Total Time: 3 30

5 from 12 votes

This Key lime tart is made up of just 3 ingredients (plus the graham cracker crust) and is the traditional key lime pie recipe from Key West. This Key lime tart is one of my favorite desserts and I love sitting down to a slice with a nice warm cup of coffee.

About This Key Lime Tart

As the name suggests, Key Lime pie comes from the Florida Keys. Key limes actually grow in Key lime groves which you can find all throughout the Florida Keys. I have eaten my fair share of this delicious tart lime dessert growing up in South Florida and this recipe is the one I love most. I think you will become a fan once you try it.

Key Lime Tart vs Key Lime Pie

I really prefer making Key Lime tarts as opposed to Key Lime pies because the tart filling is not as deep as you would get when making a pie. The ratio of graham cracker crust to filling is more even with the tart in my opinion.

I do love Key lime pie too but making it at home in a tart pan is always my preference 🙂

When making this Key lime Tart, the filling should not be too high in the pan because you want the right amount of crust and filling in each bite. I recommend that the filling not be thicker than about ¾ inch.

Also, when making this key lime tart, you want to make sure you make your own crust because store-bought graham cracker crust will be too deep of a pan. I like using the graham cracker crust recipe that I use for my cheesecake bites and I have added that below in the recipe.

Pro-Tip:

You can buy graham crackers crumbs at the store in the same area that they have graham crackers. This saves you that extra step of having to crush them yourself.

Ingredients For Key Lime Tart

Graham Cracker Crust (Graham crackers, sugar, salt, and butter) or a store-bought graham cracker crust.
Sweetened Condensed Milk.
Key Lime Juice.
Egg Yolks.

The great thing about this recipe is how few ingredients there are. Because you are using sweetened condensed milk, you do not need any additional sugar in the filling.

I make so many recipes with sweetened condensed milk for this reason. If you like this one, my creamy lemon bars are very similar.

How to make (step-by-step photos)

graham cracker crumbs — First: Prepare Graham Cracker Crust.

graham crackers pressed in to pan — First: Prepare Graham Cracker Crust.

The first thing you want to do is make your graham cracker crust. You can also use store-bought crust if you decide to make and Key Lime pie instead of a tart.

Once the crust is ready, it is just adding the condensed milk, Key lime juice, and egg yolks into a bowl and mix. This mixture gets poured into the crust and it is baked in the oven.

Once it is done baking and has cooled, the Key lime tart will need time to chill in the fridge so make sure to plan for that!

Recipe Tips

key lime tart slice — Slice of Key lime tart.

Making Sure To Use Real Key Lime Juice: When gathering ingredients for this Key lime tart, you will want to make sure you are using real Key Lime juice and not lime juice. Key limes are not the same as limes. Key limes are lighter in color and more tart than regular limes. If you cannot find Key limes in the grocery store (they are usually out in the Spring and Summer) then you can find bottled Key Lime juice online.
Where to Buy Bottled Key Lime Juice: Nellie and Joe, the owners of Nellie and Joe's Key Lime Juice, made a business out of juicing and bottling Key limes and it is a real lifesaver! Key limes are rather small so it takes a long time to juice those little Key limes to the amount that this recipe calls for. Sometimes we all want to try our hand at juicing our own Key limes. Maybe you just bought a big bag in the store. This will work fine too. Just juice enough limes to reach the amount of Key lime juice that the recipe calls for below.
Making this Ahead of Time: This Key lime tart can (and should) be made ahead of time for up to 2 days. The recipe calls for it to firm up in the refrigerator for a few hours so it should be made a little ahead of time. It will be just fine in the fridge for up to 2-3 days. After that, the graham cracker crust will not be as crisp.
How to store the tart in the fridge (so the top is not ruined): When storing the key lime tart in the fridge, you want to cover it but also make sure plastic wrap does not touch the custard top or else it will stick to it. Here is what I like to do to prevent the cover from touching the top of the tart:

Place the cooled tart pan on a dinner plate that is a little bigger than the pan.
Take a second dinner plate and flip it over so it is upside down and place that over the top of the tart. Since the tart will sit just below the top of the tart pan, the top plate will be able to rest on top of the tart pan.
Gently place in the fridge until you are ready to eat it.

key lime tart angle view with a slice cut out

How to serve

If you are looking for the best ways to serve this Key lime tart, here are some of our favorites:

Spoon a little blackberry puree on a small plate and place a slice of key lime tart on top of it. Blackberries and limes are a match made in heaven!
With a good dollop of whipped cream.
With a light dusting of powdered sugar.
Plain as is.
With a nice cup of coffee on the side 🙂

More Condensed Milk Recipes

If you love how easy this Key lime tart is, you may also like these:

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5 from 12 votes