Easy Key Lime Pie

This easy key lime pie recipe has the addition of Greek yogurt for a rich and creamy filling with a sweet-tart flavor in a homemade buttery graham cracker crust. It is the perfect dessert for a hot summer day.

Key lime pie is a classic dessert that is really simple and easy to make. I won’t call it quick because it does require a few hours to chill before serving, but there are only about 15 minutes of hands on time.

I'm going for easy and am not really aiming for the most authentic key lime pie recipe here. So I just use a good quality store bought Persian lime juice. It's a lot easier to find and is still every bit as delicious as a pie made with key lime juice.

If you use store bought juice, but want true key lime juice, be wary of products labeled "Key West" lime juice. This typically isn't actually juice from key limes at all. It's often just regular Persian lime juice, from concentrate no less, and some creative marketing. So be sure to check the ingredients before you buy to be sure you're getting the real thing.

Some key lime pie can be mouth puckering tart but in this key lime pie recipe I've added Greek yogurt. This makes the filling creamier and helps reduce the tartness a little. The tangy flavor of the Greek yogurt blends in really well with the other flavors in this pie so you won't really know it's there. I use the same trick in my Lemon Blueberry Pancakes too!

Homemade Key Lime Pie Ingredients

Graham Cracker Crust

• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• ½ cup light brown sugar
• ½ cup melted butter

Filling

• 4 egg yolks
• 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
• ½ cup Greek yogurt
• ½ cup key lime juice
• 1 tablespoon lime zest

How to make a graham cracker crust

You'll start by crumbling around 12 graham crackers into fine crumbs. There are two easy ways to do this, crush them yourself or in a food processor. To do it yourself, put 6 graham crackers at a time in a plastic sandwich bag and lay them on a cutting board, then use a kitchen mallet to smash them up. Dump them in your bowl then repeat again with the remaining 6 graham crackers. My kids love to do this so it's my preferred method! Another bonus is there isn't any extra clean up. Just toss the bag and your done. To use a food processor just break the graham crackers up into pieces and add them to your food processor then pulse them until they are finely crumbled.

Add the crumbs to a mixing bowl and stir in the brown sugar. Then pour the melted butter over top and stir until the mixture is moistened and there are no more dry crumbs.

Next dump your crust mixture into a pie dish and firmly press into an even crust in the bottom and up the sides. Use the back of a ½ cup sized dry measuring cup to help press the crust firmly and evenly into place. The extra surface area of the measuring cup works much better than trying to use your fingers.

After the crust is formed bake it in a 350 degree F oven for around 10 minutes. Remove and place on a wire rack. Let the crust cool to room temperature, around 30 minutes.

How to make the pie filling

For the key lime pie filling add your egg yolks, key lime juice, lime zest, sweetened condensed milk, and Greek yogurt to a mixing bowl and whisk until well combined.

Let the mixture sit for around 5 minutes at room temperature after mixing. During this time the mixture will thicken due to a reaction between the acidity from the lime juice and the milk proteins in the sweetened condensed milk. The acidity also helps to chemically "cook" the egg which is why you will sometimes see no-bake key lime pies that contain egg.

Cooking your pie

After the rest period, pour the mixture into your prepared crust. Bake at 350 degrees F for around 10 to 15 minutes. The filling should be set but still slightly jiggly. Transfer the pie to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature. Then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving. The pie will keep for 3 to 4 days covered and refrigerated.

Key Lime Pie Tips and FAQs

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