You only need 7 ingredients to make these lemon bars. The lemon curd filling is extra thick and creamy and sits on an irresistible buttery 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. For extra flavor, add some fresh zest as well.
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 325ยฐF 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. ๐
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 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 ingredientsย to make these lemon bars. The lemon curd filling is extra thick and creamy and sits on an irresistibleย 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) fresh lemon juice (about 4 lemons)
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest, optional
- optional: confectioners’ sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325ยฐF (163ยฐC).ย Line the bottom and sides of a 9ร13-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 and lemon zest (if using) 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,ย 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!
Reader Comments and Reviews
If I’m using Myer Lemons should I use less sugar?
Hi Joyce, you can definitely use Meyer lemons here with no changes to the recipe. Enjoy!
Made these twice now, first time it came out perfect, second time, the bars cracked upon room temp cooling in the first hour – what happened?
Hi Rebecca, lemon bars are an egg-heavy dessert, like cheesecake, so theyโre prone to cracking. Theyโre either cracking because the eggs are over-mixed (more air is whipped into the filling, then deflates, causing the cracking) or theyโre 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!
Luv it so easy and good !
Great recipe. The shortbread texture can be a bit tough but still good. I made it with limes and it worked well, just add less sugar.
I make these twice a year for the bake sale my womenโs choir has at our performances and boy do they go fast!!! Thank you for sharing this recipe!! Love the thicker shortbread than is usually a part of a lemon desert as well as the good amount of lemon flavor!!
And I also have the name McKenney, so thereโs that!!
We’re so glad you love these, Diana! Thanks for trusting our recipes!
also could I use cornstarch for the filling instead? Can i store them at room temperature or the fridge is better?
Hi Ellie, we havenโt tested this recipe with cornstarch instead of flour, so we canโt give you a confident answer here. We fear 1:1 would be too much, so if you do decide to experiment, weโd start with less cornstarch. If you give anything a try, let us know how it goes. These are best stored in the refrigerator. Hope you enjoy the bars!
how do you store theses and how can u make ahead of time?
Hi Ellie, you can cover and store leftover lemon bars in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. See step 6 in the recipe instructions for freezing instructions should you want to make these ahead of time. Enjoy!
The best lemon bars ever! I made these today for my mother’s day dessert. Love anything lemon. Followed Sally’s recipe and of course, they turned out perfect and delicious. This one is a keeper! Thanks Sally ๐
Good morning Sally Happy Motherโs Day.
Well I made your lemon bars. The crust is too hard and the filling even though it tastes great is still gooey. Iโm not sure what I did wrong can you help?
Hi Robert, weโre happy to help troubleshoot. How are you measuring your flour? Be sure to spoon and level (or use a kitchen scale) to ensure the flour isnโt over measured, which can cause the crust to become hard and dry. You can also try slightly decreasing the pre-bake time for the crust; the crust can become too hard when over baked. Was the filling completely cooled yet? They will continue to set as they cool, but if they are still overly gooey, then they likely need a few additional minutes in the oven. Hope this helps for next time!
Can pre-made lemon curd be used for this?
Hi Kari, lemon curd (store bought or homemade) is too thin and wonโt bake up properly. Best to follow the recipe as written for best results!
Can I make these with gluten free flour? I have made your pecan pie bars with gluten free flour and they turned out great, but unsure if the lemon filling would be ok with gluten free flour.
Hi Angela, we havenโt tested it, but you might have success experimenting with a gluten-free all-purpose flour like Bobโs Red Mill or Cup4Cup. If you give anything a try, weโd love to know how it goes for you!
Can I cut the recipe in half and bake in a 9×9โ pan?
Hi Vicki! You should be able to halve the recipe for an 8ร8 pan.
โLiterally, lemon bar perfection!โ I donโt bake or cook much and mine came out perfect. Had 3 text messages within 30 minutes of leaving from family who partook, requesting the recipe. Everyone gushed praise for them. And my best friend made them for her husband the very next day after I raved about them; thatโs her comment in quotes. We changed nothing.
So happy to read this, GeeGee! Thank you for your glowing review.
Sinfully good
hello I made these today and I was wondering why my lemon filling came out soupy and had white chunks in it?
i think i overmixed it and i accidentally put the lemon juice first before the eggs.
Love this recipe! if i wanted to make these into lavender lemon bars, with actual dried lavender in the crust, how much should i put in the shortbread dough? thanks (:
I tried making this, but the lemon filling sank to the bottom. Why did that happen?
Hi Brenda, Usually when the bars end up inverted itโs because we either over-baked the crust, or let it cool for too long. Did you prick the crust with a fork (see the end of step 2)? This should help prevent this issue. Hope this helps!
These lemon bars look awesome . Should they be stored the fridge ? There may not be any left but if there are some left should they be covered tightly and stored in the fridge ? Do they freeze well ?
Thank you
Hi Nancy, you can cover and store leftover lemon bars in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Lemon bars can also be frozen for up to 3-4 months. See last 2 steps of the recipe instructions for details. Enjoy!
Hi, Iโve been baking using Sallyโs recipes for a while, and Iโve always wanted to try this! It was fun to make, but didnโt set fully, even overnight, and the crust didnโt bake fully either. If I were you I would try this but be very careful! This is very lemony though so itโs yummy which is good.
Hi Joanne, we’re so sorry you were disappointed in these lemon bars. We’re happy to help troubleshoot, should you wish to try them again! It sounds like the filling didnโt bake long enough to set. Did you use a 9ร13 pan? Did you bake the bars until the center no longer jiggled? A few extra minutes of baking for next time will be beneficial.
Love these! I made them with my daughter for Easter and have had multiple requests since! Thanks so much for delicious recipes – we know we can’t go wrong with a Sally’s recipe.
Made these today for book club. I of course had to taste testโฆ Had to stop myself from eating the entire tray. Theyโre perfect, like every recipe of yours Iโve ever made. Thank you yet again Sally!
When I bake these, the top is kind of foamy? I think I might be overmixing the eggs? Do you have any ideas of whats causin this? thanks!
Hi Barbara, if too much air is incorporated into the lemon filling mixture, there can be a layer of foamy film on top. Be careful not to over-mix or whip the filling when combining and be careful not to over-bake the bars. These tips should help! Some air bubbles are normal, see โWhite Air Bubbles on Top of Baked Lemon Barsโ above.
Hi Sally, I’ve tried several of your recipes recently with great success so far. Just wondering what the texture of the base should be like. I made these two days ago, let cool down to room temp, covered with plastic wrap and refridgerated because I didn’t need them until today. Cut them up and they are really good, but the base is a bit soft. Is that because they sat for two days or it supposed to be soft ?
Thanks so much, you are quickly becoming my new ‘go to’ for my baking needs
Hi Karen, The crust is meant to be a buttery shortbread texture, but not very crumbly. Thank you for trying out recipes and happy baking!
Instead of lemon juice for lemon bars would I be albe to use raspberry juice
Hi Debby, we havenโt tried this, so we canโt be sure. You could try a lemon and raspberry blend. Let us know if you give anything a try.
This always turns out great! But was wondering, would it work with gluten free flour? I have friends who are GF, so I’m curious if subbing GF flour would work. Thanks!
Hi Emily, we haven’t tested these with gluten free flour, but let us know if you do!
I volunteer at our hospital and brought these in for the nurses. They were gone in about 2 hours!! I had several of them come up to me and say those were the best lemon bars they ever ate and how did I make them- of course
I gave away my secret and sent them to your website! I did use real lemons and zest which I think gave them that amazing flavor! Thanks- I have always had great success with every recipe of yours that I have tried!
Hello could I make this with lime instead of lemon
Hi Marissa! You can swap limes for lemons. Enjoy!
I have replaced my old recipe with this one. It is easy to make and super flavorful. The ratio of pastry to lemon curd is perfection.
5 stars. Easy & quick recipe that feels elevated. My 2 year old probably over whipped the eggs, but we didn’t have any issues. I was also short 1/4c of lemon juice after juicing all 4 of my lemons, but included the zest. Omitted sugar dust. Crust 10/10, filling 10/10