This Key Lime Pie is tangy and creamy with a sweet and salty pretzel crust and loads of refreshing citrus flavor! It’s incredibly easy to make and is the perfect summertime dessert to enjoy with family and friends at your next BBQ or celebration!
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❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
- This key lime pie is so easy to make. The pretzel base itself is made with just 3 ingredients and adds a delicious sweet and salty contrast to this dessert!
- I love using lime in desserts - it’s such a fresh and flavorful ingredient for creating light and tangy-sweet treats.
- Only needing to bake the crust for 10 minutes means that you don’t have to work in a hot kitchen during those summer months.
This no-bake key lime pie is the ideal dessert for those summertime cookouts, family gatherings, and parties!
🛒 Ingredients
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Note: The full list of this Key Lime Pie recipe ingredients with their amounts and options are listed in the recipe card below.
- Cream cheese
- Heavy whipping cream
- Key Lime juice
- Limes
- Sweetened condensed milk
- Pretzels -- any type will do
- Brown sugar
- Unsalted butter
🗒 Instructions
Note: This is an overview of the instructions. The full instructions are in the recipe card below.
- In a glass mixing bowl, combine the crushed pretzels, sugar, and melted butter.
- Transfer the crust mixture to a pie dish, pressing down and pushing the crust to cover the sides of the pie dish. Then bake.
- While the crust bakes and cools, start to make the key lime pie filling by whipping the cream, then set it aside.
- In a separate mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, lime juice, and lime zest.
- Beat well until the mixture is smooth.
- Add the whipped cream.
- Fold the whipped cream gently into the cream cheese mixture.
- Pour the creamy pie filling into the crust and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.
- Make and add the topping to the key lime pie, decorating it with fresh slices of lime and a sprinkling of zest as an option.
🔪 Equipment
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You’ll need the following items to make this recipe successfully.
- Mixing bowls
- Hand mixer
- Food processor - or plastic bag and rolling pin
- Liquid measuring cup
- Measuring spoons
- Measuring cups
- Spatula
- Pie Plate - 9 inch
🤔 FAQs
These are the questions we are most frequently asked about making Key Lime Pie With Pretzel Crust Recipe.
Strictly speaking, no. That’s because I’ve chosen to bake the crust. From my experience, baking the crust helps hold it together better and also enhances the taste. Simply assemble the crust without baking freeze for 30 minutes for a no-bake recipe.
No, there isn’t in this recipe although authentic key lime pies do include egg whites in the pie filling.
Yes, you can although it is going to involve a bit of an arm workout! You want to make sure that the whipped cream is whipped until it forms stiff peaks and that the cream cheese mixture is smooth and free of any lumps.
It’ll last for up to 3-5 days in the fridge when stored properly.
Yes, it is. I recommend that you leave the topping off if you intend to freeze the entire pie ahead of time. Once defrosted, add fresh topping and decoration.
👩🏻🍳 Tips
- If you have other foods in the refrigerator that give off strong odors (such as garlic), I suggest wrapping the key lime pie with plastic wrap to prevent the pie filling from absorbing any of those odors. The same applies to leftovers stored in the fridge.
- The lime juice adds a subtle flavor and provides the right amount of acidity to help the key lime pie filling hold shape and not turn runny. For intensified flavor, add in extra lime juice and lime zest, tasting as you do so.
- This key lime pie is totally addictive whether served chilled or slightly frozen. If you do freeze your key lime pie, allow it to thaw for 10-15 minutes before adding the topping and fresh decoration.
- Since the cream cheese filling is not baked, it’s really important to refrigerate the pie for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight so that the soft filling holds shape better.
- Using a food processor will help you achieve fine pretzel crumbs which really helps with the crust holding shape.
📚 Variations
- You can make a Graham cracker crust instead of using pretzels if you wish. For added convenience, you could even use store-bought graham cracker crust!
- If you can’t find key limes, use regular limes instead.
- If you don’t have lime juice or lime zest then you can use lemon juice or lemon zest instead. Obviously, if you use lemon juice and zest then this dessert is going to be more like a no-bake lemon pie instead of a key lime pie.
- Make mini key lime pies instead of one large pie by using mini pie dishes, or foil pie liners. This is a cute idea for parties or when wanting to store individual portions for later enjoyment.
- The pretzel crust can easily be used for other no-bake pie desserts.
- Use gluten-free pretzels for a gluten-free dessert.
🥫 Storage
Store this key lime pie, wrapped with plastic wrap or in an airtight container, in the refrigerator for up to 3-5 days. The longer stored, the soggier the crust will become but it’ll still be super delicious.
You can also freeze this key lime pie for up to 3 months. Thaw for about 10-15 minutes prior to serving again.
📗 Related Recipes
For more creamy and easy chilled desserts, be sure to bookmark my Amazing Basic No-Churn Ice Cream, Lemon Tart With Almond Biscotti Crust, or this Coconut Pineapple Delight. They’re enough to make your mouth water!
🍽 Serve with
It’s pretty hard to imagine that this key lime pie actually needs anything else - it’s that good! However, if you’re planning on serving this creamy fruit pie for a special occasion then including a scoop of vanilla ice cream to each serving would be a very welcome addition!
📞 Chiacchierata (chat)
I absolutely love zesty chilled desserts, especially during the warmer months of the year! Apart from baking the pretzel crust for only 10 minutes, this dessert is mostly a refrigerated sweet treat - perfect for making ahead of time since it needs to chill for at least 3 hours anyway!
You can have a lot of fun expressing your creativity with fresh slices of lime, lime zest, and piped whipped cream as an optional garnish.
And if you're nutty about fruity desserts that taste cool and creamy, you don't want to miss our Peaches and Cream Pie Almondine recipe. Such an easy dessert but so rich in flavor.
Tutti a tavolo, è pronto!
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📝 Recipe Card
This key lime pie is a creamy eggless dessert, sitting on top of a crushed and buttery pretzel pie crust, and topped off with bright slices of lime, sprinkling of lime zest, and piped sweet whipped cream. It’s a simple summer dessert pie yet looks incredibly classy and tastes like you’ll want more!
If you love this recipe please give it 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.
📖 Recipe
No Bake Key Lime Pie With Pretzel Crust
Equipment Needed
- Food Processor crushing pretzels
- Electric Hand Mixer whipping the cream
- Box Grater or Microplane zesting llime
- Citrus juicer for juicing lime
Ingredients
Pretzel Crust ** See Notes for Graham Cracker Crust to make this completely no-bake.
- 2½ cups Pretzels crushes
- 13 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
- ¼ cup Brown sugar packed
Key Lime Filling
- 8 ounces Cream cheese softened
- 1 cup Whipping cream
- 1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk 14 ounce can
- ½ cup Key Lime Juice
- Zest from 2 limes
Topping
- 1 cup Heavy whipping cream
- 3 Tablespoons Powdered Sugar
- Lime zest optional
Instructions
Pretzel Crust ** No bake Graham Cracker crust directions in Notes
Preheat oven to 350℉ and grease pie dish.
- Crush pretzels until fine in a food processor or by hand using a sealed zip-lock bag and rolling pin or mallet.
- In a medium mixing bowl, melt butter in microwave. Use low heat so the butter doesn't splatter.
- Fold pretzels and brown sugar into the melted butter.
- Transfer to pie dish. Press using a measuring cup or glass pushing the base of the crust to follow up the side of the pie dish.
- Bake 10 minutes. Cool before filling.
Key Lime Filling
- Whip cream to stiff peaks and set aside.
- In another bowl beat the softened cream cheese until smooth. Add the sweetened condensed milk, lime juice, and lime zest and mix well.
- Fold in the whipped cream.
- Pour into the chilled crust and set in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours, or overnight.
Topping
- Whip the cream and powdered sugar together until medium stiff peaks form. You can decorate the top by using a piping bag and star tip or just spread the topping across the top with a spatula. Sprinkle fresh lime zest on top.
- Serve and watch the delighted faces.
Notes
- You can make a Graham cracker crust instead of using pretzels if you wish. For added convenience, you could even use store-bought graham cracker crust!
- If you can’t find key limes, use regular limes instead.
- If you don’t have lime juice or lime zest then you can use lemon juice or lemon zest instead. Obviously, if you use lemon juice and zest then this dessert is going to be more like a no-bake lemon pie instead of a key lime pie.
- Make mini key lime pies instead of one large pie by using mini pie dishes, or foil pie liners. This is a cute idea for parties or when wanting to store individual portions for later enjoyment.
- The pretzel crust can easily be used for other no-bake pie desserts.
- Use gluten-free pretzels for a gluten-free dessert.
- If you have other foods in the refrigerator that give off strong odors (such as garlic), I suggest wrapping the key lime pie with plastic wrap to prevent the pie filling from absorbing any of those odors. The same applies to leftovers stored in the fridge.
- The lime juice adds a subtle flavor and provides the right amount of acidity to help the key lime pie filling hold shape and not turn runny. For intensified flavor, add in extra lime juice and lime zest, tasting as you do so.
- This key lime pie is totally addictive whether served chilled or slightly frozen. If you do freeze your key lime pie, allow it to thaw for 10-15 minutes before adding the topping and fresh decoration.
- Since the cream cheese filling is not baked, it’s really important to refrigerate the pie for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight so that the soft filling holds shape better.
- Using a food processor will help you achieve fine pretzel crumbs which really helps with the crust holding shape.
