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.
This is so good, this take some of the sweet from the condensed milk. I made my vegan by using coconut condensed milk.
Love this easy peasy no fail recipie!!!🥰 I made it a day ahead and it set just perfectly! The taste was amazing!
I love this recipe. I used to have to wait for my cousin to make one and when the butchered the last one on purpose, I was done. I found this recipe and love it. The lemon zest was something my cousins pies didn’t have and it makes a BIG difference. The brand of ingredients do too. Thanks for this!
Yummy, light and refreshing! The whole family lived it!
This pie is delicious each and every time I make it! My whole family loves it! So easy and rich and creamy! I
I love this delicious recipe, but it is too sweet for my taste.What can I do to make it less sweet?
I've made similar lemon pies that also use the whole can of condensed milk–while some love it, others felt it was too cloying. For this recipe, I started with 3/4 of the can and then added more to taste (there's nothing in this that needs to be cooked to super safe to eat as is! LOL). Did not affect the balance or chilling of the pie.
It was not too cloying for that eater this time. Also, definitely add homemade whipped cream as you can cut the sweetness with a less sweet cream on top for balance, which another eater noticed and liked, which they normally don't.
Wondering if you could use coconut milk or cream instead of sweetened condensed milk ... or would it be too runny?
I haven't tried it but I know they sell condensed coconut milk at Walmart. Have you ever worked with it before?
I plan to make this for 4th of July. I have a can of the sweetened condensed coconut milk, but it's only 11.25 oz. Can I use regular milk to make up the difference?
Hi Ann, I would just use the 11.25 oz. without adding anything else.
I love this easy recipe.
I make it often!
Do you have a sourdough crust that can be used with this recipe?
You can try the sourdough graham cracker recipe and press it into a pie pan.
I added this to my Thanksgiving spread this year. Tastes great but didn’t set properly. I think I’ll try again for Christmas but use less condensed milk.
This is one of those recipes where brands do actually make a difference in the texture, as does letting it set up for a full day. If you did use Eagle brand for the SCM, and Philadelphia for the cream cheese and it still didn't set up as firm as you like, I'd try whisking the lemon juice and SCM together first, and then mixing that into the softened and blended cream cheese. There's a chemical reaction that occurs when the acid in the lemon juice mixes into the Sweetened Condensed Milk that causes it to thicken. In addition, you could always add up to another 4oz of cream cheese, understanding that it will cut into the sweetness of the pie. If you prefer it less sweet, then that's fine, if you like to keep the sweetness high, then add a tablespoon of castor sugar (finely blended white sugar), and it will retain its sweetness even after an additional 4oz (half block) of cream cheese.
Icebox pies are fun to play around and experiment with, so don't be afraid to try something different. Worst case scenario, you can always layer the filling, whipped cream and the Graham cracker crust in parfait cups, and everyone will still love it!
Hope this helps!
Been making for years . Only other think i add it a drop of yellow food color to make it yellow like lemons.
Just a fine recipe.
why add fake coloring, the yellow of the lemons is just perfect!