreciated . .. I can’t really rate this recipe since I’m not sure if I made a mistake.
Hi Kimberlee. It definitely shouldn’t be soupy. This pie will be set (jiggly) after 25 minutes in the oven.
I’m guessing the mistake was in your ingredients. You need sweetened condensed milk – sometimes people accidentally use evaporated milk. They’re both canned and usually right next to each other in the grocery store 🙁
I’d baked this for the 1st time last night, it was divine & I love the sweetness from the crust balanced out by the tartness of the filling. I will be making this in the very near future, thank you for the recipe.
So glad you enjoy the pie!
Thanks so much for stopping by Kim ♥
What does it mean when the pie is set… What does that look like?
Hi Darlene.
The center of the pie should match the color, firmness & jiggle of the outer surface of the pie. This pie is pretty easy to eyeball – if it’s not done the center will be “too jiggly”.
Hope this helps. I promise – when you see it in the oven it will make sense. Plus – the baking time is pretty precise in this recipe so there is not much room for error.
Enjoy ♥
Wow, this is the best pie I’ve ever made and really easy! It’s delicious
Made this for Easter – easiest ever! I used Meyer lemons from my tree with two tsp. minced rind. I made the filling in my blender. Only baked the pie for 20 minutes, until just set on top – my oven bakes a little hot. Came out beautiful! Thanks for the lovely recipe.
I had a partial box of graham crackers I needed to use up, and a can of condensed milk in the pantry. I did a web search for recipes using those two ingredients. Yours came up and sounded deliciously easy, so I picked up some lemons (I already had the eggs, sugar, and butter). It’s in the oven now and I’m debating whether to save it for my guests coming over in two days, or eat it myself for breakfast tomorrow! 😀
Hi, I’m currently making this pie, but i did add some grated lemon peel and I’m planning to serve it with meringue, from the left over egg whites!
Hi am so sorry but want never make this again it was so bad wasn’t lemone are sweet in know kind of way !!!!