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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Dusti richards says
Are you kidding me!! Easiest pie I have ever made…and one of the best! I even juiced real key limes, still easy.
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
That’s my favorite thing about this pie, besides the flavor of course, SO darn easy! Glad you enjoyed it!
Kellie says
Thank you for sharing this recipe! My father in law requested Key Lime Pie for dessert & since I had never made one from scratch before I told him I’d give it a go! My FIL is a pie connoisseur of sorts, lol so I crossed my fingers that he’d like it…well he didn’t just like it, he loved it! The rest of my family are not big pie people but this got the overwhelming request to make it again & soon from everyone at the table! This will surely become a recipe I use for many family functions to come!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
I love this so much Kellie! So happy you stopped by!
Marianne Lanoue says
I’ve been making key lime pie for a number of years but was curious to try this recipe. The only difference between this one and my usual recipe is the use of sour cream instead of egg yolks. All I can say is WOW. Using sour cream gave this pie an incredible texture….creamy, firm and velvety. It also really balanced the sweet and tart flavours. I’ll never go back to egg yolks again. I followed the recipe exactly. I did find the whipped cream topping too sweet for my taste…but that’s a personal thing. I simply added more whipping cream but would cut back the confectioners sugar next time around. Note: I have used the key lime juice mentioned in the recipe for years. It’s excellent, but I have also used fresh key limes and squeezed them using a garlic press.
mary says
I tried this recipe over the weekend. It is absolutely amazing! It was as good as my favorite made by Skates on the Bay in Emeryville, CA. Their Key lime pie is very very good and is quite popular, so I was excited to see just how good this recipe was. I followed the recipe exactly and it was a huge hit.
Definitely use the best quality key lime bottled juice she recommends (found on Amazon).
One more tip, though I didn’t have any when I made this over the holiday. Skates on the Bay serves this with lemon sorbet on the side to make it even more delicious. Since its very rich I think the sorbet cuts that richness a bit and makes it even more special. If you really want to impress big time, Skates also serves this over dry ice.
Thank you so much!!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Thank you so much Mary!
BaileyFamily704 says
Thank you so much for this super simple and extra yummy recipe!
My son 9yo son made it all by himself and entered it into his schools pie baking competition. He took 2nd place. Definitely not bad considering the 1st place pie obviously was made by a parent with many more years of pie baking experience.
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
That’s so awesome! Thanks for stopping by!
Dee says
YUMMMM! Excellent! Thanks so much!
Courtinay K homann says
I have made many key lime pie. I have never seen one like this! I absolutely loved it! Perfect texture and taste but so easy that I can do it in less than 15 minutes! I even had extra filling to put on my ice cream! I have referres all of.my friends to this recipe. Kudos very impressed.
Christopher Koch says
Okay, the discussion about ‘best” key lime pie finally created THE CHALLENGE. I used this recipe and the one from foodiecrush.com. (You can see the differences in the ingredients). I used key limes and juiced them all (48# for this recipe)…tedious.
I used the graham cracker crust from sallysbakingaddiction.com. (I would now use a little less sugar and make the crust a bit thinner).
8 people blind taste tested (in three different settings). All agreed, both are delicious, but found this recipe to be creamier and less tart. So…truth in advertising “Best Key Lime Pie” recipe. It will now be used in Costa Rica as my sister-in-law makes and sells pies to high end bakeries/restaurants. Thank you! Pura Vida
TC says
First time making key lime pie, I spent way too much time squeezing teensy bits of juice from tiny key limes, will definitely buy the bottle. Loved the recipe, easy to follow, pie was a hit for even my picky kiddos. Will make again, thanks!
Brandi W says
I made this and was VERY hesitant because I’m not great at making pies but THIS RECIPE IS AMAZING!! I made it for my husband’s birthday because it’s his favorite pie and he freaked out.
Maggi says
Very easy to make and very good. I used full fat sour cream instead of the low fat, but other than that I kept the recipe the same. Great recipe!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Excellent! Thanks so much!
Tammie says
Thanks for letting us know you can use full fat sour cream. That’s all that I have at the moment and wanted to make this but needed to make sure if I did use full fat it wouldn’t mess up the filling. I’ve made 1 key lime pie once but this time I’m going to be using reg limes. Glad to know that’s an option too. As well as using bottled juice. Most recipes say not to. I’ll report back once it’s made but most importantly… eaten, 😋
Maria says
That’s right I have no shame. I am a pie filling whore!!! At 52 I have never had a bite of Key Lime Pie. Making it for my boyfriend as it is one of his favorites… All I can say is if it tastes when baked as good as it does unbaked, waiting for the pie shell to cool, I have no doubt he will love it!!! By the way, I used Annas Ginger Swedish Thins instead of gram crackers my palette tells me it will be amazing. Thank You for the recipe
Paige says
Easy to make and so tasty! Could you sub regular sour cream for light? Got ready to make this again and realized I only have full fat sour cream on hand.
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
You betcha! Enjoy!
Laura says
Awesome pie! It’s been my go to recipe for years now! Thank you so much!
Maria says
Hi Trish, i made the Key Lime pie and not only was it easy to make, but it was super delicious!!! Making it again tomorrow for friends get together. thank-you!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
I’m so glad you gave it a try Maria! I just love how easy this recipe is and the results are always fantastic. Thank you!