No-Bake Lemon Icebox Pie
This No-Bake Lemon Icebox Pie is made with sweetened condensed milk, cream cheese and fresh lemons. It's a delicious, make-ahead dessert that takes less than 10 minutes to put together.
The perfect pie for lemon lovers and lazy bakers!
Lemon Icebox Pie is a classic, no-bake pie recipe that is a very popular spring and summer dessert. The graham cracker crust tastes amazing paired with a smooth and creamy filling that has the perfect amount of lemon flavor. It's super quick and easy to make and it will become one of your favorite lemon recipes!
How to make a no-bake lemon icebox pie from scratch
This is one of the quickest pies you'll ever make thanks to a pre-made 9" graham cracker crust. These crusts come in their own little tray and you can use the plastic cover to keep your pie protected while it's in the fridge.
STEP ONE: To make the lemon icebox pie filling, use an electric mixer to blend the cream cheese until smooth. This will help to ensure there are no lumps in the filling. Add the sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice and lemon zest and continue to beat the mixture until completely smooth and creamy.
STEP TWO: Pour the filling into the pie crust and use a spatula to smooth out the top. Cover the pie with the plastic lid and place in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours before serving.
STEP THREE: Top the pie with dollops of cool whip or homemade whipped cream. Serve this pie ice cold right out of the fridge!
Tips for making the best lemon icebox pie
- Fat-free cream cheese or full fat cream cheese both work well in this recipe. The fat-free cream cheese gives this lemon icebox pie more of a sherbet taste and feel.
- Make sure the cream cheese is at room temperature before mixing in order to get a smooth filling.
- I recommend using Philadelphia Cream Cheese and Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk for this recipe because I prefer the taste and consistency of these products. At room temperature, the name brand cream cheese seems to be easier to blend with less lumps versus the store-brands I've tried. (this is not a sponsored post!)
- Fresh lemon juice is best but, if you can't find fresh lemons, bottled lemon juice works just fine. I've tested this recipe with fresh lemon juice and bottled lemon juice and no one could tell the difference!
- A pre-made graham cracker crust make this even easier to put together but you can always make a homemade graham cracker crust like the one in this easy cheesecake recipe.
- Make this dessert up to 2 days ahead of time. Cover with the plastic cover that came with the crust or use plastic wrap. Leave in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve.
- This pie can be frozen for up to 3 months.
- A food processor or stand mixer can also be used to make the lemon pie filling.
More easy dessert recipes
No-Bake Lemon Icebox Pie
INGREDIENTS
- 1 (9") graham cracker crust
- 8 oz. cream cheese (room temperature)
- 1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
- ½ cup fresh lemon juice
- zest of two lemons
- whipped cream
INSTRUCTIONS
- Place the cream cheese into a mixing bowl and use an electric mixer to blend until smooth and creamy. Add the sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice and lemon zest and blend again until the ingredients are fully incorporated and completely smooth.
- Pour the filling into the pre-made graham cracker pie crust, smooth the top and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours to set.
- Top with whipped cream or cool whip and serve cold.
NOTES
- Fat-free cream cheese can be used in place of full-fat cream cheese. The fat-free version gives this lemon icebox pie more of a sherbet taste and feel. Using fat free cream cheese and fat free condensed milk will bring the calories down to 187 per slice.
- Make sure the cream cheese is at room temperature before mixing in order to get a smooth filling.
- Bottled lemon juice can be used if you can't find fresh lemons. I tested the recipe with both options and my taste testers could NOT tell the difference.
- Make this dessert up to 2 days ahead of time. Store covered in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve. This pie can be stored covered in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- This pie can be frozen for up to 3 months.
Yes I did and it is delicious. Thanks so much
Great less time then baking one
I have family that loves lemon pie and I've made the cooked version which uses a lot of eggs for them in the past, which also uses the condensed milk. However, it was always too cloying and made more filling than the pie could hold (I did make lemon bars with the excess!).
Still, it was a lot of work and time since you did have to bake it, so I happened upon this recipe and it worked out perfectly—only this time I tasted the batter while using only 3/4 of the condensed milk to start and slowly added to desired sweetness. Perfection!
I also love cream cheese cheesecakes so thought this would be similar but it really felt like a lemon pie. Everyone loved it. Will keep as it is easier and just as satisfying, if not more!
I also made my own whipped cream with vanilla and 10x sugar.
Thanks for this recipe! Will make it every summer from now on.
Amazing pie for the summer. I had three 8oz blocks of cream cheese so used all three and added two 14oz cans of condensed milk and used 1 cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice plus the zest from all the lemons and one teaspoon of vanilla, made two 9” pies. Firmed up very nicely and was still nice and creamy. Made fresh whipped cream to put around the edges. Such a hit at the cookout I went to. There was none left!
Reminds me of my mother's lemon ice box pie! memories of my childhood. This dessert is a double S: simple and scrumptious.
This was absolutely fantastic! First time making a lemon based dessert, and it was gone within the day! Do you know if you could change the lemon out for oranges instead, or will the differences mess up the flavor?
Hi Kasi, I think orange would work just fine in place of the lemon for this recipe! If you give it a try, please let me know how it turns out.
I used to make a pie using orange Tang and it was delicious