Nellie & Joe’s Famous Key Lime Pie Recipe (Just 3 Ingredients)

Have you ever needed to take a dessert to a party or a potluck?

Nellie & Joe’s Famous Key West Lime Pie Recipe is my go-to, easy, no-fuss, always turns out perfectly dessert.

You should definitely make it this season, even if you’re just hosting a party of two 😉.

If you want something a little more substantive, try making a pecan pie.     

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“My recipe,” which is printed on the back of Nellie and Joe’s Key West Lime Juice requires a 9-inch graham cracker pie crust and just three ingredients: a 14-ounce can of condensed milk, three egg yolks and a half cup of key lime juice. 

I gild the lily by using a Microplane zester to incorporate fresh lime zest from Persian limes into the pie filling but it’s not necessary. 

There’s no need to squeeze a zillion tiny, fresh key limes when you can buy a bottle of Nellie & Joe’s Key West Lime Juice at the grocery. 

Despite the name, key lime juice, you’re not going to find Nellie & Joe’s in the juice aisle. It will usually be in the mixer section of your grocery store liquor aisle. 

You could substitute key lime juice by juicing regular persian limes but your pie won’t turn out as delicious.

Whatever you do, don’t buy a bottle of plain, old imitation lime juice in the produce section of your grocery for this pie. Your pie won’t turn out that delicious.

If you’re not going to use Nellie & Joe’s, then juice persian limes, those are the limes that you’ll find at the store.

But do add regular limes to your shopping list along with the Joe’s lime juice because I recommend grating a bit of fresh lime zest into the pie mixture.

And, you’ll need to slice a few limes for garnish. 

You’ll also want whipped cream for garnish along with the lime slices. I think a traditional key lime pie is best served with whipped cream.

Recipe Notes

Is a homemade graham cracker crust necessary for key lime pie? 

No. While I adore a homemade graham cracker crust probably even more than the next person, 9 times out of ten I use a store-bought graham cracker crust.

You can’t go wrong with a Keebler graham cracker crust.

When you make the filling, it’s important to first blend the egg yolks and the condensed milk together until thick.

This will take at least two minutes. 

Once the egg yolk and condensed milk has thickened, then add the key lime juice and stir to combine.

After you bake the pie, you’ll want to let it cool to room temperature and then put it in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.

A perfect key lime pie is served chilled.

Does Key Lime Pie need to baked? 

Yes, bake your key lime pie or it isn’t going to set up enough for you to slice it without running all over your dessert plate.

There is a ton of debate about this on the interwebs, including over at Chowhound.

If you’re going to bake a key lime pie using egg yolks, condensed milk and key lime juice, the pie must be baked for at least 15 minutes at 350 F. I usually bake my pie for 20 minutes because I like a firmer filling.

Also, I have uncooked egg paranoia. 

But yes, this pie, using the ingredients listed above, needs to baked or it isn’t going to set up enough for you to slice it.

There are a few no-bake recipes floating around today but they require cream cheese as well as other ingredients. 

There’s a recipe on Food and Wine that I’m not linking to here that uses all of these same ingredients as mine plus an egg that’s supposed to chill overnight in the fridge instead of being baked. However, the reviews are atrocious. 

I like the Nellie and Joe’s recipe for its simplicity.

Have you seen key limes? They are teeny tiny. You have to squeeze about a dozen key limes to get a half up of juice needed for this pie. 

Nellie and Joe’s key lime juice tastes great and it’s available everywhere, even Walmart and Target. 

And, there’s no squeezing of limes to make the pie.

Your Turn:

What’s your favorite pie?