If you love the fresh, vibrant taste of lemons, our no-bake lemon icebox pie will satisfy your lemon cravings.
Made with simple ingredients, this old-fashioned pie recipe is the perfect dessert for family get-togethers, potlucks, or just to treat your family to deliciousness.
Lemon Icebox Pie is a summertime classic dessert that families have enjoyed for generations. The recipe for this simple no-bake pie will soon become a family favorite and one of your favorite lemon recipes.
The luscious creamy lemon filling is the perfect combination of sweet and tangy. The vibrant lemon flavor, along with the buttery, slightly sweet graham crust and homemade whipped cream, creates an irresistible lemon dessert the whole family will love!
If you love lemony desserts, try our lemon cream pie and Atlantic beach pie recipes.
Ingredients for Lemon Icebox Pie
Let’s start by gathering the necessary ingredients to prepare our Lemon Icebox Pie recipe. Culinary professionals call this the mise en Place, which means “everything in its Place.”
Setting up your ingredients not only helps speed up the cooking process but also ensures you have all the necessary ingredients on hand to make the recipe.
How to Make Lemon Icebox Pie
Follow along with my simple step-by-step instructions to learn how to make Lemon Icebox Pie in your home kitchen.
Place the graham crackers in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to finely grind them into crumbs.
*You can also buy a ready-to-use graham cracker crumbs or a premade graham cracker pie crust at your local grocery store.
- Add the graham cracker crumbs, granulated sugar, and brown sugar to a medium bowl and mix to combine.
- Add the melted butter to the mixture.
- Use a fork to combine the ingredients until the crumbs are all moistened.
- Pour the mixture into the pie plate. Use the bottom of a measuring cup to firmly pack the crumbs into the bottom of the pie pan, and use your fingers to pack the crumbs tightly into the sides of the pie pan.
*Freeze the pie crust for 10-20 minutes before filling.
- Add the cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, lemon zest, and fresh lemon juice to a large bowl.
- Using an electric hand mixer, whip on medium until smooth and you have a creamy texture.
- Pour the filling into the homemade graham cracker crust.
- Spread the filling and smooth the top with an offset spatula. Refrigerate for 6-8 hours (overnight is best).
- Add the heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment (or a large bowl with an electric hand mixer).
- Start at a low speed and gradually build up to a faster speed (this will give you better consistency for your whipped cream than over-beating it from the beginning.
- Continue beating the cold cream until stiff peaks begin to form (just a little past soft peaks). This process should take 7-10 minutes. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- Spread the whipped cream topping over the chilled pie. Garnish with lemon zest.
*We used a deep-dish pie plate to make our lemon ice box pie, and the filling didn’t come up to the top of the dish. I recommend using a regular pan, not a deep-dish one.
Garnish the pie with lemon and lime zest. If time permits, refrigerate the lemon icebox pie for 2-3 hours before serving.
You can also freeze the pie and serve ice-cold frozen slices. It’s the perfect refreshing dessert for those hot summer days.
Our creamy lemon icebox pie will satisfy the sweet tooth of your family’s lemon lovers. In fact, it might become their favorite dessert!
Leftovers should be stored refrigerated in an airtight container or covered with plastic wrap for 3-4 days. The pie freezes exceptionally well and can be kept frozen or in slices for up to two months. You don’t even have to thaw the pie until ready to serve. I actually prefer it semi-frozen.
Recipe FAQs
Although you can use bottled juice, I wouldn’t recommend it. Fresh lemons give the juice a brighter, cleaner citrus flavor. Bottled juice tends to be flat and acidic without the bright, fresh flavor.
Absolutely. Although a classic graham cracker crust is most often used, vanilla wafers, shortbread, or lemon cream cookies can be used to make the pie crust.
Yes, there is. Baked versions use egg to make the lemon pie filling, which requires baking for about 15 minutes, allowing the custardy filling to set.
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Lemon Icebox Pie (No Bake)
Equipment
- 1 pie plate not deep dish
Ingredients
Graham Cracker Crust
- 1 ½ cup graham cracker crumbs 11-12 whole crackers – or store-bought crust
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
- 7 tablespoons unsalted butter -melted
Pie Filling
- 8 ounces cream cheese -room temperature
- 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
- 2 Tablespoons lemon zest -from 2 lemons, plus more for garnish
- ¾ cup fresh lemon juice -from 6 lemons
Whipped Cream
- 1½ cups heavy whipping cream
- ¼ cup powdered sugar or granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Graham Cracker Crust
- Place the graham crackers in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to finely ground into crumbs.
- Add the graham cracker crumbs, granulated sugar and brown sugar to a medium-sized bowl. Mix to combine.
- Add the melted butter and use a fork to combine the ingredients, until the crumbs are all moistened.
- Pour the mixture into pie plate. Use the bottom of a measuring cup to firmly pack crumbs into the bottom of the pan and use your fingers to pack crumbs tightly into the sides of the pie pan.
- Freeze the crust for 10-20 minutes before filling.
Pie Filling
- Add the cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, lemon zest, and lemon juice to a large bowl.
- Using an electric mixer, whip on medium until smooth and creamy.
- Spread the filling into the pie crust and smooth the top with an offset spatula. Refrigerate for 6-8 hours (overnight is best).
Whipped Cream
- Add the heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment (or a large bowl with an electric mixer).
- Start at a low speed and gradually build up to a faster speed (this will give you better consistency for your whipped cream than over-beating it from the beginning.
- Continue beating the cold cream until stiff peaks begin to form (just a little past soft peaks). The process should take 7-10 minutes.*Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- Spread the whipped cream topping over the chilled pie. Garnish with lemon and lime zest.
- Garnish the pie with lemon and lime zest. If time permits, refrigerate the lemon icebox pie for 2-3 hours before serving. You can also freeze the pie and serve ice-cold frozen slices. It's the perfect refreshing dessert for those hot summer days.
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