Key Lime Pie Bars
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These silky, creamy, and easy Key Lime Pie Bars are bursting with tangy flavor. They feature a super simple graham cracker crust and a homemade meringue topping for that perfect sweet-tart balance. Just like the classic pie, but made into super easy to make (and easy to eat!) bars!
Just like key lime pie, these bars are bright, refreshing, and bursting with flavor! This recipe is our go-to for BBQ’s, summer holidays, or whenever we need a crowd pleasing dessert.
The Perfect Summertime Treat
Who doesn’t love the flavor of key limes? From delicious pound cake, easy cookies, or even a twist on the classic pie with flavors of ginger and coconut, there is SO much to love about the bright summer flavor!
To really celebrate, we decided to go back to basics and share our favorite summertime treat.
You Only Need 8 Ingredients
This includes the crust, the filling, AND the meringue topping! We are counting the lime zest and juice as one ingredient, as well as the egg yolks and egg white!
Start With The Crust
Below you’ll find our basic graham cracker crust recipe. It perfectly fits into a 8-inch pan (which is what you’ll need for these bars!). This particular graham cracker crust recipe is perfectly crunchy, buttery, and not too sweet! We use it for so many of our favorite recipes like cherry cheesecake bars, s’mores pie, and even our layered pumpkin pie bars!
Here are our top tips for making the perfect graham cracker crust:
- The first step to a perfect crust is using the correct ratio of 3 ingredients: graham cracker crumbs, granulated sugar, and melted butter.
- A food processor is a must-have! Fine crumbs are key. If there are any chunks of graham cracker, the crust won’t pack properly.
- Mix the graham crackers and sugar before adding the butter.
- Use a tart tamper to get that perfectly packed crust!
Don’t love graham crackers? You can try making a gingersnap crust or even a pretzel crust.
Key Lime Pie Filling
Only 4 ingredients make up this perfectly tart and sweet filling!
✳ A Few FAQ’s
Here’s everything else you need:
- Egg Yolks: This is essential for that perfectly silky custard. Plus, this is what thickens the filling!
- Sweetened Condensed Milk: There’s no sugar added to this filling thanks to the addition of condensed milk. It’s the secret to creamy, sweet, and delicious key lime pie bars!
- Lime Zest: Adds just that little extra flavor.
All you need to do is mix everything together, pour it over the crust, and bake for about 15 minutes! Once it’s cool, refrigerate for at least 4 hours until cool and set.
3 Ingredient Meringue Topping
To add that extra layer of decadence, we finished these delicious bars with homemade meringue. But not just any meringue! Our recipe is a 3 ingredient pre-cooked meringue that doesn’t need to be toasted or baked to make it safe for eating. Here’s how to make it:
- Whip egg whites: Whip the egg whites until peaks are at a medium-stiff peaks.
- Make the sugar syrup: Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan. Heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Once the sugar is dissolved, stop stirring and cook to 246°F – 250°F.
- Stream into egg whites: With the mixer running, slowly stream in the sugar syrup and whip until the egg whites are glossy and cooled.
What’s The Best Way To Get Clean Slices?
When it comes to custard-filled desserts like our creme brulee tart or coconut cake, it’s always best to use a sharp knife and wipe it after each cut! This ensures clean, uniform slices.
✳ Key Lime Pie Bar Troubleshooting
More Summer Desserts:
When you make these Key Lime Pie Bars, leave a comment down below! We love hearing from you and answering any questions you might have! Also, be sure to tag us on social media and hashtag it #BakersTable.
Happy baking!
x, Caylie
Key Lime Pie Bars
Ingredients
Graham Cracker Crust
- 1¾ cup graham cracker crumbs
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 6 Tablespoons salted butter, melted
Filling
- 10 large egg yolks
- 2½ cups sweetened condensed milk
- 1¼ cups key lime juice
- 2 teaspoons lime zest
Meringue
- 3 large egg whites, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup water
Instructions
Graham Cracker Crust
- Heat oven to 350°F (175℃).
- Line an 8 inch square pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs and sugar.
- Add butter and mix well.
- Press evenly into bottom of prepared pan.
- Bake for 5 minutes.
Filling
- In a large bowl, whisk together egg yolks, condensed milk, lime juice, and lime zest.
- Pour over crust.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until set.
- Remove from oven, and allow to cool.
- Refrigerate for a minimum of 4 hours, until completely set.
Meringue
- With an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites to soft peaks.
- Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan.
- Heat and stir until sugar is melted.
- Stop stirring and cook to 246°F – 250°F (119℃ – 121℃) brushing down the sides of the pot with a pastry brush dipped in water as needed to keep from crystallizing.
- Remove from heat.
- With mixer running on medium speed, stream hot sugar syrup into egg whites.
- Increase speed to high.
- Beat until stiff peaks form.
- Reduce speed to medium.
- Beat until cool.
- Pipe or spread on top of cooled pie bars.
- Brown with a kitchen torch, if desired.
Notes + Tips!
- If you don’t have key limes, you can use regular limes!
- 1 3/4 cups of graham crackers is about 1 1/2 packs of graham crackers crushed.
- For something easier, you can use Chantilly cream as the topping.
- When lining the pan with parchment paper, make sure that you leave enough on the sides to have “handles”! This will make it super easy to lift out the bars.
- 2 1/2 cups of sweetened condensed milk is equal to 2 cans.
- If crushing your own graham crackers, make sure there are no large chunks!
- Once you mix up the crust, be sure to work quickly! It can dry out and become difficult to work with/not bake right if left out too long.
- A tart tamper or small measuring cup will greatly help when pressing down the crust!
- Make sure the filling is well mixed before adding it to the crust.
- The egg whites for the meringue need to be whipped to soft peaks. Turn off the mixer and make your syrup. Once the syrup is at temperature, turn the mixer on medium and slowly stream the syrup in.
- Do NOT stir the syrup once the sugar is dissolved.
- Also, keep a bowl of water and pastry brush nearby. You will need to brush the sides of the pan down to keep the sugar from crystalizing.
- Beat the meringue until it’s completely cool. This takes about 5-10 minutes. You can feel the temperature of your mixing bowl to gage if the meringue is cool.
- To get super clean cuts, be sure to clean the knife after each cut!
- We chose the leave the meringue un-toasted, but if desired, you can lightly toast it with a kitchen torch.
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So we just made this an unfortunately the measurements for sweetened condensed milk are off. I can of sweetened condensed milk is a net WEIGHT of 14oz NOT fluid oz. We measured 3.5 cups of sweetened condensed milk and thats roughly 3.5 cans of sweetened condensed milk. The bars unfortunately didn’t set and don’t really taste like much due to there being too much sweetened condensed milk as the recipe is written.
Hi Danny! If you had read all the way through the recipe card, it specifically says 2 cans of sweetened condensed milk. I hope you give this recipe another try with the proper measurements.
These are just amazing. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
Hi Gail! Thank you so much for making our recipe! So happy to hear that you liked it 😊 We hope that you find more recipes that you love on our blog! x, Caylie
I made this last night and they were amazing. Thank you very much !
Hi Gail! Thank you for making our recipe! We’re SO glad to hear you loved them 🥰 x, Caylie