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, glazed lemon blueberry scones, lemon blueberry babka, 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.
One reader, Judy, commented: “Loved this recipe. It was creamy, tangy, and not too sweet. The shortbread crust was easy to make and came out perfectly. Looks fancy, even though it is a pretty easy recipe. I loved the extra blueberry sauce, so I will make extra next time. Definitely a keeper! ★★★★★”
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. 🙂
Print
Lemon 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.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Love the clear instructions that always accompany your recipes! Easily my favorite site for recipes!! Made this beautiful tart for a family cookout today, I snuck a bite and it is creamy, lemony deliciousness!! The crust definitely seemed super buttery as I was packing it in the pan, but it turned out beautifully.
Amazing! The tart was great tasty and refreshing. Plus the crust was nice and crisp.
This tart turned out beautifully. Thank you for this great recipe!
I am not a fruit tart person… but this recipe changed that for me! The crust is delicious and the condensed milk makes the lemon filling so rich and deliciously creamy! Can’t wait to try with other fillings!
This was so simple to make and so tasty! The presentation is beautiful and impressive, especially for the little effort it takes. Thanks Sally!
This was my first tart and i can’t believe how easy it was to make! The final outcome is so beautiful and delicious! Another winner!!
My husband said it best: the flavor winds up and punches you in the mouth with lemon. Yup. It’s rich, creamy, buttery, yum. It says SUMMER.
Hi I have made this recipe and it was amazing, fruit and tart, pastry was perfect!
I was wondering would the top layer work using raspberries instead of blueberries?
Hi Issabela, absolutely! See blog post for other flavor options. Enjoy!
This was awesome- surprisingly easy and a nice spring dessert. I was able to use all my leftover lemons! The shortbread crust (the easiest part) turned out to be my roommate’s favorite part! 🙂
Easy and delicious!
Absolutely delicious! The crust is perfect, the lemon is tart, and the blueberry sauce brings a beautiful balance of sweet. The only thing I would have changed was my sauce decoration technique! An artist never rests…! Thank you for a delicious Easter treat.
This was a lovely easy tart recipe. Lemon with blueberries are one of my favorite combinations for desserts. The blueberry sauce was a nice addition. I will definitely be making more of your desserts in the future!
This was pretty simple bake and a tasty result. I used a rectangular tart pan (14″x4.5″) with removable bottom; the recipe fit well. I didn’t need to adjust the amounts. I did reduce the baking time by 2 minutes on the crust (13 minutes) and again by two minutes on the filled crust (15 minutes). I used frozen wild blueberries instead of regular blueberries because they are smaller berries and I like that; I still used the same amount.
So pretty and yummy! I loved this recipe! Just an FYI, I bought the mini tart pans that are linked in the post and I wasn’t able to make 12 mini tarts of this size like the post says. I had exactly enough crust and filling for 6 tarts.
Made this tart with my daughter-in-law and granddaughter just for fun. Not only was it a great way to get three people involved, but it also tasted amazing! The extra blueberry sauce gave an extra flavor punch to the tart lemon. Will be making this one again!
I made this recipe today in a 4inch pie pan. I needed 40+, so I made the crust x12, the blueberries x8, and the filling x8. It gave me 46 pans which was perfect for us. At first I was worried that the crust was too runny, but I just kept stirring it and it worked. I used half fresh lemon juice, and half bottled, and replaced the zest with some lemon extract. I was worried about the sweetened condensed milk but the tart was, well tart lol. Everyone raved. Another Sally recipe that goes off without a hitch, on the first try, AND multiplied. Thank you.
Easy recipe and tastes delicious! I didn’t have a tart pan, I used a pie pan instead. The crust didn’t turn out as pretty(not a big deal to me) but it tasted awesome and I will definitely be making this again!
Another recipe from Sally that impressed my family and makes it look like I know what I’m doing in the kitchen!
I used my pie dish but will be purchasing a tart pan. Never knew I needed one! Thanks Sally!
This is my first tart and the flavor is like a lemon meringue pie. Five stars my recommendation is DONOT RUSH like I did. Before taking the tart out of the pan,LET IT COOL!!!!!!! I would almost tell you to leave it in the tart pan I rushed and broke the crust. Use a 6”frosting knife to go under the pan to remove the tart from the pan. It’s a lot of steps but well worth it.
I’m usually not a big fan of “fruity” desserts – chocolate all the way! – but I really liked this recipe. It was just a touch too lemony-tart for us but it was sweet enough so I’m thinking maybe next time just cut out the lemon zest and cut the lemon juice by 1/2 a tablespoon or so? My grocery store incredibly didn’t have blueberries so I substituted blackberries which was a very nice combo and I made my teaspoons of sugar heaping. Like other reviewers I found the blackberry flavor was a bit lost in all that lemon but extra sauce made quite a difference so next time I’ll make a double batch. (Obviously I’ll be making this again, and soon!) What I really LOVED was the crust – my boyfriend loved it as well and he is extremely picky about crusts! Question for Sally: I’d like to use the crust for a pie – like maybe banana cream pie or something like that – should I double the crust recipe so I’ll have enough for a full pie plate? Also one other note, my oven temperature is spot-on but when I follow Sally’s recipes’ baking times things always seem to be somewhat overdone so now I shave a few minutes off almost all recipe baking times. Thanks for a tasty and easy spring/summer dessert!
Hi Patti, thank you so much for giving this recipe a try! We haven’t tested this shortbread crust as a pie crust, so can’t say for certain. You may need to make a larger batch to have enough to go up the sides of the pan. Let us know if you give it a try, we would love to hear how it goes!
I have used a similar shortbread crust for pumpkin pie bars with success. I would definitely try it with banana cream pie. Not sure how much this crust makes as I made it x12 lol. But you could double it and if you have extra dough baked them as cookies
I love this recipe! It is so simple but looks very elegant, so it’s a great recipe to make for guests. I really enjoy the balance of flavors in the filling – the sweetness of the condensed milk is cut by the tart lemon and blueberry flavor, so it’s not too sweet and not too tart. And it’s beautifully creamy and smooth. Will definitely make this again, it was a hit with my family!
This was such an easy recipe to follow! I took this to a potluck and it was a hit!
This dessert was so easy to make and it was packed with flavor! I was super impressed with out simple it was. Very impressive and a crowd pleaser for our April Dinner Club this month!
Loved this recipe! It was so easy, yet so delicious, and perfect for a Spring Dessert. I really enjoyed the shortbread crust!
This was an easy recipe to follow and it turned out great. My kids even loved the “tarty” flavor. My husband was impressed because it didn’t have a “soggy bottom” . We will definitely be making again.
I LOVE this recipe and have already made it twice this month. It is absolutely easy to make and comes together like a dream. The shortbread crust is buttery and perfect and the tart filling is absolutely creamy and delicious. I made this recipe for my family and there wasn’t a single slice left. This recipe will become a dessert go-to for me!
So good I made it two weekends in a row! The directions were so clear and easy to follow, all three steps were quite simple. I did double the sauce the second time I made it. This recipe will stay in my “forever” file!
This was an extremely easy recipe to make. It is stunning when complete and looks as if you’ve been slaving in the kitchen for hours! The tart itself is quite rich so a small slice would do ya. When we make it again we decided we would not put any sugar in the blueberries to balance the sweetness a bit more.
This recipe came together very easily. My family and I all had it tonight for dessert and to give our opinion… my kids didn’t care for it, my husband didn’t care for the tart flavor, I thought it was okay (not bad, but not my favorite). The part I enjoyed the most would have to be the crust, the rest was a bit too tart even with the blueberry and whipped cream. I enjoyed trying another one of your monthly challenges:)
This recipe was amazing! I’m going to turn around and make it again tomorrow to take to a friend. So easy and so delicious!