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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Kristin Awosika says
This recipe is amazing! I’ve now made this pie twice within a week. My mom is an amazing baker and my dad is a chef, both said my pie was well above average! Like said in the recipe, I will likely be making this pie a minimum of once a month for the unforeseeable future! It’s super easy; the hardest part being not digging in before it’s cooled and settled.
Sybil says
This is wonderful! I thought making a key lime pie would be intimidating, but it wasn’t. Ok, juicing all those little limes was a bit challenging (cut into quarters, and use a garlic press), but the rest was easy!
I made a couple of changes to mine. I toasted some nuts, and ground them to mix into the crust (Yum). I also used one regular condensed milk, and one fat free. You can’t tell the difference. Too bad I can’t add pictures!
I’ll be making this again because I’ve had requests for samples.
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Thank you so much Sybil!
Sybil says
Omg. I tried it with lemon, and used ginger snaps and Graham’s for crust. This recipe is so awesome, now I’m thinking pineapple?, mango? This will work for nearly anything. Watch out when we can have church socials again!!! Thank you so much for this recipe!!
Jimmy Hemphill says
This is a wonderful pie. I’m also an engineer, a chemical engineer with particularly bad lab technique.
I’ve made several. They were super easy to make, even with my poor lab technique, and a resounding hit with everyone .
The last one I made I added 1/4 cup of pureed Maraschino cherries. The pureed cherries turned the color of the pie pink. I used the extra cherries as garnish. I called it a Cherry Limeade Pie. It was a huge hit.
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Cherry Limeade Pie – love it! Definitely will need to give that a try!
Linda says
My family absolutely love this pie. Couldn’t find the key limes in our store and couldn’t find the key lime juice either so I grabbed the regular lime juice. Swung by to grab some wine and lo and behold, found Nellie and Joe ‘s key lime juice in the mixed drink section. Grabbed it and put back the regular juice, so if you can’t find the key lime juice, check out the section of the store that sells mix drink.
Desiree says
This is the first key lime pie I have ever tried but I brought it to an event I catered and it was a HIT! I had people asking if they could have the recipe. I love it and will continue to use this recipe anytime I am making a key lime pie.
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
I’m so glad Desiree! Have a great week!
Ola says
This is the best key lime pie I’ve ever had. It was my first attempt to make it myself and it worked like a charm. The pie looks totally amazing and it tastes even better. I’m never buying a key lime pie again! This one is thousands times better!
Jenn says
I make this every year for my husbands birthday, for at least 5 years now, it’s his absolute favorite! Thanks 🙂
Austin says
Is there any reason why this recipe wouldn’t work with a merengue topping? I love my grandmothers chocolate pie with merengue recipe and I’m wondering if it’ll work as well on this pie. Thanks.
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
A meringue topping would be beautiful! And it should 100% work. This is similar to the filling for a lemon meringue pie so I think you’d be fine.
Amy P says
I only have regular sour cream. Why do you use light? Will it work with regular sour cream? Thanks!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
It will Amy! Enjoy!
zella says
Ive made this pie so many times, Im only 15 and its super simple to make! tastes delicious!
Ronald Mackay says
Our family of 5 foodies loved it.
Lindsay S says
You were right, this was unbelievably easy. It was also unbelievably delicious. I made two, one exactly as the recipe suggests and the other with a hint of cinnamon as another person suggested. I have to say, they were both really lovely. It would just depend on your mood. I feel like the cinnamon gives it a twist that is definitely unconventional, but in a realllly good way. You cannot, and will not go wrong with this recipe!
Kim says
Are you positive it’s 3-1/2 cans of condensed milk
Each can is 300 ml and 28 oz is 828ml
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
My cans are 14 ounces each, so 2 cans.
Kim says
Hands down the best key lime pie recipe out there! For years I have been trying to replicate California Pizza Kitchen’s pie, and this is as close as it gets but possibly even better. I was using recipes with eggs, but your eggless version with sour cream is the key to how light it is. Whenever I make this, people say it is the best pie they have ever had. Thank you for sharing your recipe. I always give you credit.
Rose says
Made this last night, could only get about half as much juice as needed from a TON of real key limes, so substituted regular lime juice to get the 3/4 c needed. I used a pre-made crust to save a little time. This recipe was SO EASY and my boyfriend LOVED it. This is his favorite pie, about 3 times a week he’ll tease me by saying “did you say you made a key lime pie today?” and last night I got to show him! He loves it. I’ll be making it again, but I’ll be looking for bottled key lime juice online, I think. Those suckers are hard to squeeze and for so little juice, lol!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
I totally buy my key lime juice now too Rose. It takes too much time to squeeze them lol! So glad you guys enjoyed the pie! Have a great weekend!