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.
Has anyone tried this recipe using sweetened condensed coconut milk? Do the flavors work together?
Works great with sweetened condensed coconut milk, and the flavours are no issue!
What a great recipe! Made it for a women’s event at church. It was gobbled up. I did spray it with cooking spray to make it easier to transfer it from the tart pan to the plate.
Don’t bake this with a tart pan with a removable bottom. Butter leaks from the crust ruining the crust and creating a mess in the oven.
Hi Emily, for next time, we recommend placing the tart pan on a lined baking sheet — that will help catch any butter drips and eliminate the mess. Thank you for giving this recipe a try!
I only have an 11” tart pan is that too large for the receipt?
Hi Bee, a 9 inch tart pan 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 try 1.5x or doubling the recipe, but note that you will likely have some leftovers. Let us know what you try!
I tried to take the tart out of the pan and move it on to a plate to let it chill and it fell apart. Would be be better to let it chill and firm up in the pan before removing it? The tart may have also been slightly under baked.
Ideally, I’d like to remove the entire tart from the pan and serve it from a plate.
Thanks Luckily, this was just a practice round for an event next week!
Hi Amanda! Yes, let the tart cool completely in the pan before removing to serve (see step 7). Hope its is a hit!
Is there a reason the crust became very hard and difficult to cut? Did I push the crust too much when putting it into the tart pan?
Hi Debbie, this crust can be a bit tricky to cut, but a super sharp knife should help. Also feel free to let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes to soften it up before cutting. Thanks for giving this recipe a try!
This tart was delicious and so incredibly easy to make! The perfect tart-sweet balance. I was skeptical of this crust while I was pressing it into the tart pan, but it’s perfect!
Hi! Can I replace the filling with chocolate filling/ganache? Thanks
Hi Shirley, we haven’t made this exact recipe with chocolate, but you may enjoy this chocolate tart or even this Nutella tart instead. Let us know if you give either a try!
Loved this recipe! I made it with blueberries and it was a huge hit with my friends! Now I also have a bunch of fresh peaches. Could I replace the blueberries with peaches somehow? Or put a layer of peaches on the top?
Can you make it in a pie tin?
Hi Joanna, you can use a 9-inch pie dish, but slicing the tart isn’t quite as neat. The bake times are the same. Or try our creamy lemon pie recipe instead.
Hi!
I was wondering if this would still be delicious as a stand alone lemon tart? (Simply leave off the blueberry sauce?)
Thank you!
Absolutely!
Any recommendations for making sure the tart doesn’t stick to the pan? I usually bake with parchment paper. Would that work with this recipe?
Hi Amanda! We’ve never had issues with this crust sticking to the tart pan. Hope you love it!
I tried making this recipe in India and we didn’t have blueberries so I tried with a Mulberry compote made at home. It was a big success
I’ve now made this recipe about five times in the past three weeks. It’s amazing, and so easy to make. My fiancée wants me to make it for our wedding!
Whilst I loved the lemon blueberry filling, the shortcrust pastry didn’t come out great. The proportions were odd, not the usual half fat to flour ratio. Added a bit of lemon curd to the filling to counteract that nauseating sweetness of the condensed milk, worked out great.
Incredibly easy to make and very yummy. I did add a tbsp extra lemon juice to the filling and more lemon zest to make it slightly more tart. Just my own personal preference!
I made this for Mother’s Day, and it was so good! Has a wonderfully bright lemon flavor. Thank you, Sally, for another great recipe!
Hi there! Is it possible to use frozen pie crust instead of the shortbread crust for this recipe?
Hi Ali, this wouldn’t be enough filling to fill a pie crust. You could use the filling from this creamy lemon pie recipe instead.
I made this for mother’s day and my mom said it may be her new favorite dessert! It was a big hit!
Very yummy recipe. I found the filling to be a little less flavorful than I prefer but the ease of the recipe makes up for it. I will definitely add whipped cream next time to add to the flavor profile.
I made this for the challenge and it was so completely delicious … my 89-year-old mother, who always asks for a SMALL PIECE of whatever I’ve made, made me give her more. So last week I made it with a dark cherry swirl/sauce! That one was gone just as fast as the blueberry one was! Like all of your recipes, this one’s a hit!
This recipe has multiple steps but was very easy to make! I love that I was able to make it today and share it tomorrow!
Hi Sally, I would like to make this tart but I am not too fond of condensed milk could I sub the condensed milk with something else?
Hi Cash, 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.
Hi Sally, I have been using many of your recipes and turns out so yummy!! Can I use strawberries instead of blueberries in this recipe?
Hi Sally! I plan on making this for Mother’s Day but I wanted to make it today and freeze it until Sunday. Do you think that’s too far in advance? It looks soo delicious but I don’t have any time to make it closer to the day 🙁
Hi Sarah! You can definitely make this tart ahead of time. Baked and cooled tarts freeze well up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.
This recipe was fast and easy, with simple ingredients. The tart was bright and delicious. Perfect for spring!
What a delicious recipe!
I’m coming here because I have made this twice now, and the crust is always like a thick, pourable batter. I always use a kitchen scale. I’m only coming back to this recipe because I had the exact same thing happen with the lemon bars with the shortbread crust. I’m having to add anywhere from 1/2 to 1 cup of flour to make it come together. Am I the only one having this issue? I’ve literally never had a problem with any of your other recipes.
Either way, thank you for these challenges, and thank you for making another great recipe!
Hi Jessica, We are so glad you enjoyed this recipe! For the crust, any chance you are making any ingredient changes or substitutions? The dough will feel greasy but it should pre thick (see video above). When you add the extra flour is it coming together and working properly?
No ingredient substitutions. I’ve watched the video for the consistency, and mine doesn’t come close to that even when I weigh it (scale zeroed, triple check that it is set to grams, etc.) It does come together when I add flour, but I want to make sure I have all the ratios right for the best flavor and texture. It may just be an issue on my end, but I can’t for the life of me figure it out. I’ve just never had any problems with her recipes, so I’m stumped!
Hi Jessica – I also had to add an additional half cup of flour! And I used a digital scale as well. Did you use organic ingredients? I’m not sure if Sally does, but this is the only thing that I could think of that might be different. Not sure why this would change the consistency of the dough but it’s all I could come up with. I’m scratching my head to figure it out as well!
My 10 year old twin girls participated in their first “baking challenge” using this recipe and had a ball making mini tarts for their friends birthday! The tart turned out fantastic with a little help from their Aunt who enjoys baking with them! Thank you for allowing everyone to participate!!
Wow!! THe best lemon tart hands down!!
Total will power to only have 1 slice!
Oh and I don’t know if you want to share this recipe or not but I wrote it it’s a Mexican mocha mix : 6 Tbsp cocoa 3 tsp sugar 1 Tbsp cinnamon mix well and add to 1 cup coffee and 1/2 cup milk or half and half / heavy cream. and about a Tbsp or 2 honey .