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
These lemon bars are great! I think I underbaked mine a bit, although they didn’t jiggle when I took them out so who knows. Love the shortbread crust!!
The best kind of tangy, these are refreshingly sweet!
Made these today for my husband, who loves lemon desserts.
Unfortunately, my filling didn’t want to set. I baked the bars for 10 extra minutes. They looked and felt done. I let them cool for several hours at room temperature and then chilled them for several hours.
The problems came when I tried to cut them. The filling was so soft that it wouldn’t stay on the crust well. I put the cut bars back in the oven for 10 minutes to try to salvage them.
Additionally, the bars stuck terribly to the parchment paper. I wish that I had greased it first. I had thought about using nonstick aluminum foil instead, but I was afraid the bars would have a metallic taste.
Oh well, hopefully they at least taste good.
These were delicious! The crust is amazing and the filling has just the right amount of lemon!
Loved this recipe!! my friends are going to love this one!!
Simple and delicious!!!
The crust comes together so quickly which is a huge plus for me. I hate cutting in butter!!!!
Love these lemon bars!! So delicious and so simple. Thank you!
Made these earlier this month and they were a hit with my family. Halved the recipe because we didn’t need a lot and that was perfect!
Very Delicious and tastes like spring!
Simple and delicious. Will definitely be making these again.
These are simply perfect! They’re super easy and quick. The only drawback is that they disappear rather fast… 🙂
I loved these! Made them both in lemon and blood orange- Blood orange was less pronounced in flavor, but still delicious!
My husband had never had these before and raved about them! Now to spread the love and share with neighbors too!
Lori (@southerngirleats)
I loved how the lemon bars were tart but had the right amount of sweetness.
These were fantastic! The crust was so tender and melt-in-mouth. I have another lemon bar recipe that is very similar except adds quite a bit of zest (2T, packed). That one wields some serious pucker-factor for hardcore lemon lovers, but is probably too much for some people. THIS recipe will be my go-to for most occasions.
Also, I have a lot of glass bakeware that is currently in storage (boo!) and only had a metal 8×8 pan to work with today. So to avoid the metallic taste issue, I lightly greased the pan, floured generously, then lined with *three* sheets of parchment paper. I was thinking the flour would absorb any moisture that can sometimes form between parchment and pan and cause the parchment to become slightly soggy, especially by the end of the cooling process. Using three sheets of parchment was also done to hopefully ensure no (metallic-infused) moisture reached the bars. It worked PERFECTLY!
I’m so glad you enjoyed these, Lindsay! That’s a great tip to layer the parchment paper!
This recipes was way easier to make than I thought it would be and it was a huge hit. Made it for a friend’s engagement get together, everyone loved it!
I am a novice baker, but these turned out great! The lemon flavor is very bright; perfect dessert for spring!
Great flavor! My bars didn’t set but I think I either added to much lemon juice or under baked. Will try again.
Made the bars and to get perfectly even layers, press the shortbread crust when it is still warm after baking it with a napkin to flatten it since it will slightly puff up during baking. Shortbread was too sweet but the lemon layer was perfect! Great easy recipe for someone looking for something quick to make
Pretty simple to make and great lemon flavor! Loved how thick the layers were.
This is an amazing recipe! So quick, easy, and simple to prepare… Love it!! I made your lemon meringue pie last week and it was delicious but a lot of work. These are much less time consuming and just as tasty. Thank you for another great recipe Sally!!
The flavor was SO good. Not too sweet, and the lemon really was the center star. I tried to make a second batch for St. Patrick’s Day and added green food coloring and tried to use a shamrock cookie cutter, but it didn’t turn out as nice as planned. If I did it again I’d probably replace the lemon juice with lime juice for a more natural green.
I made this to the exact recipe, and the bars were super tart lemon flavor, and it was really overpowering.
I used four lemons juiced which equates to one cup measured. Other recipes call for half of the lemon juice- I think next time I’ll use less lemon juice and less eggs and a little more flour.
Hi Abbey! Thank you so much for trying these lemon bars. I find that most recipes for a 9×13 pan call for around 1 cup of lemon juice, but feel free to tweak the recipe based on your tastes! Appreciate you sharing!
Good lemon bar and fairly easy to make.
My husband especially enjoyed these as he loves lemon bars. Our crazy, picky, three year-old was not a big fan since they didn’t have the key ingredient of chocolate:-) I liked them and thought they tasted even better the day after baking – like lasagna, but when I make them again, I will probably make a thinner shortbread layer, as rich foods have become more challenging to eat as I age.
These were delicious! Very easy to make and used one bowl for the whole prep! Definitely a crowd pleaser.
I love anything lemon, but these are so delicious! The filling is tart, and balances nicely with the sweet crust. Will be making this regularly!
I’ve been craving lemon bars lately and saw that these lemon bars were this months Baking Challenge so I had to be a part of the fun! These were SO good! I ended up using a mixture of Lemon juice and Pomelo juice. They turned out amazing! My only complaint was that the crust was a bit hard to cut through in spots but I probably didn’t flatten out the crust evenly through the entire pan so that’s on me.
My first time making lemon bars, simple and delicious! Sweet and tangy and perfect for spring!
These bake perfectly…no surprise since Sally’s got her addiction dialed in! Thanks,for,sharing this keeper!
I’ve never made lemon bars before but these pleasantly surprised me. Deliciously tar, yet creamy and easy. I halved the recipe and used a 9.5x 7.5 glass dish and it was perfect. Nice thick crust.
These are delicious!! First time I bake them andy first baking challenge, I have lemons left and no bars so probably tonight I’ll bake them again 😉