Key Lime Pie

June 2021 New! I added a graham cracker crust alternative with less sugar and butter! So you have 2 choices – both are delicious!

March 2021 New! I added a cooking video to this page so you could see just how quick and easy it is to make this gluten-free Key Lime Pie!

If you’re new to this website, at the bottom of every recipe page is a printable recipe with exact measurements and directions.

Hope you love it!

Original post…

This is the most delicious Gluten-Free Key Lime Pie!

It’s creamy, luscious and the perfect balance of sweet and tart!

And… it’s beyond easy to make!

Back story….

Several years ago as we were planning our Easter menu we decided we wanted something special for dessert and had our heart set on a key lime pie.

The only thing was none of us (my mom, my sister in law, or myself) had ever made one.

So we turned to a friend of my sister-in-law, who also happens to be a personal chef and baker extraordinaire, and she made us this gorgeous and unbelievably delicious gluten-free key lime pie.

Each bite was pure heaven.

Creamy, luscious and the perfect balance of sweet & tart… a real treat!

Luckily for all of us, Nicki shared her recipe with us.

Here’s what you’ll need, 10 real food ingredients….

gluten-free graham crackers

sugar

cinnamon

nutmeg

unsalted butter

sweetened condensed milk

limes for both juice and zest (ideally key limes but persian  limes work great! see below)

egg yolks

heavy whipping cream

and vanilla.

A note about limes…

My family loves the flavor of limes but we are not an expert in limes.  So I did a little google research and am linking an article from Taste of Home magazine from June 2020.

This article provides all sorts of information about the different variety of limes, when and where they are grown and how they differ, all of which was quite fascinating to me!

But here’s my non-expert summary — Key Limes (not always from the Keys) are smaller and have a distinctive flavor compared to Persian Limes (the ones we usually see in the grocery store).

If you can’t taste the difference, on notable difference is that they will take longer to juice.

On the advice of Nikki ( the recipe creator here), we have used both types to make this pie and to our non-expert palate, they both work great in this pie!

That said, I would love to taste two pies — one made with Key limes and one with Persian limes, side by side and see if we can taste the difference!

So let’s make this Gluten-Free Key Lime Pie!

It is crazy easy to make!

Let’s start with the graham cracker crust.

The original recipe is made with:

graham cracker crumbs  (we used Schar graham crackers pulsed in a food processor to make them)

1/4 cup sugar

unsalted butter

plus a touch of cinnamon and nutmeg for some extra flavor– you can’t taste them per se, they give some depth to the graham cracker crust).

New! I added an alternate graham cracker crust option that uses less sugar, less butter.

Both are delicious, the new one is a little less sweet.

With either ingredient list, you mix it all together and drop it into the pie pan, then press down to form the crust, using your hands to create a rim if desired.

Then bake for just 5 minutes to set and slightly brown.

Then let cool.

While the crust bakes, start the filling.

The filling is:

sweetened condensed milk (I have used condensed coconut milk as well)

lime zest

lime juice

and 4 egg yolks (save the whites for an omelette!)

And again, if you can find them, key limes are great! But as they can be challenging to find and not always available, regular Persian limes work wonderfully!

You just whisk together the egg yolks, lime juice and zest.

Then whisk in the condensed milk.

Pour the filling into the cooled pie crust and bake for 15 minutes.

It really couldn’t be easier or quicker!

Pro tip… I always find it helpful to bake pies by putting the pie pan on a baking sheet. That way it is easier to remove from the oven without ruining the pie… who hear hasn’t stuck an oven mitt into the edge of a pie before?

Let cool in the refrigerator. Even cool overnight.

Then whip up some whip cream and decorate however you like!

This whip cream is just heavy whipping cream, sugar and vanilla.

There’s not much healthy about it, it is over the top yummy!

In fact, I am not usually the biggest whip cream fan, but I love this one!

And have fun decorating the pie!

You can either cover the entire pie with whipped cream or fill a decorating bag (a disposable one works too!) with the whipped cream and then squeeze the whipped cream out of the bag into swirls as above or below.

And I don’t know about you, but one of the reasons I love baking, even if the ingredients aren’t the healthiest, is so we know what the ingredients are, can use organic ingredients where possible and so we know that the ingredients and baking process are really gluten-free.

So whether you’re looking for a special treat for Easter, Mother’s Day or some other celebration, or  just want to try the Best Key Lime Pie, I hope you love it as much as we do!

For more dessert ideas, click here.

PIN it!

Scroll down to see the recipe and leave a comment if you try.