Lemon Icebox Pie

Lemon icebox pie is a classic, no-bake dessert. Made with a graham cracker crust and silky lemon filling, this refreshing pie is a must in the summer!

Jump to:

• Recipe summary
• Ingredients and substitutions
• How to make lemon icebox pie
• Tips and tricks
• Storage
• Frequently asked questions
• Recommended
• 📖 Recipe
• Comments

Ingredients and substitutions

Crust:

• Graham cracker crumbs - Honey graham crackers work best with the other flavors in this recipe. You'll need 1 and ½ cups of graham cracker crumbs, which equals about 9 or 10 rectangular graham crackers.
• Melted butter - Salted or unsalted butter will work in this recipe, as long as the butter is melted. Melted butter acts as a glue to hold your crust together. I do not recommend using butter substitutes, as your crust can turn out oily.
• Granulated sugar - Granulated sugar can be substituted with brown sugar for a caramelized, light molasses flavor in your crust.

Pie filling:

• Cream cheese - Regular, block-style cream cheese is needed for this recipe. Cream cheese is sturdy and makes your filling thick and sliceable when refrigerated.
• Sweetened condensed milk - Sweetens the filling and makes your pie rich and creamy.
• Heavy cream - You'll be making unsweetened homemade whipped cream for your filling. Heavy cream is needed to make whipped cream. It cannot be substituted with any other dairy product, like milk or half & half - these items do not contain enough milkfat to whip into whipped cream.
• Lemon juice & zest - You'll need 2 or 3 lemons (depending on their size) for this recipe. Lemon juice and lemon zest add lemon flavor to your pie.
• Vanilla extract - Adds another layer of flavor to your filling.

How to make lemon icebox pie

1. If you're starting with whole graham crackers, place them in a food processor and pulse until you have a fine powder. Add remaining crust ingredients and pulse until incorporated. Alternatively, add crust ingredients to a bowl and stir until combined.
2. Pour crust mixture into pie pan. Use the flat bottom of a measuring cup to press crust firmly into the bottom of the pan. Use your hands and the side of the measuring cup to press crust firmly up the sides of the pan.

1. In a large bowl, add cream cheese and mix with a hand mixer until smooth. Add sweetened condensed milk and mix until smooth. Add vanilla, lemon zest, and lemon juice, mixing until smooth.
2. In a separate bowl, whip heavy cream until stiff peaks form.
3. Gently fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture until just combined. 
4. Pour filling into your prepared cracker crust and smooth the top with a spatula. Refrigerate until firm and chilled, at least 2 hours.

Tips and tricks

Room temperature ingredients - Make sure your cream cheese is at room temperature before beginning. If it's still cold, it will be difficult to mix without leaving lumps in the filling.

Add ingredients one at a time - First, add the cream cheese and mix until smooth. Next, add the sweetened condensed milk and mix until smooth. Last, add the vanilla, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Mixing the cream cheese by itself first helps prevent lumps.

Want more lemon flavor? - Add more lemon zest, not juice. Additional lemon juice will cause the pie filling to turn out runny. Instead, add more lemon zest, which actually contains more concentrated lemon flavor than the juice anyway.

Optional toppings - Whipped cream, lemon zest, graham cracker crumbs, crumbled golden Oreo cookies, vanilla wafers.

Storage

Lemon icebox pie will keep for 4-5 days covered in the refrigerator, or up to a month in the freezer. Pie can be served refrigerated or frozen!

Frequently asked questions

Recommended

📖 Recipe