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 fudgy frosted brownies and adorable mini 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 and lemon thumbprint cookies! Regardless of what you choose, lemon-y desserts are always a great choice when looking for springtime or Easter dessert recipes.
PrintLemon 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 (16 Tbsp; 226g) 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-inch 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 | Silicone Spatula | Silicone Whisk | Juicer | Fine Mesh Sieve
- Halve the Recipe: Halve each of the ingredients to yield around 12 squares in a 9-inch square 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!
Needs zest from juiced lemons, and the crust turned out greasy.
I made these tonight and they were absolutely delicious. Not too sweet or tart, just perfect. I just had to bake it longer than suggested to get it right. They were a HUGE hit with my family.
Delicious and perfect! Thanks for the recipe! Very easy as well as quick to make. It was the first time I made lemon bars. I only had a muffin tin to work with so I made little individual portions 🙂 just cooked the crust and the whole bar a few minutes leas then the halving of the recipe instructions suggested.
What a zing. Wow. So tasty.
Just made these . Super easy to put together. My first attempt at making Lemon bars. Had a bunch of lemons. Squeezed then by hand. So glad I found a great recipe to use them for.
huge hit all my friends loved the bars! shortbread really paired well with the tart lemon flavor.
Super disappointed. The melted butter for the crust never incorporated during baking and I had oily, gooey crust. Surprising, I usually like Sally’s recipes. I found my mom’s lemon bar recipe and it called for room temperature butter and confectioners sugar, not granulated. I’ll have to try that one.
While cooling lemon filling cracked in several places and wondered why
Hi Barbara! Lemon bars are an egg-heavy dessert, like cheesecake, so they’re prone to cracking. They’re either cracking because the eggs are over-mixed (more air is whipped into the filling, then deflates causing the cracking) or they’re over-baked. One easy way to help guarantee no cracks, though, is to cool the lemon bars inside the oven. Turn the oven off 1-2 minutes before the lemon bars have finished cooking. Crack open the oven door and let the lemon bars cool inside the cooling oven for 1 hour. Then remove from the oven and cool at room temperature. The slow cooling will help prevent cracks. Hope this helps!
Hey! Tried this recipe, it was amazing!!
I used 2 eggs instead of 3 and it was fine.
I also added lemon zest!
And do I have to add eggs?
Stuck to the paper, terrible texture, underwhelming basic flavor, overly sour. All in all a waste of ingredients and time.
How many calories are in one bar?
Hi Martha! We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calculator.asp
Thank you!
Hi Sally! I made this recipe once to rave reviews. I’m going to try this with tangerine juice (reducing the sugar, as you suggest). What are your thoughts on making oleo-saccharum to bump up the citrus flavor? Would that be detrimental to the structure of the curd? Thanks!
These were amazing!! Thank you Sally for the awesome recipies
I made these yesterday and sadly it was a bit of a disaster. I think I must have pricked through the base as the topping seeped underneath and I’m left with a gooey, but delicious tasting, mess. Any suggestions what I can do with them as I really don’t want to throw it away but currently difficult to eat, can’t pick it up as it’s very sticky and oozy. Ideas welcome, thank you
could I make this recipe in a tart pan? top it with meringue? Going for the whole “fancy dancy” vibe without actually having to do the dancy part..
Hi Alexandria! That should be OK. We’re unsure of the best bake time. If you’re using a 9-inch pan, you’ll have enough for 2 thin tarts.
Hi Sally!!! I am I huge fan of all your recipes! I made these and turned out amazing!!! The only thing is that they smell very much like egg and they have an aftertaste also of egg. I was wondering if I can increase the amount of sugar from 1 cup to 1 1/2 cup of sugar and put 4 eggs instead of 6. What do you recommend?? Also can I bake them with aluminum instead of paper?
Thankyou very much.
Hi Carla, they could be over-baked if they taste eggy. If you try them again try shortening the bake time. We don’t suggest baking them with aluminum foil as it may give these bars a metallic taste. Best to stick to parchment for this recipe!
I plan on making these for Easter. For me they are perfect but I want my husband to enjoy them as well. Thank you for the suggestions and the fast turnaround.
I made these today, excellent is an understatement. My husband wants me to use less lemon juice to reduce the tartness. What do you suggest?
Hi Mary! You can always add a little more sugar or use Meyer lemons, which are naturally less tart than regular lemons. Or use a mix of fresh orange juice and lemon juice.
Perfection!
Hi Sally wondering if i use oats flour instead of the all purpose flour as my mum has a gluten allergic. I have made this recipe with all purpose flour before and it is delicious. I would 100% recommend those who haven’t made this and are willing to tried it out.
Hi Avantika, we haven’t tested oat flour in this recipe, so we can’t say for certain. You may have better luck with a 1:1 gluten free all purpose flour sub (like Bob’s Red Mill or Cup4Cup). We’d love to know what you try!
Absolutely perfect. I ended up using about 6 lemons to get the required amount of juice, but they came out flawlessly.
These are by far the best lemon bars I have ever eaten. My son whose not a big lemon fan devoured his. Everything about them is amazing. And so easy to make! I was given a sack of Meyers lemons, so it was a no brainer. Thank you for sharing.
Made these today. WOW! Especially if you like lemon. I found 4 fairly large lemons, but didn’t have the cup of juice I needed, so added some bottled to make up for what I was short.
Ended up with 32 smaller ones, as these are being shared with 5 friends.
Wow, so simple and really full of lemon flavour. Definitely very impressed. 10/10 will definitely be making again
I made the lemon bars today, halved the recipe. They came out perfect. I had to have a taste before I put them in the refrigerator to cool.
They’re delicious! I love all things lemon!
Hi Sally,
If you use blood oranges, would you need to add less sugar by chance? Thanks!
Hi Catherine, You can slightly reduce the sugar if using a sweeter citrus. We recommend no less than 1 and 2/3 cup granulated sugar in the filling as it’s needed for structure. Hope you enjoy these!
Can I substitute coconut oil for the butter in the crust?
Hi Darcy, coconut oil would be the best option for replacing the butter in the crust. Taste will be slightly different. Let us know if you give it a try!
I often feel underwhelmed by lemon bars not having enough bright, zesty lemon flavor, but these bring out the lemon in the best way possible. The shortbread is moist and flavorful and the lemon curd comes out with a perfect smooth consistency. I followed the recipe exactly and would highly recommend making these!
Thank you Sally! These are so delicious!! I will never need another lemon bar recipe:) I love all your cookbooks and recipes! I followed the instructions just as shown and halved it and my siblings and I could not stop eating them! Truly a winner.
I am confident I followed the recipe exactly. They turned out great! I got a little nervous because I started reading the comments after I put the lemon topping on and put them back in the oven. I have never made lemon bars from scratch before. I think these people who are complaining might not have followed the recipe? I do think next time I might cut back on the sugar a bit and try it with almond flour.