This easy Key Lime Pie recipe is made with fresh lime juice, condensed milk, and a homemade graham cracker crust. It's sweet, tart, and perfectly limey. I love serving it with dollops of freshly whipped cream.
Looking for more easy dessert recipes? Try my Peanut Butter Pie next!
About This Recipe
When I was 18, I spent a summer working at a casual "fine dining" restaurant. They served typical North American fare, like pizza, salads, steak, etc. One of my main responsibilities was dessert duty, which, to be clear, meant serving desserts, not making them. Making the desserts was reserved for our pastry chef. I just plated the desserts with garnishes and sauces.
I remember reading the Google reviews of the restaurant, and key lime pie was by far everyone's favorite dessert.
Before I left that job, I made sure to steal a couple of their recipes, like their calamari, and of course, this key lime pie. The recipe I'm sharing today is the same one used by the restaurant.
The recipe is much simpler than you think. I bet the customers would be enraged if they knew they were paying $12 for what was essentially condensed milk and lime juice on graham crackers. I might sound like I'm oversimplifying it, but I'm really not- it is literally those things. Keep reading, and you'll see!
Key Ingredients
Limes: You'll need the juice and zest of fresh limes. To be completely honest, I do not use real key limes when I make key lime pie- I just use regular limes.
Condensed milk: The base of the filling is sweetened condensed milk. You'll need two 14-ounce cans. Once you mix the condensed milk with the lime juice, the condensed milk will actually thicken. This happens because the acid in the lime juice coagulates the proteins in the milk.
Sour cream: Makes the filling less dense.
Graham cracker crumbs: I buy these in a bag and keep them in my freezer so they last longer. You can also use graham crackers, of which you'll need about 12.
Sugar: To sweeten the crust. If you like, you can also use brown sugar, but the molasses in brown sugar will make the crust slightly more dense.
Butter: For making the crust.
Instructions
STEP 1: In a large bowl, combine the graham cracker crust ingredients.
STEP 2: Pour into a 9-inch pie dish and use the back of a spoon to press firmly into the bottom and sides. Prebake the crust for 8 minutes, then remove from the oven.
STEP 3: In a large bowl, whisk all the filling ingredients until smooth.
STEP 4: Pour into the pie crust.
STEP 5: Bake for 18-20 minutes until mostly set (it will be a bit jiggly in the middle still).
Easy Key Lime Pie
Ingredients
For the crust
- 1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs (about 12 crackers)
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoons melted butter
For the filling
- 2 (14-ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk
- ¾ cup key lime juice
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 tablespoon grated lime zest
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F.
- In a large bowl, combine the graham cracker crust ingredients. Pour into a 9-inch pie dish and use the back of a spoon to press firmly into the bottom and sides. Prebake the crust for 8 minutes, then remove from the oven.
- In a large bowl, whisk all the filling ingredients until smooth. Pour into the pie crust and smooth the top with a spatula.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes until mostly set (it will set more after baking)
- Let the pie rest at room temperature for 30 minutes before covering and transferring to the fridge to finish chilling for at least one hour.
Linda Leger
I've just made the key lime pie. I wonder about the volumes of the ingredients. You call for two 14 oz cans of sweetened condensed milk. Since I'm in Canada using metric, I measured out 28 oz of condensed milk, being 3.5 cups. Together with the sour cream and key lime juice, I had enough filling to fill two pie crusts. I filled the 9inch crust, and placed the remainder in three ramekins to bake. I've tasted one ramekin, and it is like a light lime cheesecake. The pie had to bake for an additional 5 minutes, and it has not cooled yet. Please verify the amount of condensed milk in this recipe.
Grumpy
A 14-ounce can of condensed milk is actually only 300ml, so you added almost a cup extra of condensed milk. The 14 ouncees is by weight, not fluid ounces
L. Leger
Thank you for clarifying this. Might I suggest you also clarify this in your recipe ingredient list, My cans were labelled 300ml, but measured out at about 9 liquid ounces, hence my miscalculation. Surprisingly my results are edible, but the key lime flavour may have been more intense with the correct condensed milk.