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!
Soggy Bottom Bars.
I should have known better than to think melted butter could make a decent base.
Hi Darcie, were you sure to pre-bake the crust? It should be relatively dry and lightly browned before adding the lemon filling.
Hi, does anyone have the nutritional info on these? My middle grandgirl was recently diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic. I need to know the carbs in everything she eates.
Hi TS, 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://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
I am making your recipe today and just wondered if baking them in convection oven would make a difference as l have made them twice and both times the base came up thru the lemon and not worthy of serving. I also used metal pan which you don’t recommend. So here goes to Sally’s lemon squares. I cant afford to waste any more ingredients. Thanks
Hi Darlene, We always recommend conventional settings for baking (not convection/fan). The flow of air from convection heat can cause baked goods to rise and bake unevenly and it also pulls moisture out of the oven. If you do use convection/fan settings for baking, lower your temperature by 25 degrees F and keep in mind that things may still take less time to bake.
I’ve used this recipe many times. Love it. But why does the top get cracks when cooling?
Hi Rosanna, 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. If you make them again, 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!
These lemon bars are delicious!
I have made this recipe numerous times and absolutely love it! I wanted to make it for my gluten-free friends. I just substituted regular flour for a high quality gluten free flour. I used the same amount of gluten free flour as the recipe calls for. Then I read on a gluten free site to use powdered sugar in the shortbread dough rather than granulated sugar. For the lemon filling, I just followed the same recipe, only substituting the gluten free flour. I used granulated sugar for the filling. They were AMAZING. My gluten free friends loved them and my other friends couldn’t taste any difference. Thank you!
So what did your bars look like and what flour GF flour did you use? I was as using cloud9 cup for cup and it was horrible!
I used King Arthur’s Measure for Measure Gluten Free flour
In the shortbread did you use the same amount of powdered sugar as you would have granulated sugar?
Can’t wait to try this recipe! I only have an 8 x 8, should I just halve everything like you recommend for the 9×9? Or just go buy a new pan?!!
Hi Chris! We recommend a 9×9 inch baking pan for a half batch, but you can use an 8×8 inch pan for slightly thicker bars.
I use this recipe every year to make lemon bars for my wife. Easy to follow, and delicious. Trust Sally— poke the holes in the crust and squeeze your own lemons!
I’m on a Yule cookie baking crusade – just made Sally’s chewy chocolate chip cookies – Been trying for DECADES to get a cookie like these turned out! Was not sure about the melted butter, but this time I did it just like her recipe — I am NOT disappointed! They turned out AMAZING! So I’m now on to the Lemon Bar recipe, which I’m sure will also be great. Thank you Sally!
Lemon flavor is popping! great recipe easy to follow
the lemon topping is not as bright as in the photographs above but the taste is amazing!
i used an immersion blender to blend the filling to get out all egg piece
Best lemon bars I ever tasted in my life and so easy to make!! Followed the recipe to the letter.
Hi Judy, Cover and store leftover lemon bars in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Made as written and they turned out AMAZING. We used Meyer lemons straight from our tree that are naturally on the sweeter side. We let it cool at room temp for three hours before putting it in the fridge and the texture was exactly what I wanted.
First, I had to cook this recipe about 2 times longer than mentioned in the directions. Secondly, even after a 16 minute pre bake, and a FORTY plus minute bake, the crust is, and I believe this in intentional, gummy and soft. There is no crispness to the crust WHAT.SO.EVER. My wife couldn’t make it past one bite because of the texture. I even started literally putting the bars in a cast iron skillet for a few minutes before serving, to try and crisp up the crust. It didn’t bother me as much, but no one else ate these.
The curd WAS delicious, but again, plan on at LEAST twice as long in the oven.
Has anyone frozen the whole pan then cut it after it was defrosted in the refrigerator? I want to make these ahead for holiday dinner because I have a lot of fresh lemon juice after making limoncello. But wrapping each square and then unwrapping them before serving seems to be little too time consuming.
After cooling, I take them out of the pan and freeze on a cookie sheet for an hour. Then I put them in a ziplock bag or two and freeze. After defrosting, cut them up.
They were so good to make and easy and can turn the oven to 350 or at 325
Thank you! My family loves these! We like them a bit more tart so I changed the sugar to lemon juice ratio to 1 to 1 and reduced the number of eggs to 5 (the initial batch had an eggy smell/taste). They’ve been great, but the last batch did not set well and never firmed up enough. Any suggestions?
Hi Mashka, we’re glad these are a favorite! We haven’t tested that ratio of ingredients and wonder if that may be contributing to the setting issue. You could also try baking them a few minutes longer to ensure it is baked through.
I like extra tart lemon bars as well. I keep the recipe exactly the same and add fresh lemon zest. To me, this adds the perfect amount of tart and sets up perfectly every time. They are always a HUGE hit!!
I made the smaller version of it and it looks super uncooked. I’m worried. I chose this recipe for my high school baking class.
Can I make a meringue and turn this into a lemon meringue pie?
Hi Suri, here is our lemon meringue pie recipe instead. Let us know if you try it!
This is great! I added some lemon zest too because I wanted them to be very lemony.
Apparently the secret to super lemony squares is the variety of lemon, Meyer lemons have a thinner skin and are sweeter and Eureka lemons are kinda lumpy with a thick skin and are much more tart. I used Eureka and they were tart!
I always have issues with the weight of flour, 1 cup of flour for me weighs closer for 140g. I just use No Name unbleached flour (Canada). For this recipe I use the written weight and just add more (~1/2 cup) until it’s not so greasy and looks like Sally’s.
Great recipe! I’ve tried several recipes, none of which gave me the results I was looking for. This one tastes wonderful and is super easy to understand and navigate through. Question: Could this recipe be increased to fit into a 10×15 pan. I would like to make a larger amount, but do not have an additional 9×13 baking dish.
Hi Kelly, we’re so glad you enjoyed the bars! You could certainly try multiplying the recipe proportionally to fit a larger pan. We’re unsure of the exact bake time.
I don’t have unsalted butter for the crust. Can I substitute salted butter and omit the extra salt?
Hi Kat, yes, you can use salted butter and leave out the added salt. Happy baking!
Why not add lemon zest to the lemon filling for extra flavor like in your lemon curd recipe?
Hi Tony, we prefer super smooth lemon bars here, but you definitely can add zest. We recommend 1-2 Tablespoons of lemon zest.
This lemon bar recipe is one of the best I have tried. I have made this at least four times.
Hi, I love your recipe. I have three eggs so obviously I’m missing three. Is there a substitute for the eggs?
Hi Natalie, lemon bars are an egg heavy dessert. We haven’t tried any egg substitutes here.
This turned out perfect.
Gosh I love this recipe. We were blessed with Meyers lemon trees in our backyard and these bars made with our lemons have become my signature dessert! I love that you give us tips and tricks, too. Easy, minimal dishes, and so so good!!!
Suggestions on making this gluten free? I have the 1:1 ratio gluten free flour in my pantry.
Hi Suzanne, we haven’t tested this recipe with gluten free flour, so we’re unsure of the exact results. Let us know if you do give it a try.
How much does the lemon curd recipe yield? I’d like to use store bought
Hi Sam, lemon curd (store bought or homemade) is too thin and won’t bake up properly. Best to follow the recipe as written for best results!
This recipe is the best! Thank you! I’ve made it so many times and everyone loves it! Thank you for sharing such a wonderfully perfect lemon bar recipe.