The Best Lemon Curd Recipe - Easy and Homemade (2024)

This is really the best lemon curd recipe - it's easy, tart, thick and buttery. Much better than store-bought, and this smooth and creamy lemon curd keeps in the fridge for weeks.

Thick and tangy lemon curd is perfect as a cake filling, in a pastry shell to make a lemon tart, as a spread for biscuits, English muffins or scones, or just as a pudding topped with whipped cream!

How to use lemon curd like a pro

The list of lemon curd uses is long. Long and delicious.

This velvety pudding is typically spread between layers of cakes, dolloped on meringues, English sponge cakes, toast, crumpets, English muffins, scones, muffins and biscuits.

You can stir it into cream to make a fool (fruit and whipped cream), swirl it in or on ice cream, spread it into tart shells or on top of shortbread to make a quick lemon bar cookie.

Fill or top cupcakes, whip it into frosting or layer it with cake and cream for a trifle or parfait dessert.

Just what is lemon curd?

This tart and smooth dessert custard is British in origin. Yep, the English perfected this lovely situation.

It actually derives from the idea of actual curd: lemon juice curdling cream then separated. The curds were used in tarts and things. Doesn't sound delicious to me.

I'm just grateful that the modern version of lemon curd is delicious, easy to make and sweet!

It's a simple mixture of 5 ingredients: lemon juice, lemon zest, egg yolks, sugar, and butter. I add a pinch of salt just for flavor insurance.

Curd can be made from all kinds of citrus juice, as well as purees, like mango. I love a good lime curd and if you're feeling fancy, make a grapefruit curd.

Lemon curd vs. lemon cream

Lemon curd is the intense, pudding-like mixture of eggs, lemon juice, butter and sugar. Lemon cream is really the same thing except the butter isn't melted into the lemon mixture.

An article in the Chicago Tribune talks about the method of whipping the butter into slightly cooled lemon curd, creating a silky, smooth lemon cream.

Lemon cream is kind of a pastry chef version of lemon curd. There are food science reasons why one would want to whip the butter into curd. The method does create an aerated version of lemony curd and seems very sophisticated. That being said, for filling a cake, or spooning on top of toast or a scone, my classic, rich lemon curd recipe is the best.

One of my favorite recipes using lemon curd:

Lemon Lover's Layer Cake is the perfect way to use lemon curd in dessert.

How to make it

Homemade lemon curd is super simple, but follow the rules or you'll end up with scrambled eggs in lemon juice.

You must gently cook the eggs, lemon juice and sugar. My recipe calls for butter to be melted in with the lemon juice. Some recipes have you stir the butter in near the end of cooking.

Using a double boiler is good insurance, helping you to not overheat the eggs as you cook, but just gentle heat in a heavy saucepan works for me. The heat causes the proteins in the eggs to coagulate and thicken the lemony mixture. Doing this slowly and gently will prevent curdling, which can easily occur over direct or high heat.

The key is to stir the mixture constantly. And, I go one step further and use a whisk. Constantly moving the mixture breaks the egg protein bonds creating the silky, sauce-like texture.

Lemon curd is gluten-free

There's no flour in lemon curd, and I don't even use corn starch for thickening. That makes this recipe completely gluten-free.

Tools you'll need for this recipe:

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About Tara Teaspoon

I’ve been in the food publishing business for over 20 years, creating recipes & food-styling for magazines, books, television & advertising. Order my new cookbook & stick around for amazing things to eat.

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Recipe by Tara Teaspoon. Photography by Darianne Edwards.