Meyer Lemon Bars
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This is the only lemon bar recipe you’ll ever need– rich custard filling, buttery shortbread crust, and Meyer lemons for an unexpected twist on the classic.
THE LAST LEMON BAR RECIPE YOU’LL EVER NEED
Lemon bars are a staple at bake sales, potlucks, and holiday dessert spreads, and I am absolutely here for it. But too many times, they’re flimsy, fall apart, and leave me wishing for more of a base to actually hold them together. You know the ones… “Fork-only” situations. Not ideal.
This recipe fixes that.
I’ve made these more times than I can count, tweaking and testing until every element was exactly right, and the comments on this post back that up. Readers have been coming back to make these again and again since it was first published in 2020, and that kind of track record means something.
Before you start, I’d recommend watching the video and reading through the full recipe so you know what to expect: things like what’s getting zested, what’s getting juiced, and exactly how much juice you’ll need (this is not the place for eyeballing). A little prep goes a long way here.
A note on the crust: the original recipe featured a significantly thicker shortbread base, and many of you loved it! Over the years, though, I also heard from readers who felt it was too much. The recipe card now reflects a crust reduced by one third, a version I think will make most everyone happy. If you’re a thick crust devotee, the original measurements are in the recipe notes.
Meyer Lemons: Worth Seeking Out (But Not Required)
What sets these apart from a classic lemon bar is the Meyer lemon, a hybrid of lemon and Mandarin orange that’s less tart, a touch sweeter, and brings a slightly orange-y flavor that makes the whole bar taste more interesting. It’s a small swap with a big payoff.
That said, this recipe is flexible. If Meyer lemons aren’t available, use 2 parts yellow lemon to 1 part orange juice and zest– this will get you surprisingly close.
And if you want to go in a completely different direction, this filling works beautifully with other citrus altogether: lime, blood orange, and grapefruit are all wonderful. Just keep the amounts exactly as written. Custard is particular about its ratios, and going rogue with measurements is the fastest way to end up with bars that won’t set.
Why these are the Best Lemon Bars
SHORTBREAD CRUST: this a crust I’ve used over and over when I make my blueberry lemon pie bars. It’s solid, it’s flavorful, it’s buttery, and I add just a touch of zest to the crust so we’ve got lemon flavor happening everywhere.
THE FILLING: these lemon bars are a custard dessert, using Meyer lemon juice in place of milk. There are a lot of eggs happening in this filling, which gives the bars its structure.
A Few Things to Know Before You Start
Lemon bars aren’t hard, but they do require your attention. Once you make them once, you’ll make them again and again. Here’s what to pay attention to:
Read the recipe first
The filling calls for both zest and juice– know which lemons are getting zested (you’ll zest before you juice), and measure your juice exactly. Bars that don’t set up are almost always the result of too much or too little liquid.
Every oven is different
Bake times can vary, so use these cues rather than the clock alone.
Target temperature:
Insert an instant-read thermometer into the center of the filling and check for an internal temperature of 170ºF (77ºC). You’re looking for it to be set through, not liquid. This is my very favorite instant-read digital thermometer, and this is my favorite budget-friendly digital thermometer.
Visual cue:
If you don’t have a thermometer, look for edges that are barely golden and a center with just a slight jiggle. Think set Jell-O, not liquid.
Don’t overbake:
The bars will firm up considerably as they cool. The top should not brown significantly.
About that crust on top:
Some batches develop a slightly bubbly or papery top layer, and some don’t. There’s really no reliable rhyme or reason to it, and it doesn’t mean anything went wrong. It’s simply a reaction between the cooked eggs and sugar. A dusting of powdered sugar takes care of the look entirely!
HOW TO SERVE LEMON BARS
These bars are best served room temperature, but will need to be stored in the refrigerator to preserve freshness. I recommend letting them sit out for 20-30 minutes before serving to reduce the chill from the fridge. Dust with powdered sugar only when the bars have cooled completely.
HOW TO CUT LEMON BARS
It is important to use a large and very sharp knife to cut your bars. I usually clean off the knife between slices to avoid the bars sticking to the knife too much. If you want to warm the knife and dry it off between slices, that will work even better! Go slow and be patient.
HOW TO STORE LEMON BARS
Any exposed filling may become gummy as the bars sit, so be sure the bars are covered tightly. Keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
CAN I FREEZE LEMON BARS?
Yes! They can be frozen for up to 3 months. Do not dust with powdered sugar, and cut the cooled bars into squares. Place bars onto a baking sheet and allow to freeze for about 1 hour. Remove from the freezer and Individually wrap each bar in foil or plastic wrap and place into a large container or zip top bag to store frozen. Allow to thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then dust with powdered sugar before serving.
Lemon lovers are passionate, and rightfully so. I’ll be honest– classic lemon bars were always a little “eh” for me until I started with Ina Garten’s recipe as my base and made it my own. She rarely steers me wrong. So whether you’re going full Meyer lemon, mixing in a little orange with yellow lemons, or experimenting with another citrus entirely, I hope these bars become a permanent part of your dessert rotation.
Once you make them once, you’ll want to make them forever (ask me how I know).
Meyer Lemon Bar Recipe FAQs
The Best Meyer Lemon Bars Recipe
Ingredients
SHORTBREAD CRUST
- ⅔ cup (67g) granulated sugar
- the zest of one Meyer lemon1
- ⅔ cup (152g) unsalted butter melted
- 1 and ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 and ⅓ cups (160g) all-purpose flour
FILLING
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- 2 and ¼ cups (450g) granulated sugar
- the zest of 3 Meyer lemons1
- ¾ cup (180mL) Meyer lemon juice1 about 5 to 6 Meyer lemons
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup (90g) all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF (177ºC).
- Line an 8″ x 8″ or 9″ x 9″ baking pan with parchment. You can use foil, but I don't prefer this method as it often is quite difficult to remove the bars. Leave an overhang on the sides. Set aside.
SHORTBREAD CRUST
- NOTE: the original recipe, published in 2020, featured a much thicker crust that some readers did not like. The recipe as written now has been reduced by ⅓. The original measurements are in the first note2 below.
- In a medium size bowl, combine the sugar and the lemon zest. Use your fingers to massage the zest into the sugar until it is fragrant and the sugar is pale yellow.⅔ cup (152g) unsalted butter, ⅔ cup (67g) granulated sugar, 1 and ½ teaspoons vanilla extract, ¼ teaspoon salt, the zest of one Meyer lemon1, 1 and ⅓ cups (160g) all-purpose flour
- Add the melted butter, vanilla extract, and salt and stir to combine. Add the flour and stir until you have a cohesive mixture. It will be quite loose. This is ok.
- Press the crust evenly into the prepared pan, then bake the crust for 15 minutes while you prepare the filling.
FILLING
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt until smooth.4 large eggs, 2 and ¼ cups (450g) granulated sugar, the zest of 3 Meyer lemons1, ¾ cup (180mL) Meyer lemon juice1, ¼ teaspoon salt
- Add the flour, then whisk or fold in the flour, pressing out any large chunks of flour as you stir. Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes to allow the bubbles on the surface to dissipate.¾ cup (90g) all-purpose flour
- Gently give the mixture a few more stirs to pop the remaining bubbles (it's ok if they don't all go away), then pour the filling over the crust. Bake the bars for 42-48 minutes, until the filling is set3. A little jiggling in the center is ok (think Jell-O). Allow to cool to room temperature before allowing to chill completely in the refrigerator.
- To serve, remove the bars from the pan using the foil overhang. Cut the bars into desired size and dust with powdered sugar, if desired, before serving. Store leftovers in the refrigerator up to 5 days. Bars freeze well, up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator then dust with powdered sugar.
Video
Notes
- If you don’t have Meyer lemons: you can opt to use 2 parts yellow lemon to 1 part orange to achieve Meyer lemon flavor.
- Crust ingredients: the original recipe, published in 2020, featured a much thicker crust that some readers did not like. The recipe as written now has been reduced by ⅓, but if you want the original measurements, they are as follows: 1 cup (227g) unsalted butter, melted; ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar; 2 teaspoons vanilla extract; ½ teaspoon salt; the zest of one Meyer lemon; 2 cups (240g) all-purpose flour.
- How to tell when bars are done: you’ll know your bars are done when the edges just start turning golden brown and the filling is mostly set with a slight jiggle in the center. Think of the motion of Jell-O. If you really want to be exact, you can check for an internal temperature of 170ºF (77ºC). This is my very favorite instant-read digital thermometer, and this is my favorite budget-friendly digital thermometer.
- Presentation: the top of the bars may look bubbly. This is ok, and is a reaction of the cooked sugar and eggs. It can show up in some batches and not others, but it is completely normal.
Nutrition Disclosure
All nutritional values are approximate and provided to the reader as a courtesy. Changing ingredients and/or quantities will alter the estimated nutritional calculations.
Started to make your lemon bars because I wanted ones that were thicker, but the very first ingredient measurement is wrong. One cup of butter, melted or otherwise, is 240 grams. I’m afraid to waste my ingredients not knowing if the rest of the measurements are correct.
Hey, Dawn– thanks for catching the one typo in my recipe– 113g is the measurement for 1/2 cup of butter, and 1 cup of butter is actually 227g. Hope this helps.
Okay… I see you corrected the grams. So it does call for a whole cup of melted butter?
Yes, 1 cup or 2 sticks. Which by weight is 227g.
Dawn, I can assure you the rest of these measurements are correct, as I made these lemon bars a month ago and use Lynn’s recipes more than any other blogger for my baking. They are absolutely excellent and some of the best I’ve ever had. The crust is ridiculous, so I encourage you to carry on!
Thanks so much, Lauren! I love how much you love my recipes 🙂
I made these and they are way too sweet. Is 2 1/4 cups of sugar correct? I had to throw these out as they are way too sweet to even eat
Yes, 2 and 1/4 cups of sugar is correct. And the ratio of sugar to eggs is pretty standard for traditional lemon bar custard. Unless you left out the salt, I’m not sure what else to tell you!
Yes, I did use the salt. Thanks Lynn
I suggest a 9×9 pan. I only had an 8×8 and it would not accommodate all the filling, I had 1/2 cup of that luscious mixture left. (will make a cookie crust a bake in mini muffin tins) Loved the flavor and will be making it again
Hmm… It worked just fine in my 8×8! It’s possible you’re using a pan on the shorter side, but I’m glad you still liked it! Thanks, Dianne 🙂
Absolutely LOVED this recipe—it got rave reviews from my coworkers as well. I will say that 45 minutes seems way too long for a cooking time. My bars were a little toasty around the edges and the top had a slight crust. Nothing a knife and some powdered sugar can’t fix!
Thanks so much, Alyssa– the cook time insures the custard is set and less time may yield a gooey center. You want to bake it until the edges are set and it’s no longer jiggly. But yes, powdered sugar usually does the trick for aesthetics!
Welll good news and bad news. Good news was the flavor was fabulous. Bad news was lining with just tin foil definitely did not work for me and was a huge pain to pick off the sides of the bars. Personally I prefer a thin crust to thick filling so next time I may use 50% less of the dough. Will def make again though the filling was fabulous and thicker than most recipes I’ve tried. Super easy too.
Thanks for the feedback, Carmen! We typically use pretty thick foil, and thinner may not work as well. You may want to use parchment next time!
I love this recipe! However tonight I modified it to make a pie in a springform pan with a hybrid golden Oreo shortbread crust! I increased the measurements and added a touch of key lime extract and vanilla bean paste. My house smells incredible! I was craving a key lime pie and didn’t have sweetened condensed milk and I thought why not try and supersize the best lemon bar recipe ever!
I love that, Lindsey! Thanks so much for sharing!
Can this be made in a 9×13?
Hi, Sue– it can, but you will need to double it. Enjoy!
Quick edit – 2.25 c of sugar is only 450 grams (not 550!)
YIKES! Thanks, Cameron!
Directions tell you to put zest in the crust.
Then directions say to add zest to filling!
Hi, Joan. Yes. That’s correct. There is the zest of one lemon in the crust and the zest of three lemons in the filling. I removed your 1-star rating because there was no indication you actually made the recipe, and your comment is really just a statement of… What the recipe says. If you made them and have feedback, I’m happy to hear it. But the instructions are clear and I’m not sure what your question (?) is.
Hi! I just wanted to let you know these turned out wonderfully. Shortbread was wonderful texture and taste, and the filling had the perfect amount of tanginess. I substituted a 1-to-1 gluten free flour and it worked perfectly. The recipe was also very easy to read, thank you for including metric measurements rments and then in the directions or steps so you didn’t have to scroll back up constantly! thank you again!
Thanks so much, Tressa! I’m so glad you enjoyed it and the layout was helpful 😃
Can the shortbread be made in advance, say one day in advance?
Hi, Red– I’ve never done that, but I suspect it should be fine! I would bake it in the pan, let it cool all the way, and then pop it in the fridge or store at room temp (unless it’s particularly warm where you are) covered tightly until needed. Let me know if you try it!
Mixing the liquid ingredients first and having to fold the flour in caused the texture of the filling to be weird and gummy
Hey, Richard– this is standard order of operations in this dessert. Did you bake the bars?
Oh my. These are divine. The thick, buttery shortbread crust holds up to the luscious lemon layer on top! I found meyer lemons at Wegmans and decided if I was going to the effort I was going to make it count so I doubled the recipe and baked these in a 9×13 baking pan. Your trick of lining the pan with foil made it so easy to pop the entire sheet of bars out and cut them into portion-sizes. I wrapped them individually and they froze beautifully. When the mood strikes I’ll pull one from the freezer, let it thaw in the fridge for an hour or two and then sprinkle it with powdered sugar. Chefs kiss!
I love this so much! Thanks, Hillary!
I consider myself to be an advanced baker but this was one of the worst disasters I’ve ever made. I could have used a chisel to get it out of the pan. A ton of ingredients and labor intensive for an inedible outcome. Sorry but not a keeper
Hi, Melinda– I’m not sure what to tell you, since you can see there are several positive reviews. Without much more information than what you’ve given me, I wouldn’t even be able to begin to suggest what might have gone wrong.
These are awesome! I did have a problem with the filling not completely setting up in the middle though. Toward the end of the bake time the top was getting pretty brown so I set a piece of foil over the pan (I used a 9 x 9 pan) as a shield to keep it from burning. Could that have been the reason the middle didn’t set up? I have a thermometer inside the oven so I know the temperature was correct. I definitely plan on making these again though.
Hey, Erika– it’s possible you added too much liquid, meaning perhaps your zest was a little more liquidy than mine was, but it’s hard to say without watching you make them. I’m actually retesting this recipe next week and going to make sure I troubleshoot some of the things in the comments, so be on the lookout for some updates in case I find something wonky on my end! Thanks for your review 🙂
Doubled the recipe, family get together and they loved lemon bars.
Bars were delicious and gone in a matter of minutes. Nothing taste better then a good lemon bar. Everyone raved about the lemony flavor.
Thanks so much, Carol!