You only need 7 ingredients to make these lemon bars. The lemon curd filling is extra thick and creamy and sits on an irresistible buttery shortbread crust. Always bake lemon bars at a lower temperature to avoid over-baking. They’re simply the best lemon bars and are perfect for picnics, bake sales, spring brunches, baby showers, and bridal showers.
Today I’m teaching you how to make lemon bars. I love this lemon dessert recipe so much that I published it in my 1st cookbook, Sally’s Baking Addiction. These are the best lemon bars and I don’t use that statement lightly. After 1 taste, I’m confident you’ll agree. Everyone needs this recipe.
The process is pretty simple and I’m walking you through each step in the video tutorial below. Pick up some fresh citrus and let’s get baking. Spring is in the air!
Video Tutorial: Lemon Bars
These are classic lemon bars featuring a soft butter shortbread crust and a tangy sweet lemon curd filling that’s baked to the perfect consistency. The lemon layer is thick and substantial, not thin or flimsy like most other lemon bar recipes.
Only 7 Ingredients in these Lemon Bars
- Butter: Melted butter is the base of the shortbread crust.
- Sugar: Sugar sweetens the crust and lemon curd filling layers. Not only this, it works with the eggs to set up the lemon filling. If reduced, the filling will be too wet.
- Flour: Flour is also used in both layers. Like sugar, it gives structure to the lemon filling. These days, I add slightly more flour to the shortbread crust compared to my cookbook version. You can get away with 2 cups, but an extra 2 Tablespoons really helps solidify the foundation of the lemon bars.
- Vanilla Extract: I use 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract in the shortbread crust. Not many lemon bar recipes call for vanilla extract and I promise you it’s my best kept secret.
- Salt: Without salt, the crust would be too sweet.
- Eggs: Eggs are most of the structure. Without them, you have lemon soup!
- Lemon Juice: I highly recommend using lemon juice squeezed from fresh lemons. You can also use another citrus like blood orange, grapefruit, or lime juice. For extra flavor, add some fresh zest as well.
How to Make Lemon Bars in 5 Steps
- Prepare the crust: Mix all of the shortbread crust ingredients together, then press firmly into a 9×13-inch baking pan. Interested in a smaller batch? See my recipe note.
- Pre-bake: Pre-baking the crust guarantees it will hold up under the lemon layer.
- Prepare the filling: Whisk all of the filling ingredients together. No cooking on the stove!
- Bake: Pour the filling on the warm pre-baked crust, then bake for around 20 minutes or until the center is just about set. I slightly increased the baking temperature from my cookbook version. Either temperatures work, but 325°F is preferred.
- Cool: I usually cool the lemon bars for about 1 hour at room temperature, then stick the whole pan in the refrigerator for 1-2 more hours until relatively chilled. They’re wonderful cold and with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar on top!
Prepared in only 2 bowls and a baking pan, clean up is a breeze. These lemon bars win 1st place every time because they’re the perfect balance of tangy and sweet. In fact, I made them for my friend’s baby shower last weekend and they were the first dessert to disappear. And that’s saying a lot considering the competition: homemade chewy fudgy frosted brownies and adorable mini animal cracker cookies. 🙂
2 Guaranteed Tricks to Make the Best Lemon Bars
- Use a glass pan. Ceramic is fine, but glass is best. Do not use metal. I always detect a slight metallic flavor in the lemon bars when baked in metal pans.
- Use fresh juice. Store-bought bottles are convenient, but you miss out on a lot of flavor. You will definitely taste the difference! I have a super old citrus juicer, but I recently purchased this juicer for my mom and she loves it. Highly recommended.
White Air Bubbles on Top of Baked Lemon Bars
Do you notice air bubbles, perhaps even a white layer of air bubbles, on top of your baked lemon bars? That’s completely normal. It’s the air from the eggs rising to the surface. Some batches have it, some don’t. Regardless, the lemon bars taste the same and a dusting of confectioners’ sugar covers it right up!
Blood orange bars! See my recipe note about substituting flavors.
Want to kick it up a notch? Here are my lemon meringue pie and lemon cheesecake recipes.
Craving lots of texture with your bars? You’ll love my oatmeal lemon crumble bars.
Plenty of lemon recipes to love on my site including these lemon crinkle cookies and lemon thumbprint cookies! Regardless of what you choose, lemon desserts are always a great choice when looking for springtime or Easter dessert recipes.
Print
Lemon Bars
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours, 50 minutes
- Yield: 24 bars
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
You only need 7 ingredients to make these lemon bars. The lemon curd filling is extra thick and creamy and sits on an irresistible butter shortbread crust. Always bake lemon bars at a lower temperature to avoid over-baking. See recipe notes for important tips. They’re simply the best lemon bars and are perfect for picnics, bake sales, spring brunches, baby showers, and bridal showers.
Ingredients
Shortbread Crust
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups + 2 Tablespoons (265g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
Lemon Filling
- 2 cups (400g) granulated sugar
- 6 Tablespoons (46g) all-purpose flour
- 6 large eggs
- 1 cup (240ml) fresh lemon juice (about 4 lemons)
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest, optional
- optional: confectioners’ sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F (163°C). Line the bottom and sides of a 9×13-inch glass baking pan (do not use metal) with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on the sides to lift the finished bars out (makes cutting easier!). Set aside.
- Make the 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 thick. Press firmly into prepared pan, making sure the layer of crust is nice and even. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Remove from the oven. Using a fork, poke holes all over the top of the warm crust (not all the way through the crust). A new step I swear by, this helps the filling stick and holds the crust in place. Set aside until step 4.
- Make the filling: Sift the sugar and flour together in a large bowl. Whisk in the eggs, then the lemon juice and lemon zest (if using) until completely combined.
- Pour filling over warm crust. Bake the bars for 22-26 minutes or until the center is relatively set and no longer jiggles. (Give the pan a light tap with an oven mitt to test.) Remove bars from the oven and cool completely at room temperature. I usually cool them for about 2 hours at room temperature, then stick in the refrigerator for 1-2 more hours until pretty chilled. I recommend serving chilled.
- Once cool, lift the parchment paper out of the pan using the overhang on the sides. Dust with confectioners’ sugar and cut into squares before serving. For neat squares, wipe the knife clean between each cut. Cover and store leftover lemon bars in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
- Freezing Instructions: Lemon bars can be frozen for up to 3-4 months. Cut the cooled bars (without confectioners’ sugar topping) into squares, then place onto a baking sheet. Freeze for 1 hour. Individually wrap each bar in aluminum foil or plastic wrap and place into a large bag or freezer container to freeze. Thaw in the refrigerator, then dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving.
Notes
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9×13-inch Glass Pan | Glass Mixing Bowls | Silicone Spatula | Silicone Whisk | Juicer | Fine Mesh Sieve
- Halve the Recipe: Halve each of the ingredients to yield around 12 squares in a 9-inch square baking pan. Same oven temperature. Bake the crust for 16-18 minutes and the bars for 20 minutes or until the center no longer jiggles.
- Sifting: More often than not, the flour doesn’t fully incorporate into the lemon filling unless it’s sifted with the sugar. As directed in the recipe, sift the two together before adding the eggs and lemon juice. I don’t always do this (and didn’t even do it in the video above!) but it’s preferred to avoid any flour lumps. If you have a sifter, it’s worth using. If you forget, it’s not a huge deal. Here is my favorite sifter. You use it again to dust the lemon bars with confectioners’ sugar.
- Lemon Juice: For exceptional taste, I highly recommend fresh lemon juice. Here is a wonderful inexpensive juicer if you don’t have one. Or use another fresh-squeezed citrus like grapefruit, blood orange, lime, or regular orange. You can slightly reduce the sugar if using a sweeter citrus. I recommend no less than 1 and 2/3 cup granulated sugar in the filling as it’s needed for structure.
- Room Temperature: Bringing the eggs and lemon juice to room temperature helps them mix easier into the flour and sugar. However, I never notice a taste or texture difference when using cold. Room temperature or cold, use whichever!
Reader Comments and Reviews
Great recipe, I would change the crust by not melting the butter. I’ve done it both ways and cold in the food processor is better.
Wow, a total waste of ingredients for me to make this recipe. The crust is so dense and the lemon part is so tart that it’s inedible. I followed the recipe exactly so I know the problem wasn’t me. That leaves the recipe as just bad. No reply required. I just wanted to put this up here so any new people will know it’s not a fail-safe recipe by any means.
Not sure if I did something wrong. The flavor was great, but the crust was too dense and hard. The egg layer separated a little and left a thin layer of cooked egg on top that was not appealing. And the filling got what I would call “weepy” after refrigerated.
If halving the recipe, is it recommended that the 9-inch square pan is also glass? Or can it be metal? TIA!
Hi Audrey, You should still use a glass pan.
I have made this recipe so many times. I love it! This last time the top cracked. Would anyone know what might have been the reason?
Hi Jenny! Lemon bars are an egg-heavy dessert, like cheesecake, so they’re prone to cracking. They’re either cracking because the eggs are over-mixed (more air is whipped into the filling, then deflates causing the cracking) or they’re over-baked. One easy way to help guarantee no cracks, though, is to cool the lemon bars inside the oven. Turn the oven off 1-2 minutes before the lemon bars have finished cooking. Crack open the oven door and let the lemon bars cool inside the cooling oven for 1 hour. Then remove from the oven and cool at room temperature. The slow cooling will help prevent cracks. Hope this helps!
I disagree, as a professional chef, I use stainless steel when I make these. I despise glass! It’s terrible to bake or cook in. I will never do so! Never had an issue with any metallic taste. Trust me, I have a super sensitive palette, so I would definitely pick up on it! This is the exact same as the recipe we made in lab about 24 years ago. The teeny tiny version anyway. I have made them in a full size sheets, but prefer making them in 1/2 sheets. I usually triple the recipe for that. There is a little left over, but it never lasts long. These are especially popular in the spring, summer, and for showers and what not. It’s a good stable recipe!
So good! I made these for a bake sale that was raising money for Canine Companions. They provide service dogs for free to those in need. Anyway, I did save two little pieces so my husband and I could try them. We loved them. The lemon is so pretty and bright tasting. The only thing I would do different is use less of the crust. It was delicious but competed with the lovely lemon.
The shortbread was PERFECT , the filling SO TART. I love tangy lemon so it surprised me this was so zingy, next time I’ll cut back on the lemon juice. Bake was perfect , color was perfect, consistency was a dream. Overall fabulous recipe.
Sorry to say that I did have doubts about the amount of sugar and lemon juice to be used but I had 3 lemons I getting a bit too ripe. Well the lemon topping of this was WAY too tart and it overpower the shortbread bottom. I served it to my guests and after they left their plates still with the top pushed off, I threw the rest away. I just want to be honest, it wasn’t worthy of your name on it as you have so many terrific recipes, but not this one.
I appreciate this feedback, Kathleen. Thank you for taking the time to write.
Delicious! They were hit at our family Easter celebration. Thank you!
I made this lemon filling for a pie I made for Easter. I then covered the filling with your “strawberry sauce” and put in the regular pie crust. Mmm, mmmm. So good. There were 4 of us for dinner and one piece of pie leftover. I am having that for lunch. Thanks for the great, easy (!) pie. Love your recipes, you are my go-to!
Can you use Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 in place of all purpose flour in the Lemon bar recipe?
great recipe, total hit at our house. Thanks Sally!
This recipe is so good. Instead of topping with confectioners sugar, I made lemon frosting. Way better. I followed the lemon bar frosting recipe from Tim Brennan (owner of Cravings Desserts in St. Louis, Missouri). Yum!
Easy and absolutely delicious. Loved the idea to poke holes in the shortbread crust. This recipe is my forever go to for lemon bars.
This recipe is brutal. The shortbread crust portion needs to be rethought as the dough doesn’t harden…probably because she calls for melting the butter instead of cold butter. The oven temp and time also needs to be rethought because it literally took me two hours to get the crust cooked through AND the curd. All and all, not a well thought out recipe for such an easy dessert.
Yes! My crust was soggy and undone too! And I baked it to the upper range of 24 minutes. So disappointed
Agreed! My oven runs on the hot side and I had to cook the crust an extra 10 minutes
First time making lemon bars, and this recipe is a keeper with a couple of tweaks. The lemon filling was delicious and VERY tart so if you don’t like a lemon punch, this one is not for you lol But I have to agree with another commenter, the shortbread crust had a dense chewy texture because I only par-baked it for the 22 min. that the recipe calls for (even though it was not brown on the edges) so that needs to bake for longer. And the lemon filling took way more than 26 min. to stop jiggling. It took a total of 22 min. to par-bake the shortbread and 35 min. to get the lemon filling to stop jiggling (and the shortbread was still a little underbaked). Also, they don’t end up looking as bright yellow as the pictures, they are more like a muted or pastel yellow. All in all, a tasty recipe, but will have to adjust the baking times for my oven.
The lemon filling was delicious but the shortbread crust had a strange dense chewy texture. Did I not bake it long enough? I’d like to figure it out because they were otherwise delicious!!
Hi Vicki! We would try par-baking the crust for longer next time, sounds like it was a little under-baked.
First time ever making lemon bars. They turned out fantastic, just right, followed the recipe including sifting flour and sugar. So glad I found this recipe.
Thank you very much Sally!!!
We make this recipe many times a year. Thank you for it! Can I bake it in a convection oven? If yes, how long?
Hi Regan! We always recommend conventional settings for baking (not convection/fan). The flow of air from convection heat can cause baked goods to rise and bake unevenly and it also pulls moisture out of the oven. If you do use convection/fan settings for baking, lower your temperature by 25 degrees F and keep in mind that things may still take less time to bake.
This is one of my favorite recipes to bake ever!! I just wonder how long you would wait to pour the lemon filling onto the warm shortbread? Should it be warm to the touch or can it still be fairly hot?
Hi Jenna, the crust can still be quite warm/hot when you pour the filling. You do want it to be warm (not cool) in order for the filling to “stick.”
Can you swirl blueberry jam in the bar? I’m not sure if the density of the curd would allowfor it or whether it would all just meld together
Hi Maggie, we haven’t tested adding blueberry jam to these bars but let us know if you do! You may love these lemon blueberry cheesecake bars or this lemon blueberry tart.
Looking forward to making this! I’m wondering if there’s a combination of flour you’d recommend to make it GF. I’m thinking I’d add a 1:1 GF flour blend to the lemon top, but would you recommend any blend of almond flour or 1:1 for the shortbread base? I think almond flour would taste great here but don’t want it to be too oily with the butter.
Hi Alyssa, we haven’t tested a gluten-free version of these bars, but we’d recommend trying a 1:1 gluten free flour blend. Almond flour isn’t always a 1:1 swap with all-purpose flour and would likely take some tweaking to get right. Let us know what you decide to try!
Excellent recipe! I halved it and needed to add an generous extra 1/4 cup of flour to the crust — which needed almost 30 minutes to start getting light brown around the edges. Following the recipe precisely, the batter for the crust was extremely wet (maybe for some reason due to me being in Costa Rica?). But with these two tweaks, the rest came together beautifully and the bars were super yummy!
This is my go-to recipe now! We love it. We double the shortbread because we love shortbread, but these are by are the best lemon squares ever! Two questions: any tricks to having the confectioner’s sugar stay in place? I have tried everything and it looks great for a few minutes and then melts into the lemon, even when cold. Also, have you ever found good paper square paper liners that fit these? Most I find are too small. Thanks!
Hi Ellynn, We put the dusting of confectioners’ sugar on top once the bars are cooled. We recommend that you use cupcake liners so that they are easier to remove from the pan. Enjoy!
This dessert was a fantastic success! Your expertise in describing the tips helped me to make a perfect bar!
I have made this recipe before and I loved it!
However the past 2 times I have made it the middle has not set? I take it out of the oven after 25 minutes and it’s still liquid. I followed the recipe exactly.
Any idea why?
Hi Cat, we’re sorry to hear your filling wouldn’t set! Did you change anything about the recipe or bake them in a different size pan? Were they cooled and chilled completely before you cut them? Be sure you are using conventional heat settings (not convection/fan heat) and if they are taking longer to bake in the center you can loosely cover the top with aluminum foil to prevent the top from browning before the center is cooked. Hope this helps for next time!
I have to say, this recipe is fantastic. It was so fast and easy and so, so delicious. I looked around at a few different recipes, and I chose this one because I liked the ratio of lemon juice to sugar compared to what I was seeing in some other recipes, and the addition of the vanilla in the shortbread. So glad that I did!
I made it almost exactly as written. I made two minor modifications. I added lemon zest to the sugar, and then blitzed it in the cuisinart–the custard is completely smooth and silky, but of course it does add another step. And, after squeezing 4 lemons, I needed another 30ml of juice, so I cut open a lime instead. I didn’t really taste the lime, but maybe it added a nice note. I’d love to try these with other citrus and plan to do that next.
Turned out amazing! Made this for my friends yesterday, and I got a comment from one of them that it’s “sugar overdose” I’m choosing to take that as a compliment, we all need a bit more sweetness in our lives.
Question! I am making these for an AA meeting…can I use artificial vanilla extract?
Hi Amy, Sure can!