The (IMO) Best Homemade Key Lime Pie

I’ve always loved key lime pie, and I have no earthly idea why I’d never tried making it myself.  But *then* a few months ago I did an awesome roadtrip through the Florida Keys and made it my mission to try and find the best key lime pie in the Keys.  I succeeded, and it inspired me to search for the best homemade key lime pie recipe.  

What makes the best homemade key lime pie? 

Traditional key lime pie has only six ingredients—graham crackers, butter, sugar, key lime juice, egg yolks, and sweetened condensed milk. 

I am a key lime pie purist, when it comes to it.  I want my filling to be a perfect balance of tart and sweet, with the lime flavor really punching through.  I like a creamy custard-y texture, rather than something more solid (like a cheesecake), or super light (with a whipped texture).

Then, I want a graham cracker crust that is buttery and a little sweet, with a bit of crumble to it.  Beyond that…I don’t love piling on meringue or whipped cream or whatever.  I feel it detracts from the flavor, rather than enhances.  But you do you.

See my ranking of the best key lime pies in the Florida Keys!

To figure out what the best homemade key lime pie recipe is, I sifted through a number of different recipes and also dug into Pancake Princess’s key lime pie bake-off.  And, like her, I ended up going with the O.G. recipe, from Cooks Illustrated.  Why mess with perfection??

I made this pie twice, once with fresh regular (Persian) lime juice and once with bottled key lime juice.  First off, I realize it’s not *technically* key lime pie if it’s made with regular limes but it tastes almost identical and most of us can’t get fresh key limes.  SO DON’T COME AT ME INTERNET! 

But my ultimate conclusion was that I couldn’t tell a major difference between the two types of juice.  Maybe if I’d tried them side-by-side, but generally speaking you can go with whichever you prefer.  I think I have maybe a slight preference for the fresh regular lime juice, but go with your heart.

So what you’ll see through this recipe is a combination of photos from both pies.  You can ignore variations of color in the photos, it was hard to get the lighting exactly right, but they were basically identical. 

Because mine has 4 egg yolks, it might be a bit more yellow than some, but all key lime pies should be some shade of pale to medium yellow—never green!

I was also honestly surprised how easy this key lime pie is to make.  I feel like, in my head, key lime pie was tricky (maybe because of the custard texture), which is why I never tried it before.  But it is wicked easy.

Preheat your oven to 350º F.

As I mentioned above, I made this two different times, testing out both regular Persian limes, and bottled key lime juice (you can’t find fresh key limes where I live and it would take like…hours to juice enough anyway). 

Can you believe how many regular limes this took???  Mine were on the smaller side, but still…imagine how many itty-bitty key limes you’d have to juice.

In a medium bowl, thoroughly whisk all of the filling ingredients together, and set aside to thicken while you prepare the crust. 

I love how this literally takes like…30 seconds??  And no need to get the stand mixer out, this easily whisks together.

In hindsight I’d recommend whisking together the sweetened condensed milk and eggs, and THEN adding the lime juice, to avoid the citrus accidentally “cooking” bits of egg.  Also, you can see what the lime zest does to it, and I preferred mine without that texture.

Blitz the graham crackers in a food processor to fine crumbs. Add the sugar, salt, and cinnamon, and pulse to combine. Finally, add in the melted butter and pulse until the mixture resembles wet sand.

The recipe outlined below backs off the amount of graham crackers that the original recipe called for, because in a 9-inch pie pan it was WAY too thick (and I say that as a person who loves a graham crust).  I also added a little bit of cinnamon to my crust.  

Press the mixture into a 9-inch pie dish (metal works best, but Pyrex is fine) evenly on the bottom and up the sides. 

You want the shallow kind, not the deep-dish. The bottom of a glass or measuring cup can help with pressing it smoothly, and otherwise I just use my hands.

Bake the crust until it is light golden brown and fragrant, 11 to 13 minutes.  Remove from the oven and turn the oven down to 325 F.

Allow the crust to cool for a few minutes, then give your filling a quick stir (it may have separated a tiny bit) and pour it into the crust.

Bake the pie until just set, but slightly wiggly in the center.  This should take 15 to 17 minutes (for me always around 17), and if using the bottled key lime juice it may need more like 20-21 minutes.

Cool the pie to room temperature, then set it in the fridge to chill completely, at least 3 hours or overnight.

Just before serving, you can whip the cream to soft peaks, and spread it on top of the pie.  But to me that’s gilding the lily…this pie is perfect on its own.

So let’s look at the end results…

The first photo here is the regular Persian limes (with 1 lime’s zest), and second photo is the key lime juice.  On my second try I left out the zest and made sure not to let the citrus juice curdle the little egg bits, and you can see it had a perfect creamy texture.

The photos are a little misleading on the color, I feel like the color was roughly the same for both.

The filling is incredibly creamy and delicate, and quite tart.  Combined with the buttery-sweet crust, it’s perfection.

I think we can all agree that it’s dangerous for me to know how easy homemade key lime pie is to make…brb throwing one in the oven! 

Other citrus custard-y goodness you’ll love:

• Lemon-Cherry Almond Tart with Rosemary Shortbread Crust
• Smitten Kitchen’s Whole Lemon Tart
• Orange Ricotta-Mascarpone Tart with Rosemary Crust
• Healthy Lemon Cornstarch Pudding

Adapted slightly from Food 52 but it’s actually the iconic Cooks Illustrated recipe which Pancake Princess says is best

The Best Homemade Key Lime Pie Ever

I say this above as well, but will repeat here…I made this pie twice, once with fresh regular (Persian) lime juice and once with bottled key lime juice.  Both work great, and the pies turn out and taste incredibly similar. 

I realize it’s not *technically* key lime pie if it’s made with regular limes but it tastes almost identical and most of us can’t get fresh key limes.  SO DON’T COME AT ME INTERNET! 

FILLING

• 1 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup of fresh lime juice OR Nellie & Joe’s Key West Lime Juice
• Zest of 1 lime (see notes); leave out if using bottled key lime juice
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1 pinch of salt

CRUST

• About 9 graham crackers
• 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 5 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• Optional:  homemade whipped cream to serve

1. Preheat your oven to 350º F.
2. In a medium bowl, thoroughly whisk all of the filling ingredients together, and set aside to thicken while you prepare the crust.
3. Blitz the graham crackers in a food processor to fine crumbs. Add the sugar, salt, and cinnamon, and pulse to combine. Finally, add in the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles wet sand.
4. Press the mixture into a 9-inch pie dish (metal works best, but Pyrex is fine) evenly on the bottom and up the sides.  You want the shallow kind, not the deep-dish. The bottom of a glass or measuring cup can help with pressing it smoothly.
5. Bake the crust until it is light golden brown and fragrant, 11 to 13 minutes.  Remove from the oven and turn the oven down to 325 F.
6. Allow the crust to cool for a few minutes, then give you filling a stir and pour it into the crust.
7. Bake the pie until just set, but slightly wiggly in the center.  This should take 15 to 17 minutes (for me always around 17), and if using the bottled key lime juice it may need more like 20-21 minutes.
8. Cool the pie to room temperature, then set it in the fridge to chill completely, at least 3 hours or overnight.
9. Just before serving, you can whip the cream to soft peaks, and spread it on top of the pie.  Personally for me this is gilding the lily.

Notes:

• The original recipe calls for 4 teaspoons of lime zest, but I mostly left it out to get a silkier custard (don’t think it really added too much to flavor)
• Can use store-bought graham cracker pie crust but definitely not as flavorful or texture

Pin for later!

The (IMO) Best Key Lime Pie Recipe

Yield: 1 9-inch pie

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 18 minutes

Additional Time: 3 hours

Total Time: 3 hours 38 minutes

This easy key lime pie provides a silky, tart lime custard in a sweet cinnamon-studded graham cracker crust. It's a perfect traditional take, the best homemade key lime pie recipe around!

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Ingredients

• FILLING
• 1 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup of fresh lime juice OR Nellie & Joe's Key West Lime Juice
• Zest of 1 lime (see notes); leave out if using bottled key lime juice
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1 pinch of salt
• CRUST
• About 9 graham crackers
• 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 5 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• Optional:  homemade whipped cream to serve

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350º F.
2. In a medium bowl, thoroughly whisk all of the filling ingredients together, and set aside to thicken while you prepare the crust.
3. Blitz the graham crackers in a food processor to fine crumbs. Add the sugar, salt, and cinnamon, and pulse to combine. Finally, add in the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles wet sand.
4. Press the mixture into a 9-inch pie dish (metal works best, but Pyrex is fine) evenly on the bottom and up the sides.  You want the shallow kind, not the deep-dish. The bottom of a glass or measuring cup can help with pressing it smoothly.
5. Bake the crust until it is light golden brown and fragrant, 11 to 13 minutes.  Remove from the oven and turn the oven down to 325 F.
6. Allow the crust to cool for a few minutes, then give you filling a stir and pour it into the crust.
7. Bake the pie until just set, but slightly wiggly in the center.  This should take 15 to 17 minutes (for me always around 17), and if using the bottled key lime juice it may need more like 20-21 minutes.
8. Cool the pie to room temperature, then set it in the fridge to chill completely, at least 3 hours or overnight.
9. Just before serving, you can whip the cream to soft peaks, and spread it on top of the pie.  Personally for me this is gilding the lily.

Notes

1. The original recipe calls for 4 teaspoons of lime zest, but I mostly left it out to get a silkier custard (don't think it really added too much to flavor)
2. You could use store-bought graham cracker pie crust but it's definitely not as good on flavor or texture

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  Nellie & Joes Juice Key West Lime