Based on my popular vegan lemon curd, this tangy lime curd uses a high ratio of real fruit, making it a fresh mouth-puckering lime flavor that leans more towards sour than sweet.
This makes it perfect for cutting through sweet desserts like meringue, tart fillings, or layered between buttercream and sponge in your favorite layer cake.
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📖 Recipe Overview
- Minimal Ingredients - Some of them pantry staples like sugar and cornstarch, you only need 5 in total.
- Quick & Easy - Made without special equipment, and you only need about 15 minutes of active prep time, and a few more minutes of patience while you wait for your curd to cool.
- Fresh & Zesty Flavor - This eggless curd is packed with fresh lime juice and lime zest. The combination of the two gives an incredibly aromatic zing to the curd!
If you love the fresh zest of citrus desserts, make sure you also try my Key Lime Pie, Lime Drizzle Loaf, Lime Cookies,
🧾 Ingredients Needed
As promised, only 5 ingredients stand between you and the most zesty delicious homemade lime curd. Here's what you need to grab:
Ingredient Notes
- Fresh Limes - Please do not use bottled lime juice for this recipe as it will not work. Fresh lime juice is always best, and unmatched when it comes to make lime desserts.
- Granulated Sugar - This lime curd uses slightly less sugar than my lemon curd as lemons are slightly higher on the scale of sour. If you are US-based, remember to grab organic sugar if you can, as non-organic brands are often not vegan.
- Vegan Unsalted Butter - Make sure you use vegan block-style butter such as Flora plant block or Violife block. You *might* get away with a margarine, but I have not tested it so can't stand over the results.
- Cornstarch - This is what thickens the curd without using eggs. You can swap it out for arrowroot starch at a 1:1 ratio.
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🥣 How To Make Lime Curd Without Eggs
Find the complete list of ingredients, quantities, and instructions in the recipe card at the end of this post.
Step 1: Add the cornstarch and sugar to a saucepan and whisk to combine. This helps to work out any lumps.
Step 2: Next, add in the plant-based milk and whisk until you have a thin smooth paste consistency.
Step 3: Add in the fresh lime juice and zest and whisk again to combine.
Step 4: Place the saucepan on medium heat and bring to a simmer. Turn down the heat to low and gently cook for 8-10 minutes. Keep stirring the curd while it cooks, alternating with a rubber spatula and a whisk to prevent it from sticking to the pan. The mixture will thicken and coat the back of the spatula.
Step 5: Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the cubed vegan butter until completely incorporated and you have a smooth curd.
Step 6: Pass the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a mixing bowl to remove any lumps or zest. Allow it to cool to room temperature for 20 minutes before sealing it in an airtight jar.
🍋 Lime Curd Uses
Here are just some of the endless ways to enjoy your fresh citrus curd:
- Spread over toast, biscuits, crumpets, or eggless scones.
- Served with Vegan Pancakes or yogurt, waffles.
- As a topping and flavoring for Vegan Lime Cheesecake.
- Top or sandwich it between a couple of Key Lime Cookies.
- For topping vegan meringue nests or pavlova.
- To fill Cupcakes or Layer Cake.
- You could also enjoy it over some Vanilla Ice Cream, Mango Ice Cream or use it to make lime version of Lemon Curd Ice Cream.
📝 Recipe Tips
Zest before you juice. Remember to zest your limes before slicing them open for level of ease. Also, don't zest all the way down to the white pith as this tastes extremely bitter. You only want the bright green zest from the outer part of the skin.
I use Persian limes for this recipe which are generally widely accesible. You might also know them seedless limes or Tahiti limes. They have an intense bright green skin and slightly more bitter flavor than key limes. If you want to make key lime curd, you can swap them in equal measures, You will need substantially more limes to get the equivalent in key lime juice though as they are much smaller.
Don't skip the sifting! This helps ensure you get a wonderful smooth finish to your homemade curd. It also removes the lime zest, which will become slightly discolored through the cooking process. But don't worry - the amazing flavor will have already been extracted through heating with the other ingredients.
Bump up the vibrance. Just like adding a pinch of turmeric will give you a more true colored lemon curd, you can add a touch of matcha powder to lime curd to help bring out the green color. Keep it to Ā¼-1/2 teaspoon though to ensure it does not impact the flavor.
The curd will naturally thicken in the fridge. Give it a good stir before serving. For a runnier consistency, simply gently warm over a low heat while stirring constantly.
💬 FAQs
Lime curd is a dessert spread generally made using eggs, dairy, sugar and limes. The ingredients are cooked into a thick mixture - essentially like a fruit custard.
What makes this lime curd vegan, is that it uses cornstarch and vegan butter in place of the traditional egg yolks and dairy!
This vegan lime curd will keep for at least 1 week in an airtight container in the fridge.
You can also freeze it for several months in a covered container and thaw it in the refrigerator overnight.
Unfortunately no, I do not recommend omitting the sugar. As well as balancing the acidity of the fresh limes and adding sweetness, sugar helps to create a rich texture for your lime custard.
🍯 More Fruit Curd Recipes
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š Recipe
Easy Lime Curd (Eggless)
Ingredients
- 300 ml (1 ¼ cups) lime juice freshly squeezed, *see notes 1+2
- 2 tablespoons lime zest *see note 2
- 110 ml (⅓ cup + 2 tablespoons) non-dairy milk oat milk, almond milk or soy milk work well
- 180 g (¾ cup + 2 tablespoons) granulated sugar *Organic if US based *see note 3
- 40 g (4 tablespoons) cornstarch or ground arrowroot starch
- 50 g (1.75 oz) vegan butter stick butter, not margarine, *see note 4
Instructions
- Zest and juice the limes.
- Add the sugar, and cornstarch to a saucepan and whisk out any lumps. Add the non-dairy milk and whisk until you have a smooth thin paste. Then add the lime juice and zest and whisk again to combine.
- Place the saucepan on medium heat and bring to a gentle simmer. Turn down the heat to low and cook for 8-10minutes, while stirring alternating with a rubber spatula and a whisk to prevent the mixture from sticking to the pan. The mixture will thicken and should coat the back of the spatula.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the vegan butter until completely incorporated and you have a smooth curd. Pass the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve to remove any lumps and zest, then allow it to cool to room temperature for 20 minutes.
- Transfer the curd to an airtight jar and refrigerate until ready to use. The curd will thicken in the fridge, so you can gently heat and melt it in a saucepan anytime you need a runnier curd consistency.It will keep for at least 1 week in an airtight container in the fridge. You can also freeze it for several months in a covered container and thaw it in the refrigerator overnight.
- Serving and storage: The curd will naturally thicken in the fridge. Give it a good stir before serving. For a runnier consistency, simply gently warm over low heat while stirring constantly.
Notes
- I used 5-6 Persian limes, if you are using key limes you will need substantially more to yield the same amount of juice.
- Lime Zest: Zest your limes before slicing them open for ease. Also, don't zest all the way down to the white pith as this tastes extremely bitter. You only want the bright green zest from the outer part of the skin.
- Vegan butter: You can swap this for coconut cream or thick full-fat canned coconut milk. Just note that the consistency may not be quite as set as with butter.
- Sugar: This recipe leans towards sour and tart, if you prefer a sweeter curd, add up to 60g more sugar to taste.
- Don't skip the sifting! This helps ensure you get a wonderful smooth finish to your homemade curd.
- Bump up the vibrance. A touch of matcha powder to lime curd to help bring out the green color. Keep it to Ā¼-1/2 teaspoon though to ensure it does not impact the flavor.
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