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.
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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
QUESTION: what causes cracking of top when cooling?
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!
Can you replace the short bread crust with the oatmeal recipe you used for Lemon Oatmeal bars?
Hi Ad, we haven’t tested it, but if you wish to try, be sure to still prick the bottom of the oatmeal crust so that the lemon layer will set properly on top. Let us know if you give anything a try.
I’ve made these perfectly several times and LOVE them, but last time once they were done cooking I literally had chunks of eggs in the bars (FAIL)!! I didn’t change anything from the recipe, what did I do wrong?
Hi Stephanie! Perhaps the filling hadn’t been mixed properly?
My family and I loved this recipe! I only had an 8×10 glass pan. So, it obviously took longer for the crust and filling to bake. It was worth the wait…delicious!
In my oven, 22 minutes at 325 degrees, it came out WAYYYYY too jiggly still. Normally your recipes work perfectly for me at home.
Sally, your recipes are the BEST. Plan to make the Lemon bars soon. Thanks for
all your ideas and recipes!
Hello
My Mom loves your lemon bars and I want to bake them for her birthday, but she lives in a different state. Would the lemon bars be ok to ship to my Mom? If yes, any recommendations on packaging? Thanks!
Hi Michele, since these lemon bars should be stored in the refrigerator, they aren’t the best candidate for shipping (unless using dried ice is an option for you). How about lemon crinkle cookies or these oatmeal lemon crumble bars instead?
These turned out great! I’m not usually a big fan of lemon desserts, but these were delicious! Love the simple recipe, too.
I have made this recipe many times and it’s amazing ! Made it again today and the strangest thing happened . When I lifted the cooled tart out of the pan I noticed that the top of the tart was the crust and the bottom was the curd ! What happened ? If I had not seen this myself I would not believe it . Crust seemed fine . Curd might not have been as tart as normal and not as set . One thing I did different is I cooled it on counter for about 20 mi utes and then put in freezer for 1 hr and then in fridge .
Hi Kim, Usually when the bars end up inverted it’s because we either over-baked the crust, or let it cool for too long. Did you prick the crust with a fork (see the end of step 2)? This should help prevent this issue. Hope this helps!
I, er.. You, won firs!! prize at our little county fair last year with this recipe. I’m going back for a repeat this year!!! I added lemon zest to crust and curd. So good!
Do you have a gluten free version? I love this recipe but have a friend who’s GF.
Hi Jessica, we haven’t tested a gluten free version of this recipe, but let us know if you give anything a try.
I’ve made this recipe using Kruteaz Gluten free flour and it worked out, crust was a little dryer though.
I have a mystery! I followed the recipe exactly and the weirdest thing happened. When I took the bars out of the oven, the topping had completely sunk and the crust was now on top! It was sort of ok because when cooled, I just flipped it however the topping was a little soft because I couldn’t test for doneness. Whatever could have caused this?
Hi Laura, Usually when the bars end up inverted it’s because we either over-baked the crust, or let it cool for too long. Did you prick the crust with a fork (see the end of step 2)? This should help prevent this issue. Hope this helps!
A FEW spots of my crust tried to rise, too. I added the extra 2 minutes because it looked so wet, but I think the 20 minutes is the safest bet. I did pick my crust, too. My issue is the lemon part being almost straight up liquid when I pulled it out after 22 minutes. It’s not a 4 minute extra time fix.
OMG, this recipe is my life.
I love it turned out perfect. For extra lemon flavor I added 2 tsp. Lemon zest to crust and a pinch to filling.
Hi! Can you tell me how I should go about altering this recipe if I already have homemade lemond curd? Can I bake the crust following step 2, but then not bake it for as long in step 4 after poking holes and layering the curd?
Hi Ava, lemon curd won’t set up quite enough for these bars, we don’t recommend using it here. Best to stick with the recipe as written!
Hi! I’ve been about fifty recipes from this site and this is the first one I had issue with. The lemon filling remained very liquid after baking for 26 minutes – and recommendation on what I could have done wrong? Thanks!
Hi Kelly, 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 ended up leaving it in the oven at 325 for 10 more minutes and that set it without burning. Then cooled and chilled for the allotted time. They were a big hit, thanks!!
I am planning on making this recipe tomorrow. I only have a 8 x 8 inch glass pan. Can I use this instead of a 9 x 9″ pan?
Hi Anne, If you halve the recipe you can use an 8×8 inch pan for slightly thicker bars.
My curd did not set up. Can I use the curd for something else?
Hi Joyce, 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. Our lemon curd post has tons of suggestions for how to use lemon curd as a topping. Hope this helps for next time!
Hi, planning to make these for Father’s Day. Have you ever tried adding meringue on top?
Hi Lisa, we haven’t tested it, but you could try adding a meringue topping! Cover them completely and then broil very briefly on the day you want to serve the bars. Hope you enjoy!
I am making the lemon bars and have the crust mixed up. I would not consider it thick, but rather runny. What am I doing wrong?
Hi Shelly! This butter-heavy crust can be a little loose, but bakes up beautifully! Make sure to let the butter cool a bit before adding the other ingredients.
I am making these for graduation party and was wondering if I could bake them in a muffin tin with liners
Hi Cheryl, we haven’t personally tried it but we’re sure you can! We recommend that you use cupcake liners so that they are easier to remove from the pan. You can also try to push the dough up the sides of the muffin tin to create the cups, if they don’t maintain their shape you can always press the middle down right after they come out of the oven. Let us know how it goes!
First time using this recipe. I have used others. No longer. This is the only lemon bar recipe I will be using! I made a lemon glaze to adorn the top. Tangy! Delicious! Perfect! Thank you, Sally! You recipes are the best!
I just put them in the oven and then realized I probably should have lubricated at least the sides of the parchment paper. Will they stick?
i’ve made this recipe a bunch of times and it always gets wonderful reviews! this most recent time though it didn’t bake through all the way as usual. i was wondering if you could give some advice on what to do if you realize they’re underbaked? should you just put them back in the oven at a lower temp? i realized the middle is still rather soupy even though it passed the initial “jiggle” test
Hi Corey, You could loosely cover the top with aluminum foil to prevent the top from browning and put them back in for a little longer.
I wanted to love this recipe, so disappointed. I am diabetic, so I substituted Splenda for the granulated sugar, expecting it would work as in other recipes. I used a glass pyrex pan. Fresh lemons. It was awful. Super flat crust, and flat lemon filling. Not light and delicious, stodgy and not tasty. What did i do wrong?
Hi Alisa, We’d love to help but we are not trained in baking with sugar substitutes. For best taste and texture (and so you don’t waste your time trying to adapt this recipe since it may not work properly), it may be more useful to find a recipe that is specifically formulated for sugar substitutes. Thank you!
I just baked these and it created a film on the top? The flavor is fine I’m just wondering if this is normal or if I did something
Hi Danae, is it a foamy film? If too much air is incorporated into the lemon filling mixture, there can be a layer of foamy film on top. Be careful not to over-mix or whip the filling when combining and be careful not to over-bake the bars. These tips should help! Some air bubbles are normal, see “White Air Bubbles on Top of Baked Lemon Bars” above. Thank you for giving these a try!
This is an excellent recipe. I especially love the balance of the shortbread w/ the strong lemon flavor. My kids called it “fire” :). Thanks for the tips of poking the shortbread all over prior to putting down the lemon topping so practical and useful!
Can the butter for the shortening crust be replaced with oil for this recipe? I have a special request for dairy-free lemon bars for a party and let’s just say the first recipe I’ve found doesn’t impress me
Hi Dree, we do not recommend oil here—you’ll want a fat that is solid at room temperature, so you could use melted coconut oil (although we haven’t tested this ourselves). A plant-based butter may also work.
Hi Dree- Don’t know if you have made these yet, but I have made them dairy-free before using butter flavor Crisco (may contain traces of dairy, check with client first if this is an acceptable ingredient) or plant-based butter. Both worked well.
Terrific recipe
I added the finely grated rind of one of the lemons as well
This is the best lemon bar recipe I have made.
Thank you for sharing your recipe.