These mini key lime pies are everything we love about classic key lime pie baked in individual servings. Each mini pie has a buttery graham cracker crust and smooth, creamy key lime filling. Top with homemade whipped cream and lime slices for a refreshing treat!
Summer and key lime pie go together like Ben and Jerry, mac and cheese, vacation and margaritas. Key lime pie is the type of dessert that takes minimal effort, which makes it perfect when the weather’s warm. As in, when there are a million other things you’d rather do than spend the afternoon in a hot kitchen.
What makes key lime pie even easier (and quicker)? Bake it in a muffin pan rather than in a pie pan. Less bake time, less slicing, less chill time. Plus (and this is the best part!) it is perfectly acceptable to have more than one. Not to mention, mini key lime pies are totally kid-friendly. Little hands, little appetites, little pies! I love these things.
Why You’ll Love These Mini Key Lime Pies
- Quick and simple to prepare
- Just as delicious as key lime pie bars
- Baked in a muffin pan
- Each bite is buttery, sweet, and a little tart
- Cool and refreshing
- Perfect for sharing at picnics, BBQs, and pool parties
- The ultimate summer dessert
2 Parts to Mini Key Lime Pies
And only 7 ingredients in the entire recipe.
- Graham Cracker Crust: We use my favorite graham cracker crust for the base of today’s pies. I use this crust recipe for pies, cakes, cheesecakes, and more. The buttery and slightly crisp texture is the exact contrast I want with these little key lime pies. You only need 3 ingredients: butter, graham crackers, and sugar. To ensure a compact crust, make sure you press the mixture tightly into each individual muffin cup. You’ll use a little over 1 Tablespoon of crust mixture in each individual pie.
- Key Lime Pie Filling: Our key lime pie filling is tart, sweet, and creamy—exactly as key lime pie should be. Cream cheese acts as the base of the filling, providing a little structure and a subtle cheesecake flavor. (By the way, if you like key lime pie and cheesecake, you have to try my key lime cheesecake.) Also adding a little structure, as well as a rich texture, are egg yolks. To those, we’ll add sweetened condensed milk and key lime juice. For best flavor, make sure you use key lime juice, though regular lime juice works in a pinch.
An optional but tasty third part is a generous dollop of whipped cream on top 🙂
Use a Standard Muffin Pan
We use a standard size (12-cup) muffin pan for today’s mini key lime pies, not a mini muffin pan. Line your pan with liners, then layer in the graham cracker crust. Try to really pack it down—sometimes I use the back of a teaspoon to help along the edges. Pre-bake the crust for a few minutes, then pour the filling evenly onto each crust.
After they’re baked, let them cool at room temperature then place the entire muffin pan in the refrigerator for a couple hours.
By the way, if you’re looking for another fun key lime option, you will LOVE these upside down key lime pies.
Is it just me or do teeny tiny versions of food taste better? Individual key lime pies > actual key lime pie. They’re quicker to make, chill, and serve than a traditional key lime pie—and cuter, too! 🙂 This is the same process we use to make mini margarita cheesecakes (try those next!).
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Mini Key Lime Pies
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours, 45 minutes
- Yield: 16 mini pies
- Category: Pie
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
What’s better than key lime pie? Little mini key lime pies!
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 and 1/2 cups (180g) graham cracker crumbs (about 12 full sheet graham crackers)
- 6 Tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
Filling
- 4 ounces (112g) full-fat cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 4 large egg yolks
- one 14-ounce can (396g) full-fat sweetened condensed milk
- 1/2 cup (120ml) key lime juice*
- optional: lime slices and whipped cream for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line a 12-count muffin pan with liners and a second 12-count muffin pan with only 4 (since this recipe makes only around 16). Set pans aside.
- Make the crust: Before you begin, here are all of my tips for a perfect graham cracker crust. If you’re starting out with full-sheet graham crackers, you can use a food processor or blender to grind them up. Or crush them in a zipped top bag with a rolling pin. Mix the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, and granulated sugar together with a rubber spatula in a medium bowl until combined. The mixture will be thick, coarse, and sandy. Press a heaping Tablespoon of mixture down into each liner, making sure the crust is tight and compact. You might have a little crust leftover. If so, press a little more into each liner—if desired! Pre-bake the crusts for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven.
- Make the filling: In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese on high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. On medium-high speed, beat in the egg yolks, scraping down the sides as needed. On high speed, beat in the sweetened condensed milk and lime juice until combined.
- Pour the filling evenly into each crust. Bake for 15–16 minutes or until the centers of the pies only slightly jiggle (I check this by wiggling the muffin pan—with an oven mitt on!—while it’s still in the oven). Allow the pies to cool at room temperature in the pan set on a wire rack. Once completely cool, place the pan in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours and up to 1 day.
- Once chilled, serve the key lime pies cold with whipped cream and a lime slice if desired. Store leftover pies in the refrigerator (covered) for up to 1 week. If they last that long!
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Up to 1 day in advance, you can prepare the crust ingredients and the filling ingredients separately. Store each covered tightly in the refrigerator until ready to assemble and bake. Likewise, as noted in set 4, you can bake the key lime pies and store in the refrigerator for 1 day before serving. Key lime pies freeze well, up to 2–3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.
- Key Lime Juice: For the best flavor, make sure you use key lime juice. You can juice your own key limes or buy it from the store. It is usually with the regular lime and lemon juice in the juice aisle. I buy Nellie & Joe’s brand (pictured in my key lime pie bars post). In a pinch, you can use regular lime juice.
- For a Full-Size Key Lime Pie: To make these as a pie, simply use this crust and filling recipe. Press crust into a 9-inch pie dish. Pre-bake for 12 minutes at 350°F (177°C). Pour in filling. Bake for 18 minutes, and then allow to cool at room temperature before chilling in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight.
- Adapted from Key Lime Pie Bars.
- Non-US Readers: Don’t have graham crackers where you live? Use 2 cups (200g) ground digestive biscuits instead (about 13–14 biscuits), the same amount of butter, and add a bit more sugar (about 1/3 cup, or 67g). You may need to add a few extra minutes to the pre-baking time, as digestive biscuits are not quite as crispy-crunchy as graham crackers.
Keywords: mini key lime pies
Hi Sally, I’ve made these several times the recipe comes together quickly and we love them but sometimes they are a bit sticky when you take them out of the muffin paper. Any ideas as to why this is happening?
Thanks
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Hi Lorrie, a little stickiness is normal and can really depend on the type of cupcake liner you’re using. Some come off much more easily than others. Glad you enjoy these mini key lime pies!
Thank you! It’s not the muffin paper, it’s the key lime mixture. After eating a couple I decided that the sticky one must have been the one that got what was left after scraping the bowl.
This was the first time making these and they were a hit! Crust worked out well, although I had to add one more sheet of graham crackers to get enough crumbs. I wish I had an indication of how much filling to pour on each so I didn’t have to guess. I must’ve added too much because I ended up two tarts too little. But they tasted excellent, held together well, and the parchment liners worked great too. Thank you for sharing!
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Just made them for July 4th! Came out amazing. I dolloped with coconut whipped cream and a slice of lime
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I am not a fan of graham crackers. Can you suggest another kind of “cracker” or cookie to use for the crust?
Hi Ellen, readers have also reported success using Biscoff cookie or digestive biscuits. Let us know if you give either a try!
Filling was ok but crust called for WAY too much butter. I knew it when I was preparing it, but I went with the recipe as stated. I really think the sugar also affected the way the crust held together. Go with the basic cheesecake crust recipe and don’t pre bake it. In fact, don’t bother. This recipe was a huge waste of time and money
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Hi there!
I’m wanting to give these away to teachers as a thank-you gift since I’m graduating later this month. I’m wondering what the best way is to package them up to give to other people? I was thinking a simple Tupperware would work, but I don’t want them to get damaged in transit.
Thank you! <3
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Hi Haleigh! What a kind idea. Tuppermare might be best, or, some baking supply stores sell varying box sizes for transporting and gifting baked goods. Either should work just fine!
This is the first recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction that has gone wrong for me. My daughter and I hand squeezed key limes for an hour, then used a wire mesh to strain out pulp and seeds. Somehow, the batter tasted bitter and it really ruined the whole dessert. I strongly recommend buying the bottle of key lime juice from the store! Also, double your cupcake liners. Ours tore when we tried to pull them from the pan. It was quite a mess, but a great adventure!
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Hi, Sally! For freezing the mini pies, do you recommend wrapping them individually before freezing, or can they be frozen unwrapped in an airtight container? I’ll be serving them all at the same time in a couple of weeks. Thanks!
Hi Amanda, either will work, although wrapping each pie individually would be best to ensure the pies don’t take on any moisture or freezer burn. Hope you enjoy them!
Made these a few weeks ago and they were a huge hit. My wife has requested them for her birthday. I would like to drizzle some raspberry sauce over the whipped cream. Do you have a raspberry sauce recipe ( I didn’t see one on website (?
Hi Bob, we’d recommend using our strawberry sauce recipe — see recipe notes there for swapping in raspberries!
These look absolutely delicious! This is the next recipe of yours I’m trying:) I just made your lemon blueberry scones and oh my we’re they amazing! Anyways as for this recipe – could I substitute white sugar for brown sugar in the graham cracker crust? I don’t have enough white sugar on hand. I’m also thinking about dunking a handful in chocolate how they do it in the keys and like your key lime truffle recipe thanks!! Love every one of your recipes!!
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Hi Madi, You can use some brown sugar in the crust. Dipping them in chocolate sounds delicious! Happy baking 🙂
Sally – can you use lemon juice instead of limes?
Sure can, Susan!
I followed the recipe except making these into mini-muffins (slightly less baking time). Taste was really good! I would just have liked a more accurate amount of the graham cracker crust included – ended up with almost double what I needed
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Hi Sally. I love your recipes! I want to make these and was wondering if it would be possible to add a meringue topping (like lemon meringue pie). If so, do I add it before or after the pies are cooked? And how does that change the baking time. Thanks so much!
Hi Donna, can’t see why not! We’d recommend doing it after the pies are baked — follow the meringue directions from our S’mores Brownie Cupcakes. We’d love to know how they turn out for you!
You have to make these! These little mini pies were fantastically easy and incredibly delicious. I had intended to make them and freeze for nicely portioned afternoon treats, but they were gone so fast I didn’t have a chance. My 4 year old has been walking around all week asking for “cheese pies!” And my husband, who hates sweets and will ONLY ever eat PLAIN cheesecake, not only tried these, he requested I make them again. Thank you, Sally!
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Any reason the crust might come out greasy? 🙁 I had grease soaked through the bottoms of the muffin liners and soggy bottoms. (This was before chilling, so I don’t know they’ll turn out once chilled.) I measured the butter and graham cracker crumbs by weight, so I don’t think my proportions were off.
Hi Ashley! The mini key lime pies should be ok after chilling. Was the crust mixture particularly greasy before baking? I wonder if it wasn’t thoroughly mixed together. Did you make any changes?
Thanks for the reply, Sally.
The crust became quite hard once chilled, hard enough to make it difficult to eat with a fork. It does taste to me like there’s too much butter in relation to the graham cracker. I thought it was mixed well and didn’t seem too greasy, but this was my first time baking something with a graham crust so I don’t have any past experience to compare.
I’ve been thinking, I actually didn’t have enough crust for 16 mini pies; it only made 12. So I am wondering now if I didn’t have enough graham cracker. I used the 150g called for in the recipe, but I read the back of the bag of crumbs I bought and it says 1/8 of a cup is 21g, which would mean 1.5 cups would be well over 200. I did some experimenting with measuring out 1/2 a cup of the crumbs and weighing them; I got 79 grams with scooping and leveling 1/2 a cup, and 69 grams spooning and leveling that same amount. So that would suggest 1.5 cups of the graham cracker crumbs is more than 150g, maybe around 210g, assuming the spooning is more accurate than scooping.
When you test these, do you weigh or measure the ingredients? If you weigh some, which ones? Do you know if some store-bought graham cracker crumbs ground more finely than others, or are they all the same?
Everyone loved this recipe! I made it in a mini cheesecake pan, and the times for the cupcake pan aligned well. I did seem to over whip the base with the mixer. I will use the mixer to smooth the cream cheese, then hand whisk in the other ingredients next time. This recipe was very flavorful and balanced. Thank you for yet another go to, full proof recipe.
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How many does this recipe make?
I love every single one of your recipes I’ve tried, (I’ve tried A LOT!) They’re all spectacular!
I am wondering if it would be possible to add in additional flavors? Like a coconut key lime pie? Would you just add like 1/2 tsp of coconut extract and maybe some toasted coconut for garnish? Or put toasted or just regular coconut in the batter prior to baking? Thank you for being so kind and generous with your lovely recipes, they’ve taught me a lot!
Hi Stacey, We haven’t tested adding coconut flavor but you have a few options! Adding coconut extract would likely work. We’ve alo never used condensed coconut milk but I assume it would be fine. Let us know what you try!
These were quick and easy and delicious! Thanks for another great recipe! I couldn’t find key lime juice so I just used regular bottled lime juice. I might add some zest next time for a little more zing.
Also, an interesting note on the sinking: I baked all 16 at the same time: 12 were in a dark nonstick pan and 6 were in a shiny pan (which only has 6 wells but is standard muffin size). They fit side by side in the oven. The dark pans were significantly more shrunken and sunken. The shiny pan ones looked just like Sally’s. So anyone getting extra sinking may need to remember to reduce oven temperature for dark pans (I didn’t) or make sure the oven isn’t running hot.
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Hi Sally! Love your website and your recipes. I made these this weekend and they taste great but the middles sunk down into wells when cooling. What would have caused this? Maybe I baked them too long? I did a minute or two longer than recommended. Thanks!!
Hi Stephanie, Nothing at all! Sinking is normal. Gives you room for whipped cream! BUT you could also be overmixing the batter which whips too much air into the filling.
I got confused by the name and used a mini muffin tin.
They work as extra-mini bite size treats too! I’m unsure about the exact bake time. It will be a little less since they are much smaller.
Do you have to use fresh key lime juice or can you use the prepared key lime juice
Hi Maeve, you can use bottled key lime juice.
These are my go to dessert for parties. Always a big hit!! So delicious and easy!!
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Hey Sally,
I made this recently using the full recipe. But for some reason after they were ready to eat, they had a very bitter taste it the filling. What do you think happened? I might try to make these again with your feedback.
Hi Tana, thank you! Did you use regular limes or key limes? I can’t imagine what would taste bitter. Lime juice (even key lime juice) is tart, but shouldn’t taste bitter. Did you alter the recipe at all? Or add some zest where the pith (the bitter white part) could accidentally go into the mix?
Can these be made no-bake like your no-bake mini cheesecakes?
No, These need to be baked to properly set up. You can however make my No-Bake Mini Cheesecakes and try following the instructions in the recipe notes for lemon flavor cheesecakes but use lime instead.
So easy and sooo good to eat. I love key lime pie and these were the perfect size at our family cookout. No dishes to clean afterward was a serious plus.
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Just made these pies today and they turned out delicious. I plan on freezing most of them since there is only two in my household. I do have one question. When I was taking the pies out of the muffin liners they pulled the filling away and torn it a bit around the edges. Could I spray the muffin liner before filling to prevent this from happening? My edges were not as pretty as the ones in your photos.
Thanks.
Lisa
★★★★★
So delicious! Very easy to make and a great way to use that big bag of Costco limes. For extra tartness I add 2tsp of lime zest. Great recipe. Thanks!
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I have a new set of 6 mini tart pans 5” I believe that I have been wanting to use! Would this recipe work for those?
Thanks Sally!!
Yes, I don’t see why it wouldn’t work! I’m unsure of the bake time but keep an eye on them and bake until the centers of the pies only slightly jiggle.
Could you make this recipe on a 9” springform? Or does it has to be on a pie container.
That should work, Veronica. See recipe note for directions on how to bake a full size pie.
We cannot really get key limes here in Australia, so I made these yesterday with “lime-quats” from my garden (a cold-tolerant tree apparently a mix between a lime and a cumquat) and they were great. For the second batch, I added a handful of fresh raspberries instead of the lime-quat juice and they didn’t turn out as red as I’d hoped, but are still delicious. A really easy and fast recipe and they look so fancy. Thanks for the recipe. And for the metric measurements, very handy.
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