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Key Lime Pie Bars are a favorite dessert in a bar!! They have a graham cracker crust and a delicious cream cheese and lime filling.
If you love Key Lime Pie, you will love this bar version. And while you’re at it, be sure to try Key Lime Cake too!
Summertime dessert
Key lime pie bars are a favorite bright and refreshing summer dessert! They’re everything you love about traditional Key Lime Pie, with a delicious twist!
You get a little of the creamy texture and the tanginess of cheesecake with the bright flavor of lime! Oh my goodness, they are absolutely divine. If I could, I would eat these ALL summer long!
These bars are super easy to make and only require 10 ingredients. Aside from the chilling, they take about 35 minutes to make from start to finish. Not too bad, right?!
This delicious key lime bars recipe needs to go on your must-make dessert list! It was a huge hit with my family, I know it’ll get rave reviews from yours too!
How to make Key Lime Pie Bars
PREP. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9×9-inch pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper, and set aside.
CRUST. In a food processor or in a large Ziploc bag with a rolling pin, crush the graham crackers until fine crumbs form.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine the crumbs, sugar, salt, and butter, and mix to combine. Press the crumbs evenly into the bottom of the lined pan. Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.
FILLING. Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Add the condensed milk and mix until combined.
Add the egg yolks one at a time, mixing well after each addition followed by the lime zest, juice, and vanilla extract. Mix until combined.
BAKE. Pour the filling over the hot, baked crust. Return to the oven and bake for 15-18 minutes or until set. The top should not be brown.
CHILL + ENJOY! Remove from the oven and chill in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours before serving. I prefer dense, cold bars, so I generally give them the full 4 hours, however, the pictures taken above were shot after 2 hours. Enjoy!
Variations
These key lime cheesecake bars are delicious as is. Enhance the flavor and beautify them with an assortment of toppings!
- garnish with a slice of lime
- sprinkle with lime zest
- add a dollop of Whipped Cream
- top with toasted coconut
Recipe Tips
Graham cracker crumbs. You’ll need 15 full sheets of graham crackers or about 1½ to 1¾ cups of crumbs. Classic graham crackers can be substituted for gluten-free.
Crust variations. My favorite crust for these bars is the Graham Cracker Crust. However, for more crust options try vanilla wafers or Shortbread Cookies.
Key Limes. A key lime has a unique flavor so I recommend trying to find key lime juice or using fresh key limes. Each key lime can produce about 2 tablespoons of juice so you will need about 4 key limes.
Make your own similar juice by combining 2 tablespoons of lime juice with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.
Zest. Use the limes to make fresh lime zest. If you don’t have a citrus zester you can use the small side of a cheese grater.
Double it. This dessert can be successfully doubled and baked in a 9×13-inch pan.
How to Store
STORE. Keep your key lime squares in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
FREEZE. Flash freeze cream cheese key lime bars by placing them on a baking sheet and putting them in the freezer. After a few hours, wrap each bar with plastic wrap and place them in an airtight container or Ziploc bag.
Freeze for up to 3 months.
Recipe FAQ
Of course! The difference in flavor is subtle, so you can use them interchangeably.
While you could use bottled lime juice, you do need fresh limes to make the lime zest, so you may as well use fresh lime juice instead of the bottled stuff! Freshly squeezed juice tastes better anyways. 😉
For more lime treats, try:
Key Lime Pie Bars Recipe
Ingredients
Crust
Filling
- 6 oz cream cheese room temperature
- 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 tablespoon lime zest
- 1/2 cup key lime juice or regular lime juice
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9×9-inch pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper, and set aside.
- In a food processor or in a large Ziploc bag with a rolling pin, crush the graham crackers until fine crumbs form.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the crumbs, sugar, salt, and butter. Mix to combine. Press the crumbs evenly into the bottom of the lined pan. Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Add the condensed milk and mix until combined.
- Then, add the egg yolks one at a time, mixing well after each addition followed by the lime zest, juice, and vanilla extract. Mix until combined.
- Pour the filling over the hot, baked crust. Return to the oven and bake for 15-18 minutes or until set. The top should not be brown. Remove from the oven and chill in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours before serving. I prefer dense, cold bars, so I generally give them the full 4 hours, however, the pictures taken above were shot after 2 hours.
- Cut and serve, store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Made this for dessert last night. Delicious!! Everyone loved these.
I am glad everyone liked it! Thank you for trying it!
Fabulous! my book club loved them. I used 3 egg yolks instead of 4.
I am happy to hear that!! Thank you for sharing that recipe 🙂
Hi there! I was curious if this requires sugar in the pie filling? Seems unusual to not have any sugar
It does not. It has the right amount of sweet, I promise 🙂
Can anyone tell me if it’s condensed milk OR sweetened condensed milk? With all the comments that it was not too sweet, I’m assuming it’s regular, but I’ve usually used sweetened with a recipe like this.
I have the same question. Is this recipe calling for condensed milk or sweetenEd condensed milk? Thanks!
Sweetened condensed milk 🙂
These came out amazing!! I’ve tried a number of key lime recipes over the years, but they were always too sweet or too tart or had the wrong crust to filling ratio. These were perfect! And so simple to make. I made them for a party and my husband and I ended up eating a few while I was cutting them and then decided to be greedy and save a few in the fridge for us for later. This will definitely be my go to recipe in the future. Thank you!!
Love that you saved some! They are that good! Thank you so much for letting me know!
So easy and so tasty. Have made them 3 times, had to double recipe and they came out great. Especially good on a hot summer day, so refreshing. My family now requests these.
I love hearing that! Thank you for giving them a try! I am glad your family likes them!
This recipe is great!
The only thing I changed was the crust because of necessity I ended up using vanilla cookies and honey teddy grahams. Processed about a cup of each. An 8 x 8 pan. Left out the vanilla in the mix because of the vanilla cookies.
Everything else was the same. I knew it was going to be good when it called for that much lime juice and zest. Also enjoyed that it was half cream cheese half condensed milk. Came out tangy and creamy not overly sweet. It was great w a little lime wedge on top.
Thanks for the recipe!
You are so welcome!! Those changes sound great! Thank you for trying it!
I made these tonight and they came out fabulous! I tried a different one before and it didnt work out very well.. but this one is perfect, that just right flavor, not to sweet not to tart. Will definitely keep in my recipe book, thank you so much for sharing.. hats off to the baker
So, glad you liked it!! Thanks so much for stopping by!
Alright, so I hate those recipe reviewers who don’t follow the recipe (like substituting healthier ingredients) and write bad reviews. But I did do a couple things differently.
First, I don’t actually own a 9×9 pan, so I made this in an 8×8 pan and I didn’t have to adjust the cook time very much to get the same result (the crust cooked for the same amount of time, but I did leave the whole thing in there for 20 minutes after I poured in the filling).
I only had 25 graham cracker squares and I can’t drive (I had already walked two miles just to get the condensed milk), so I figured with the smaller pan it wouldn’t make much difference. But I did have to use 8 tablespoons of butter just to get the crust close to the right consistency, and I would still add a couple more tablespoons next time to get the crust the way I usually like it.
That, however, is my only complaint about the recipe. These Key Lime Pie Bars are delicious and a great snack or an end to any meal.
Thanks so much Phoebe for letting me know. I’m glad you liked them!
Do you know if these bars would freeze well? Thank you!!
I haven’t personally tried, so I don’t want to say yes or no. I’m not sure why they wouldn’t be ok. You can freeze cheesecake & other desserts.