(seriously) The Best Key Lime Pie
Yes, this is (seriously) The Best Key Lime Pie. It’s sweet, tangy (but not too tangy), and the crust is out of this world. Not only does the pie crust have graham crackers, but it also has pecans & macadamia nuts. It’s practically a cookie crust.
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Let me start off saying that I just never got into key lime pie. It’s either way too tart (most likely they used limes and not key limes) or way too sweet or artificial tasting. But I never completely knocked it off my list. I’m glad I never did because one day it finally happened. And at what Matt & I consider one of our favorite places to eat.
Around four years ago, we randomly found a local restaurant, South Ocean Grill, and we’ve been going back ever since. It’s quaint, cozy, & their food is phenomenal. But their key lime pie… next level amazing. It had me obsessed with trying to recreate it.
Their pie was perfectly tart, lightly sweet, & held together in a beautiful thick graham & pecan crust. It took me a few tries but I finally did it, with a slight twist – because I’m extra, I have pecans AND macadamia nuts in my version. And like all my pie crusts, I like ’em THICC. I believe, pie filling has to be good but it’s the pie crust that brings everything together and makes the whole pie amazing.
WHAT DO YOU NEED FOR THE PIE CRUST?
You will need:
- graham crackers
- pecans
- macadamia nuts
- melted butter
- granulated sugar
You can totally make this gluten free by using gluten free graham crackers. For the macadamia nuts & pecans, try to find them roasted and salted. If you can only find them raw, I’ve included steps in the recipe card below on how to toast them.
WHAT INGREDIENTS ARE NEEDED FOR THE PIE FILLING?
Just a few items:
- key lime juice
- water
- egg yolks
- condensed milk
Please, don’t use regular lime juice as a substitute. It’s not the same thing as key limes and you’ll end up with a really, really, really tart pie.
As for the key lime juice, you can use fresh key limes. It can be a lot of work since they’re tiny and hard to find sometimes. I use Nellie & Joe’s Key West Lime Juice and it tastes just as good as fresh.
Now, it’s totally not necessary but the type of eggs used made a world of difference. So much so that my brother noticed without me saying anything. He asked if I did anything different with the pie because it was extremely creamy & buttery. I use pasture-raised eggs and because of how the chickens are raised, their egg yolks are a beautiful, deep orange color, and are much more buttery & rich in flavor.
WHAT ARE SOME GARNISH & TOPPING IDEAS?
Dust the top with lime zest to make it pretty & make it recognizable that it’s a key lime pie. If you used fresh key limes for the juice, zest those up so they’re not going to waste. And if you have any unused key lime fruits, slice those up for garnish as well. Don’t worry if you don’t have fresh key limes, you can still garnish with regular limes, just don’t use regular limes for the juice!
Make whipped cream! It’s easy and I love that I can control the sweetness compared to the store bought brands. As you can tell from my photos, my whipped cream is a little over whipped, but luckily it didn’t taste like butter. This was the first time that Penny made whipped cream with me (well, she somewhat assisted, mostly taste tested) and it was so fun that I wasn’t paying attention to the whipped cream at all! I’ll include a recipe below.
Eat it with vanilla ice cream. Anyone who knows me knows that ice cream makes every dessert even better. Matt used to make fun of me for it because he just never agreed (he’s a minimalist). But after he tried key lime pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, he changed his mind completely. His favorite part is when the ice cream melts a little bit and mixes with the pie crust crumbs… yes yes yes yes.
My favorite topping when serving is actually the pie crust crumbs. Any pie crust crumbs leftover in the pie dish, I take some and sprinkle it over the pie, whipped cream, and vanilla ice cream… yesssssss.
Make this pie for the next (socially distanced) BBQ you attend. Bring some Broiled Pineapple Guacamole & chips for good measure!
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(seriously) THE BEST KEY LIME PIE
recipe for later
Equipment
- Food Processor
- frying pan
- whisk
- metal bowl
- electric hand mixer
Ingredients
Graham Cracker Pecan & Macadamia Nut Pie Crust
- 12 sheets of graham crackers
- ½ heaping cup pecans roasted & salted, *see notes
- ½ cup macadamia nuts roasted & salted
- 8 tbsp salted butter melted, *see notes
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
Key Lime Pie Filling
- ¾ cup key lime juice
- ¼ cup filtered water
- 2 (14 oz) cans sweetened condensed milk full fat
- 4 large egg yolks
Whipped Cream (optional)
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp confectioner's sugar
Garnishes
- homemade whipped cream
- lime zest
- lime slices
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
for the pie crust
- If using raw nuts, I recommend toasting them to bring out their natural oils, which will add more nutty flavor to the crust. To toast nuts, put the nuts in a dry saute pan over low heat. Shimmy the pan often so the nuts will not burn. The nuts are done once you can smell their nutty aroma.
- In a food processor, pulse the graham crackers, pecans, and macadamia nuts together until they are a crumbled texture. Don't worry if you have a few chunky nut & cracker pieces, that'll make the crust even better. I prefer my crust to be on the chunky side, so I want a few large-ish pieces of pecans & macadamia nuts.
- Pour the crumbled mixture into a medium bowl and stir in the sugar & melted butter. Press the mixture down into and up the sides of the pie dish (use a flat bottomed glass to press). Pre-bake the crust for 8 minutes. Set the crust on the side & leave the oven on.
for the pie filling
- In a medium bowl, using a whisk or an electric hand mixer, combined the sweetened condensed milk, key lime juice, & egg yolks together. Pour into the warm pie crust.
- Bake the pie for 15 to 20 minutes or until the center of the pie slightly jiggles. Remove from the oven and let it cool completely on a wire rack. Once the pie is cool, cover & chill the pie for at least an hour (overnight is best) before serving.
for the whipped cream
- Chill your metal bowl & beaters in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes. Add the heavy whipping cream, confectioner's sugar, & vanilla extract to the chilled bowl. Using a stand mixer or handheld mixer with the chilled beaters, beat until stiff peaks form.
for serving
- Garnish with some lime zest, lime slices, & whipped cream. Serve as is, or with a side of vanilla ice cream (my fave!). Store leftovers in the fridge for up to one week.
Notes
- If using raw nuts, make sure to toast them to bring out more nutty flavor.
- For the butter, you can use unsalted if preferred. If you're toasting the nuts, I suggest using salted butter.
- If you don't have a food processor, use gallon sized ziplock bags & a rolling pin to crush them up. I added the graham crackers to one bag & the nuts in another. Just be careful to not make any holes in the bag or you'll have a mess everywhere.
- This freezes well for up to 3 months, just thaw it out overnight in the fridge.