Lime Curd
Silky smooth, sharp lime curd made with whole eggs for a brighter more vibrant taste.
This lime curd recipe is modeled after my best lemon curd recipe. Basically we’ve traded lime juice for the lemon, except we’ll need many more limes! It’s made with whole eggs, no need to separate yolks, and lots of lime juice for a wonderfully tart flavor.
Overview
High % of lime juice: One thing that sets my curd recipes apart is the higher ratio of juice to sugar. If the fruit is tart, I want that flavor to come through and not be lost in the eggs and sugar. This lime curd uses freshly squeezed lime juice which gives the curd a sharp strong lime flavor.
No leftover egg whites: Most curd recipes use egg yolks primarily as thickeners which contribute to the curd’s thick texture. I’ve found I can use whole eggs and still get that silky custard-like texture. I also do not use cornstarch here, as I don’t like the bitty or chalky aftertaste.
Cold butter incorporation: For this recipe, as with my others, you’ll incorporate the butter at the end – after cooking the egg/juice/sugar portion of the recipe. The butter should be cold, straight from the fridge, and mixing it in is the very last step. The curd is hot enough to melt it and doing it this way ensures we have a shiny, silky texture.
Recipe Ingredients
Limes: use plump, fresh limes. Limes tend to have more juice in them when the skin is less of a bright green. Careful when zesting the limes, if you get too much of the white pith the lime curd will be sour (rather than tart).
Persian Limes vs Key Limes For Lime Curd: If you have access to key limes and wanted to use those instead you’ll need lots, lots more limes to make the curd as they are much smaller. The curd will be less tart, key limes are not as acidic, and deliver less punch but I think they could be quite lovely here 🙂
Sugar: fine granulated sugar. If you prefer a sweeter curd, you may add a few tablespoons more of sugar.
Eggs: we’re using whole eggs here, you’ll want to beat them very very well before adding them to the pot. Breaking up the bits of egg whites will mean less bits to sieve out after cooking.
Butter: salted or unsalted is fine (though if I use unsalted butter I’ll add a pinch of salt to the pot). Keep it cold so it incorporates slowly into the cooked curd.
Tips for Success
Cook low and slow, stir often:
The curd cooks quickest at the bottom of the pan where it is closest to the heat source. Stir that often so that all of the curd will cook evenly.
Know when to stop cooking:
If you’ve got a thermometer (candy, laser or instant read) you can use this to determine when the curd is done cooking. At around 170 F the curd will have thickened and you’ll want to immediately remove it from the heat.
Without a thermometer you’ll know the curd is done when it’s thickened all over (not just at the bottom – keep stirring to cook it evenly) and coats the back of a spoon. To test this, dip a wooden spoon or rubber spatula into the curd and look at the back of it, if it runs off immediately the curd isn’t done cooking. If it holds and ‘coats’ the spoon, it’s likely done.
Stir to incorporate the butter:
Often I hear from readers that their curd separated and I think this is likely due to insufficient stirring when the cold butter is being mixed into the curd. Rather than leaving it to melt fully then stirring, stir it often as the butter melts into it.
Making curd over a double boiler
If you have uneven heat or your stove tends to run pretty hot, you may want to make the curd over a double boiler: set a bowl over a pot of simmering water and make the curd in the bowl rather than directly in the pot. This will take considerably longer but safeguards you from overcooking the eggs too quickly.
What can I do with homemade lime curd?
You can use it any way you would use lemon curd; on pancakes, french toast, waffles etc. It also makes a great pavlova topper along with whipped cream and fresh berries. Here are some specific recipes I use my lime curd in:
Make lime curd stuffed cookies (my current favorite!).
Make lime meringue bars, a lime curd cheesecake, or a lime meringue pie.
In between cake layers (lime cake, vanilla cake would be great here).
Storing the lime curd
Kept in an airtight container in the fridge, the curd will last up to two weeks. For longer storage, freeze the curd in a freezer safe airtight container – it’ll keep for a few months.
Recipe for Homemade Lime Curd
Lime Curd
Ingredients
- 100g ½ cup granulated sugar
- Zest of 4 persian limes
- 3 large eggs
- 120g or ½ cup freshly squeezed lime juice
- Pinch fine sea salt
- 57g or ¼ cup butter cold
Method
- Slice the butter and place it into a bowl. Set a fine mesh sieve over it.
- Place the sugar into a small pot. Zest the limes over the sugar then rub the sugar and zest between your fingers for a few minutes, until the juices are released and it’s the texture of wet sand.
- Crack the eggs over the sugar and add the pinch of salt, whisk with a fork until well combined.
- Pour the lime juice in then whisk and set over medium low heat.
- Cook, whisking and stirring frequently, until the curd thickens and covers the back of a spoon.
- Pour the curd through the sieve into the bowl of butter. Press the curd through and scrape the bottom to ensure you get all the curd you can.
- Stir until the butter has melted and the curd is smooth.
- Lime curd is yellow in color, if you’d like it to have a more green hue add a drop of green food coloring.
- Store in the fridge in an airtight container. It’ll keep for 2 weeks.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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lime curd is SUPPOSED to be yellow as ripe limes are yellow. The limes you get in the store are way under ripe with very little juice. This recipe worked perfectly!
Excellent! Quick and easy – sending it through the sieve before butter means it just flows & you don’t scrape / push bits of zest or egg through. And the curd comes out so perfectly smooth!!!
I made this today. Beautiful. I used key limes, and 6 limes gave me 3 tlbs of zest and 1 cup of juice, so I doubled the mix. I got 2& half cups from it. I will definitely be making this again.
So wonderful to hear, thanks Jan!
The flavor was nice, but slightly eggy even after straining. Next time I’ll do a double boiler so I don’t get egg bits, one less thing to worry about! Plus I can keep the zest in then as well
Hi Goose! If you wait until the curd has chilled and had time to set it, the eggy flavor will not be as strong as the citrus takes over.
Thank you for the recipe, it was so easy, and the tartness to sugar ratio was perfect!
Really easy to make and tastes wonderfully sharp and sweet at the same time.
exactly what I was going for, thank you!
Delicious and so simple! I got a bag of limes for cheap so doubled the recipe, came out beautifully.
What is the measurement for the amount of lime zest? We don’t have the same type of limes here, I want to make sure I have enough.
about two tablespoons I’d say
I needed a lime curd to put in the middle of cupcakes for a cocktail theme. I substituted 40 ml of the lime juice for tequila and it worked really well and was the perfect addition to my Margarita cupcakes.
This is a great recipe. I stuffed up by only using 2 eggs (I must need new glasses) and it still worked! Thank you so much for the metric measures as well – it’s really helpful for those of us not in the US. Someone – definitely not me – may have licked the bowl clean. Since we have a current surfeit of limes, I will be making this one again. I might even use 3 eggs next time . . . !
Loved this recipe, took me half an hour total to make. It tasted great, and was super easy. Definitely going to be my go to recipe.
Hi,
Is it possible to thicken the curd with cornstarch? If so, how would you recommend going about it?
Thank you!
Hi! You could add it with the rest of the ingredients before cooking (whisk it into the juice). Depending on how thick you want it you can do 1-2 teaspoons.
This was the easiest lime curd recipe I’ve made. The proportion of the ingredients were so delicious , with slightly less sugar, a third whole egg, and more butter than other recipes. one step that shouldn’t be eliminated is to sieve the curd before adding it into the cut butter pieces. This will prevent any small pieces of egg white from getting into the finished curd. I will definitely make this recipe again, and will use it to make lemon curd too.
Wow! this was the easiest lime curd recipe I’ve ever made. Using the entire egg, vs just the yolk, helped speed up the prep time. The one hint though, is definitely do not skip the sieve process because the curd may have some very small pieces of egg white. They will all be sieves out for a perfectly sweetened batch of lime curd.
I love these curd variations! New trick I’ve found- since I don’t like to sieve out the zest, I sieve the scrambled eggs as I pour them into the pot. This catches most of those tough bits of egg white, and if you are very careful to stir constantly and not overcook, then there is no need to sieve the cooked curd again.
oooh this is so smart! I started sieving eggs for my daughter’s breakfast (they don’t like the ‘icky white bits’) after I saw it on The Bear. Makes sense to do it here so you can keep the zest!
Followed the recipe and it turned out so wonderful! Tomorrow I’ll make the pie! thanks so much for sharing this gem ????
I’m not sure what I might have done wrong but my curd came out SO TART! I even added 1/2 cup more sugar and it’s still extremely tart.
Hi! I think you might have had shaved off too much of the pith which is quite sour =( this can happen when you over zest one side or if the zester you’re using isn’t micro
as I was making this I realized, you say to cook it but don’t give a temperature to set the stove at. This makes it very difficult to ensure a good outcome. I had to look at other recipes to see what they recommended.
step 4 of the instructions says ‘set over medium low heat’. the next step just says ‘cook’, since you’ve already set the heat!