lime curd (15-minute recipe!) - Blue Bowl (2024)

Lime Curd is an easy and versatile dessert that comes together in about 10 minutes on the stovetop, with simple ingredients. This luscious, silky curd is absolutely bursting with zippy lime flavor, and makes the perfect topping for so many desserts.

Why you’ll love this delicious Lime Curd:

• Zippy Lime Flavor – This rich and silky lime curd is chock full of zippy lime flavor!
• Easy Recipe – This easy recipe is completely doable for any skill levels.
• Versatile Recipe – Use this easy curd to top cakes and cheesecakes, or spoon it over ice cream!

Ingredient Overview:

As always, the full recipe with measurements & directions can be found at the bottom of this post.

• Lime Juice – Use freshly squeezed lime juice from regular limes or key limes. (If you want this to be a key lime curd recipe, you’ll need so manyyy more since they are tiny – so regular limes are probably the best way to go here, hah!) You’ll have better flavor if you use real limes vs. bottled juice.
• Whole eggs – I modified my old recipe for Lime Curd (from my Mojito Cake) to use whole eggs instead of egg yolks & whole eggs. In the cake, it works out because the leftover whites are used in the cake. In other scenarios, though, it’s more convenient if we can use whole eggs.
• Granulated sugar – Granulated sugar adds sweetness to contrast with the sharp lime flavor.
• Vanilla extract – Use real vanilla for best results.
• Salt – Everything in life needs a pinch of salt for balance.
• Butter – I always use salted buter for the best flavor, but feel free to use unsalted butter if you prefer.

Ingredient Substitutions:

• Dairy-free – Use your favorite dairy-free buter.
• Gluten-free – This recipe is naturally gluten-free!

How to Make this Homemade Lime Curd Recipe Step-by-Step:

Step 1: Juice your Limes. You’ll can use fresh lime juice here, or you can use bottled key lime juice if you can’t find key limes.

Step 2: Mix Ingredients. Rub the lime zest into the granulated sugar with clean hands. Then, add the eggs, lime juice, and salt.

Step 3: Cook the Curd. Whisk well, and cook, whisking for 4-5 minutes. The temperature on a candy thermometer should reach 185 degrees F (85 degrees C).

Step 4: Strain. Strain the cooked lime curd through a fine mesh sieve. This will ensure any tiny bits of egg that got cooked are flushed out, along with the lime zest pieces (they’re done serving their purpose). (That may sound icky, but it’s totally normal and you won’t taste anything eggy in the curd, unless you absolutely blasted the heat and scrambled the eggs while you cooked it, in which case you would clearly see that, haha!)

Step 5: Color the Curd. Lime curd is naturally yellow – annoyingly, hah. So, you can leave it as is or add a bit of green food coloring to the lime mixture to make it look limey.

Serving + Storing this Lime Curd:

Transfer the fresh lime curd into a small bowl or glass jar and cover well. Refrigerate until ready to use, or up to 1 week.

Expert Success Tips:

• Don’t Overheat – Be gentle with the heat so that you don’t scramble the eggs.
• Eggy Smell – When cooking eggs on the stovetop for a lime or lemon curd, or the filling for french silk pie, I find that if you stick your nose right up in the pot and take a whiff, it’s going to smell a bit eggy, even if you aren’t overcooking the eggs. So, I wouldn’t necessarily worry if you catch a whiff of that.
• Extra Lime Zest – Don’t waste the lime zest on all the limes we’re juicing for this recipe. You’ll only need the zest of 1 lime, but go ahead & zest the remaining limes as well. You can use that lime zest in whatever recipe you may be using the lime curd with (for example, my Key Lime Pie Cheesecake), or you can freeze it for later.

FAQs:

Special Tools:

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• Heavy Saucepan- I use a medium sized pot like this to cook my lime curd.
• Whisk – You’ll need a good medium sized whisk for this recipe.
• Instant Read Thermometer – You’ll need an instant read thermometer to check the temperature of your curd.

Recipes to Serve Lime Curd with:

• Top my Key Lime Pie Cheesecake with it (it also gets used in the batter!)
• Use it as a lime curd filling for cakes, like in my Mojito Cake with Lime Curd
• A scoop of vanilla ice cream with crushed graham crackers
• Dollop it over slices of Pound Cake (sub the grapefruit juice for lemon or lime) or over my Lemon Loaf
• Top my Classic Cheesecake with it (in place of the strawberry sauce)

More Lime Recipes to Love:

• Key Lime Pie Cheesecake
• Mojito Cake with Lime Curd Cake Filling
• Key Lime Pie Bars
• One-Bowl Key Lime Bundt Cake

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