luscious 20-minute lemon curd

Lemon Curd is incredibly easy to make at home with just a handful of simple ingredients. Luscious lemon curd is full of bright, tart lemon flavor with amazingly creamy texture – perfect for lemon lovers! It’s silky smooth and the perfect addition to so many desserts – like cheesecakes, pound cake, and ice cream.

this recipe

Why you’ll love this easy Lemon Curd:

• Quick & Easy Recipe – This easy recipe is completely doable for all skill levels, even if you’ve never made homemade curd before.
• Simple Ingredients – We’re using a handful of basic ingredients here – fresh lemons, granulated sugar, eggs, salt, vanilla extract, and butter. That’s it!
• Versatile – Lemon curd can be used in so many ways! Top cheesecakes with it, use it as a cake or cupcake filling, or spoon it over bowls of vanilla ice cream.

Ingredient Overview:

As always, the full recipe with measurements & directions can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of this post. Use the table of contents (back at the top, below the first image, to navigate).

• Fresh Lemon Juice – For the best & freshest flavor, use freshly squeezed lemon juice. You can use bottled lemon juice in a pinch, but fresh is best here!
• Fresh Lemon Zest – Freshly zest your lemons for maximum flavor!
• Granulated sugar – A bit of sugar helps sweeten the lemon curd, because naturally no one wants to eat straight lemon juice. Hehe.
• Eggs – We’re using whole eggs here, so no need to separate egg yolks from egg whites. Use large eggs, at room temperature.
• Salt – A pinch of salt balances the flavors!
• Vanilla Extract – Use real vanilla for best results.
• Butter – I always use salted butter because in my experience, it lends the best flavor, but feel free to use unsalted butter if that’s what you prefer.

Ingredient Substitutions:

• Gluten-free – This recipe is naturally gluten-free!
• Dairy-free – Use your favorite, trusted dairy-free butter to make this recipe dairy-free. Try to use dairy-free sticks of butter, not a spread that comes in a tub.

How to Make Homemade Lemon Curd:

Step 1: Zest & Juice your Lemons. Use fresh lemons for the best flavor.

Step 2: Rub together the Lemon Zest & Sugar. Rub the lime zest into the granulated sugar with clean hands, until you have a mixture that somewhat resembles wet sand. This releases the oils in the lemon zest and adds lots of flavor!

Step 3: Mix Ingredients. Whisk together the lemon sugar, eggs, salt, and lemon juice in a ceramic pot.

Step 4: Cook the Curd. Cook the curd over low heat, whisking constantly, for 10-15 minutes. The temperature on a candy thermometer should reach 175 degrees F (80 degrees C). The curd will thicken and coat the back of a spoon.

Step 5: Strain & Finish. Strain the cooked lemon curd through a fine mesh sieve. This will ensure any tiny bits of egg that got cooked are removed.

(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!)

Finish the curd by stirring in the butter, vanilla extract, and a little golden yellow food coloring if desired (this will deepen the curd to a beautiful hue!).

Serving + Storing:

Let the curd cool on your counter until it’s at room temperature, then transfer the fresh lemon curd into an airtight container or mason jar and cover well.

I haven’t noticed a skin form on mine, so I wouldn’t worry about pressing a piece of plastic wrap over the surface, as long as it’s in an airtight container. Refrigerate until ready to use, or up to 1 week.

Recipes To Serve Lemon Curd With:

• Top my Lemon Meringue Pie Cheesecake with it (it also gets used in the batter!)
• Use it as a filling between cake layers, like in my 8-Inch Vanilla Cake.
• A scoop of vanilla ice cream with crushed graham crackers
• Dollop it over slices of Pound Cake (sub the grapefruit juice for lemon) or over my Lemon Loaf
• Top my Classic Cheesecake with it (in place of the strawberry sauce)

Expert Success Tips:

• Don’t Overheat – Be very gentle with the heat so that you don’t scramble the eggs. Cook the curd over low heat – don’t be tempted to turn it up to medium heat! It will seem like nothing is happening until later in the cook time, but it will thicken over low heat. This is also the best way to help minimize the amount of lumps that end up in your curd.
• 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 Lemon Zest – Don’t waste the lemon zest on the extra lemons we’re juicing for this recipe. Zest all the lemons before you juice them, and freeze the zest! You can use it in whatever recipe you may be using the lemon curd with (for example, my Lemon Meringue Cheesecake).

FAQs:

Special Tools:

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• Silicone Whisk – Use a silicone whisk to reduce the chance of the lemon reacting with metal, leaving a metallic aftertaste in your lemon curd.
• Ceramic Saucepan – For the same reason as mentioned above, a ceramic pan is preferable for this recipe!
• Fine Mesh Strainer – You’ll need a fine sieve to push the lemon curd through, ensuring that any tiny bits of cooked egg don’t end up in your dessert.
• Instant Read Thermometer – An instant read thermometer tells you when your curd is cooked to the proper temperature!

More Lemon Desserts to Love:

• Lemon Meringue Pie Cheesecake
• Lemon Blueberry Cookies
• Raspberry Lemon Crumb Cake
• Ultra Plush Lemon Loaf Cake
• One Bowl Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
• Lemon Basil Cookies

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