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 rubber 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): Small Saucepan | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | 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 adore lemon and blueberries and this recipe did not disappoint! I ordered a tart pan just so I can do this recipe and plan on making it again and again. So easy yet so beautiful and delicious!
I made this using 5” mini pie tins, because with COVID, it’s become a thing where the food I make gets delivered to family that we can’t gather with. It was delicious; my daughter-in-law declared that it might be the best thing I’ve made – outdoing your Pretzels & Beer Cheese and Croissants. In a different time & situation, I would absolutely make this in either my 9” tart pan, or invest in some smaller tart pans, because I wasn’t enamored with the sloped sides or the size of the 5” pie plates, and I’m certain it would be more attractive!
Made this today and it turned out great! Shared with the neighbors and they loved it too! Very rich so one slice goes a long way. Thanks for the recipe!
I wanted to make this so that I could participate in the April Baking Challenge, but tbh fruit desserts and tarts in particular don’t really interest me. I didn’t want to invest in a tart pan so I used a 9″ glass pie dish. Well, now that I’ve made it, I’m going to have to invest in a tart pan because it’s so good! My husband has already requested that I make it again.
It did bake in about 14 minutes instead of the 17-19 minutes that was in the instructions. Usually your times are spot on for me, so I’m thinking maybe it was the glass dish that made it bake quicker. (I have an oven thermometer, so I don’t think that was the issue.) Otherwise, everything was perfect. It’s a very delicious and refreshing treat! 🙂
Delicious and easier than I thought! Only issue was the tart stuck to the pie dish (I don’t have a tart pan), which made it less than pretty when cutting. But no one minded after tasting it! (:
Honestly, I didn’t even know what a tart was when I set out to make this recipe. I had to Google what a tart pan was! But the recipe was easy to follow, and while I need to practice on making the crust more uniform, the taste was amazing! The hardest part of the whole recipe was the cooling, but it was worth the wait! And I learned to make a tart.
This is a delicious and easy recipe. Loved the crust. It turned out great.
Hi Sally! I just made this as mini tarts for the April challenge. I haven’t tried them yet as they’re still cooling but I’m curious if this was supposed to make 6 or 12 tarts? The note above says 12 but I bought the pans you recommended and can’t figure out how it could make more than 6. I’ve never made tarts before so maybe I over filled them?
Hi Lauren, When we use the 4 inch tart pans linked above we get 10 mini tarts. It’s possible that you simply made them thicker!
They may have been a little thick and I had enough crust for 8 but not enough filling for 8. Maybe I filled them too much too? Oh well, at least they were delicious! Thank you
This turned out better than I thought! I strained the blueberries (we don’t like lumps) and really want to make it with strawberries next time. Spend the time to make sure the crust is even in the pan.
This is awesome, just tried it last week and loved it, the only thing is I think here lemons are way to acidic, so next time I’ll have to reduce the lemon juice a little bit !
We loved this! I only had an 11 inch pan so it was thinner than I would have liked, but the flavor was amazing! Thanks for another fantastic recipe, Sally!
This is a perfect recipe for spring and summer cookouts. This tart is incredibly light and it had the perfect blend of blueberry and lemon flavors. I was pleasantly surprised how easy this recipe was!
Wonderful instructions! I made with Gluten Free flour and lactose-free sweetened condensed milk and it was wonderful! I will definitely be making this one again
A super simple and delicious recipe from start to finish! The crust was amazing, but I pressed it too firmly around the edges, so I had a wee bit of trouble with it sticking when cutting the tart out of the pan. My taste buds were craving a bigger hit of lemon in the custard filling, though, so I’m definitely going to throw some more in next time.
“Julie, this is by far the single most best thing you have ever baked! I would choose this over a tomahawk steak,” my husband said after his first bite! Thank you for such a delicious and easy recipe. I am going to be buying a tart pan and this has been requested already for birthday cakes.
I have just made this tart. It’s still in the oven. I measured everything exactly but the pastry was very soft and took a while to get it spread in the dish. I on’y had a ceramic tart dish. But when cooked the pastry shrink at the sides so when the filling went in you can’t see the crust. It doesn’t bother me but how does everyone else manage to keep the sides upright ?
I will leave another comment when I’ve tasted it but I’m sure it will taste lovely
Another great recipe! Was a huge hit with my family! Next time I will make it in a tart pan lol had a bit of difficulty getting it out or the pie pan, lol!
Lemon, blueberry heaven. OMG. My husband licked the plate for realz!
We loved this! Super easy and summery! I’m hoping to try it with rhubarb. Surprisingly light.
I made this for the challenge and it was delicious!!!the directions were simple to follow and you get great results..thank u for sharing this recipe with us….
I have made this twice. I had the wrong size tart pan the first time but the flavors were so good I purchased the 9 inch pan just so I could try it again the correct way. It was amazing and oh so easy!
This was such a fun recipe to make. I had a little trouble with getting the sides to stay up. Next time I make it I will have to use some beans to weight it down and help with the sides issue.
My first time making a tart and the instructions were so easy to follow! The flavors of the lemon and blueberry compliment each other so well! Can’t wait to try this again with a different fruit!
Perfection! Thank you!
This was my first challenge and first ever tart! Turned out amazing! Buttery, rich and refreshing! And not too difficult to make either! I will definitely be making this again!!
Sally’s Lemon Blueberry Tart was a joy to put together! As with her other recipes, I enjoyed reading her detailed directions and helpful notes. This is the first of the monthly baking challenges I have tried and will be making this tart again. It came together beautifully, just like her lemon & blueberry cake I made awhile back. Thank you Sally & team!
I LOVE LEMON! And add blueberry even better. This was very easy to do and came together fairly quickly even with the time to chill. Creamy, tart, buttery, crisp, flakey, blueberry!
I do think I will try to make the sides a little higher, I was nervous when putting the filling in. Also, at 1st with the short crust I thought it was very butter and almost wasn’t sure if it would come together but alas it did with mixing. Lol very oily once baked, but deliciously buttery.
Ohhh and 1 accident got shot in the eye by exploding blueberry
This is a perfectly light, refreshing, lemony blueberry dessert! I made this for my husband’s birthday and her loved it. I can see this as being a perfect summer dessert. This is a quick and easy kind of dessert that’s just perfect!
Is my 10 inch tart pan going to be too large and yield too thin of a crust?
Hi Hali, We haven’t tested this in a 10 inch pan. The tart will be thinner but it should still work. Let us know if you give it a try!
Very easy to make, and beautiful! Looking forward to my first bite!
Amazing, perfect balance of sweet but not overly sweet. My hard to please and picky family loved. Super easy. Definitely will make again.
I love this recipe! made mine with lime and blackberry and i will continue to do so. I am making one tomorrow to bring as a hostess gift. Thank you for another winner!
Ooh, lime and blackberry sounds like a great combination!