Cool, creamy, and refreshing lemon blueberry tart comes together with 10 ingredients. The simple lemon filling sits in a flaky shortbread crust and is swirled with homemade blueberry sauce. After the first bite of this sweet, tangy, and buttery tart, it’s impossible to put your fork down. Enjoy this beautiful dessert for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, spring or summer celebrations, and more.
I knew a tart or pie version of our beloved lemon blueberry cake would be a hit in my household AND with many of you reading this. I’m always dreaming up ways to use this unbeatable flavor combination such as lemon blueberry muffins, glazed lemon blueberry scones, lemon blueberry babka, or lemon blueberry cupcakes. A beautiful tart with tons of fresh flavor was definitely my imagination’s top choice. I cannot wait for you to try this one.
One reader, Judy, commented: “Loved this recipe. It was creamy, tangy, and not too sweet. The shortbread crust was easy to make and came out perfectly. Looks fancy, even though it is a pretty easy recipe. I loved the extra blueberry sauce, so I will make extra next time. Definitely a keeper! ★★★★★”
Lemon Blueberry Tart Details
- Texture: I went back and forth about which type of crust to use for this lemon tart, but shortbread seemed most fitting. It’s pleasantly crumbly with a flaky texture that melts in your mouth. The crust contrasts perfectly with the creamy and lush filling on top, making this one of our favorite spring dessert recipes and Easter brunch recipes.
- Flavor: If I were to describe the taste of pure sunshine, it would definitely be this lemon blueberry tart. The lemon flavor is delightfully fresh and bright, and there’s just enough tang to complement all the sweetness. You really only need a small slice since there’s such a strong punch of flavor, but honestly I’ve never witnessed anyone stopping at 1 serving. (HA!)
- Ease: There are 3 components to the tart and each must be prepared separately, but there’s nothing really complicated about the entire process. Take your time and read through the recipe before you start.
- Time: It only takes about an hour to prep and bake the tart. But you’ll want to cool and chill it before serving, so set aside a few hours to complete the entire recipe. It’s wonderful when made the day ahead, too! Oatmeal lemon crumble bars are another excellent option for an even quicker lemony treat.
3 Parts to This Recipe
- Buttery Shortbread Crust: I make this shortbread crust with a lot of different desserts and it always reminds me of pie crust, but it’s so much easier. There’s no food processor or pastry cutter needed—instead simply combine melted butter with sugar, vanilla, salt, and flour and press into a tart pan or pie dish. You don’t even need to chill the dough before using. You’ll notice we use the same crust for our raspberry streusel bars, apple pie bars, and we double the recipe for our lemon bars. Keep in mind that these other desserts may require different oven temperatures and that’s because the desserts take longer, overall, to bake through. We bake the crust at 350°F (177°C) for this particular tart recipe.
- Lemon Filling: A lot of lemon tarts are prepared with a curd filling, but this one is thick, creamy, and rich. I use a similar lemon filling for our creamy lemon pie. I halved it for this tart, then cut down on the egg yolks. The egg yolks help the filling set, but I wanted the finished tart to remain soft. I think you’ll really love it. We’ll use only 1 egg yolk.
- Blueberry Sauce Swirl: You’ll enjoy pure blueberries without much else in the way. We hardly add any sugar to the blueberry sauce (some is needed to help them break down), so the natural flavor can really shine. Cook it on the stovetop for a few minutes, let it cool a little bit, then swirl some into the lemon filling. Feel free to strain it if you don’t want any blueberry lumps. You can use a toothpick or knife to swirl.
Can I Use a Graham Cracker Crust Instead?
A graham cracker crust will fall apart and crumble under this wet filling, so I suggest sticking with the shortbread crust for this recipe. If you wish to use a graham cracker crust, make these lemon blueberry cheesecake bars instead.
The shortbread crust dough is thick and a little greasy—don’t be nervous if it looks a little wet. Press it tightly into your pan and pre-bake it before adding the filling.
Creamy Lemon Tart Filling
You need one 14 ounce (weight) can of full-fat sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice and zest, and 1 egg yolk. That’s it. Fresh lemon juice is best. Here is a wonderful juicer if you don’t have one and if you need a recommendation for a zester, I use and love this one.
Spread the filling into the pre-baked crust.
I recommend making the blueberry sauce first so it’s ready when you need it. The recipe moves pretty quickly once you begin pre-baking the crust.
How to Make Mini Lemon Blueberry Tarts
Try using this recipe for about 10 mini tarts in mini tart pans. I don’t recommend a muffin pan for turning this recipe into mini tarts. Divide crust mixture between each mini tart pan (bake these in batches if you have less than 10), press firmly into the bottom, and bake for 8 minutes to help set the crust. It’s usually easiest to bake mini tart pans on a larger baking sheet. No need to poke holes in the crust before adding the filling as directed for the full size tart below. Pour filling into warm crusts, drop a few tiny spoonfuls of blueberry sauce on each, then swirl as directed below. Bake for 9-10 minutes or just until the centers no longer jiggle. Cool completely, then chill for at least 1 hour before removing from tart pans and serving. (Or serve in tart pans.)
Lemon Blueberry Tart Variations
If you want to switch up some flavors, be our guest! Here are the variations we tested. We’re unsure of the results outside of these listed changes, so let us know if you try anything else.
- Lime Tart: Switch the lemon juice and zest for lime juice and zest. Feel free to keep the blueberry swirl or skip it. You could also use the strawberry, raspberry, or blackberry swirl.
- Strawberry Swirl: Replace blueberries with 1 cup chopped fresh or frozen strawberries. You can’t really detect the strawberry seeds in the baked tart, but feel free to strain the sauce through a fine mesh sieve before swirling into the filling.
- Raspberry or Blackberry Swirl: Replace blueberries with 1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries or blackberries and add 1 more teaspoon of sugar to the sauce (for a total of 3 teaspoons). Strain the finished sauce through a fine mesh sieve to remove the seeds before swirling into the filling.
- We haven’t tested other citrus besides lime or lemon. We do not recommend swapping the lemons for orange zest/juice because the tart will be very, very sweet. You really need the tang from lemons or limes. We haven’t tested this recipe with grapefruit.
See Your Lemon Blueberry Tarts!
Many readers tried this recipe as part of a baking challenge! Feel free to email or share your recipe photos with us on social media. 🙂
Print
Lemon Blueberry Tart
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours (includes chilling)
- Yield: serves 8-10
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
There are 3 parts to this creamy lemon blueberry tart and each are prepared separately before bringing them all together. For best success, take your time and read through the recipe before starting.
Ingredients
Blueberry Sauce
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice (or water)
- 1 cup (140g) fresh or frozen blueberries (do not thaw)
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
Shortbread Crust
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
Filling
- 1 (14 ounce weight) can full-fat sweetened condensed milk
- 6 Tablespoons (90ml) lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest (1 lemon)
- 1 large egg yolk
Optional Garnishes
- Lemon slices, blueberries, leftover blueberry sauce, whipped cream
Instructions
- Blueberry Sauce: Using a fork, mix the cornstarch and lemon juice together in a small bowl until the cornstarch has dissolved. Set aside. Warm the blueberries and sugar together in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally for 3 minutes, mashing the blueberries as best you can against the bottom and sides of the pan to help break them up. Stir in the cornstarch mixture. Cook for 2 more minutes as the sauce thickens, stirring and mashing the blueberries to break them up as desired. Remove sauce from heat and set aside at room temperature until step 6. Makes about 1/2 – 2/3 cup blueberry sauce and you’ll use about half for the swirl. (Reserve extra for garnish/serving.)
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).
- 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 a little greasy and very thick. Using a silicone spatula or your hands, press dough firmly into a 9-inch tart pan (no need to grease it), making sure the layer of crust is even on the bottom and all around the sides. It may seem like it won’t fit, but it will. You can use the bottom of a measuring cup to pack the crust in too, but sometimes it sticks.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until the edges are very lightly browned. Remove from the oven. Using a fork, poke a few holes all over the top of the warm crust (not all the way through the crust). This helps the filling stick.
- Filling: Whisk all of the filling ingredients together until combined. Pour into warm crust. Stir up the blueberry sauce because it has likely thickened. It can still be warm when you use it in this step. If it’s too thick, warm it in the microwave for 5-10 seconds. Drop spoonfuls of blueberry sauce all over the top, using about half of the sauce. Reserve the rest of the sauce for serving. Using a toothpick or knife, gently swirl the sauce and filling together. Shimmy the pan back and forth 2-3 times to let the sauce and filling settle down into the crust a bit.
- Bake for 17-19 minutes, just until the center of the tart no longer jiggles when you give the pan a light tap. It will still be a little sticky on top. Avoid over-baking because the tart will taste rubbery. (Tip: Err on the side of under-baking because the filling also has a chance to set up in the refrigerator. You want a creamy soft filling.)
- Remove tart from the oven and place on a cooling rack. Cool completely at room temperature, then chill in the refrigerator uncovered for at least 2 hours and up to 1 day. If chilling for longer than 2 hours, cover it. After chilling, remove the sides of the tart pan if your pan has removable sides.
- Slice and serve with optional garnishes including any leftover blueberry sauce.
- Cover leftovers tightly and refrigerate for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: You can bake, cool, and chill the tart 1 day in advance. See step 7. The filling must be poured on a warm crust so it will stick, so I don’t recommend pre-baking the crust ahead of time. You can prepare the filling and blueberry sauce in advance though. Cover both and refrigerate until ready to use. The blueberry filling will be quite solid after refrigerating, so warm it up on the stove or in the microwave until thinned out again. (It can be warm when you swirl it into the filling.) Baked and cooled tart freezes well up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Silicone Spatula | 9-inch Tart Pan | Cooling Rack
- Tart Pan: A 9-inch tart pan with or without removable sides (it doesn’t matter) is ideal for this recipe. If you use other size tart pans, the bake times and thickness of the tart will differ. You can also use a 9-inch pie dish, but slicing the tart isn’t quite as neat. The bake times are the same. For mini tart pans, see post above. I don’t recommend a springform pan because the crust leaks. We haven’t tested this recipe in a round cake pan or as bars.
- Blueberry Sauce: If you don’t want blueberry lumps in your tart, feel free to run the blueberry sauce through a fine mesh sieve.
- Sweetened Condensed Milk: Make sure you are using sweetened condensed milk, not evaporated milk. There are no successful replacements for sweetened condensed milk in this particular recipe– it’s really the key ingredient. (Sometimes half-and-half or heavy cream works as a substitution, but then you’ll have to test with varying amounts of sugar since both are unsweetened.) Use one 14 ounce can full-fat sweetened condensed milk. Do not use fat free because the tart will not set. Keep in mind that 14 ounces is the listed weight on the can. 1 standard 14 ounce can is a little over 1 liquid cup.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Can you bake this tart in an already made frozen pie crust?
Hi Tracy, this wouldn’t be enough filling to fill a pie crust. You could use the filling from this creamy lemon pie recipe instead.
I’ve tried this recipe as is before (which worked great) and tried a modification yesterday. I replaced the egg yolk in the lemon filling with about a third of a flax egg and about 2 teaspoons of cornstarch (also used a storebought graham cracker crust in this version). The filling did set nicely and tasted great. The flax egg did add some brown speckles, but I think it could be omitted since I imagine the cornstarch is making the filling set. Loved how it turned out! Hopefully this helps anyone else who’s trying to find an egg-free recipe.
hey sally! love your recipes! i’m interested in making this for an upcoming party, but wanted to make these as bars. do you have any recommendations for how i could go about doing this? thank you!
Hi Ray, we haven’t tested this tart recipe as bars, but let us know if you try. You may enjoy these lemon blueberry cheesecake bars.
Surprisingly easy! The blueberries for the glaze didn’t break down much. In the future I’ll add a bit of water to the pan. Nevertheless I was able to swirl the glaze into the filling.
I also sugared a good 1/2 cup or more of fresh blueberries and garnished the tart – that really put the dessert over the top! I made it for a friend’s birthday and everyone loved it! I’m planning to make another for Easter dessert.
Curious if you have tried the crust with gluten free flour?
Hi Rachel, we haven’t tested this recipe with gluten free flour, so we’re unsure of the results. Let us know if you do decide to try it.
I used Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 gluten free flour and it came out wonderfully. I didn’t make any alterations to the recipe.
I have made the blueberry lemon tart a couple of times and each time it was fabulous and loved by all. I always look to your recipes first and have never been disappointed!!!
Has anyone tried these measurements to make mini tarts ?
Very popular at my office! Simple and easy to make. My only issue was that on the crust’s first bake, the sides I had built up completely fell down in the oven. It ended up being more of a flat crust layer, and thankfully still tasted delicious. I was using a glass pie pan with the typical slightly angled sides. Any guesses why that might have happened?
Hi Bea, a tart pan is ideal for this recipe. Our creamy lemon pie may be a better recipe to use a pie dish, with an almond graham cracker crust.
I would love to make this in a 9×13. Could you help me with the conversion of sizes?
Thanks
Hi Gina, A double batch should work just fine, but we haven’t tested that. You may also love our lemon bars!
Made this tart yesterday and served with lunch today. Everyone raved how delicious it is. The crust was golden brown, the filling rich and creamy. Almost cheese cake like. There was just a hint of lemon coming through but the blueberries really shined. Thank you for a dessertrecipe that comes together effortlessly. I took a picture of the finished tart but I’m not sure how to attach it.
Made this yesterday. It is delicious! My husband said one of the best desserts he’s ever had! Frankly, it was hard not to go back for seconds.
Definitely going on the Easter menu.
I’ve just started following Sally – I’m normally but off by IS recipes as they use cups but you give the actual measures which is great! Have you got many Scottish follower?
Made the Lemon Blueberry tart for neighborhood Oscar party. Not only tasty but so beautiful. Had many requests for the recipe.
Without using non-stick cooking spray my crust stuck to the bottom of my tart pan. Also, I used Meyer lemons and the result was too sweet. Aside from those two items, the tart was impressively beautiful and delicious.
I am making this tart for the first time and am wondering why my crust is liquid and not stiff as you described. I melted one stick of unsalted butter and added the ingredients as stated. I measured my one cup of flour and it’s the consistency of cake batter, not moldable to a tart pan at all.
Hi Julie, we’re not sure why your crust would be the consistency of cake batter. It should definitely be more firm than that.
I had a similar problem using the metric measurements as stated, not cake batter perse but a very fatty dough that was so greasy I couldn’t shape it correctly and it just slunk back on itself and down the ridges of the dish and had butter separate out while baking. I tossed that first attempt and remade the dough. Looking at other shortbread biscuit recipes it needs more flour than stated here, I went closer to 170 gr to get it to a workable consistency, I think I could have added even a little bit more.
I do have the say the filling is really good though so I will definitely make it again, just tweak the dough base more.
I had issues with the crust as well. It nearly burned well before 15mins and slumped down the sides. I had to push it back up but then the base was so thin it cracked. I should have trusted my instincts and added more flour. It was kind of a hot mess of a recipe.
it was scrumchiditlydumtios and easy to make.
Definitely a winner! Literally! I baked mini tarts using fresh Florida strawberries as my entry in the city’s baking competition, and it came in first in the pies category. Each was garnished with whipped cream and a slice of fresh strawberries.
This was the first time I made it so followed the suggestion of chilling the dough once it was in the pans before baking, and did not have any shrinking issues. Next time, I’ll probably do 1.5x the crust.
Thank you Sally!
Hello! First off, absolutely love your recipes. Not one has failed me yet. I am planning on using this recipe to make mini tarts for a baby shower (3 inch pans). I was planning on halving the filling baking time and watching but was wondering if you had a recommendation since I definitely don’t want to over bake them.
Hi Laura, see section in post “How to Make Mini Lemon Blueberry Tarts” for more details. Enjoy!
Could I do this almost any frozen fruit? so excited to try this
Hi Molly! Other berries would certainly work. Let us know if you try other fruits!
I was shocked at how easy this was to make. Everyone said it was delicious! I can’t wait to make it again 😀
Hello, I love you recipes, use them often. My husband is not a huge lemon pie fan, how would I change the flavor to vanilla? I would still add some lemon probably a couple of teaspoons for acid, and zest and vanilla, but will I need to replace the liquid from the lemon juice? Any other thoughts I would really appreciate. Many thank, and thank you for all your recipes.
Hi Angela! We haven’t tested this recipe or something similar without the added citrus, we fear it would be too sweet without the balance of the citrus. Let us know if you do any testing!
I love this recipe! Once completely prepared how long can the tart stay in the refrigerator?
Hi Marsha, before serving or after? We’d recommend baking, cooling, and chilling the tart 1 day in advance prior to serving. Cover leftovers tightly and refrigerate for up to 1 week. So glad you enjoy this recipe!
Thank you so much for your quick response!
I loved the ease of this recipe. I broke the rules and tried it with evaporated milk with added sugar and corn syrup. It appears to be solidifying okay – althought a bit more watery than I’d like. Sally, we love your recipes.
Hi Sally. I have 10 inch round, or 9 inch square tart pans. Would either of these work for this recipe? Would one be better than the other? Thanks. Can’t wait to try it.
Hi Jill! We would try the 9 inch square. Let us know how they go!
Hi Sally! I was wondering if I could make this recipe into minis using a regular muffin pan? I know I would have to adjust the baking time. Should I use the same crust, a graham cracker crust or is there anything else you recommend?
Thanks!
Hi Anie! We don’t recommend using this shortbread crust in a muffin pan, it puffed up too much when we tested it. You can certainly try it, but we recommend sticking to a full size or use mini tart pans. You could use a graham cracker crust instead, or the graham cracker almond crust from our creamy lemon pie (which is basically the same filling recipe we use here).
I just wanted to say that I’ve made this recipes dozens of times now because my family and friends are all utterly obsessed with it. It’s perfect! Thank you so much for sharing such a wonderful recipe. 🙂
Is there something I can substitute cornstarch with?
Hi Diana, we recommend cornstarch for the best results, but you could try substituting flour if you don’t want to use cornstarch. It may not set up quite as well.
Hi Diana! I’m allergic to corn; arrowroot starch would work best for the purposes of this recipe, but if you can’t find this, tapioca starch is also a fine substitute. There are barely-noticable differences between them — tapioca starch tends to create a slightly smoother, more gel-like texture, and is (a little) better for milk-based thickening, while arrowroot is (a little) better for gravies and thickening with acidic ingredients. Note that both create a slightly glossy finish. Arrowroot is generally a 1:1 replacement, and tapioca is ~1:2 (cornstarch to tapioca), though you can experiment with this a little.
This recipe was great in a pinch when I needed a dessert. A showstopper and I love that no mixer is needed. Thank you.
I’ve made this tart several times, most recently for a church potluck dinner on Saturday. Desserts and entrees were judged by a chef/instructor and two students from the local community college hospitality program. We won first place in desserts! Thank you for this great, easy recipe! all three judges said it was over the top by far the best.
Congratulations on the win!!
Hi, my daughter has an egg allergy. Any chance you’d have an idea on what I could replace that with?
Hi Madie, we haven’t tested this recipe to be egg-free. The yolk helps the filling set. Sorry we can’t help more!
Hi Madie, when I worked at a vegan bakery, we some times used chia eggs to replace normal eggs in a recipie. 1 Tbsp chia seeds + 3 Tbsp. Leave to soak 5-10mins /until it becomes a gel.
I haven’t tried it in this type of filling though x