These delicious Key Lime Pie Bars include a three-ingredient graham cracker crust with the easiest key lime pie filling. They’re easy to make, transport and serve at parties and potlucks.
Looking for more great ideas? Don’t miss our Perfect Lemon Bars, Pecan Pie Bars, and Homemade Twix Bars.
I adapted these Key Lime Pie Bars from my favorite Key Lime Pie recipe, and they are amazing! I love the idea of serving pie in “bar” form for parties. They’re easy for people to grab, they look beautiful, and taste even better!
How to make Key Lime Pie Bars:
- For the crust, combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter and press into an 8” square baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes. Allow to cool before adding filling.
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Add cream cheese to a mixing bowl and beat well with electric beaters until smooth. Add both cans of sweetened condensed milk, lime juice, and lime zest and mix again until smooth.
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Pour over prepared graham cracker crust and bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Allow to cool for about 30 minutes, then refrigerate for at least 3 hours, before serving.
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Cut into squares and top with fresh whipped cream, if desired.
Make Ahead and Freezing Instructions:
To make ahead, prepare and bake the pie up to 3 days in advance, stored in the refrigerator. The filling and crust can both be prepared separately, in advance, and then assembled and baked when ready.
Baked Key Lime Pie can be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.
LOVE PIE? CONSIDER TRYING THESE POPULAR PIE RECIPES:
- Cherry pie
- Lemon Sour Cream Pie
- Pumpkin Pie with Caramel Pecan Topping
- Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake Pie
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Recipe
Key Lime Pie Bars
Equipment
Ingredients
For the crust
- 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 12 full sheets, crushed)
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 6 Tablespoons butter , melted
Key lime filling:
- 2 14 ounce cans sweetened condensed milk
- 4 ounces cream cheese , softened
- 3/4 cup key lime juice*
- zest of 2 regular limes , or 4 key limes
- fresh whipped cream , for topping, optional
Instructions
- For the crust, combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter and press into an 8'' square baking pan.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes. Allow to cool before adding filling.
- Add cream cheese to a mixing bowl and beat well with electric beaters until smooth. Add both cans of sweetened condensed milk, lime juice, and lime zest and mix again until smooth.
- Pour over prepared graham cracker crust and bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Allow to cool for about 30 minutes, then refrigerate for at least 3 hours, before serving.
- Top with fresh whipped cream, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?
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Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
I originally shared this recipe June 2015. Updated November 2020.
Absolutely love the recipe! Have made it dozens of times with no issue at all. Delicious.
Any shot you think it’d work in muffin tins/mini muffin tins?!
Thinking of trying it this upcoming weekend.
I made this recipe and it was fantastic. I am definitely keeping this one for next year
I would love to make these for Thanksgiving but how can you double or even triple the recipe but still use an 8×8 pan?
I look forward to a response, Thanks
I’d use TWO 8*8 pans of cook them in two batches! Happy Thanksgiving!
Whoo-whee! These are FABULOUS! My daughter made these for a party, and everyone raved. The flavor was perfect. They are superior (by far) to any Key Lime bar or pie I have ever had. Now I’m “stealing” the recipe. Good work and thanks!
I’ve made these multiple times. So easy and refreshing!!
Already had all the ingredients for this, so, decided to try it out. Not a fan. Was left with gummy ‘crust’, with filling that defeated the purpose of a dessert bar, as you’d be better off eating it, with a spoon.
Hi Decca, did you bake it for 10 minutes after putting the filling in? That’s what helps set the bars. Before that happens, it’s more liquidy. When the recipe is followed exactly, it is pretty fool proof. Try again- they’re fantastic!
I always get rave reviews when I make these. I often make them for new neighbors as a welcome gift and also my grandchildren often request these. I’ve made these bars for families with children in the neighborhood and the kids always say this is now their favorite cookie. Thanks for sharing this great recipe.
Absolutely delicious! Made these for a church BBQ, and they were a big hit. I doubled the recipe and used a 9×13 pan. I increased final baking time by about 8 minutes. Thanks for the great recipe!
These are more sweet than tart. You evidently can’t skip to recipe because there are details left out of the instructions. My 8×8 pan must not be the same size as the author’s 8×8 pan. I had almost half the filling leftover. Probably won’t come back to this recipe.
Elizabeth, Sorry to hear you didn’t love the recipe. Not sure what went wrong but I’ve made this dozens of times and it always fits in an 8×8 pan. You can check through the other comments too. I’m wondering if you accidentally doubled or tripled the recipe by hitting the 2x or 3x button on the side. (Doubling or tripling the recipe would mean using a bigger pan or multiple pans!)
Chef’s kiss on this one!!! Fantastic. Rich and creamy, tart and tangy. This one will definitely go into my recipe book.
Do these need to be covered when refrigerating for the 3 hour period?
Not necessary but I recommend it!
Excellent ratio of sweet and sour, so easy to make, delicious, thank you for sharing your recipe 😋
I love this recipe. So easy to make and so delicious!
These were delicious. I followed the directions exactly and they turned out well. The only issue I had was with the crust sticking to the bottom of my pan. No where in either set of instructions does it say to spray or line with paper, but the video seems to show the use of paper. I’ll be doing that next time I make these, but it’d have been helpful to have that in the instructions. Also I made this in the winter when limes are kinda meh and it still turned out super well which was great. We love a little taste of summer when it is cold.
How to get these out when you don’t use parchment?
I was wondering why there is no eggs? Is it still good without them?
Made these yesterday and were a HUGE hit. Parchment paper is a MUST. When I made these the first time , I completely forgot the parchment paper, and I cannot even tell you the mess I made! Lol!! Don’t forget parchment paper 😉. Great recipe!!
Mine stuck to the baking pan. Complete mess trying to get it out – ruined.
Best key lime pie ever!
The BEST key lime bars ever! They were a huge hit at a party we attended.
I would like to know if I change them to lemon, would I use the same amount of fresh squeezed lemon juice as the amount called out for the key lime juice.
Thank you
Loved this recipe. Do you know what the cooking temp and time would be if you turned them into individual pies using a muffin tin?
This was great. Do you think you could make these in an individual muffin/cupcake pan? If so , any idea what the cooking instructions might be? I’m so bad at determining that kind of stuff.
These were SO good! And easy to make. I brought these to a party, and everyone raved about how good they were.
Will these turn out the same as the previous recipe that used sour cream? We know and love that one so I’m a little nervous with the cream cheese change. Is the sour cream version available somewhere else? Thanks!!
We feel the same way! Is there any way to gain access to the old version too? My family goes nuts for it
Those are the best key lime bars we’ve ever tasted!!! My husband just said, these are as good as we have ever had in Key West!! Actually, better!! Thank you, for this recipe, absolutely amazing!!
I am wondering if you could use the graham crackers and process them in a food processor if you are not able to find the crumbs. During this Covid 19, I am having a hard time finding a lot of baking products! I am sure I am not the only one having that problem! 😟
Yes, of course.
Could you substitute your key lime pie recipe for key lime bars?
Yes, that would be fine!
At my son’s request, made these tonight, I inadvertently left the sugar out of the crust but it turned out great, was a huge hit!
Making this a second time! The first I made the filling only and used a store bought Graham crust then made a meringue topping with the egg whites, was a good balance of sweet/tart. I used Joyce Lafray’s bottled key lime juice.
Made this a bunch of times this year! delicious! Curious if I could substitute plain yogurt for sour cream -ran out-?
I’m so happy to hear that! And that substitution would be just fine 🙂
This was by far the best key lime dessert I have ever had! Turned out perfect!
Any luck with “quickly cooling” and refrigerating just for a few hours before a picnic? These are our favorite!
Do you have any experience with doubling this recipe? Serving a crowd and these look fantastic!
Hi Kayla, You can double the recipe to use a 9×13”pan! Good luck, and I hope everyone loves it!
hi! These look so great! Simple and classic. Most of all, easy to grab and go! We are going to the beach for two weeks and I would love to make these and bring them with us. Do you have any experience with freezing them?
Hi Melissa, I honestly couldn’t recommend freezing them…I’ve never done it. But I’d love to know if you try it!
Hey! Love to try the recipe. Do they need to be stored in the fridge?
Hi Claire, yes, they are best stored in the fridge 🙂 Hope you enjoy them!
This is one of those instances where I reallyyy wish I could just grab things outta the screen–those bars look so tasty! <3
Yum! I love love love key lime pie. I’ll have to try this recipe!
Key Lime Pie is my husband’s favorite, so I’ll have to make him these. Pinned. Thanks!
Ooh! Yum. I would love to try my hand at these soon!
Lauren, I wanted to eat the photo — gorgeous! I know my husband will be happy if I make these for him. He loves lime.
Wow these look so yummy! Great food photography too btw 🙂