Store-bought lemon curd doesn’t even deserve to share the same name as homemade. This from-scratch lemon curd is deliciously tangy, creamy, and sweet. You only need 5 ingredients and it comes together on the stove in 10 minutes! Lemon curd is perfect for scones, crepes, angel food cake, quick breads, pound cake, and so much more.
Let’s talk lemon.
- Are lemon bars your main squeeze?
- Is lemon blueberry cake your favorite dessert?
- Are you head-over-heels for lemon meringue pie?
If your answer is YES to all of the above, you’re going to flip for this creamy, dense, intensely flavorful spread. Homemade lemon curd is 1 million times tastier than store-bought, which is filled with ingredients we can’t pronounce and has likely been sitting on the shelf for too long. Spread the blissful homemade version on scones, biscuits, homemade English muffins, and so much more. This is the recipe you never realized you needed!
What Is Lemon Curd?
Lemon curd is a very rich dessert topping or spread. It’s buttery and sweet with intense tart lemon flavor—like a creamy lemon version of jam. Lemon curd is made from simple ingredients and comes together quickly on the stove. Lemon lovers, this is your jam.
Get it? Get it? 🙂
How to Make Lemon Curd
Here’s how we make DIY lemon curd. The full recipe and instructions are below.
You need 5 ingredients for lemon curd recipe: egg yolks, fresh lemons, sugar, salt, and butter. Each ingredient serves a critical purpose for thickening and flavoring. The egg yolks thicken the curd, just as they do in creme brûlée, pastry cream, pumpkin pies in a jar, or butterscotch pudding. Use real lemons; you need both the zest and juice. The sugar supplies sweetness and structure, while the salt balances out the flavor. Add the butter after the curd finishes on the stove. Butter makes it super creamy.
Make lemon curd on the stove. Make sure you are constantly whisking as the mixture thickens—we’re talking about 10 minutes of whisking. The good news? That’s the only step in this recipe: whisking!
Use a Double Boiler
I strongly recommend cooking the lemon curd in a double boiler because mixing these ingredients over direct heat quickly leads to burning. Don’t fret! If you don’t have a double boiler, craft a makeshift double boiler by placing a heatproof glass bowl on top of a larger pot. (You can see my DIY double boiler in my brownie baked Alaska post!) Make sure the bottom of the top pot or bowl does not touch the simmering water. It’s worth repeating: lemon curd should never be cooked on direct heat.
Why Does My Lemon Curd Taste Metallic?
Lemon curd may have a metallic aftertaste if you cook it in a metal double boiler. It’s a result of the eggs and lemon reacting with the pan, but is easily avoidable! Use a non-metal double boiler (this one has a porcelain insert) or the glass bowl option I mention above (but make sure it’s heatproof glass, like Pyrex). While you’re at it, use a silicone whisk too!
FAQ: Can I Make This With Other Citrus Fruits?
Absolutely! You can use this same recipe for lemon curd and swap the lemons for limes, grapefruits, or oranges. You can even use pineapple juice, just like we do for the layers of pineapple curd filling in this pineapple coconut cake or a make a cranberry version like we do in this cranberry curd tart.
Uses for Lemon Curd
There are so many ways to enjoy lemon curd. Here are a few suggestions:
- Enjoy on scones, muffins, buttermilk waffles, whole wheat blueberry pancakes, or a Dutch baby pancake
- Use as a filling for crepes, lemon cupcakes, or lemon coconut cake
- Use as a topping for pound cake or pavlova (uses the egg whites!)
- Fill French macarons, choux pastry, or eclairs
- Layer on strawberry shortcake
- Make a lemon berry trifle
- Spread on English muffins, homemade biscuits, toast, croissants
- Mix it with whipped frosting for the fluffiest filling in a citrus cake
- Top your classic cheesecake, lemon cheesecake, or easy cheesecake pie
- Stir in yogurt, cottage cheese, or spoon on ice cream
- Try it on gingerbread waffles (seriously, try this!)
- Use as a filling to add extra flavor to lemon blueberry cupcakes
- Fill your lemon thumbprint cookies
- Fill your favorite cupcake recipe (see my How to Fill Cupcakes post for details on how and for flavor pairing inspiration!)
Lemon Curd
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes (includes cooling)
- Yield: 1 – 1.5 cups
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
You only need 5 simple ingredients for homemade lemon curd—and the recipe comes together on the stove in 10 minutes! If you know how to whisk, you can make this delicious spread.
Ingredients
- 4 large egg yolks (for thicker lemon curd, see Note on eggs)
- 2/3 cup (134g) granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon lemon zest (about 1 lemon)
- 1/3 cup (80ml) fresh lemon juice (about 2–3 lemons)
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 6 Tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature and cut into 6 pieces
Instructions
- Fill the bottom pot of your double boiler with 1–2 inches of water. (Or use the DIY double boiler method listed in the notes.) Place on high heat. Once the water begins to boil, reduce to low heat to keep the water at a simmer.
- Place egg yolks, granulated sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt into the top pot of your double boiler. Using a silicone whisk, whisk until completely blended, then continue to whisk as the curd cooks. Constant whisking prevents the egg yolks from curdling. Whisk and cook until the mixture becomes thick, resembling the texture of hollandaise sauce, about 10 minutes. If you’d like to be precise and use a candy or instant-read thermometer, the temperature will rise to about 170°F (77°C). If curd isn’t thickening, turn up the heat and constantly whisk.
- Remove pan from heat. Whisk the sliced butter into the curd. The butter will melt from the heat of the curd as you whisk. Pour curd into a jar or bowl and place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top so it is touching the top of the curd. (This prevents a skin from forming on top.) The curd will continue to thicken as it cools. Once cool, the plastic wrap can be removed.
- Refrigerate the curd for up to about 10 days.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: For longer storage, you can freeze the curd up to 3–6 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight before enjoying.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Egg Separator | Citrus Juicer | Citrus Zester | Non-Metal Double Boiler | Silicone Whisk
- Thicker Lemon Curd: For thicker lemon curd, replace 2 of the egg yolks with 1 whole egg. This means you will use 2 egg yolks plus 1 whole egg. Keep the rest of the recipe and instructions the same.
- Lemon Juice: Do not use bottled lemon juice. Use fresh-squeezed lemon juice.
- Butter: You can use salted butter instead of unsalted butter. Simply omit 1/8 teaspoon salt in the recipe.
- No Double Boiler? No Problem! If you do not own a double boiler, you can simply place a small heatproof glass bowl over a saucepan of simmering water—you will cook the curd in the top pot/bowl.
- No Straining: I don’t strain the lemon curd. The zest is very tiny and has been cooked, so you can hardly detect its texture. It’s really just there for flavor. However, feel free to run the finished lemon curd through a fine mesh sieve if you want to take the extra step.
Reader Comments and Reviews
lemon curd recipe: It says 1/3 C of lemon juice but then says that it taesk 2-3 lemons which would give me almost a cup of juice. which is it?
Hi Lisa, you need 1/3 cup lemon juice – how ever many lemons gets you there!
How do I “can” this lemon curd
Hi Linda Jo, We do not have any experience with canning and haven’t tested it with this recipe. Let us know if you do give it a try!
When it comes to canning most of what I’ve read uses caution with fats. It would be nice to though.
Would this work for individual Lemon Meringue Pies? Does it hold firm enough that it won’t leak all over the plate when served?
Hi Lois, this lemon curd is not thick enough for mini lemon meringue pies. Here’s our full sized lemon meringue pie recipe that could be adapted instead!
Just made this! Easy and delicious. I had leftover egg yolks, perfect for this recipe.
This looks good. I lost my recipe I used before. Was wondering if this lemon curd would work as a filling on lemon pie cookies. Since they have to bake about 15 minutes?
Hi Jan, that should be fine!
I couldn’t even get to the recipe,everytime I tried the page instantly scrolled down to the bottom of the comments asking me to join your email list. A little frustrating since I’m a big fan of you and your recipes. Just figured I’d share that with y’all
Hi! It sounds like it may have either been a caching fluke, or the page was stuck on some refreshing error. The page shouldn’t scroll down by itself, and I’m sorry you experienced that issue. I wonder if you try again, after closing the window, if it will continue to happen.
This recipe looks amazing! Is the curd thick enough to use in linzer cookies?
Hi Susan, after refrigerating, it’s still a little thin. I would hesitate to use it in linzer cookies, but you could certainly try it.
Why does my lemon curd have a metallic taste? I used a silicone whisk and used an oven safe ceramic bowl over a pot as a double boiler. I don’t understand!
THANKS FOR THE RECIPE,. GRACIAS POR LA RECETA ESTÁ DELICIOSA!!!!!!
How much would a larger pavlova, 10 egg whites, need to be baked for?
Thank you
Hi Oana, we aren’t sure how long a pavlova of that size would bake for. Here is our pavlova recipe, which uses 4 egg whites, for reference.
Have you ever tried adding limoncello to this in place of the lemon juice? Looking for a boozy lemon dessert and thought this might work
Hi Christine, we haven’t tested it so can’t offer much advice, but it sounds delicious! Let us know if you give anything a try.
My taste buds jumped for joy! Thank you for this simple yet amazing taste sensation.
Thanks for the recipe!
Wow!! So creamy, tangy, and easy to make. I doubled the recipe so I had to whisk it over my double boiler for an additional 5 minutes. Who would ever buy store bought after this?! Superb recipe!
Thanks for this information on doubling the recipe, Jen. Just what I was looking for advice on.
Thank you so much for including the metric measurements, I’ve just made this recipe in double amounts for in little jars and will be using for lemon meringue pie later this week.
Will do.
Can I double or triple this recipe. I am a canner, can I can this recipe?
Hi Linda, You can make double batches of this lemon curd, and cooking time should be about the same. We do not have any experience with canning and haven’t tested it with this recipe. Let us know if you do give it a try!
Will do. I belong to a group called Freedom Canners, they are amazing. I have posed the same question to them.
I made your lemon curd recipe and I successfully canned all my jars. I have had good feedback from friends and family, a couple said it took them back to their children. There was always a jar of lemon curd in our kitchen growing up in the 50s and 60s.
This was so good!! My favorite cheesecake ever!
This is a great fast easy hassle free go to for lemon Curd. Thank you
I’ve been using this recipe for years now. Its my go to for lemon curd and I use it in a lot of deserts. It goes great as a macaron filling especially if you follow note 3 on using 2 egg yolks + a whole egg to make a thicker curd, cheers!
I’ve never tried to make this, but it came out wonderful.
Yum. Great recipe, will make again!
The first time I made this, I made an error and put the butter in the glass bowl at the start and cooked it up like that – it worked! This is a really yummy curd and ever so simple to make – Thank You
I had my reading glasses on and started pouring egg whites instead of the lemon juice. I had used a whole egg and 2 yolks as suggested, so added a bit more sugar and had a little more lemon juice squeezed. It seems to have worked out fine. Am making it to add to homemade yogurt – will let you know.
Forgot to say I added an extra yolk to this as well. I used it with both blueberries and yogurt (all mixed together after) and it was a wonderful breakfast, snack or dessert. I’m thinking the zest is a texture that some may not like – it was cooked in but some of us are put off by even such a small thing. Will be making the recipe as written today and bringing it to family!
Love this recipe so much It is easy n quick to make. Perfect balance of tart to sweet. It is my go to recipe for lemon curd. As is a lot of your recipes. Thks so much for amazing recipes
I made this today I done the thicker option absolutely delicious and easy to make. Thank you for sharing this
I love this recipe with the right amount of tang for your taste buds!
Just made this and it is so good, made a triple batch and came out perfect. Doing a poke cake with white cake, lemon curd and a Cool Whip lemon pudding frosting.
Hi Sally. I do not own a silicone whisk. Can I use a stainless whisk? I’m anxious to try this recipe!
Thank you.
Hi Pattie, the lemon curd may have a slight metallic taste if using a metal whisk. Hope you can give it a try!
First time curd maker here. Question about the metallic taste, I’ve made this and another recipe a few times. Did not use anything metal but as soon as my cure starts to thicken I can instantly smell the metal and the curd is inedible it’s so metallic. I even had my sister and husband taste to make sure it wasn’t just me lol. What else can cause the metallic taste in curd, is it my lemons? Thanks!!
Hi Ashley! The acidic lemons could seem like a metallic smell, even without any metal interaction. How does the curd taste?
Trina, the taste is very metallic also. Like we had to spit it out it was so strong.
Great recipe, I’ve made it many times, and it is quick and easy.
hi sally! I want to use this to top my pavlova, but since I want to use limes for the curd instead of lemons, are there any adjustments I should make? or can I just replace the lemon juice with lime juice?
Hi Camille, you can definitely swap the lemons for limes to make this into a lime curd. No other changes needed. Enjoy!
Hi Camille,
I know we’ve never met, but I’m coming over to devour any that you might have leftover (although I don’t believe that’s ever happened in the history of lime curd)!
Your new friend,
Bella