Easy Lemon Cream Pie

This Easy Lemon Cream Pie is the lemon version of the key lime classic. Also sometimes called a lemon icebox pie, this quick and easy recipe is sure to satisfy that craving for a cool and creamy, tart and tangy dessert that’s perfect for summer.

I’ve always been a huge fan of lemon desserts. Make that dessert a cool and creamy lemon pie and you can 100% count me in! So when we were brainstorming recipe ideas for summer desserts not too long ago, of course I added a lemon pie to the list.

One of the most popular pies I have on the site is my Best Key Lime Pie. It consistently gets 5 star reviews and folks just love it. So I knew that a lemon variation would be a winner, too. And I didn’t have to do much in terms of changing up the recipe.

In fact, all I did was swap out the key lime juice for lemon juice. But don’t tell anyone. Sometimes when things are that simple, folks will avoid a recipe thinking it’s too plain. But, y’all… this isn’t plain at all. It’s absolutely delicious.

When it comes to the crust, a prepared deep dish graham cracker crust off the grocery store shelf will work perfectly – and save you quite a bit of time and effort. With that being said, if you’ve got some extra time and want this pie to really stand out, you can make my homemade graham cracker crust. I’ve included that recipe below the pie recipe. It’s buttery and sweet with just a touch of salt – which I think makes it perfect for this pie. The biggest challenge with making your own crust is getting the crumbs all pressed into the pie dish. Using a 1/4-cup metal dry measuring cup is the perfect tool for pressing it along the bottom and edges of the pie plate.

When I was working on the key lime version of this pie, I found this specific combination of sweetened condensed milk, sour cream, and juice to be perfect. You’ll notice that there are no egg yolks in this lemon filling but the recipe still calls for you to bake the pie. I often get questions about that step.

This step isn’t important to the integrity of the filling in terms of it setting. Baking it warms the filling enough to allow the air bubbles that get mixed into it to rise to the top and burst, giving you dense, creamy, silky pie filling.

When it comes to topping this pie, I prefer fresh whipped cream, which I included in the recipe, but there are plenty of other options. Meringue, Cool Whip, whipped topping in a can, or nothing at all are all great options. The recipe I’ve included for the whipped cream will give you enough whipped cream to top the pie entirely with some to spare. I chose not to use it all in the photos for this recipe so y’all could see that luscious lemon filling under it. If you want to use less, feel free to scale the recipe for the whipped cream back.

Regardless of what tops it or what kind of crust you use, I know y’all are going to love this one!