I first shared this recipe on Centless Meals where I am a contributor. No Bake Key Lime Pie is the pie of the summer! It’s refreshing, sweet, tart, and easy to throw together. You don’t even have to turn on the oven!
THE BEST KEY LIME PIE
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This No Bake Key Lime Pie is the perfect dessert for your next summer party. There’s nothing quite as refreshing and perfect for summer as a cold lemon or lime treat. That tart citrus flavor hits the spot and is especially great in desserts because the tart and sour flavors are balanced by the sugar.
I’ve told you before that I’m not a huge fan of pie but pretty much any pie made with a graham cracker crust is one I cannot pass up. The filling is always something ultra yummy and creamy which is exactly the case with this baby. While graham cracker crust is often cooked, you actually don’t have to with this pie since it’s packed held together because it’s chilled. The summer is already unbearably hot so not having to turn on the oven and heat up the whole house and increase your electric bill is definitely a plus.
How to Make Easy Key Lime Pie:
You’ll start out by making your graham cracker crust. You can buy whole graham crackers and grind them up in a food processor or blender or skip that step by buying a box of graham cracker crumbs. Place in in the bottom of you pie dish along with with sugar and melted butter and mix it up until everything is nice and moist. Then you can pack down the crumbs onto the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Place the crust in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
Next, you need to whip up your cream. You can do this using an electric hand mixer or your stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Whip it just until it forms stiff peaks. Plop it in another bowl and then add the room temperature cream cheese to the mixer but this time with the paddle attachment. You’ll cream this for a couple minutes until it’s nice and smooth and then your slowly drizzle in the liquid gold, I mean sweetened condensed milk. That stuff is good! Once that is mixed in you can mix in the lime juice and then fold in the cream that you whipped up.
How easy is that?! Then you just pour the filling into the crust, cover, and let it chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. When you’re ready to serve it, garnish with some whipped cream, lime zest, and limes. Unlike baked Key Lime Pie, this pie already has a lot of cream in it for balance the tartness so you won’t need to smoother the top with whipped cream. Just add enough for some finesse or just skip it.
What are you waiting for? Whip up this No Bake Key Lime Pie and invite your friends over to enjoy it with you. The combination of sweet, tart, and cream is one you’re sure to love. Enjoy!
More great refreshing summer dessert recipes from Garnish & Glaze:
- Mini Raspberry Lemon Cheesecakes
- Cherry Limeade Ice Cream
- Strawberry Topped Tres Leches Cake
- Mixed Berry Pavlova
- Mini summer Berry Galettes
- Lemon Raspberry Poke Cake
TOOLS USED TO MAKE THIS EASY KEY LIME PIE:
Kitchen Aid Mixer– This is so handy to have in the kitchen. I use it for cookies, cakes, frosting, bread, whipped cream… LOVE IT!
9-inch Pie Dish– Every kitchen need at least one pie dish. You can use this dish for any kind of pie you heart or tummy desires.
Citrus Zester– It seems weird to add orange, lemon, or lime peel to your food but just a little bit goes a long way and makes a load of difference. I love adding citrus zest to desserts but also to proteins like fish and chicken.
No Bake Key Lime Pie
Ingredients
For the Crust:
- 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoons butter, melted
For the Filling:
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
- 8 ounces cream cheese, full fat, room temperature
- 1/2 cup key lime juice, or lime juice
For the Garnish:
- 1 lime, sliced
- 1 teaspoon lime zest
- Whipped cream
Instructions
For the Crust:
- Mix graham cracker crumbs and sugar together in a 9 inch pie plate. Mix in the butter until everything is moist and then press into the bottom and up the sides of pan. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
For the Filling:
- Meanwhile, beat the heavy whipping cream in a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment until stiff peaks. Remove whipped cream from the bowl into another bowl.
- In the stand mixer (no need to clean out), beat the cream cheese for 2 minutes until creamy. Stream in the sweetened condensed milk and mix until smooth. Add the juice and mix until combined. Scrape the bowl as needed.
- Add the whipped cream back to the bowl and use a rubber scraper to fold it in. Pour the filling into the chilled crust and smooth out the top. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight.
For the Garnish:
- When ready to serve, garnish with whipped cream, lime zest, and lime slices. Slice and serve.
My mom asks for “anything key lime” for her birthday every year.
I used your recipe this year, but substituted ginger snaps rather than graham crackers per mom’s request.
She LOVED it and said this was the best one I’ve made so far. Even my dad really enjoyed himself, went back for seconds, and asked for leftovers to take home – and he says he “doesn’t like key lime”. HA!
I just made this and it was so easy. I put it in my freezer to chill it a little bit faster because I know I can’t wait 4 hours for it to chill!
I have made this recipe several times since trying it out the first time and it is AMAZING every time!????????
I’m so glad you’ve been making this pie Lisa! Thanks for coming back and leaving a review! 🙂
Great recipe!
Looks simple enough to prepare this Christmas. Thanks for sharing!
Enjoy! 🙂
Thank you for the great recipe. Made it so many times and still loving it. Reduced sugar half but still taste good!
I’m so happy to hear you’re enjoying it! 🙂
I LOVE this recipe!!! I crave it ALL THE TIME! I do add a pinch of salt to the crust. I have one in the fridge right now and I can barely wait for it to set.
Cora, I’m so happy you love it! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment! 🙂
I made this for Easter dinner yesterday – totally awesome! Thanks for sharing! This is a keeper, for sure!
Vera, I’m so happy to hear you love it! Thanks for leaving a review! 🙂
Great lime taste and love how light this is in texture. Will definitely be making this again
The taste of my pie was really good, but it did not set. More like a pudding! Wonder what I did wrong? I did chill over night.
This is amazing!!! Husband loved it!! Will make it again!!
This is amazing!!! Will make it again!!
I made it but would prefer more lime flavour or tartness so next time I will add more lime juice
“…or lime juice”??? If it isn’t made with real key limes, it is NOT a key lime pie!!! I hate these stupid counterfeit recipes.
You can buy key lime juice. It is next to the lime juice.
For the garnish is that canned whipped cream or make your own whipped cream?
“1/2 cup key lime juice or lime juice”
Just made this, substituted the crackers and sugar for digestive biscuits as we are in the UK. This will not make 4 hours chilling time. It’s delicious!
If you add 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract to the recipe, it will be even better!!!
I made this pie last week and loved it. I’m making it again this week for my knitting group who meets at my house tomorrow. The balance of sweet and tart is perfect.
Our favorite restaurant in Nelson, NZ has this as a dessert. Amazing.
May have to try and make it?
Can you make this and use mini dessert cups? I need a recipe that makes more than 6 mini desserts at a time. All the mini dessert recipes are for 6 or so at a time and I need 30. Since I am not a seasoned baker or dessert maker, I’m not sure if you can double and triple recipes?? But a pie should make more than 6 and could this recipe be doubled or tripled?
Don’t know if anyone has responded to you yet, but I’ve used recipes like this to make mini desserts. I line muffin tins with cupcake liners, add about 1 tablespoon of graham cracker crumbs (or vanilla wafer crumbs) and then about 1-1/2 to 2 tablespoons of the filling. Fill about 3/4 full so you’ll have room to add a small dollop of whipped crea right before serving. And you don’t have to add sugar or butter to the graham crackers crumbs. The filling and refrigerating of the desserts will soften them up. You should get 18-24 mini desserts from 1 recipe of filling. And it’s really best to make 1 recipe at a time. It will make for a smoother filling. To keep it even easier, you can just put one vanilla wafer (flat side down in the liner instead of using crumbs. I’ve done this with vanilla wafers and Oreos (I just take the Oreos apart and remove as much of the filling on them. A little left on the cookie won’t hurt.) Hope this helps!
When I attended Weight Watchers, a little trick was to just sprinkle crumbs…..no butter or sugar. The filling will adhere to the crumbs upon setting. Thanks!
The lime pie is looking delicious. Another important part is serving. I like the way you have served it.
Key lime pie is among my favorite things ever. Can’t wait to make this recipe!