My lemon custard pie recipe is easy and delicious. A version of southern egg custard pie, this dessert puts a new twist on the old-fashioned favorite by adding lemon juice and zest to the custard filling, resulting in a velvety-smooth pie that has all the flavor of lemon but without all the sourness. If you’re looking for a simple pie that’s light on the stomach but still full of down south flavor, keep reading to learn how to make lemon custard pie.

What Is Lemon Custard Pie?

In short, my version of lemon custard pie is an old-fashioned egg custard pie, but with lemon juice and zest. Unlike cooking the filling and blind baking the crust for a lemon meringue pie, this pie is super easy: you simply mix together the ingredients for the filling, pour them into an unbaked crust, and then bake in the oven for 45 minutes.

Other versions of lemon custard pie, such as the one featured on SavorTheBest.com, are similar to lemon meringue pie, except that the filling contains dairy. First, the filling is cooked on the stove while the crust prebakes in the oven. Then, the filling is poured into the crust, and the whole pie is baked for additional time to set the filling.

Why My Lemon Custard Pie Recipe Is Easy

While I’m sure those versions are delicious, I think my lemon custard pie recipe is easier–and better–since there are fewer steps and no meringue. If you like down south egg custard pie but want something different–or more flavorful–then my pie is for you.

Lemon Custard Pie vs. Lemon Meringue Pie

As explained above, my lemon egg custard pie is different from lemon meringue pie. For anyone who is unfamiliar with lemon meringue pie, let’s go over the key differences:

The Filling – Lemon meringue pie filling consists of water, sugar, eggs, butter, lemon juice and zest, and cornstarch. The filling is cooked on the stove and then poured into the crust. However, my lemon custard pie filling includes milk and is simply mixed together and poured into the crust–no cooking involved.

The Crust – Since the filling is pre-cooked, almost all lemon meringue pie recipes call for blind baking the crust by first putting the crust into a pie dish, filling it with beans or pie weights, and then baking for about 20 minutes. But with my pie, you just pour the raw filling into a raw crust and then bake.

The Meringue – Made by whipping together egg whites and sugar, it helps to balance out the sweetness and tartness of the filling. However, many people are intimidated by making meringue–and many others simply don’t like it–so if that’s you, you’ll prefer my lemon custard pie.

The Flavor – Although lemon meringue pie has a lot of lemon flavor, most recipes call for less lemon juice than in lemon custard pie, reducing the bright flavor. Also, traditional lemon pie filling contains cornstarch, further clouding the flavor. My filling is thickened with eggs, so the lemon flavor is strong.

As you can see, lemon custard pie and lemon meringue pie are different. If you want a lemony dessert that’s easy-to-make and doesn’t have meringue, then my recipe is probably the better choice for you.

Lemon Custard Pie Ingredients

What’s great about my old-fashioned lemon custard pie recipe is that the filling has few ingredients:

Lemon Juice – 1/3 cup. In the video I say that I used somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 cup, and that my original intention was to use 1/4 cup. Now that I’ve made this pie a few times, I recommend 1/3 cup.

Lemon Zest – 1 Tablespoon. You could substitute 1 teaspoon zest + 1 teaspoon extract.

3 Large Eggs – The whole egg (yolks and whites).

Evaporated Milk – 1 Cup, or 240g. You could also use regular whole milk, maybe 2%, 1%, but not skim.

Sugar – 1 Cup white sugar. As I measure, 210. Although you could use some brown sugar, your pie won’t turn out yellow.

Butter – 1 Tablespoon, melted. I always use unsalted, but salted is OK–just omit the pinch of salt.

Salt – 1/8 teaspoon. A pinch of salt brings out the flavor in almost all desserts, so don’t forget it.

9-inch Pie Crust – Since this recipe is easy, don’t worry about parbaking it: just pour the filling into the unbaked crust.

As you can see, the lemon custard pie filling recipe has very few ingredients. And since there’s no cooking the filling on the stove, it’s easy to make, too.

Can I Use a Graham Cracker Crust Instead?

Yes! Lemon custard pie with graham cracker crust would be delicious. Although you can always use storebought, I highly recommend using my graham cracker crust recipe: the extra cinnamon would go very well with the lemon in this pie.

Old Fashioned Lemon Custard Pie — Old-fashioned lemon custard pie is super easy to make.

How To Make Lemon Custard Pie

Learning how to make lemon custard pie is easy. You just have to follow a few, simple steps:

Prepare the Ingredients for the Filling

The first step is gathering the ingredients for the filling. I recommend setting out the eggs and evaporated milk on the counter about an hour ahead of time so they can come up to room temperature. Remember to zest the lemons, too.

Mix The Ingredients for the Filling

Like I said above, my lemon custard pie recipe is easy. To make the filling, put the ingredients into a bowl and mix them together. I used an electric hand mixer, stirring vigorously with a spoon or whisk is fine, too.

Some other lemon custard pie recipes recommend not letting the lemon juice sit in the milk for an extended period of time: they’re afraid that the dairy will curdle. This recipe moves pretty quickly, so I don’t think that’ll be a problem, but it’s something to keep in mind.

Just to be on the safe side, I would probably start preheating the oven to 350F just before starting the recipe.

How Long Should I Whip The Filling?

In the video I say to beat the ingredients together for 2-3 minutes. However, looking back, I only whipped it for 1 minutes–maybe even just 30 seconds. If using an electric mixer, you probably only need 30-60 seconds to combined the ingredients and whip in air, but if you’re mixing by hand, 2-3 minutes sounds about right.

You don’t have to whip the filling into oblivion–just mix until everything is combined and some air is whipped into the filling. That will help make the pie light and airy.

Pour the Filling into the Unbaked Pie Crust

Once the ingredients are mixed together and a bit of air is whipped into the custard, pour the filling into an unbaked pie shell. I recommend placing the pie plate on a cookie sheet–or in my case, a pizza pan–to make it easier to take the pie in and out of the oven.

Bake the Pie

Put the pie in the oven at 350F, uncovered, for 45 minutes.

Serve The Pie

Once the pie is done baking, let it cool for at least 1 hour, preferably 3-4, before serving. This pie has a wonderful lemon flavor with a hint of egg custard in the background. Since the filling has both milk and eggs, the sourness isn’t as strong as you would expect, so the flavor is quite pleasant.

How To Serve Lemon Custard Pie

Although my lemon custard pie is delicious plain, you can dress it up when serving with:

Whipped Cream – A touch of whipped cream is a great way to make any dessert look fancy. And in the case of this pie, it helps to cut through the sourness a bit. Since you’ll only need a little bit, read my article on how to make whipped cream with an immersion blender. It’s super quick and easy!

Meringue – Even though this recipe is attractive because you don’t have to make meringue, it can be a nice addition if you so choose. Just like with the classic lemon pie, the meringue cuts through the sweetness and sourness.

How Long To Bake Lemon Custard Pie?

As stated above, bake lemon custard pie at 350F, uncovered, for 45 minutes. Bake the pie until the filling sets: if you shake the baking sheet / pizza pan on which the pie sits, the filling should only slightly jiggle. If the custard moves significantly, it needs more time–maybe up to 50 minutes, depending on the oven.

Does Lemon Custard Pie Need To Be Refrigerated?

Yes. Lemon custard pie should be kept refrigerated. However, I don’t recommend recovering it with foil since that would trap in moisture and making the crust soggy fairly quickly.

To be honest, even though I recommend refrigerating the pie, I almost always keep my pies at room temperature, and I’ve never had an issue. They disappear in 24 hours, so they aren’t around for long…

How Long Does Lemon Custard Pie Keep?

2-3 days. If stored in the refrigerator, your lemon custard pie should keep for 2-3 days without losing quality. After 3 days, the crust will likely start to get soggy and the filling will start to lose flavor.

Can I Make The Pie Ahead of Time?

Yes! If you want to make this pie for Easter, Mother’s Day, Thanksgiving, or just because, you can definitely make it the night before or the morning of the day on which you want to serve it.

Can You Freeze Lemon Custard Pie?

No, unfortunately. Once the pie is baked, I think that freezing and then thawing it would make the filling watery and the crust soggy. If you want to freeze it, I recommend freezing it unbaked–but since the filling is so liquidy, that might prove to be a challenge.

Why Is My Custard Pie Runny?

You didn’t bake it long enough. Whether it’s a pumpkin, sweet potato, or lemon custard pie, a runny filling indicates that you didn’t bake it for long enough.

Why Is My Lemon Custard Pie Watery?

Too few eggs, or the eggs weren’t mixed in thoroughly. As described by Jessica of Fantabulosity.com in her egg custard pie article, the filling can be watery if there isn’t enough binding agent–eggs–or if the eggs are present in all of the custard.

So, make sure your eggs are blended in fully before pouring the filling into the pie crust. Although a bit of weeping (condensation on the bottom of the filling) is normal after a day or two, it shouldn’t be enough to make the crust soggy.

How To Keep the Crust From Getting Soggy?

Honestly, I don’t think a soggy bottom crust will be a problem with this recipe. However, if you want to be on the safe side, here are some steps you can take to guarantee that the bottom will stay crispy:

Parbake the crust – When I make peach pie with frozen peaches, or any other fruit pie, I poke a few holes in the bottom crust and then bake it–empty–for about 5 minutes. This gives the crust a head start and makes it better resistant to the liquid filling.

Brush the crust with egg white – Before pouring in the filling, brush the raw crust with a beaten egg white. This will help to form a seal, preventing the liquid filling from seeping into the crust and making it soggy.

With these tips, you make sure your bottom crust stays crispy and tasty!

Why Does My Custard Pie Taste Like Eggs?

You overcooked the pie. Although this pie is naturally going to have some egg flavor, it shouldn’t overpower the lemon. If it does, you probably baked the pie too long, turning the eggs in the filling into scrambled eggs. This is especially possible if the eggs aren’t blended into the filling fully.

Lemon Egg Custard Pie — By using old-fashioned egg custard pie as a base, this lemon version has plenty of down south flavor.

A Chef’s Review

My lemon custard pie recipe was a huge success. It had plenty of lemon flavor but without all the acidity, and the soft and creamy filling made it delightful to eat. Because I used southern egg custard pie as the base, it felt old-fashioned yet different, perfect if you want something new but still familiar.

On top of the amazing flavor and beautiful appearance, it was also very easy to make. All I did was mix the filling, pour the custard into a raw pie crust, and then bake. If you want a lemony dessert that’s not super acidic, creamy, easy-to-make, and light on your stomach, this is it.

Possible Changes to the Recipe

Although my down south lemon custard pie recipe was very successful, some possible changes to the recipe include:

Brown Sugar – Even though brown sugar would ruin the beautiful yellow color of the filling, I think it would add a nice flavor dimension.

Meyer Lemons – Not quite as tart as normal lemons, using Meyer lemons to make the pie would be perfect for people who don’t like tart things.

Old-Fashioned Lemon Custard Pie Recipe Variations

Although I was very happy with how my lemon custard pie turned out, the recipes has some interesting variations:

Blueberry – I think that the addition of blueberries to the filling would be nice.

Graham Cracker Crust – As mentioned above, I think a graham cracker crust would be great with this pie. If it isn’t in the crust already, be sure to sprinkle in some cinnamon before adding the filling.

Sweetened Condensed Milk – I think you could replace the evaporated milk and sugar with a can of sweetened condensed milk. Since the filling would be thicker, you could probably use one less egg, too.

Impossible Lemon Custard Pie – Made by adding milk, eggs, sugar, and lemon juice to Bisquik mix, this pie separates into multiple layers as it baked.

Keto – For people who want to enjoy a pie but with less guilt, this would be a good option.

There are other variations, but this short list gives you an idea of what can be done with this recipe.

More Lemon Desserts

If you love lemon as much as I do, be sure to make my other lemon dessert recipes:

Lemon Dump Cake (3 Ingredients) – If you need an easy cobbler recipe to feed a crowd, this is it.

Lemon Blueberry Dump Cake with 3 Ingredients – Lemon both enhances and complements blueberry.

Argentinian Lemon Mustard Chicken – This recipe’s flavor combination is a good change-of-pace.