The Best Key Lime Pie recipe EVER! Tart and sweet and incredibly easy, this Key Lime Pie is sure to be a family favorite! A delicious graham cracker crust filled to the brim with an incredibly creamy filling that is just so quick to make! You won’t be able to stop at just one slice!
Love key lime desserts? Check out my Key Lime Pie Bars and Key Lime Pie Snowball Cookies!
Key Lime Pie
I’m admittedly not much of a pie person. I only share pie recipes that I absolutely love. Recipes like this Key Lime Pie. That incredible combination of tart and sweet is absolutely irresistible and will make this pie a family favorite, guaranteed.
So, confession time. I didn’t squeeze a bunch of key limes for this pie. This is an easy key lime pie recipe, after all 🙂 I used key lime juice. You can find it the produce area in most grocery stores. It makes this pie even easier to make!
Now, if you have access to key limes and want to squeeze them, go right ahead! Absolutely perfect in this pie.
After all of that, Happy Pi Day! With an electrical engineering degree you can bet I’ve had my fill of pi. But never, NEVER will I have my fill of this pie.
So this “key” lime pie recipe is crazy easy. And I mean cray-zee. So easy, you may find yourself making one a week, like I plan to, for the rest of your life.
Key Lime Pie – Always Start with a Graham Cracker Crust
The pie starts with a graham cracker crust. I am terrible at crusts but gosh darnit, a homemade graham cracker crust tastes WAY better than a store bought one and it’s pretty simple to make. Just some graham cracker crumbs, sugar and butter will do the trick.
I’m a big fan of graham cracker crusts because they are super easy to make and go so well in many desserts. I use it in this Pistachio Pie and these No Bake S’mores Cheesecake Bars.
(Extra graham crackers? You can find all my recipes that use graham cracker crusts here.)
What Is In Key Lime Pie Filling
Now let’s get to the filling. It’s a whole lotta lime juice, lime zest, sour cream and a couple cans of sweetened condensed milk (a.k.a. nectar of the gods). You just whisk it all together, pour it into your pie shell, bake for 10 minutes and voila – you’ve got a key lime pie that will blow your family and friends away.
- Key Lime Juice
- Lime Zest
- Sour Cream
- Sweetened Condensed Milk
What You Need To Make this Key Lime Pie
- Pie Plate – I made this pie in my 9.5 inch Pyrex pie plate. You can use a smaller pie plate no problem. You’ll either have a little extra crust or just make it extra thick. The filling does not expand when baking so go ahead and pour as much of it into your crust as you can.
- Key Lime Juice or Key Limes – I used key lime juice. I actually order mine on Amazon. I’m a big fan of reading reviews to make sure I get the very best product. This is the one I’m currently crushing on. Truth time. This pie can be made with regular limes if you can’t find key lime or key lime juice. Just sayin’.
- You’re going to need a zester for this pie. The key lime zest adds SO much flavor to this key lime pie and looks so pretty on top!
The truth is, I’m not much of a decorator when it comes to pies and cakes. I’m all about simple, easy, get-it-in-my-mouth-as-quick-as-possible. You too? Good. Then you’ll like my no-nonsense whipped cream topping.
If you are in a hurry, and I mean, a BIG HURRY, I would perhaps allow you to use a store bought pie crust and a can of whipped cream. This pie would still be heavenly. No doubt. (Edited to add: I made the crust in the video but as we were running out of time, I used a can of whipped cream in the video below. Works in a pinch!)
More amazing pie recipes to try!
- No Bake Blueberry Lemon Cream Pie
- No Bake Peanut Butter Cheesecake Pie
- 31 Amazing Pies You Need To Try!
- Deep Dish Dutch Apple Pie
- No Bake Pina Colada Cream Pie
How To Make the Best Key Lime Pie
Best Key Lime Pie
Ingredients
Graham cracker crust
- 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 6 tbsp butter melted
Key Lime Filling
- 28 oz sweetened condensed milk
- 1/2 cup light sour cream
- 3/4 cup key lime juice
- zest from 2 regular limes or 4 key limes
Whipped Cream Topping
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Graham cracker crust
- Preheat oven to 375F.
- Mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter in a small bowl. Press the crumb mixture into an 8" - 9.5" pie pan. Bake for 7 minutes. Cool for at least 30 minutes.
Key Lime Filling
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Whisk together sweetened condensed milk, sour cream, lime juice, and lime zest in a medium bowl. Pour into prepared graham cracker crust and bake for 10 minutes.
- Let pie cool slightly before chilling. Chill for at least 3 hours.
Whipped Cream Topping
- Beat heavy cream and sugar together in a mixer until stiff peaks form. Beat in vanilla. Spread or pipe the whipped cream on top of the cooled pie. Top with additional lime zest if desired.
Video
Nutrition
Originally published March 14, 2015.
And now that we’re all thinking pie… Check out these pies from my friends:
Krispy Kreme Pie | Cinnamon Pie | Peach Hand Pies
And more pies, just for fun!
For all cake recipes, go HERE.
For all dessert recipes, go HERE.
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Bonnie @ The Pin Junkie says
Yum! I love key lime pie and this one looks delicious! Thanks for sharing it at The Pin Junkie. It’s one of the features at this week’s party!
Kim @ The Baking ChocolaTess says
Holy Cow! Drooling here in Indiana for some a piece or two of this! Looks absolutely delish! Pinning!
Melissa says
This looks too easy not to try! I will have to make this for sure!
Brenda says
I make a very similar pie (I happen to have a key lime tree in my backyard) only it has an eight ouce block of cream cheese that when chilled makes the pie firm. Also, I use ginger snaps for the crust and sometimes add coconut or pretzels. Delish!
Jessica @ A Kitchen Addiction says
This pie looks incredible! Love that it’s completely from scratch!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Thanks so much Jessica!
Sarah @ SnixyKitchen says
Happy belated Pi day! This pie looks delicious! (I don’t even know what key limes look like, so probably you would have told me to get key limes and I would have just ignored that and come back with a bunch of regular limes;)
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Why thank you! Happy Pi Day to you too Sarah 🙂 Girl, I am like a million times glad that I went with regular limes so yeah, all good there 🙂
Sandra @ A Dash of Sanity says
Oh how delicious!! I love a key lime pie, especially as it gets warmer. It says spring and summer to me and I am definitely ready for spring and summer! 🙂 pinning, stumbling and yumming
heather @french press says
key lime is one of my all time favorites, and without a regular pastry crust, one of the few I can actually make – this looks incredible Trish!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Thank you so much Heather!
Carolaj says
I adjusted this recipet to have a gluten-free crust for my daughter. It was great. She lived in Key West for 10 years so she was happy to get the recipe.
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
That’s amazing! I’m so glad you made it work for you 🙂
Mir says
Key lime pies are the best, and this one has the greatest filling! I love melting white chocolate into my graham cracker crusts when I do key lime to play against the tang. This one looks pretty darn perfect!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Key lime and white chocolate go together SO well Mir! Love that idea!
bernie says
No no no no no! You cannot call this KEY lime pie, without TRUE, genuine, fresh squeezed Key Lime Juice, from fresh, genuine, KEY LIMES. What you have here is a wonderful Lime Pie, but it is NOT the same. Deep breaths……by the way, I LOVE all your recipes and your blog. In fact I am going out to get some key limes now, and try this recipe. (By the way, I had a Key Lime Pie recipe published by the Miami Herald waaaay back in the ’80’s!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
LOL! Oh Bernie! I know, I know 🙂 Definitely give it a try and be sure to call it “Best LIME Pie” – hehe! And how awesome that you’re published!!
Annis says
I agree. Don’t call it Key Lime if it’s not made with Key Lime juice. The bottled juice is just as good as fresh squeezed. Has a good tangy taste. And no sour cream please.
My opinion. Lol.
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
To each his own Annis but let me just tell you, you can’t taste the sour cream, and yes, it’s necessary in this pie – give it a try!
Medha @ Whisk & Shout says
Love how fresh and delicious this is! Key lime pie is the best 🙂
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Thank you so much Medha!
Amy @Very Culinary says
“…not much of a pie person.” Dude. My ears are bleeding. Lol. What I find funny about that is, I’ve made a few of your pies and they’re awesome. So you crazy, girl. I will for sure, make this one, too. I want all the pie!!!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
LOL! You’re killing me Amy! I guess I’m particular about pies. They have to be REALLY good 🙂 Thank you girl!
marcie says
Key limes can be a pain because there’s so darn many of them, and I’ve even used lemon before and called it “key lemon pie” haha. The funny part was, it didn’t taste much different! It’s a signature pie for me, and love how much lime juice you used and the sour cream sounds like a great addition. Beautiful pie, Trish!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
It was truly delish Marcie! And yes, as much as I love key limes, they are most definitely a pain 😉 Thanks girl!
Donna Royer says
I always use Nellie and Joe’s key lime juice. I think it’s pretty great! Not to be confused with Rosie’s (not so good).
Thanks for the recipe. I am trying it today!
JulieB.T. says
Nellie and Joe’s is the BEST key lime juice to use!!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Thanks for the recommendation!
Dorothy @ Crazy for Crust says
Oh my gosh the thought of squeezing all those key limes! No thank you. Love using lime juice or key lime juice instead. Thanks for being nerdy with me today and posting pie!! 🙂 xo
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
I’ll be nerdy with you any day Dorothy! Thank you!