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.
This lemon pie is super simple to make. 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! 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. Easy!
North Carolina Lemon Pie
Lemon lovers unite! This pie marries tangy and sweet flavors in such a delicious way. It is simple to make and the finished product is so pretty.
I can picture this lemon pie being served all summer long. It tastes light and fresh and works for all of your summer get togethers.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions:
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.
More lemon recipes:
- Blueberry Lemon Muffins
- Pink Lemonade Cupcakes
- Strawberry Rhubarb Lemonade
- Fresh Lemonade
- Roasted Cauliflower with Lemon Vinaigrette
- Homemade Strawberry Lemonade
- Lemon Chiffon Cake
- Lemon Garlic Baked Chicken Legs
If you’ve tried this Lemon Pie recipe or any other recipe on Bless this Mess, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below! I would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some pictures of it, share it with me on Instagram so I can repost on my stories AND add your photo to your comment so that other can see your creation!
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North Carolina Lemon Pie
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: Serves 8-10 1x
Description
Rich and creamy North Carolina Lemon Pie with just the right amount of sweet and tart and made with an secret pie crust ingredient!
Ingredients
For the Crust
- 6 ounces saltine crackers (about 1 sleeve or 36 crackers)
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- ¼ 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 ½ sleeves to get enough crackers for the recipe.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 35
- Category: dessert
- Method: bake
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: lemon, pie, pie crust, America's Test Kitchen, north Carolina lemon pie, how to make lemon pie, saltine crust pie, saltine lemon pie
This simple North Carolina Lemon Pie is going to surprise and delight you, and I can’t wait for you to make it so that I can hear how much you enjoyed it!
Deborah
Does this pie freeze well?
It looks and sounds amazing!
★★★★★
Melissa
I don't have a clue, in my mind it would. I would love to know if you try it and how it turns out.
Bob miller
Just made one tonight.
Andrew C.
As a Bachelor I enjoy cooking for myself and love all lemon deserts. I don’t have a fancy kitchen or tools. I used the old beaters my mom gave me. Worked great. Wow! Suck a sweet pie!!! Thankfully it’s all mine hahah
Thank you very much for this recipe
★★★★★
Melissa
I love that you made this pie, totally different isn't it and soooo good! I can't wait to make it again.
Donna L
Holy cow. Pie gone in one sitting. The whole family raved!! Fantastic!! Best pie ever!!!!
Melissa
Woohoo!! It's been a while since I've made it myself and now you've got me wanting it!
Cynthia
Can I sub out limes for the lemons? It’s what I have on hand.....
Melissa
It'll work great, I've done it with grapefruit too!
June
Saw this recipe on @create TV show today never had a saltine cracker piecrust before willing to try . It looked really good , thanks for sharing the recipe .
Have a great day
Thanks June
Melissa
I'm so glad I could help, it's delicious!
Carla
I made this pie a few weeks ago and my whole family loved it! It's sweet and salty heaven! The filling is so silky and smooth and the crust is total salty deliciousness! Thanks for a great recipe!
★★★★★
Melissa
Oh, I love hearing this! Isn't it amazing?
Deb
Wondering if I could use this pie crust recipe for a banana cream pie, but just bake the crust alittle longer at first?
Melissa
I think it would work really well! Will you let me know if you try it?
Val
My good friend and neighbor made this pie, and she wanted an opinion...
boy, am I glad I live next door. I am a lemon lover and lament the fact that I do not often find a good lemon pie, let alone one with a fantastic crust! Well, here I am leaving a comment, then printing the recipe so that I can make a whole pie for my home. Unfortunately, my neighbor only let me opinionate on one slice....
★★★★★
Melissa
This was such a fun comment. Thank you for being here and tell your neighbor for being kind enough to share the pie (and my recipe) with you!
Mary
Super easy and sooooo yummy!
I made this for the first time and my husband and I just love it. Refreshing, mouth-watering combination of tart, sweet, and salty.
I used about 1.5 sleeves of Premium Whole Wheat Saltines. Turned out great.
★★★★★
Melissa
It's a keeper isn't it!? So glad you loved it!
Bev
I saw this on ATK too. I'm glad I made this pie, it was really good. However, I am glad I weighed the crackers as one sleeve was only 4.4oz. 6 oz. was just under 1 1/2 sleeves. So cooks out there, weigh them to be accurate.
Jesse
I made this recipe with red grapefruit and it's delicious, everyone loved it, and asked for the recipe.
Melissa
That sounds absolutely delicious. I LOVE grapefruit and never thought to put it in the pie. Thank you for the recommendation!
Carla
Thank you for posting this recipe. It was easy to make but tastes like I spent a lot of time and effort. I took it to work and I was a star!
Melissa
Oooh I love how you said that! It's so true, a gorgeous but fuss-free dessert!
Betsy
I made this before and the filing was plentiful, so this time I multiplied the crust by 1.5 because I love this crust. There was a little crust left over so I put it in the bottom of a cast iron Le Creuset dish and topped it with a thin layer of the filling for my own personal lemon bars, and it worked great.
I wonder how whole wheat crackers would taste?
★★★★★
Stephanie
Thank you for posting this recipe so I don't have to have a subscription to ATK or Cooks Country!
PS - My pie filling didn't giggle. 😉
★★★★★
Melissa
LOL, you're welcome! And I'm glad your pie filling didn't giggle. I actually have quite a few ATK recipes on here (I LOVE THEM) so take a look around!
Erin
Hi, question: if I bring this to a party, how long can it sit out without being refrigerated (i have a feeling they won’t have room with all the thanksgiving dishes). Thanks!
Melissa
I think it would be fine a couple of hours, more than three I might bring a cooler. It starts to get a little soft...
Sherry Tindall
Looks delish! Can't wait to try this!!
Robert Welton
I ha e not yet made this, but I will. But, do you know if anyone has tried to adapt this recipe into a lime pie by using lime zest and lime juice?
Melissa
I'm sure that it would work great! I'd love to hear if you try it!
J Moy
Saw this on a recent episode of Cook's Country and so glad to find the recipe here. To the commenter who asked whether this could be adapted to make a lime pie, this is basically the key lime pie recipe on the Nellie and Joe's key lime juice bottle. They call for 1/2 cup of lime juice plus condensed milk, and 3 eggs (instead of 4) and no heavy cream.
★★★★★
Robin Rasch
I enjoyed watching the cooks on Cooks Country doing this recipe on TV. I can't wait to give this recipe a try. It looks absolutely delicious.
★★★★★
Vivian
My husband loves lemon pie so I tried this recipe--it was delicious!! It turned out excellently!! I was concerned that I had a regular 9" glass pie plate (not with high sides) but it fit into it perfectly! Thank you!
Boots
You act as if a thick saltine crust is a problemmm....
katie w
I have all of these ingredients in my kitchen right now! Hooray!