Lemon Pie
This easy Lemon Pie is light, creamy, sweet and tart lemon pie with a thick graham cracker crust. The famous Magnolia Lemon Pie by Joanna Gaines is an easy dessert that takes 10 minutes to throw together.
LEMON PIE
I think I might have been the last person in this world to watch the show Fixer Upper with Chip and Joanna Gaines.
If you haven’t seen the show, run and watch it now and you’ll immediately fall in love with them. I happened to be on a really long flight and started binge watching their show.
Here’s why I love them. They’re genuine. I don’t think they feel like they have to put on a show, they’re just themselves.
Of course I gravitated to her easy Lemon Pie…which literally is done in under 20 minutes. My kind of pie.
And you know why I’m making pie, right? It’s almost Pi day. March 14th? 3.14? Did I lose you? 3.14 is the digital reading for March 14th and constant for the symbol Pi.
My sister-in-law Kim had her heart transplant 4 years ago on March 14th so every year we make a pie (or eat one if we’re out of town) on that day to celebrate her new chance at life.
We made this Banana Cream Pie a couple of years ago on her heart-anniversary. Yum.
This year we will be on a plane once again so I’m here early to share this pie with you. As I was making it, I realized it’s very similar to the Key Lime Pie in my cookbook
, except obviously made with lemons instead of limes.
Her original recipe calls for 3 cups of sweetened condensed milk which is about 2 1/4 cans. I stuck with just 2 cans. It definitely doesn’t make a difference so unless you really want to open an entire can to just use a tiny bit of it, do it my way.
I was invited to go on a trip to check out the Magnolia store and meet Chip and Joanna and couldn’t go so this is my way of living vicariously through my friends who went. Enjoy!
HOW TO MAKE LEMON PIE
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- For the Crust: Spray a pie dish with non-stick spray. Combine crushed graham crackers, butter, and sugar. Press into prepared pie plate. Bake for 8 minutes.
- For the Pie Filling: Using a mixer, mix the condensed milk, egg yolks, lemon juice ans salt together. Beat on medium speed for 4-5 minutes. Pour into pie crust and bake for 10 minutes at 350. Little bubbles will start to surface. Cover the crust if it starts to brown too much towards the end.
- Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving.
- For the Whipped Cream: Mix the cream, sugar, and vanilla. Whip until fluffy, and add to cooled lemon pie.
OTHER PIE RECIPES
- Banana Cream Pie
- Peanut Butter Pie
- Key Lime Pie on a Stick
- Peaches and Cream Pie
- S’mores Pie
- Blueberry Custard Pie
- Cherry Cheese Pie
- Boston Cream Pie
Magnolia's Lemon Pie
This easy Lemon Pie is light, creamy, sweet and tart lemon pie with a thick graham cracker crust.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups crushed graham crackers
- 6 tablespoons butter , melted
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 2 (14 ounce) cans Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk (about 2 3/4 cup)
- 3 egg yolks
- ⅔ cup lemon juice
- 1 dash salt
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- For the Crust: Spray a pie dish with non-stick spray. Combine crushed graham crackers, butter, and sugar. Press into prepared pie plate. Bake for 8 minutes.
- For the Pie Filling: Using a mixer, mix the condensed milk, egg yolks, lemon juice ans salt together. Beat on medium speed for 4-5 minutes. Pour into pie crust and bake for 10 minutes at 350. Little bubbles will start to surface. Cover the crust if it starts to brown too much towards the end.
- Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving.
- For the Whipped Cream: Mix the cream, sugar, and vanilla. Whip until fluffy, and add to cooled lemon pie.
Recipe Notes
Source: adapted from Magnolia's Lemon Pie. Reduced condensed milk barely so I didn't have to open another can.
I just made this pie last night! I had a whole bunch of lemons I needed to use up, and found this recipe. It turned out pretty good, especially since I’ve never made a pie before. Some things I would like to mention:
You can use a premade, store-bought pie crust. Just pour in the mixture and bake for the regular time shown, 10 minutes at 350°f. I would use a bigger premade pie crust however. They tend to come in 6 ounce and 9 ounce at the store. Choose the 9 ounce one. I didn’t and had leftover mixture. The pie still tasted good without the homemade crust.
For me personally, I thought there wasnt enough lemon, so I added some lemon zest in as well. I used about 1/2 of a large lemon.
Speaking of lemons, if you are juicing them yourself, you’ll probably need 4-5 large ones.
As with most recipes like this, if you can let it chill overnight, then do it. It might have just been my fridge, but 1 hour wasn’t enough for it to completely stiffen up.
Overall this was a pretty good pie! It’s not that difficult to make, and it might be something fun to have kids help with.
Thanks Liz for your feedback!
Haven’t made this yet, thinking of doing it for Easter. But wondering if this gets a “skin” on it like a chocolate cream pie, and if so, would covering it with plastic wrap before chilling prevent this?
Mine did not develop a skin
Nope mine doesn’t!
Thank you for sharing! If you were going to make minis like cup cake size how long would you suggest baking it?
Ooh I’m not sure. 6 minutes maybe?
This recipe has been around for decades. It’s called a lemon icebox pie. You can use graham cracker crust or vanilla wafer crust. Why rename a vintage recipe? A delicious pie nonetheless.
I don’t know. ask joanna gaines? It’s her recipe
I made this yesterday and it was delicious. I didn’t have fresh lemons so used bottled lemon juice. Will use fresh lemon juice next time, there will be a next time! I used 2 cans of Eagle Brand milk and it was plenty. Next time will more than likely add zest.
This pie is easy and delicious!
Thanks! I agree!
Made this pie this weekend and it’s so good! My experience with baking it was different, though.. I ended up having to bake it for closer to 20 mins, and the top stayed perfectly smooth, no little bubbles to look for. My oven’s accurate, so who knows. It still came out amazing and addictive and I plan to make it a million more times.
Yes every oven is different and sounds like you made the right choice in cooking it longer.
Oh my Corbin!!! Take a NAP
A long one at that!!!
Baking in this Universe is called “Options”
There are 101 ways to make anything delish!
Christie I love your blog!!!
Can’t wait to make this for my momma on Thanksgiving!!!! She loves lemon Anything!
She always made meringue on top but I know she will love this too!!! Yummy
Thank You!
Hope you do! thank you!
Made this using a store bought graham cracker crust with the two extra servings. Turned out great will be making this again.
Awesome to hear that.
Can I make a Meringue instead of whipped cream? 🥰
I made this today but my husband and I thought it was a little too sweet. Any suggestions on lessening the sweetness?
You could use less sweetened condensed milk?
I made this pie 👌 it was so good !
Thank you!
Thanks for sharing this recipe! I’m huge a huge fan of Fixer Upper and I’ve been curious about her cookbook. Love me an easy pie 🙂
It’s a good one to have on hand.
Hi Christy. I love this pie. I have a question regarding timing in the oven – only 10 minutes?
Yep, Sounds short but it’s all it needs.
This pie turned out great, even my husband who only eats chocolate desserts had seconds. Super easy and delicious!
Awesome to hear!
I made this pie this morning as my husband loves these. Perfect recipe! I did add lemon zest and fresh lemons from Phoenix that my daughter picked and brought back to Alabama.
Such a good pie!
Hiw many eggs in the lemon pie ??? 2 or 29 you dont say ???
3 egg yolks
It says 3 yolks!
Can you freeze this pie?
You must be making tons of money on this website because it’s so full of popup ads I cant even see the recipe. Cheers, and that’s the last you’ll hear from me.
I don’t ever reply to posts I see when looking for a recipe, but I will now. Margie, there is an old saying that comes to mind when I read your post – “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”
Christy Denney, thank you for your page. I needed to use up a few cans of Eagle Brand and this pie will fit the bill.
Thank you Jodi! 🙂
Oops, forgot to add that we’ve always made a Nila Wafer crust rather than graham cracker crust. Also, back in the day, they would make a meringue top so as to not waste the egg whites. My great grandmother was known for her delicious meringue- I was told the key to telling if you’ve made a great meringue is how many clear sugar balls formed on top of the meringue when baked. I don’t like meringue, so wouldn’t know if that’s true or not.
For those mentioning that 2 cans won’t fit in a pie plate, you should use a deep dish pie plate. Works perfectly.
Terri, thank you so much for your tips and wisdom.
This is call “lemon ice box pie” and has been in my family for as at least far back as my great grandmother who used to make it for every family get together for those who didn’t care for the lemon meringue pie she also made. My daughters always requested I make it for their birthdays and they now make it for their daughters. Thanks for sharing this wonderful pie. So happy for your sister-in-law.
Thank you. My sister-in-law is a blessing.
Can you use store bought graham cracker crust?
You can but homemade is always best.
Hi do you use lemons for the lemon juice or reconstituted lemon juice? Made it with actual lemons and it came out great, but thought it might be easier to use bottled lemon juice.
sorry just saw that someone already asked this question
Can’t wait to try this. Thank you for sharing your recipe’s.
Thank you Linda!
Looks delicious!!!!! 😊
Thank you!
DOES IT HAVE TO BE FRESH LEMON JUICE OR CAN YOU USE BOTTLED LEMON JUICE? PLEASE REPLY TO MY EMAIL, NOT COMPUTER SAVVY THANK YOU
You can use either but fresh is better.
Try it with a saltine crust, it is known as an Atlantic Beach Pie here in NC. Love the salty/sweet contrast.
Ooh intriguing!!
In reply to the comment about a saltine crust…My friend owned a restaurant for many years and they made all their own desserts. When a recipe called for a graham cracker crust, she always used 1/2 graham cracker crumbs and 1/2 saltine crumbs, makes a great crust…YUM!
There’s no way you can use TWO (2) 14-oz. cans of condensed milk if you’re using one 9″ pie plate! Totally nuts! Plus you only call for the standard amounts of egg yolks and lemon juice that would accompany ONE can of milk in the first place! If anyone’s crazy enough to use two cans of milk (which would overflow the pan as well) combined with what you call for with the juice and yolks, they would NEVER taste enough sour. It would be sickeningly sweet because they would have used DOUBLE the condensed milk they should have used! And to top it all off, you’re missing a KEY ingredient — lemon zest! Hello? You need like 3 Tbs. of lemon zest for this!
This is Joanna Gaines recipe. Well actually she uses 3 cans of sweetened condensed milk. You can add lemon zest. Have you tried it? Hard to give a recipe 1 star that you haven’t tried. Just saying.
How RUDE of you, Corbin! Recipes are modified throughout the years and simply because you have a particular recipe in mind that does not match the one given here is no excuse for coming onto someone’s blog uninvited and sh*tting in their house. Hello, yourself! Learn some manners. By the way, have you never heard of a deep dish pie plate? If you were so spectacular, you would have thought about this. Zest that!
Ha thanks Terri for having my back girl.