This no bake lemon pie is so creamy, light and cloud-like. It doesn’t require any cooking or baking. You only need 4 ingredients to make it. It’s an easy dessert to make and great for summer.
I love how creamy this no bake lemon pie is. The filling is not too sweet and has a nice lemony flavor to it. I made this pie after experimenting with substitutions for various ingredients in my lemonade pie. After some research I realized that what I had made was basically a version of old fashioned lemon cream pie.
Ingredients
- Heavy Cream
- Condensed Milk
- Lemons
- Graham Cracker Crust
Heavy cream: Heavy cream is whipped until medium to stiff peaks form. The heavy cream is folded into the lemon filling creating a very light, airy and creamy filling. It also helps prevent the filling from being too sweet because the heavy cream is not sweetened.
Condensed milk: Sweetened condensed milk is used to sweeten the filling. It also creates a lemon custard when mixed with the lemon juice. This recipe will not work with a dairy-free condensed milk alternative. The recipe relies on the reaction of the acid from the lemon juice with the dairy protein in the condensed milk which causes the mixture to thicken.
Lemons: This recipe is made with both lemon juice and lemon zest to give it a nice zesty lemon flavor.
Graham cracker crust: I used a premade graham cracker crust. You can use other premade no bake pie crusts or you can make your own graham cracker crust using crushed graham crackers, sugar and butter.
How to Make Lemon Cream Pie
- The condensed milk, lemon juice and zest are first whisked together until the lemon juice is fully incorporated into the condensed milk.
- The heavy cream is then whipped to medium or stiff peaks.
- The heavy cream is folded into the lemon mixture. The filling is then poured into the crust and placed into the fridge to set.
Texture and Taste
This filling is very light, airy and creamy. Despite how light and airy it feels in your mouth, the filling does set and hold its shape well. It has a nice lemon flavor to it but it’s not too tart and it’s not too sweet.
More Lemon Pie Recipes
- 4 Ingredient Magic Lemon Pie
- 4 Ingredient No Bake Lemon Posset Pie
- 3 Ingredient Individual Lemon Pies
4 Ingredient No Bake Lemon Cream Pie
Ingredients
- 6 tbsp (3 fl oz/89 ml) lemon juice + 2 tsp lemon zest
- 1 (14 oz/397 g) can full fat sweetened condensed milk
- 1 1/2 cups (12 fl oz/355 ml) heavy cream
- 1 (9-inch) premade graham cracker pie crust
Instructions
- Combine lemon juice, zest and condensed milk in a large mixing bowl. Whisk until lemon juice is fully incorporated. The mixture should be thick.
- Add heavy cream to a separate large mixing bowl. Beat on high speed with a mixer until medium to stiff peaks form.
- Using a spatula, fold the whipped heavy cream into the lemon mixture. I added the whipped heavy cream in 3 batches. You do want to be careful not to overmix. You want the heavy cream fully incorporated but you want the mixture to stay thick and airy and not become too runny.
- Pour filling into the graham cracker crust. Use a spatula to spread the filling evenly across. Place pie into the fridge for several hours to set. Optional: 1-2 hours before serving you can place the pie into the freezer. While the filling sets beautifully with only refrigeration, it can be difficult to cut and serve clean slices of the pie because of how delicate the graham cracker crust is. If you are in a warm environment or you want to make sure you can easily cut clean slices, then you can freeze the pie before cutting. You will need to let the filling thaw for about 15-20 minutes to let it come back to its original creamy state if you do freeze it.
Notes
- I used Keebler 9-inch graham cracker pie crust*.
- *This product link is an affiliate link. This means I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.
- This recipe does not work with dairy-free condensed milk alternatives. See post for more details as to why.
- 14 oz can for the condensed milk refers to weight, not volume.
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
Could I double this recipe and use a 8×13 pan, cutting squares for serving?
This recipe uses premade graham cracker pie crust so you wouldn’t need a pan for this! You could double the recipe and use 2 pie crusts.
I like sugar free recipes
This recipe does have sweetened condensed milk but we have a ton of recipes on the blog that are refined sugar free!
Is heavy cream the same as heavy whipping cream? Then if there is a difference you should not expect the reader to prognosticate what you mean. This lack of attention to detail suggests strongly that the end result of one’s efforts will be disappointing.
Yes, heavy cream and heavy whipping cream are essentially the same. Both terms refer to a cream with a high fat content, typically around 36-40%. They can be used interchangeably in most recipes. The slight difference lies in the labeling, but both will whip up to a stable foam and can be used in cooking and baking to add richness and texture!
I am in the UK, what is whipping cream, can I use double cream for this? It looks amazing, I am going to try it for my coffee morning.
You should be able to swap double cream for the heavy whipping cream but we have not tested that!