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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Laurie says
This IS the best key lime pie recipe I’ve made. The pie is in demand at the place that we spend the winter.
Avery says
This is my favorite!! I recently won an office contest with this recipe!
Its the perfect amount of a little sweet and tart key lime!
Alicia Ferry says
Sounds like the perfect recipe for me.
Tricia Graham says
This is the GOAT key lime pie I’ve ever made or eaten! The only thing I changed was a brown butter graham cracker crust! The sour cream in the filling is the secret, I think! Perfectly tangy and sweet!
sophia s says
this pie is AMAZING. you wont ever need another recipe. made it for the family and everyone raved about it for days
Cheryl says
I’ve made this pie 3 times. It’s del
Judy says
Just put this Key Lime Pie in the oven and it seems great – but no eg yolks?? Every other recipe for Key Lime Pie has egg yolks?? Just curious!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
The recipe is correct, thanks Judy!
Tabatha Brightwell says
Family loved this pie!
Sarah Z says
This was the hit of Thanksgiving! I challenged (forced) everyone (including all the kids) to cook something this year for the meal – no freeloaders allowed. My 19yo chose to make key lime pie (a family favorite). We settled on this recipe, and I can say this is by far the BEST Key Lime pie we can remember having! We used the Partake brand graham crackers (the whole box) for the crust to make it Gluten Free.
Thanks for your awesome recipe – my child’s first holiday dessert will forever be a hit!
Debra says
It’s great
Georgette says
This is my go to key lime pie recipe. I always get requests for the recipe when I make this, even when I use a premade crust and whipped cream from a can. We are known for this recipe at our kids’ school’s dessert fundraiser auction, where it sparks a bidding war every year.
Carole says
je fais cela en fin de semaine merci
Cheryl says
Fabulous
Kelly hunt says
Very easy recipe and was very delicious people thought I ordered it. lol from a bakery
Steve says
I have made this recipe a couple times to raves! It’s easy and delicious. I changed up the whipped cream a bit. I added either white chocolate or vanilla instant pudding, your choice, when the cream reached soft peaks. I also added lime juice and zest to carry over the lime flavor.
Liz says
I’ll never look elsewhere! So delicious and easy. I love how well it sets up and the balance of sweet and tart. I cut it into 12 pieces for a large family gathering. After having a slice, I was glad I went small. They are super rich and full of flavor.
(I also added a scant tbsp of white chocolate instant pie mix to my whipped cream to help stabilize it and it turned out great)