Cool, creamy, and refreshing lemon blueberry tart comes together with 10 ingredients. The simple lemon filling sits in a flaky shortbread crust and is swirled with homemade blueberry sauce. After the first bite of this sweet, tangy, and buttery tart, it’s impossible to put your fork down. Enjoy this beautiful dessert for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, spring or summer celebrations, and more.
I knew a tart or pie version of our beloved lemon blueberry cake would be a hit in my household AND with many of you reading this. I’m always dreaming up ways to use this unbeatable flavor combination such as lemon blueberry muffins or lemon blueberry cupcakes. A beautiful tart with tons of fresh flavor was definitely my imagination’s top choice. I cannot wait for you to try this one.
Lemon Blueberry Tart Details
- Texture: I went back and forth about which type of crust to use for this lemon tart, but shortbread seemed most fitting. It’s pleasantly crumbly with a flaky texture that melts in your mouth. The crust contrasts perfectly with the creamy and lush filling on top, making this one of our favorite spring dessert recipes and Easter brunch recipes.
- Flavor: If I were to describe the taste of pure sunshine, it would definitely be this lemon blueberry tart. The lemon flavor is delightfully fresh and bright, and there’s just enough tang to complement all the sweetness. You really only need a small slice since there’s such a strong punch of flavor, but honestly I’ve never witnessed anyone stopping at 1 serving. (HA!)
- Ease: There are 3 components to the tart and each must be prepared separately, but there’s nothing really complicated about the entire process. Take your time and read through the recipe before you start.
- Time: It only takes about an hour to prep and bake the tart. But you’ll want to cool and chill it before serving, so set aside a few hours to complete the entire recipe. It’s wonderful when made the day ahead, too! Oatmeal lemon crumble bars are another excellent option for an even quicker lemony treat.
3 Parts to This Recipe
- Buttery Shortbread Crust: I make this shortbread crust with a lot of different desserts and it always reminds me of pie crust, but it’s so much easier. There’s no food processor or pastry cutter needed—instead simply combine melted butter with sugar, vanilla, salt, and flour and press into a tart pan or pie dish. You don’t even need to chill the dough before using. You’ll notice we use the same crust for our raspberry streusel bars, apple pie bars, and we double the recipe for our lemon bars. Keep in mind that these other desserts may require different oven temperatures and that’s because the desserts take longer, overall, to bake through. We bake the crust at 350°F (177°C) for this particular tart recipe.
- Lemon Filling: A lot of lemon tarts are prepared with a curd filling, but this one is thick, creamy, and rich. I use a similar lemon filling for our creamy lemon pie. I halved it for this tart, then cut down on the egg yolks. The egg yolks help the filling set, but I wanted the finished tart to remain soft. I think you’ll really love it. We’ll use only 1 egg yolk.
- Blueberry Sauce Swirl: You’ll enjoy pure blueberries without much else in the way. We hardly add any sugar to the blueberry sauce (some is needed to help them break down), so the natural flavor can really shine. Cook it on the stovetop for a few minutes, let it cool a little bit, then swirl some into the lemon filling. Feel free to strain it if you don’t want any blueberry lumps. You can use a toothpick or knife to swirl.
Can I Use a Graham Cracker Crust Instead?
A graham cracker crust will fall apart and crumble under this wet filling, so I suggest sticking with the shortbread crust for this recipe. If you wish to use a graham cracker crust, make these lemon blueberry cheesecake bars instead.
The shortbread crust dough is thick and a little greasy—don’t be nervous if it looks a little wet. Press it tightly into your pan and pre-bake it before adding the filling.
Creamy Lemon Tart Filling
You need one 14 ounce (weight) can of full-fat sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice and zest, and 1 egg yolk. That’s it. Fresh lemon juice is best. Here is a wonderful juicer if you don’t have one and if you need a recommendation for a zester, I use and love this one.
Spread the filling into the pre-baked crust.
I recommend making the blueberry sauce first so it’s ready when you need it. The recipe moves pretty quickly once you begin pre-baking the crust.
How to Make Mini Lemon Blueberry Tarts
Try using this recipe for about 10 mini tarts in mini tart pans. I don’t recommend a muffin pan for turning this recipe into mini tarts. Divide crust mixture between each mini tart pan (bake these in batches if you have less than 10), press firmly into the bottom, and bake for 8 minutes to help set the crust. It’s usually easiest to bake mini tart pans on a larger baking sheet. No need to poke holes in the crust before adding the filling as directed for the full size tart below. Pour filling into warm crusts, drop a few tiny spoonfuls of blueberry sauce on each, then swirl as directed below. Bake for 9-10 minutes or just until the centers no longer jiggle. Cool completely, then chill for at least 1 hour before removing from tart pans and serving. (Or serve in tart pans.)
Lemon Blueberry Tart Variations
If you want to switch up some flavors, be our guest! Here are the variations we tested. We’re unsure of the results outside of these listed changes, so let us know if you try anything else.
- Lime Tart: Switch the lemon juice and zest for lime juice and zest. Feel free to keep the blueberry swirl or skip it. You could also use the strawberry, raspberry, or blackberry swirl.
- Strawberry Swirl: Replace blueberries with 1 cup chopped fresh or frozen strawberries. You can’t really detect the strawberry seeds in the baked tart, but feel free to strain the sauce through a fine mesh sieve before swirling into the filling.
- Raspberry or Blackberry Swirl: Replace blueberries with 1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries or blackberries and add 1 more teaspoon of sugar to the sauce (for a total of 3 teaspoons). Strain the finished sauce through a fine mesh sieve to remove the seeds before swirling into the filling.
- We haven’t tested other citrus besides lime or lemon. We do not recommend swapping the lemons for orange zest/juice because the tart will be very, very sweet. You really need the tang from lemons or limes. We haven’t tested this recipe with grapefruit.
See Your Lemon Blueberry Tarts!
Many readers tried this recipe as part of a baking challenge! Feel free to email or share your recipe photos with us on social media. 🙂
PrintLemon Blueberry Tart
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours (includes chilling)
- Yield: serves 8-10
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
There are 3 parts to this creamy lemon blueberry tart and each are prepared separately before bringing them all together. For best success, take your time and read through the recipe before starting.
Ingredients
Blueberry Sauce
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice (or water)
- 1 cup (140g) fresh or frozen blueberries (do not thaw)
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
Shortbread Crust
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
Filling
- 1 (14 ounce weight) can full-fat sweetened condensed milk
- 6 Tablespoons (90ml) lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest (1 lemon)
- 1 large egg yolk
Optional Garnishes
- Lemon slices, blueberries, leftover blueberry sauce, whipped cream
Instructions
- Blueberry Sauce: Using a fork, mix the cornstarch and lemon juice together in a small bowl until the cornstarch has dissolved. Set aside. Warm the blueberries and sugar together in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally for 3 minutes, mashing the blueberries as best you can against the bottom and sides of the pan to help break them up. Stir in the cornstarch mixture. Cook for 2 more minutes as the sauce thickens, stirring and mashing the blueberries to break them up as desired. Remove sauce from heat and set aside at room temperature until step 6. Makes about 1/2 – 2/3 cup blueberry sauce and you’ll use about half for the swirl. (Reserve extra for garnish/serving.)
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).
- 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 a little greasy and very thick. Using a silicone spatula or your hands, press dough firmly into a 9-inch tart pan (no need to grease it), making sure the layer of crust is even on the bottom and all around the sides. It may seem like it won’t fit, but it will. You can use the bottom of a measuring cup to pack the crust in too, but sometimes it sticks.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until the edges are very lightly browned. Remove from the oven. Using a fork, poke a few holes all over the top of the warm crust (not all the way through the crust). This helps the filling stick.
- Filling: Whisk all of the filling ingredients together until combined. Pour into warm crust. Stir up the blueberry sauce because it has likely thickened. It can still be warm when you use it in this step. If it’s too thick, warm it in the microwave for 5-10 seconds. Drop spoonfuls of blueberry sauce all over the top, using about half of the sauce. Reserve the rest of the sauce for serving. Using a toothpick or knife, gently swirl the sauce and filling together. Shimmy the pan back and forth 2-3 times to let the sauce and filling settle down into the crust a bit.
- Bake for 17-19 minutes, just until the center of the tart no longer jiggles when you give the pan a light tap. It will still be a little sticky on top. Avoid over-baking because the tart will taste rubbery. (Tip: Err on the side of under-baking because the filling also has a chance to set up in the refrigerator. You want a creamy soft filling.)
- Remove tart from the oven and place on a cooling rack. Cool completely at room temperature, then chill in the refrigerator uncovered for at least 2 hours and up to 1 day. If chilling for longer than 2 hours, cover it. After chilling, remove the sides of the tart pan if your pan has removable sides.
- Slice and serve with optional garnishes including any leftover blueberry sauce.
- Cover leftovers tightly and refrigerate for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: You can bake, cool, and chill the tart 1 day in advance. See step 7. The filling must be poured on a warm crust so it will stick, so I don’t recommend pre-baking the crust ahead of time. You can prepare the filling and blueberry sauce in advance though. Cover both and refrigerate until ready to use. The blueberry filling will be quite solid after refrigerating, so warm it up on the stove or in the microwave until thinned out again. (It can be warm when you swirl it into the filling.) Baked and cooled tart freezes well up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Silicone Spatula | 9-inch Tart Pan | Cooling Rack
- Tart Pan: A 9-inch tart pan with or without removable sides (it doesn’t matter) is ideal for this recipe. If you use other size tart pans, the bake times and thickness of the tart will differ. You can also use a 9-inch pie dish, but slicing the tart isn’t quite as neat. The bake times are the same. For mini tart pans, see post above. I don’t recommend a springform pan because the crust leaks. We haven’t tested this recipe in a round cake pan or as bars.
- Blueberry Sauce: If you don’t want blueberry lumps in your tart, feel free to run the blueberry sauce through a fine mesh sieve.
- Sweetened Condensed Milk: Make sure you are using sweetened condensed milk, not evaporated milk. There are no successful replacements for sweetened condensed milk in this particular recipe– it’s really the key ingredient. (Sometimes half-and-half or heavy cream works as a substitution, but then you’ll have to test with varying amounts of sugar since both are unsweetened.) Use one 14 ounce can full-fat sweetened condensed milk. Do not use fat free because the tart will not set. Keep in mind that 14 ounces is the listed weight on the can. 1 standard 14 ounce can is a little over 1 liquid cup.
I followed the crust recipe (even spooned and measured the flour correctly), but it ended up being really greasy. I ended up adding flour so that it would stick up in the pan. However, when I went to pre-bake it, the slides slid down again- seems like it still might be too greasy? I think the taste will be just fine, but I’d like to troubleshoot it for next time! Did anyone encounter the same thing?
Hi Cassidy, yes, expect a greasy mixture. Shortbread is very butter heavy. You can add more flour, but then the crust could taste dry. What may help prevent the sides of the crust from shrinking down is chilling the crust for about 20 minutes after pressing it into the tart pan.
Such a yummy tart and perfect for spring! Easy recipe, too!
This was a relatively easy recipe and fun to try. The crust is yummy- I made mine in a pie plate so the edges were not as pretty. There is not enough blueberry filling- I would double it. Although my husband adored it I found it to be too sweet. Don’t get me wrong I still ate 2 pieces- it’s yummy just very sweet. Although a lemon curd would be more challenging it would balance out the sweet on sweet from the crust and the blueberries.
Made this for Easter and can’t wait to try it!
I made this recipe today and I’m in love! Lemon blueberry desserts are my absolute favorite so I had to try this out. I used a pie pan and it came out great. Taste is amazing and will be perfect for Easter weekend!
Another Sally success! And perfect for springtime and Easter. This recipe has quite a few steps, but I found them well explained, as per usual with Sally’s recipes. I appreciate the baking skills these challenges teach me, as well as what I learn about presentation techniques. I learned the swirl technique in this recipe, for example. Thanks, Sally and team for all you do to make these challenges so fun!
Hi Sally, if I use a glass pie dish instead of a tart pan, should I vary the cooking time? Or possibly bake on a piece of parchment?
Hi Abbey, in our recipe testing, the bake times were the same using a glass pie dish and metal tart pan.
Loved this tart. Tastes great and is very easy. This recipe is a keeper.
I was hoping to use mini tart pans. Mine do not have a removable bottom will it still work out?
Hi Kim, you can, the tarts may just be difficult to cut and get a bit messy. Still delicious, though!
HI
I love the look of this recipe, but due to a diabetic husband, I always need the carbohydrate and sugar content. This goes for all of your recipes….is there a special place I can locate this?
Thanks, Margaret
Hi Margaret! 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
Perfect tart! Straightforward, easy to make and delicious !
Hi Sally! The tart was so freaking good! Not too tart and not too sweet and the crust was buttery and flaky. A perfect dessert for Spring!
Do you have any way to measure calories or anything like that for this recipe?
It would be helpful for my parents…
Thanks!! It looks amazing, I want to try this for family (and possible friends) on Easter.
Hi M! 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
How many mini tarts does this recipe make?
Hi Wendy, it depends on the size of the mini tart pans but we got about 12 thin 4-inch tarts.
I made the recipe as mini tarts…filling was fabulous but I think my crust was too thick. Do you know how much dough to should use in each 4″ pan – preferably by weight? Thx!
Hi Sally! This tart looks gorgeous! I cannot wait to try it. Will my crust still work if I use cake wheat flour instead?
Hi Rachel, it probably would be fine but we haven’t tested it.
I’ve just made mine and sent the email! It smells soooooo good! I cannot wait for my family to try it. Thank you ❤️
The filling had a bit to much condensed milk for my taste. Other than that it was delicious!
We subbed the lemon with key lime and made this today with my 5 and 7 year old. We loved it! Only issue was I didn’t grease the pie pan and our crust stuck.
Lesson learned. We still enjoyed it!
You can buy lactose free milk in the store, but we make our own by crushing one Kirkland Lactase tablet and mix it in a regular milk. 1 tablet per gallon works for us, and it works for cream too, which is very nice. We then leave in the fridge for 24 hour for it to process the lactose out.
With the lactose free milk, I followed the instructions at Gemma’s Bigger Bolder Baking https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/how-to-make-condensed-milk/ (she has a video too). I did half batches in case I accidentally scorched the milk, but 4 cups of milk + 1-1/3 sugar should give you around 2 cups of condensed milk. Just over what we need for Sally’s Lemon Berry Tart. Dissolve sugar into milk, lightly simmer for 30 minutes, skim the foam off the top, lightly simmer another 10 minutes and let cool completely before storing in the fridge for up to 6 months.
Mine actually took an hour to make for each batch, but they both came out perfect.
The husband isn’t a fan of blueberry. Would the recipe work with blackberries or raspberries?
Hi Ashley! Definitely. See the section titled “Lemon Blueberry Tart Variations” just above the recipe in the blog post. Hope it’s a hit!
Absolutely delicious! I love lemon desserts and the only I change I made was to use blackberries. I will definitely be making this again and again!
Remarkably, I had all of the ingredients to try this recipe on day 1 of the challenge! I used key lime juice instead of lemon and kept the blueberry swirl. It’s chilling in my refrigerator now, and I can’t wait to surprise my husband with it after dinner!
Sally, I have a 9.5 inch tart pan, will that work ok? I’m excited to try this month’s challenge! Thank you for posting!!!
Hi Debbie! Yes, a 9.5 inch tart pan will work just fine. The tart will be *slightly* thinner, but bake times should be the same. Enjoy!
I want to try this!!! Question, though. I have a tart pan with the removable base. Do I need to grease the tart pan at all in order to remove the tart after it sets?
Hi Zalina, you do not need to grease the tart pan. There’s plenty of butter in the shortbread crust to prevent it from sticking. I usually serve the tart out of the bottom base but remove the sides as shown in the video.
How does this compare to the lemon blueberry cake? I was planning on making that (and a coconut cream pie) for Easter, but this seems less time consuming…. Do you prefer one over the other?
Hi Katie, both are lemon and blueberry flavored but the textures are completely different. This is a creamy tart (almost like pudding if it’s not over-cooked), while the cake is soft and springy. This tart is definitely a little quicker.
why do you not recommend a muffin pan? What happened when you tried it?
Hi Ruth, the shortbread crust puffed up too much. You can certainly try it, but I recommend sticking to a full size or use mini tart pans.
I used Wilton’s mini tart pan, which is in a cupcake form. The crust definitely puffed up too much and I was worried. I just smooshed them down a bit after the pre bake. We’ll see how they turn out after chilling!
My granddaughter has celiacs so can I substitute gluten free flour in the tart to make the dessert gluten free?
Hi Cindy, we haven’t tested this recipe with gluten free flour. I don’t think it should be a problem though. Let us know if you try it.
Hey Cindy! I was also hoping to make a gluten free version; have you tried it out yet? I was just going to substitute Red Mill gluten free flour in a 1:1 ratio but I wasn’t sure if I needed to change anything else
I am definitely going to make this for our Easter dinner! Do you think there would be any issue with doubling the recipe to make two tarts? I know the shortbread recipe can be doubled but wasn’t sure if you thought the filling could be. Thanks!
Hi Rose, doubling the recipe (crust, filling, and sauce) shouldn’t be a problem at all. The sauce may take an extra minute or 2 to thicken on the stove.
What I love about these challenges, is I not only learn amazing skills I have never tried. They also are broadening my bakeware collection, soufflé dish, tart pan, springform pan.
Hi Sally. Can we omit the blueberry topping and just make a plain lemon tart
Absolutely. Simply skip the blueberry sauce.