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Made with 9 simple ingredients, these Key Lime Pie Bars are so easy to make and taste just like key lime pie! Tart and sweet at the same time, these are the perfect dessert for any occasion from potlucks to parties to bake sales!
You’ll love how simple it is to make these key lime pie bars! The filling is smooth, creamy, and the perfect combination between sweetness and tartness from the limes. Paired with the buttery graham cracker crust, you’ll have everyone asking you for the recipe!
Are you looking for more dessert bars that can feed a crowd? Some of my favorites include my Best Lemon Bars Recipe and my Raspberry Cheesecake Bars. Both can be made in advance so you don’t have to feel rushed.
Why You’ll Love These Key Lime Pie Bars
- They are so creamy! Thanks to my secret ingredient, sweetened condensed milk, the filling is luscious and creamy. It also helps cut the tartness from the limes so you can eat multiple in one sitting!
- They’re easy to make. You just bake the crust, mix your filling, and then bake them. There aren’t any difficult steps, making this the perfect recipe for beginners!
- Only a handful of ingredients. This key lime pie bars recipe requires less than 10 ingredients to make! Such a refreshing dessert without a ton of shopping as you probably have a majority of these ingredients in your pantry.
What You’ll Need
For the Crust:
- Graham crackers — to crush them finely, you can run them through a food processor.
- Salt
- Granulated sugar
- Unsalted butter — make sure to get unsalted butter as we are already adding salt to the filling.
For the Filling:
- Cream cheese — be sure to bring your cream cheese to room temperature.
- Egg yolks
- Sweetened condensed milk
- Lime juice
- Lime zest
How to Make Key Lime Pie Bars
- Prepare the equipment: Preheat the oven to 350F. Line an 8×8 pan with foil or parchment paper. Leave an overhang on the sides for easy removal once cooled.
- Make the graham cracker crust: In a small bowl combine the graham cracker crumbs, salt, sugar, and melted butter. Mix until fully combined. Firmly press the crumbs in the bottom of the pan. Bake the crust for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool completely.
- Make the filling: In a medium bowl with a hand mixer beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the egg yolks one at a time. Add the sweetened condensed milk, lime juice, and lime zest. Beat until fully combined and smooth.
- Bake the key lime pie bars: Pour the filling into the cooled crust and bake for 20-25 minutes or until no longer jiggly.
- Chill before serving: Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature, then transfer to the fridge until fully cooled. Slice into 16 equal-sized bars.
Tips and Notes
- Crushed graham crackers can be purchased if you don’t want to crush your own. If you don’t have a food processor, you can crush up the graham crackers in a ziploc bag with a rolling pin.
- When making the graham cracker crust, the mixture should be the texture of wet sand when you press it into the pan.
- Be sure to use the blocks of full fat cream cheese and not low fat cream cheese or spreadable cream cheese that come in tubs. They are not interchangeable and your filling will not come out rich and creamy without full fat cream cheese.
- The ingredients need to be room temperature as it’ll help avoid your filling being lumpy, especially the cream cheese.
- Be sure to zest the limes before you juice them, it’s much easier doing it in that order.
Common Questions
Florida key limes are in season throughout the summer and into early fall whereas Mexican key limes are grown and available year round!
You can use regular limes if key limes aren’t in season. Key limes tend to be more aromatic as well as being more tart with floral juices compared to regular limes but in a pinch, you can swap them.
I highly recommend you don’t use bottled lime juice as fresh lime juice has a brighter flavor to it. Plus, you need lime zest which cannot be purchased on its own!
Evaporated milk is unsweetened whereas condensed milk has sugar added to it. You cannot swap the two as you’ll have to increase the sugar added to the recipe to make up for the lack of it in the evaporated milk. It is easier to just use sweetened condensed milk.
If you have leftover bars, you can keep them in the fridge for up to 5 days. Be sure to keep these citrus bars in an airtight container so it doesn’t absorb any scents from the fridge.
I hate when parts of the bars get stuck to the knife when I cut it and it ends up on the other bars or causes the bars to have gaps. To get beautiful clean cuts, I run my knife under hot water (and then wipe it down) in between each cut. The heat from the hot water helps keep the slices clean, making it look cafe-quality!
More Desserts You May Enjoy
I hope you enjoy all the recipes I share with you, including this delicious Key Lime Pie Bars recipe. I hope you try it, enjoy it, rate it and share it with your friends and family!
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Key Lime Pie Bars
Ingredients
For the Crust:
- 9 sheets graham crackers, finely crushed
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
For the Filling:
- 2 ounces cream cheese, full fat
- 3 whole egg yolks
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
- ½ cup fresh lime juice
- 1 tsp. lime zest
Instructions
For the Crust:
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Line an 8×8 pan with foil or parchment paper. Leave an overhang on the sides for easy removal once cooled.
- In a small bowl combine the graham cracker crumbs, salt, sugar, and melted butter. Mix until fully combined. The mixture should be the texture of wet sand.
- Firmly press the crumbs in the bottom of the pan.
- Bake the crust for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool completely.
For the Filling:
- In a medium bowl with a hand mixer beat the cream cheese until smooth.
- Add the egg yolks one at a time, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl between each addition.
- Add the sweetened condensed milk, lime juice, and lime zest. Beat until fully combined and smooth.
- Pour the filling into the cooled crust.
- Place in oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until no longer jiggly.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature, then transfer to the fridge until fully cooled.
- Slice into 16 equal-sized bars.
Notes
- Crushed graham crackers can be purchased if you don’t want to crush your own. If you don’t have a food processor, you can crush up the graham crackers in a ziploc bag with a rolling pin.
- Be sure to use the blocks of full fat cream cheese and not low fat cream cheese or spreadable cream cheese that come in tubs. They are not interchangeable and your filling will not come out rich and creamy without full fat cream cheese.
- The ingredients need to be room temperature as it’ll help avoid your filling being lumpy, especially the cream cheese.
- Be sure to zest the limes before you juice them, it’s much easier doing it in that order.
Amazing!!!
Thanks for the review Melissa. Glad you enjoyed the recipe.