Key Lime Pie

Everyone’s favorite classic key lime pie is simple and easy to make! You’ll love the crisp graham cracker crust, creamy tart lime filling, and sweetened whipped cream topping.

Key lime pie has been one of my family’s favorite desserts for years. My husband often requests one for his birthday or Father’s Day, and I always look for any excuse to make one. (This recipe was originally published in 2008, so you can feel confident that it’s one I’ve made many times!)

It’s such an easy dessert to make, and key lime pie packs a whole lot of punch with minimal effort. You need less than 10 total ingredients to make this pie, between the crust, filling and topping. And, you can even use regular limes instead of key limes.

One bite and I know you’ll agree— this is the BEST key lime pie! The combination of sweet cookie crust with the rich, silky and zesty lime filling, and fluffy whipped cream is delicious, nostalgic, and irresistible.

Table of Contents

• A little key lime pie history lesson
• Ingredients you'll need
• You can use key limes or regular limes
• How to make key lime pie
• Key lime pie toppings suggestions
• Recipe FAQs
• Get the recipe

A little key lime pie history lesson

Ingredients you’ll need

Here’s everything you’ll need to make your own key lime pie at home:

• Graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, melted butter, salt and cinnamon is what you’ll need to make the crust.
• Two cans of sweetened condensed milk
• Key limes, key lime juice, and/or regular limes, or a combo! Keep reading for more info.
• Egg yolks
• Heavy cream or heavy whipping cream for the topping.

You can use key limes or regular limes

Key limes have a slightly sweeter flavor than the regular limes you find at the grocery store, but they can be a pain to juice because they are so small. You can use either key limes or regular limes (actually called persian limes) for this key lime pie recipe, or a combination of fresh lime juice and bottled lime juice.

Using a combination of fresh juice and bottled juice gives you fresh flavor with a little more ease! Zest and juice 6-8 key limes or 1-2 regular limes and use bottled key lime juice to make up the difference to equal 1 cup. My favorite brand of bottled key lime juice is Nellie’s and Joe’s, which you can find in most grocery stores.

How to make key lime pie

1. Prepare the graham cracker crust. Use a food processor to crush the crackers to crumbs, or you can use a ziplock bag and a rolling pin. Once you have crumbs, combine with brown sugar, melted butter, salt and cinnamon and press into the bottom and sides of a pie pan.
2. Pre-bake the crust. Bake the crust by itself until it smells fragrant and it’s starting to just turn brown, about 6-8 minutes at 350°F. Pre-baking the crust makes sure it stays crisp and doesn’t get soggy.
3. Combine the filling. In a large bowl whisk together the sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks, fresh lime zest and lime juice. It will be pretty thick.
4. Bake the pie. Pour the filling into the crust and bake for 18-22 minutes until the edges of the filling are firm but the center is still slightly wobbly when you gently jiggle it. 
5. Chill in the fridge. Let the pie cool to room temperature, then pop it in the fridge for at least an hour to firm it up before slicing.
6. Add toppings and serve. Whip the heavy cream to medium peaks (and sweeten with sugar and vanilla, if you want) and add to the top of the pie. Garnish with lime slices, or as desired.

Key lime pie toppings suggestions

Key lime pie doesn’t need much to stand out, but here are a few simple topping and garnish ideas.

• Use a piping bag and tip to add whipped cream decorations. (For the topping in these photos I used a medium Ateco open star tip.)
• Simply pile the whipped cream on top of the pie and use a spatula to gently spread it to the edges.
• Sprinkle the top with fresh lime zest for a pop of green.
• Top with lime slices

Recipe FAQs

Get the recipe

Note: This recipe was originally published September 2008 (that’s how long I’ve been making it!)