North Carolina Lemon Pie
Updated Aug 22, 2024
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Rich and creamy North Carolina Lemon Pie combines just the right amount of sweet and tart flavors. It’s made with a secret pie crust ingredient too.
Lemon lovers unite! There’s just something about warmer weather than makes you crave all things lemon: lemon bars, lemon chiffon cake, lemon poppy seed muffins… This pie marries tangy and sweet flavors in such a delicious way. The filling is just beat together and then baked (no stove top cooking first) and then it’s topped with a bit of whipped cream. The crust is as easy to put together as a graham cracker crust, but here’s the secret – it’s made from saltines! How neat is that? It’s crisp and delicious! This pie is simple to make and the finished product is so pretty.
This recipe comes from the May 2015 issue of Cook’s Country magazine. It’s the magazine version of my favorite cookbooks (produced by America’s Test Kitchen!) and it is always fabulous. You get smarter and hungrier every time you read this magazine.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Bright and Refreshing Flavor: North Carolina Lemon Pie has that perfect combo of tart and tangy lemon that just tastes like summer.
- Beautiful Presentation: The pie has a gorgeous yellow filling topped with swirls of whipped cream. It looks impressive even though its not difficult to make.
- Make-Ahead Friendly: You can make the pie ahead of time and pull it out of the refrigerator when you’re ready to serve.
Ingredients
For the crust
- Saltine Crackers
- Salt
- Butter
- Light Corn Syrup
For the filling
- Sweetened Condensed Milk
- Egg Yolks
- Heavy Cream
- Lemons: you need the zest AND the juice of about 3 lemons
For the topping
- Heavy Cream
- Sugar
- Vanilla Extract
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities
How to Make North Carolina Lemon Pie
Step #1. Preheat the oven. Add the saltines and salt to the bowl of the processor. Pulse until they are coarse crumbs. Add the butter and corn syrup and pulse again until it is the size of oatmeal.
Step #3. Combine the filling ingredients in a bowl. Pour it into the baked crust and place back in the oven for 15-17 minutes until the edges are set but the center still jiggles. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack until completely cool, then move to the refrigerator.
Step #2. Pour the crumbs into a pie plate and press the crumbs on the bottom and sides. Place it on a baking sheet and bake for 15-17 minutes.
Step #4. Whip together the topping ingredients with a mixer until it reaches stiff peaks. Top the pie with the cream mixture as desired and serve.
Recipe FAQs
You will want to refrigerate the pie for several hours until it is completely chilled. This makes it ideal to make ahead so you don’t need to worry about it on the day you plan to serve it.
Bake the lemon pie until the edges of the pie are set but the center still jiggles, about 15 to 17 minutes. Place the pie on a wire rack and let it cool completely.
Fresh lemons will always taste the best. You will need about 3 lemons for this recipe.
To get the most juice out of a lemon I like firmly roll the lemon on the counter with my hand before cutting and squeezing the juice. This will soften the lemon a bit and help you get the most juice out of each lemon.
When shopping for fresh lemons, there are a few tips to find lemons that are nice and juicy. One is to find lemons that feel heavy for their size- it means has lots of juice inside! Bright yellow lemons with no wrinkles are also a sign of a good lemon.
Expert Tips
- Fresh lemons are always your best bet. The bottled stuff just isn’t the same.
- Be sure to zest your lemons before juicing them.
- When zesting citrus fruit, be careful to just take off the colored layer. The deeper white part is bitter and you don’t want to use it in your recipes.
- If you want to make sure that your filling is ultra smooth, pour the lemon juice through a fine mesh sieve to remove any of the pulp before making your filling mixture.
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North Carolina Lemon Pie
Ingredients
For the Crust
- 6 ounces saltine crackers, about 1 sleeve or 36 crackers
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1/4 cup light corn syrup
For the Filling:
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk, (14-ounce)
- 4 large egg yolks
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest plus ½ cup juice,, (3 lemons)
For the Topping
- ½ cup heavy cream, chilled
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Add the saltines and salt to the food processor and pulse until you have coarse crumbs (about 15 pulses). Add the melted butter and corn syrup and pulse until the crumbs are about the size of oatmeal (another 15 pulses).
- Add the cracker mixture to a greased 9-inch pie plate. Use the bottom of a dry measuring cup or glass and press the crumbs into an even layer on the bottom and up the sides of the dish.
- Place the pie plate on a baking sheet and bake until light golden brown, 17 to 19 minutes.
- To make the filling – whisk the sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks, cream, and lemon zest together in a bowl, add the lemon juice and whisk until well combined.
- With the pie plate on the baking sheet still, remove it from the oven and pour in the filling (the crust does not need to be cooled) and place it back in the hot oven. Bake until the edges of the pie are set but the center still jiggles, 15 to 17 minutes. Place the pie on a wire rack and let it cool completely. Refrigerate the pie until completely chilled.
- For the topping, use a stand mixer fitted with a whisk and whipped the cream, sugar, and vanilla on medium low until foamy (about a minute). Increase the mixer speed to high and whip until stiff peaks form, 1 to 3 minutes. Spread the whipped cream over the top of the pie and serve cold.
Notes
- Be sure to measure the crackers by weight. A few packages sell them in 4 ounce sleeves so you’ll need 1 1/2 sleeves to get enough crackers for the recipe.
- This pie really needs to hang out in the refrigerator for a while before serving, especially so it is easier to cut.
- Let the pie come to room temperature before moving it to the refrigerator. If the filling cools too quickly, it can crack.
- Cover and store any leftover pie in the fridge.
LOVE IT. I would actually use more lemon, but the lemons I had were small. otherwise, spot on! will make more for events for sure!!
How do you keep the saltine crust from sticking to the pie plate…it doesn’t cut well at all .. just is stuck in the pie plate can you use a non stick spray instead??
Oh that’s weird, the butter in the crust has been enough for me, but yes you can use non stick spray.
Thank you thank you for this simple but wonderful recipe. Everyone, especially me, loved it
have you ever used an alternative for the crackers GF? Im making for someone else, not experienced with GF crackers? I love the idea of crunchy salty with the pie but worry GF crackers won’t be the right texture or hold together? Any Thoughts?
I haven’t tried it but GF crackers are generally quite crunchy, I think it might work just fine!
My wife loved this pie, she’s a huge lemon fan. Thanks for posting this. Bryan
Always have wonderful recipe’s thank you.