You only need 7 ingredients to make these lemon bars. The lemon curd filling is extra thick and creamy and sits on an irresistible butter shortbread crust. Always bake lemon bars at a lower temperature to avoid over-baking. They’re simply the best lemon bars and are perfect for picnics, bake sales, spring brunches, baby showers, and bridal showers.
Today I’m teaching you how to make lemon bars. I love this lemon dessert recipe so much that I published it in my 1st cookbook, Sally’s Baking Addiction. These are the best lemon bars and I don’t use that statement lightly. After 1 taste, I’m confident you’ll agree. Everyone needs this recipe.
The process is pretty simple and I’m walking you through each step in the video tutorial below. Pick up some fresh citrus and let’s get baking. Spring is in the air!
Video Tutorial: Lemon Bars
These are classic lemon bars featuring a soft butter shortbread crust and a tangy sweet lemon curd filling that’s baked to the perfect consistency. The lemon layer is thick and substantial, not thin or flimsy like most other lemon bar recipes.
Only 7 Ingredients in these Lemon Bars
- Butter: Melted butter is the base of the shortbread crust.
- Sugar: Sugar sweetens the crust and lemon curd filling layers. Not only this, it works with the eggs to set up the lemon filling. If reduced, the filling will be too wet.
- Flour: Flour is also used in both layers. Like sugar, it gives structure to the lemon filling. These days, I add slightly more flour to the shortbread crust compared to my cookbook version. You can get away with 2 cups, but an extra 2 Tablespoons really helps solidify the foundation of the lemon bars.
- Vanilla Extract: I use 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract in the shortbread crust. Not many lemon bar recipes call for vanilla extract and I promise you it’s my best kept secret.
- Salt: Without salt, the crust would be too sweet.
- Eggs: Eggs are most of the structure. Without them, you have lemon soup!
- Lemon Juice: I highly recommend using lemon juice squeezed from fresh lemons. You can also use another citrus like blood orange, grapefruit, or lime juice.
How to Make Lemon Bars in 5 Steps
- Prepare the crust: Mix all of the shortbread crust ingredients together, then press firmly into a 9×13 inch baking pan. Interested in a smaller batch? See my recipe note.
- Pre-bake: Pre-baking the crust guarantees it will hold up under the lemon layer.
- Prepare the filling: Whisk all of the filling ingredients together. No cooking on the stove!
- Bake: Pour the filling on the warm pre-baked crust, then bake for around 20 minutes or until the center is just about set. I slightly increased the baking temperature from my cookbook version. Either temperatures work, but 325°F is preferred.
- Cool: I usually cool the lemon bars for about 1 hour at room temperature, then stick the whole pan in the refrigerator for 1-2 more hours until relatively chilled. They’re wonderful cold and with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar on top!
Prepared in only 2 bowls and a baking pan, clean up is a breeze. These lemon bars win 1st place every time because they’re the perfect balance of tangy and sweet. In fact, I made them for my friend’s baby shower last weekend and they were the first dessert to disappear. And that’s saying a lot considering the competition: homemade chewy brownies and adorable animal cracker cookies. 🙂
2 Guaranteed Tricks to Make the Best Lemon Bars
- Use a glass pan. Ceramic is fine, but glass is best. Do not use metal. I always detect a slight metallic flavor in the lemon bars when baked in metal pans.
- Use fresh juice. Store-bought bottles are convenient, but you miss out on a lot of flavor. You will definitely taste the difference! I have a super old citrus juicer, but I recently purchased this juicer for my mom and she loves it. Highly recommended.
White Air Bubbles on Top of Baked Lemon Bars
Do you notice air bubbles, perhaps even a white layer of air bubbles, on top of your baked lemon bars? That’s completely normal. It’s the air from the eggs rising to the surface. Some batches have it, some don’t. Regardless, the lemon bars taste the same and a dusting of confectioners’ sugar covers it right up!
Blood orange bars! See my recipe note about substituting flavors.
Want to kick it up a notch? Here are my lemon meringue pie and lemon cheesecake recipes.
Craving lots of texture with your bars? You’ll love my oatmeal lemon crumble bars.
Plenty of lemon recipes to love on my site including these lemon crinkle cookies! Regardless of what you choose, lemon-y desserts are always a great choice when looking for springtime or Easter dessert recipes.
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Lemon Bars
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours, 50 minutes
- Yield: 24 bars
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
You only need 7 ingredients to make these lemon bars. The lemon curd filling is extra thick and creamy and sits on an irresistible butter shortbread crust. Always bake lemon bars at a lower temperature to avoid over-baking. See recipe notes for important tips. They’re simply the best lemon bars and are perfect for picnics, bake sales, spring brunches, baby showers, and bridal showers.
Ingredients
Shortbread Crust
- 1 cup (230g; 2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups + 2 Tablespoons (265g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
Lemon Filling
- 2 cups (400g) granulated sugar
- 6 Tablespoons (46g) all-purpose flour
- 6 large eggs
- 1 cup (240ml) lemon juice (about 4 lemons)
- optional: confectioners’ sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F (163°C). Line the bottom and sides of a 9×13 glass baking pan (do not use metal) with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on the sides to lift the finished bars out (makes cutting easier!). Set aside.
- Make the crust: Mix the melted butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and salt together in a medium bowl. Add the flour and stir to completely combine. The dough will be thick. Press firmly into prepared pan, making sure the layer of crust is nice and even. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Remove from the oven. Using a fork, poke holes all over the top of the warm crust (not all the way through the crust). A new step I swear by, this helps the filling stick and holds the crust in place. Set aside until step 4.
- Make the filling: Sift the sugar and flour together in a large bowl. Whisk in the eggs, then the lemon juice until completely combined.
- Pour filling over warm crust. Bake the bars for 22-26 minutes or until the center is relatively set and no longer jiggles. (Give the pan a light tap with an oven mitt to test.) Remove bars from the oven and cool completely at room temperature. I usually cool them for about 2 hours at room temperature, then stick in the refrigerator for 1-2 more hours until pretty chilled. I recommend serving chilled.
- Once cool, lift the parchment paper out of the pan using the overhang on the sides. Dust with confectioners’ sugar and cut into squares before serving. For neat squares, wipe the knife clean between each cut. Cover and store leftover lemon bars in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
- Freezing Instructions: Lemon bars can be frozen for up to 3-4 months. Cut the cooled bars (without confectioners’ sugar topping) into squares, then place onto a baking sheet. Freeze for 1 hour. Individually wrap each bar in aluminum foil or plastic wrap and place into a large bag or freezer container to freeze. Thaw in the refrigerator, then dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving.
Notes
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9×13-Inch Glass Pan | Glass Mixing Bowls | Spatula | Silicone Whisk | Juicer | Fine Mesh Sieve
- Halve the Recipe: Halve each of the ingredients to yield around 12 squares in a 9×9-inch baking pan. Same oven temperature. Bake the crust for 16-18 minutes and the bars for 20 minutes or until the center no longer jiggles.
- Sifting: More often than not, the flour doesn’t fully incorporate into the lemon filling unless it’s sifted with the sugar. As directed in the recipe, sift the two together before adding the eggs and lemon juice. I don’t always do this (and didn’t even do it in the video above!) but it’s preferred to avoid any flour lumps. If you have a sifter, it’s worth using. If you forget, it’s not a huge deal. Here is my favorite sifter. You use it again to dust the lemon bars with confectioners’ sugar.
- Lemon Juice: For exceptional taste, I highly recommend fresh lemon juice. Here is a wonderful inexpensive juicer if you don’t have one. Or use another fresh-squeezed citrus like grapefruit, blood orange, lime, or regular orange. You can slightly reduce the sugar if using a sweeter citrus. I recommend no less than 1 and 2/3 cup granulated sugar in the filling as it’s needed for structure.
- Room Temperature: Bringing the eggs and lemon juice to room temperature helps them mix easier into the flour and sugar. However, I never notice a taste or texture difference when using cold. Room temperature or cold, use whichever!
Keywords: lemon bars
Thank you for a great recipe! I am just wondering if there is a trick to keeping the powdered sugar from absorbing into the lemon layer?
★★★★★
Hi KI, that is normal. Instead of adding all the powdered sugar at once, you can do so as you serve the individual slices. We’re so glad you enjoyed them!
These turned out perfect!
★★★★★
Do you think I could sub gf flour?
Hi Savannah, we haven’t tested this recipe using gluten free flour so we’re unsure of the results, but let us know if you try anything.
Do you think this crust would work as a pie crust? How should I prepare it for a pie?
Hi Esther, you can see how we use a similar shortbread crust in this lemon blueberry tart, which can also be made in a pie dish.
Will make this recipe soon. Saw your note: ‘Blood orange bars! See my recipe note about substituting flavors.’ Do not see note bout substituting flavors. Thank You!
Hi Genelle, under the recipe you’ll see a section for notes. Check out note #4. Enjoy!
I made these and they were very delicious, but also very tart. I used exactly the amount of sugar recommended. Could it be the lemons? Would like to know for next time. Thank you
Hi Roxie! Were your lemons particularly sour/tart? That could be contributing to the taste. We don’t recommend adding more sugar or reducing the lemon juice, as the bars might not set properly. Thanks for giving this one a try!
Super easy and delicious!
★★★★★
Beyond delicious, easy to make and easy to eat too many. My pan was slightly smaller so my base was thicker and potentially needed just a few more minutes to cook.
★★★★★
I’m a little baffled by the cook times. As several other users have pointed out, both the crust and filling were not done in the given amount of time. The crust was nowhere close to brown. I baked at 325F for 22 minutes. I then added the filling and baked for 24 minutes, but when I took it out, it was completely undercooked. As in, the filling was liquid. Not close to the jiggly jelly consistency it needed to be. I upped the temperature to 350F and put it back in to bake for another 10 minutes, which seemed to do the trick. Still pretty delicious, but yeah I’ll have to remember to double all the cook times.
★★★★
What a wonderful recipe. It was a pleasure to follow, too, as your enthusiasm shines through in your writing. (I happen to teach English and had to express my appreciation!)
The lemon bars themselves went to a teachers’ lunch and they were a hit!
★★★★★
I was surprised that neither lemon zest or salt were ingredients in the filling. I had already zested the lemons before I no this. Can you explain th rationale for this. I also added about a half t salt.
Hi Ann, We prefer super smooth lemon bars here, but you definitely can add zest. We recommend 1-2 Tablespoons of lemon zest.
This is the ultimate lemon bar recipe! I will never even try another one because I don’t need to! It’s the perfect ratio of shortbread to filling and I don’t need to get out a mixer. Thanks Sally!
★★★★★
Hi Sally, are you able to add blueberries to the recipe?
Hi Laura, we haven’t tested adding blueberries to these bars but let us know if you do! You may love these lemon blueberry cheesecake bars or this lemon blueberry tart.
I made this with my 8 year old nephew and our whole family loved them! Best lemon bars we ever had. I also made the short bread a second time and added lemon zest and turned them into thumbprint cookies with strawberry jam. Amazing!
★★★★★
Mine are currently in the oven, but I noticed one or two discrepancies between the amount given in cups/spoons vs the same amount in grams, and I was wondering which one I should prioritise? My sugar was the same amount in both cups and grams, but my flour weighed about 35g more if I followed the cup measurement. I’m sure this is something that will pop up in multiple recipes and can at one point have an impact on the bake. My cups are: 1cup=250ml, 1/2 cup=125ml etc, and tablespoon 15ml, teaspoon 5ml etc. It would be helpful to know for future recipes which I need to prioritise. Looking forward to tasting them!
I wondered about this as well. My dough was very wet and I wondered if the proportions were correct. I weighed my flour. It seemed to bake okay but I did turn up the oven to 350.
These are the best lemon bars I’ve ever tasted! They’re amazing and so easy to make. I made recipe without any changes. Thank-you for this fabulous recipe!
★★★★★
Unfortunately, the crust never cooked completely after cooking it for 25 minutes, I was so dissappointed because the lemon filling was delicious, but I couldn’t serve them due to the crust never fully cooking. I will try again and cook longer then the 20 minutes recommended. I have made many many recipes that you have recommended and they always come out perfect, I will definitely try these again.
The shortbread crust took much longer to get to the light brown stage, but I did use an 8×11 glass pan, because that was what I have. Therefore, the baking time on the bars was longer. They turned out beautifully! Maybe a little too lemony. I don’t know how you would get around that, and the fact that they are super thick is probably why it feels like a lot of lemon in the mouth. The recipe was easy to follow and I didn’t have enough butter for the crust so I used a stick of butter and half a cup of crisco. I didn’t melt them, but I did put them in the kitchen aid mixer and whip them up really well. The dough still came together fine and I would heartily suggest this recipe to anyone!
★★★★