Easy Lemon Bars

Homemade Lemon Bars are a crowd-pleasing dessert and perfect for sharing! This easy lemon bar recipe is bright, tart-sweet and perfectly balanced with a crisp shortbread crust. They’re quick to bake and ready in less than an hour! Makes 18 bars.

Love bar desserts? Be sure to try out Lemon Tea Cakes and Lemon Drop Cookies!

Today’s the day—it’s Freaky Friday Spring 2021! And I’m thrilled to be sharing a recipe from my friend, Chrissie from Off the Eaten Path.

Fun fact: Chrissie and I met through our mutual friend, Susannah, and hung out at Susannah’s wedding. Once the reception was over, we hiked with friends over to a speakeasy and chatted the entire walk there.

So I’m really excited to be making a recipe from Chrissie’s site today!

Fun fact: I have her cookbook and love it (and shared her Watermelon Frose from it last summer, too!)

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Chrissie, like me, loves a good cocktail and easy entertaining. So I had quite the decision to make when perusing her site.

Should I mix up a drink like a Peach Whiskey Smash or a Raspberry Gin Seltzer? Maybe I should make a Bagels and Lox Brunch Board to celebrate the spring? Or maybe make her Pimento Cheese Jalapeno Poppers for funsies?

Or maybe I should go in a different direction and make dessert?

I stumbled upon Chrissie’s recipe for Lemon Bars while perusing, and my sweet teeth said this was the recipe.

We’ve since made it three times. Y’all better believe this recipe will be a mainstay this spring and summer, too.

Why I love this recipe:

Homemade lemon bars are an utter delight and are such a Southern treat.

This lemon bar recipe in particular is perfectly balanced. I mean, how could we not love its crisp, buttery shortbread crust, luscious lemon curd filling and sweet powdered sugar topping?

These flavors are all the reasons why I love a lemon bar.

Honestly, this dessert is perfect for spring and summer entertaining. It’s also wonderful just because… because who doesn’t love a lemon bar?

More easy desserts to make for the springtime: Chex Mix Puppy Chow | Dessert Nachos | No Bake Scotcheroo Cookies | Blueberry Strawberry Pound Cake | Fresh Cherry Bread | Lemon Cooler Cookies

Does your sweet tooth need a pick-me-up? Head over to my Dessert Recipe Index for inspiration.

Let me tell you about Chrissie and Off the Eaten Path

Chrissie and I met online through mutual friends and then eventually met in person. I don’t think it’s an inaccurate description to say we get along like a house on fire. We have a lot of overlapping interests!

Chrissie lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, though she’s originally from Wisconsin. She’s a public defender. I love hearing about her work, particularly when she shares her perspective about social issues (and justice reform) on Instagram.

She and her husband, AJ, live with a menagerie of pets and several wild animal friends, including deer and bees. (Just recently, Chrissie shared about bottling honey from their bees—isn’t that cool?!?)

Chrissie is all about easy entertaining, too. In fact, she wrote a cookbook about it, called Stunning Spreads: Easy Entertaining with Cheese, Charcuterie, Fondue & Other Shared Fare.

Chrissie started her blog as a way to explore Charlotte. She has written so much about food in the city, including the top 9 wing spots in CLT and 11 of the Best Patios in Charlotte, NC for Outdoor Dining and Drinking. In addition to this, she shares travel advice and guides about exploring North Carolina, too.

So… What Is Freaky Friday?

It’s an old-fashioned blog hop.

A blog hop is a collaboration between bloggers where everyone shares a post on the same day. You also you link to one another in your posts.

Michaela, from An Affair from the Heart, founded this quarterly collaboration. She secretly assigns everyone another blogger, who we will choose and make a recipe from.

We make their recipe and photograph it as if it were our own. Then we write a post about it and share our posts on the same Friday. Today is that day!

We hope that this collaboration helps you discover some amazing new recipes, as well as find new bloggers to follow!

Here are some recipes I’ve made for previous Freaky Friday exchanges:

• Shortbread Brown Butter Cookies
• Boozy Bacon Pretzel Peanut Butter Bars
• Halloween Peanut Butter Chocolate White Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Valentine’s Day Dessert Board
• Upside Down Cranberry Cake
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge

Check out all of our 2021 Freaky Friday Spring Recipe Exchange Recipes:

A Dish of Daily Life – Smoky Chicken Street Tacos

An Affair from the Heart – Sheet Pan Shrimp Fajitas with Cilantro Lime Butter

An Affair from the Heart – Blueberry Mojitos

Aunt Bee’s Recipes – Easy Chile Relleno Casserole

The Carefree Kitchen – Glazed Lemon Cookies

The Culinary Compass – Easy Candied Pecan Recipe

Devour Dinner – Cheese Stuffed Meatloaf

The Foodie Affair – Keto Broccoli Salad

The Fresh Cooky – Bowtie Pasta Recipe

Hostess at Heart – No Bake Chocolate Cheesecake 

House of Nash Eats – Roast Beef Sliders

Lemon Blossoms – Lemon Blueberry Crumb Bars

Lemoine Family Kitchen – Lemon Blueberry Bread

Life, Love & Good Food – Sandwich Cubano

Off the Eaten Path – Grilled Vegan Guacamole

Or Whatever You Do – Blackstone Mexican Style Street Corn

Take Two Tapas – Pepperoni Pizza Pinwheels

What you’ll need to make Easy Lemon Bars

• 9”x13” baking dish (or a glass casserole of the same dimensions)
• Large mixing bowl
• Rubber spatula
• Whisk
• Hand mixer
• Fine mesh strainer

In addition to these tools, you’re going to need a few ingredients to make these Easy Lemon Bars, too:

• All-purpose flour—we use this in both the crust and in the lemon filling. The flour gives the shortbread crust shape, and it also offers up a bit of structure to the lemon filling.
• Powdered sugar—as a little sweetness for the shortbread crust and to top these beauties!
• Unsalted butter—to hold our shortbread crust together
• Eggs—these are integral to the lemon curd. They not only give color and flavor, but also offer structure as the bars bake.
• Granulated sugar—also known as white sugar. This balances out the tartness.
• Lemon juice—it’s really important to use freshly squeezed lemon juice here. (The shelf-stable, bottled lemon juice you can find at the store won’t give as much flavor.) Squeeze your own lemons for this or purchase cold press fresh lemon juice from the refrigerated section of the store. It’s a splurge, but it’s a worthwhile one if it makes making this dessert easier.
• Baking powder—this is our leavener (along with the eggs.) It’ll not only help the lemon bars, causing a little rise, but also lightening up the curd filling.
• Lemon zest—to punch up that lemon flavor even more!

Fun variations on this lemon bar recipe:

You can transform this recipe to incorporate other citruses! Swap the lemon juice and zest for the juice and zest of another citrus fruit.

Here are a few ideas I think would be delicious:

• Key Lime Pie Bars or regular ‘ol Lime Bars
• Orange Bars
• Grapefruit Bars

How do you make lemon bars from scratch?

Make the shortbread crust

Preheat the oven and line a 9”x13” baking dish with parchment paper. You can spritz the pan with nonstick baking spray, too. Set it aside.

Mix the powdered sugar and flour in a large bowl.

Add the melted butter to the dry ingredients, and mix until combined. You can use your hands or a rubber spatula.

Shape the crust. Use your hands to press the shortbread into the prepared pan. It’ll be a little messy and sticky, so prepare yourself. You can spray your hands with nonstick baking spray to keep them from getting too sticky, if necessary.

Bake the crust in the preheated oven. We want it to be lightly browned whenever it’s done, so keep an eye on it.

Once it comes out, let it cool slightly before proceeding.

Make the lemon curd filling and the lemon bars

In a large bowl, mix eggs, sugar and lemon juice together with a hand mixer or a whisk.

Sift the flour and baking powder into the egg mixture, and stir until combined with a rubber spatula.

Pour the lemon layer on top of the slightly cooled shortbread crust.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the center isn’t jiggly. We want the bars to hold their shape, so keep an eye on them as you bake ‘em. If you leave them in too long, they can overbake, and that’s not a good thing.

Cool the lemon bars until they are at room temperature, then lift them out of the pan with the parchment paper. Dust with powdered sugar and slice into bars with a sharp knife. 

Erin’s Easy Entertaining Tips

Lemon Bars are a staple at Southern get-togethers, and you’ll find ‘em at baby showers, bridal showers, etc.

However, these Easy Lemon Bars are really excellent for any occasion. They’re great for sharing because this dessert bar recipe makes more than a few servings.

Here are a few ideas to making this lemon dessert for a crowd:

• Make ‘em a day ahead of time. Once they’ve cooled, slice and store in the fridge. When it’s time to serve, dust with a little extra powdered sugar.
• If you’re stressing about squeezing lemons (or don’t have the tools), purchase cold pressed lemon juice. It will be in the refrigerated section of the grocery near pre-sliced fruit. It’s a major timesaver.
• Slice them into bite-sized pieces. A full-sized lemon bar can be messy, so slices the bars into bite-sized pieces to prevent messiness. Not only can guests enjoy one without a mess, but you’ll have more bites for everyone!

Frequently Asked Questions

Quick tips and tricks to the best lemon bars:

• Juice your own lemons! This fresh juice will make a huge difference in the flavor. You can also splurge on the cold pressed fresh lemon juice at the store.
• Use room temperature lemons. Did you know that you get more juice from a room temperature lemon? If you keep lemons in the fridge, let them come to room temperature. You can also warm them in the microwave for 20-30 seconds.
• Store the lemon bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.
• Freeze lemon bars on a lined baking sheet. Transfer to a storage baggie when frozen solid. This will take 4-6 hours. Keep frozen for 1-2 months, then let thaw in the refrigerator before enjoying.