So many people ask me how to make an authentic key lime pie recipe.
It is simple really, as you will see here. If you can get your hands on real key limes, they work best.
Key limes are smaller and sweeter than regular limes.
No matter what anyone tells you, regular limes will work too, so go ahead and try it if you can’t find key limes. The only thing is you may need to add a touch more sugar.
Key limes are available in most areas these days so hopefully you can find them.
Key Lime Pie Recipe
Ingredients
- 15 graham crackers, crushed (equals 1 cup of crumbs)
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 cup butter
- 4 egg yolks, large (see the variation below and use the whites too)
- 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
- 12 key limes, juiced or 1/2 cup fresh lime juice (3 to 4 regular limes)
- 2 teaspoons lime zest
- 1 cup whipping cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Mix the crackers, butter and sugar together. Press into a 9” pie dish. Bake for 12 minutes until the pie shell is golden.
- Meanwhile beat the egg yolks with an electric mixer until they lighten in color and thicken. Add the condensed milk and 1/2 of the lime juice, and whisk until combined. Add the remaining lime juice and the lime zest. Mix to combine thoroughly.
- Pour the lime mixture into the pie shell, and bake at 350° for 12 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Whisk the whipping cream until it forms soft peaks. Cover the lime pie with the cream and serve.
Nutrition
Variation:
- This recipe calls for a whipped cream topping on the pie, but like lemon pie, key lime pie is also wonderful with meringue. Leave the oven on after the pie is baked. Use the egg whites left over from the recipe, whip them until they form firm peaks (adding a few tablespoons of sugar near the end of the whipping), spread the meringue over the pie and bake for 5 minutes until it begins to look golden brown. Perfect meringue topped key lime pie.
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Originally submitted by Amber
Best Key Lime Pie!
I made this pie recipe for the first time (I have never made any kind of pie before). It was very easy, and everyone loved it so much. They said it was the best pie they’d ever had.
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Submitted by k. cabanas, from Key West FL, where key limes thrive:
Authentic key lime pie should always have a meringue top. never whipped cream. if it has whipped cream, it is not an authentic key lime pie. my family has lived in key west for 6 generations. I know what I am talking about.
Note:
Thanks for your comment k. Meringue would be delicious too. I have always had it with whipped cream, but I am not a native of Key West. Whatever you prefer.
Karen
Question for K. in Key West, FL
by: Linda J.
K., where do you get authentic key lime juice? Key limes aren’t available where I live, and I’ve never been able to find real key lime juice. Do you know of any suppliers who ship it?
Thanks.
Comments left on the older version of the site and transferred here:
Key Lime Pie Inspector
About 5 years back traveling threw North and South Carolina we happened into a place called Kutchie’s Cafe. There we enjoyed some
Awesome cheese burgers called Goody Goody’s. They were Terrific.
We also tried what they listed as, “The World’s Greatest Key Lime Pie”. I don’t know about that, because we haven’t tried it all over the world.
I do know that It defiantly was the Best Key Lime Pie that we have ever eaten anywhere before. Perhaps Kutchie’s Cafe does indeed Serve
“The World’s Greatest Key Lime Pie”. We’ll let you decide that one for yourself. We can only recommend it.
Great Key Lime Pie
Originally submitted by Jordan Prodaehl of Vancouver Island, BC
This recipe was really good 🙂 i used honey graham crumbs, instead and did a basic whip topping instead of a meringue. I recommend this recipe 🙂