This is not your traditional key lime pie, it uses a high volume of fresh lime juice and zest to create a delicious lime curd filling, similar to the lemon curd in vegan lemon meringue pie.
The result is a tangy, zesty filling complemented by whipped coconut cream and a spiced cookie crust - the perfect dessert for summer.
🍋🟩 Key limes vs regular limes
Traditional key lime pie uses key lime juice, also known as Mexican limes, which have a punchier flavor than regular limes. Fresh key limes are not easily found worldwide, so don't sweat, more common Persian limes (Tahitian limes) work perfectly for this recipe.
🧾 Ingredients overview
Here's everything you need to make key lime pie vegan. Find the complete list of ingredients, quantities, and instructions in the recipe card at the end of this post.
The ingredients used are pretty common (no agar agar powder or condensed coconut milk needed!):
- Fresh Limes: Make sure you use fresh lime juice and not the bottled stuff. The flavor won't be the same, and bottled lime juice can have a sickly, fake aftertaste.
- Coconut Cream: Adds creaminess to the filling.
- Non-Dairy Milk: For the lime custard base, you can use any plant-based milk of your choice, such as soy milk, oat milk, or almond milk.
- Cornstarch: This is the thickening agent for the lime curd filling. You can swap it for ground arrowroot if needed.
- Vanilla Extract: Helps to balance the tartness of the limes. I like to add a dash to the coconut topping as well.
- Vegan cookies: You can use any vegan cookies of your choice; digestives, biscoff, ginger nuts, or vegan graham crackers will work well.
🔪 Step-by-step images
Here's a visual overview showing how to make this homemade vegan key lime pie. Please refer to the detailed recipe card at the end of this page for full measurements and written instructions. You can also hit the jump to recipe button at the very top of this page to skip to the printable recipe card.
Blitz cookies and melted butter in a food processor.
Press cookie crust into a prepared pie dish or tart tin.
Rub lime zest into granulated sugar to release those fragrant oils!
Whisk cornstarch with lime sugar before adding liquids - this will prevent clumping!
Whisk in the other filling ingredients and cook until thick and creamy.
Pour the creamy filling through a fine-mesh sieve into the tart shell and set.
For the topping, I've used whipped coconut cream, crushed cookies, fresh lime slices, and zest.
💭 Expert tips
Use real limes. I do not recommend using bottled lime juice, you'll want the fresh stuff.
Skip the kitchen equipment: If you don't have a food processor, place the cookies in a ziplock bag and bash them into a crumb consistency using a rolling pin. Then just melt the vegan butter and stir it through the crushed biscuits before pressing it into the tart tin.
Pan size: This recipe can be made in either a 9-inch pie pan or a tart pan. If using a tart tin, make sure it's at least 3 inches deep.
Natural color: Completely optional, but you can add a little matcha powder for a pop of green color to your lime custard. You can also use wheatgrass powder, moringa powder, and spinach powder.
Meringue topping: If you want a fancy topping, you can also use vegan Italian meringue, which you can then blowtorch for a toasted flavor and look.
💬 Customizing this recipe
This recipe is naturally nut-free, provided that you use cookies that do not contain nuts and opt for a nut-free plant-based milk.
The cookies in this recipe are not gluten-free, but you can easily adapt this lime pie by using gluten-free cookies.
If you're not a fan of coconut, you can use alternative plant-based whipping creams such as soy cream or oat cream instead.
🥧 More vegan pies
📖 Recipe
Easy No-Bake Vegan Key Lime Pie
Equipment
- 9" tart pan (3-inch deep) OR 9.5" Deep Pie Dish
Ingredients
Crust
- 285 g (36 cookies) biscoff cookies *note 1
- 100 g (⅓ cup + 3 tablespoons) vegan butter melted
Filling
- 175 g (¾ cup + 2 tablespoons) granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons lime zest
- 60 g (6 tablespoons) cornstarch
- 270 ml (1 cup + 2 tablespoons) lime juice, freshly squeezed approx 8-10 regular limes or 16-20 key limes
- 180 ml (¾ cup) non-dairy milk *note 2
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract optional
- 240 g (1 cup) coconut cream *note 3
- ½ teaspoon matcha powder sifted, optional for color *note 4
Coconut topping
- 240 g (1 cup) vegan whipped cream (half batch)
Instructions
- Note: The ingredient quantities made a 9-inch tart tin (3 inches deep) or a 9.5-inch pie dish. For a shallow 9-inch tart, decrease the ingredient quantities by ⅕.
- Prepare: Lightly grease the base and sides of a 9" tin with some oil or vegan butter, and line the base with a circle of parchment paper.
- Crust: Add the cookies to a food processor and blitz to a fine crumb consistency. Add the melted butter and blend again until the ingredients stick together between your fingers.Press the mixture into the base of the pan, using a spatula or flat-bottomed glass to smooth it out. Set aside in the freezer while you prepare the filling.
- Filling: Add the sugar and lime zest to a saucepan and rub with your fingertips until fragrant. Add the cornstarch to the sugar and whisk to remove any lumps.Mix in the lime juice, non-dairy milk, and vanilla. Then stir in the coconut cream. Whisk well while bringing the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to a medium simmer and cook for 5-8 minutes while stirring continuously. The mixture will thicken.
- Sieve and assemble: Remove the lime curd from the heat, whisk in the matcha if using, and pass it through a fine-mesh sieve into a large mixing bowl. Pour it on top of the cooled cookie crust.
- Chill and decorate: Place in the fridge to set for at least 2-3 hours, or until completely set to the touch. Make the coconut whipped cream. Add the coconut cream on top of the key lime tart before serving and finish off with some more freshly grated lime zest.
- Storage: Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. It can be left at room temperature for a couple of hours on the day of serving it. You can freeze the tart and filling. I do not recommend freezing the coconut cream topping, this can be added before serving.
Notes
- Biscoff cookies: Swap for other vegan cookies (digestive biscuits or vegan graham crackers, ginger nuts, or GF cookies if needed).
- Non-dairy milk: Soy, almond, or oat milk.
- Coconut cream: Or chilled coconut milk (the thick part from the top of the can only).
- Matcha: Or moringa powder, wheatgrass powder, spinach powder.
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*This recipe was originally published in October 2019. It has since been improved and updated.
WAY TOO SOUR. I made two pies using this recipe and both are inedible they are so sour. I’d recommend reducing the amount of lime juice significantly.
Hi Lauren,
Sorry to hear it wasn’t to your liking. The recipe is meant to be quite tart, as mentioned in the post, but I appreciate you sharing your feedback. Thank you for trying it!
I've made this several times and it's always come out perfectly! I like to add the filling to different kinds of crusts too for variety, it's really versatile and always a big hit, thanks!
Hi Taylor,
That’s wonderful to hear, I’m so glad it’s been a reliable favourite for you! I love the idea of switching up the crusts too, such a great way to keep it fresh. Thanks so much for sharing!
I followed the recipe to a t, but didn't get great results. The crust was super crumbly, it never set into a solid crust even after refrigerating overnight. The sides of the crust completely crumb as I slice the pie. I even weighed the biscoff cookies before making the crust; and used the Becel plant "butter" baking bricks, not margarine spread. I'm also not happy with the filling. 🙁 I again used every ingredient listed and measured by weight. The filling didn't turn out a creamy curd. It became completely solid. The texture almost resembles a cake pop - completely solid albeit soft. It felt more like eating a lime cake, not creamy pie filling. The flavours overall are lovely, despite the texture issues. It's certainly strong on the lime which I really like. The coconut whipped cream complements the lime flavour beautifully. If there is anything I can do to troubleshoot the crumbly crust and cake-like filling, please let me know as I would love to try!
Hi Lili,
Thanks so much for giving the recipe a try and for sharing such detailed feedback, I know it’s frustrating when the texture doesn’t turn out as expected.
For the crust, it might help to blend the cookies a little finer, and to check the mixture before pressing it into the tin. If you squeeze some between your fingers, it should stick together. If it doesn’t, add a little more melted butter until it holds. Also make sure the crust is packed very tightly into the tart tin and let it rest in the freezer while you prep the filling — that helps it set firmly.
For the filling, there must have been something off somewhere, as it should resemble a smooth lime curd and not be cakey at all in terms of texture. Can I confirm that you used cornstarch and didn’t make any other adjustments to the ingredients? That will help narrow down what might have gone wrong so we can troubleshoot together.
Thank you so much for the tips for troubleshooting the crust! I’m gonna have to try again. For the filling, I’m racking my brain but I’m really unsure of what might’ve gone wrong. I measured every ingredient by weight. The only thing I can think of is the coconut cream I used. It was labeled as “pure coconut” and the texture was rather thick; it didn’t have the liquid portion that regular canned coconut milk does. Do you think that might’ve been the problem? If so, next time I’ll be sure to only use chilled canned coconut milk and scoop up the top layer.
Made this for a party, following the recipe to a t and the filling did not thicken up as described or shown in the little video of it. Mine was definitely more watery and since there is no baking it was much more runny than I wanted. I did not have the same issues as others with the crust, I felt the moisture content was fine!
Bummed this recipe was not as expected!
Hi Sydney,
Thanks so much for giving it a try, and I’m really sorry to hear the filling didn’t set as expected.
It sounds like it could be one of two things: either the cornstarch didn’t fully activate (it needs to be cooked until the mixture becomes noticeably thick and glossy, like in the images above), or there may have been a measuring issue with the cornstarch-to-liquid ratio. With thickening agents like cornstarch, even small variations in measurement can make a big difference.
Hi! I can't use white sugar..would coconut sugar work? (I know it will be darker in color).
Hi Sue,
You could use it, but as you said the color will be off and it will have a hint of caramel flavor to it. Do let me know if you give it a try please1
The filling comes out beautifully and without much fuss. It's perfectly tart, which plays nicely with the sweeter whipped coconut cream that I spooned right on top while my pie was setting. Pretty as a picture 🙂
I deducted one star because the graham cracker crust mixture (dough?) came out too wet for my tastes the first time around. I weighed twice and the step-by-step pictures included in this recipe look like my results, but I just got too spooked to continue following. I simply did not want to spoon all that delicious lime curd into a sopping wet crust and spend all day hoping the crust would somehow dry out while buried in wet pie filling! Perhaps an additional note on this part of the process would be helpful in this recipe. I ended up scrapping my first attempt and using a different recipe for a crust that combines a smaller amount of fat (melted coconut oil in my case) with your cookie crumbs and I was glad I did.
Hi Marta,
I'm so happy you enjoyed the recipe, thank you so much for your lovely review 🙂
So the crust should appear a little bit wet as it will then set up when chilled. Someone else had the same issue before but they butter they used was more margarine-style, which will stay more liquid - perhaps that might be the case here too? I will definitely double check it the crust on this end when I make it the next time!
Suuuper delicious! I went with the ginger nut biscuits for the base - I have a question though. In hindsight I definitely should have increased the recipe to have a thicker crust, as mine was on the tin side. Mine (the crust) seemed a little on the soft/wet side, which makes cutting and serving the pie a little tricky. I did use softened vegan butter and not the block, does that make a difference?
I went with the Italian meringue topping and overall it’s absolutely delicious, definitely will be making it again!
hello, my spring form is 10". I'm not good at maths 🙁
in the notes you mention to increase by 1/5.
For example, if I take 220 g gingernut cookies, does that make an total of 308 g?
Thanks a lot. I need to make this by tomorrow!!
Hi Annie!
You'd be looking at 264g of cookies. You would need to divide the amounts by 5 and then multiply by 6 to add on an extra 1/5 to each ingredient. Hope this helps
thanks! I am doing the pie this afternoon and I'm nervous. does not look difficult, but I'm trying something new and I'm a bit unsure. I'll let you know how I did.
Hi, do you think I can add ginger powder to the digestive cookies?
Hello,
Oh yes great idea, you could add in a teaspoon or so 🙂
Wow 🤩
Thank you! 🙂