Authentic Key Lime Pie Recipe

5 from 4 votes

Authentic Key Lime Pie Recipe

This authentic Key Lime Pie recipe is easy to make and absolutely the best. It starts with a buttery, homemade graham cracker crust filled with a silky, sweet-tart lime filling. It’s the perfect make-ahead pie for a crowd and tastes just like the traditional pie you'll find in Florida restaurants.

Prep Time30

Total Time5

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: authentic key lime pie, key lime pie recipe

Servings: - 10 people

Calories: 227kcal

Author: Tara Teaspoon

Ingredients

For the Crust:

9 graham cracker sheets to yield 1 ¾ cups graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
5 tablespoons butter melted

For the Filling and Topping:

3 large egg yolks
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
⅔ cup fresh Key lime juice or fresh Persian lime juice*
½ cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
Key limes or Persian limes for garnish, optional

Instructions

Make the Crust:

Heat oven to 350ºF. In a food processor, blend the graham crackers until they are fine crumbs (you should have 1 ¾ cups crumbs). Add the sugar and butter and pulse until the mixture resembles wet sand.
Press the crust mixture evenly into a 9-inch pie pan, pressing firmly on the bottom and sides to create a full crust. Bake until dry and light golden brown, about 6 minutes. Leave oven on.

Make the Filling:

Mix egg yolks in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment on high speed until very thick, about 5 minutes. Reduce speed to medium and add the condensed milk in a slow, steady stream, mixing constantly. Raise speed to high and mix until thick, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add the lime juice; mix until just combined.
Pour filling into baked crust and bake again until filling is set, 10 minutes. Let the pie cool completely, then refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight. (You can stick toothpicks in the filling and wrap the pie in plastic wrap; the toothpicks will prevent the plastic wrap from sticking to the pie surface)

Finish the Pie:

To make the topping, whip the cream and confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer or with a hand mixer until firm peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes.
Dress the pie by placing the topping in a piping bag fitted with a #824 large open star tip and pipe the topping around the outside edge of the pie. Garnish with sliced limes. Or, for a more simple presentation, serve each slice of pie with a dollop of cream topping and a slice of lime.
Leftover pie can be wrapped and kept in the fridge up to 3 days.

Notes

*For authentic flavor, it's best to use Key limes for this pie. Key limes are much smaller than typical Persian limes found at the grocery store. It will take anywhere from 18 to 30 Key limes to make ⅔ cup juice, depending on how juicy the limes are. They are typically sold in a bag so 1 bag will be enough. I like to save 1 or 2 Key limes to slice as garnish and then juice the rest until I get enough juice. Persian limes can be substituted if necessary, and you'll need 5 to 6 limes to get ⅔ cup juice.

*Use a large Ateco #824 open star tip to pipe whipped cream in classic designs on top.

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