Florida Lime Pie Recipe (2024)

I use a graham cracker pie crust. Much easier and tastier.

This is lime pie, NOT key lime pie. Graham cracker crust = key lime pieMeringue topping = key lime pie

This is a Florida Lime Pie, NOT a Key Lime Pie. Ms. Nickerson knew the differences. Different limes and taste. Great recipe. Love the density and flavor of Key Lime Pie, but no one in my house is a fan of graham cracker crust. Sweet and too competitive with the "main event." It's so amusing to read comments. Every cook has their "take" on any recipe. Fair enough! Having lived in Florida for years, I've tasted dozens of versions of both fillings, crusts, and toppings. Try this. It's delicious.

It's often tempting to go the easy route and forego a homemade pie crust. But, made-from-scratch often differentiates spectacular dessert creations from mediocre ones. It really is worth the time and effort to create desserts whose taste are worth their calorie count! Nothing compares to the flavor of a dessert that is 100% homemade.

The original concept of mixing egg yolks lime juice and condensed milk was that it required no baking. The lime juice acts to set the yolks and milk all by itself. Recipes today specify baking only for food safety reasons. This kind of pie can be dated to the invention of condensed milk. In south Florida in the 19th century fresh milk would be almost non existent.

My friends in Key West always used graham cracker crusts, and always topped the pie with meringue. I never saw any Conks using whipped cream on their pies.

I find graham cracker crust dominates the lime flavor, so I use shortbread pie crust.

I'm 74 years old. I grew up in Florida and I'll die here as well. The key lime pie I grew up with had a pastry crust and meringue making the pie deliciously tart and refreshing. Graham cracker crust and whipped cream make this pie too sweet. If sweet is what you're after, make banana pudding or sweet tea.

For the crust combine 30 Oreo cookies (none of the white center) 3/4 cup of pecans and 3-4 to 1 tsp. cayenne in a blender. Blend to a near flour consistency. Add 4 oz of melted butter slowly until the mixture is pasty. Press the mixture evenly into the pie dish and sides, pierce with a fork about 12 times and bake at 400 for about 10-12 minutes. This combo with the chilled lime and the "heat" from the cayenne makes a wickedly appealing dessert.

I have this book, and it’s fun to read. Her recipe for Tupelo Honey Pecan Pie has a short essay about Florida honeys; her instructions for “opening a fresh coconut” will make anybody who’s ever struggled with that smile.

For heaven’s sake, just make the darn recipe as written! It’s delicious. I wasted my time reading about crust preferences and authenticity when I could have been eating another slice of the wonderful pie. I don’t whine when people tell me that cheese whiz goes on Philly steak sandwiches. Just saying

Hence the name, Florida LIME Pie.

I like Key Lime Pie but I really loved this recipe. It’s lighter, not too sweet. You could use a Graham cracker crust but I thought the flour crust was perfect.

Nellie and Joe's Key Lime Juice is the best.Use a Graham cracker crust. Floow the recipe on the bottle. Easy peasy and delicious.

For those wanting a really good, quick lime pie. Mix the contents of a small can of frozen lime concentrate, with one can of condensed milk and a small container of whipped cream. Put in ready-made graham pie crust. Refrigerate for a few hours, or pop in the freezer for about thirty minutes, or less. My mother was given this recipe in the 60s, when we lived in Miami. (She used the juice from the key lime tree in our backyard, but the "recipe" called for the frozen concentrate.)

I loved loved loved the filling! It was perfect! With regular limes :)The only thing is I wish I had read the notes about the crust. It was undercooked at the bottom, and too crunchy on the edges.Will definitely make again but definitely will use another pie crust recipe

This was good - because of the whipped egg whites the filling looked a lot more than an omelet than I was comfortable with lol. Also I think the crust needs to be pre-baked for less time

I made this as directed with two changes: 1/2 can sweetened condensed milk instead of the whole, and I added a Meyer lemon juice with zest. Came out excellent.I was tempted to add a couple T cocoa powder to the crust mixture -- chocolate and lime sounded good to me. Whaddya think?

There is a difference between "normal," or Persian limes, and smaller, milder key limes. Key limes normally are sold in small, perhaps 1# bags. They have thinner skins and moister flesh. It's like comparing Eureka and Meyer lemons. Both fruits will make a good pie, but you may need to adjust the sugar levels depending on the type of lime used. Key limes make killer margaritas, BTW.

For my pie, I made this recipe's filling only. I put it in a gingersnap crust (home made) and I topped with the meringue recipe from the NYT's Extra-Lemony Meringue Pie recipe. It was perfection. The filling was divine.

Used graham cracker crust. Fantastic recipe!

This recipe is excellent! If you have the luxury of buying actual Key Limes to use for the juice in this, do so. It’s worth the trouble to juice the little devils. Trust me. But-and I love being able to say this since I’m usually the one who can’t find some unique NYT Food ingredient-key limes have limited national availability and are available in the south only for a short period of time. Crust is just the vessel. Graham or butter are both good.

Using other’s suggestions that the filling wasn’t enough to fill up the pie I used a smaller pie tin 8” - huge mistake! I had so much filling leftover and couldn’t make another pie crust in time - made a graham crust and a second smaller pie (8”). If you make your whites and yolk mixture properly you will have a beautiful amount to fill up your pie tin. Wish I hadn’t read the comments - usually they are very helpful - not this time.

This was delicious, however my filling did not “firm up”. Did anyone else have this issue?

This is close to the pie I've made for years, except I leave out the egg whites. And for those who don't want to labor on the crust as written, BUT don't like graham either, try a ginger snap cookie crust. The peppery bite in the cookie crust is a nice contrast with the sweet-tart filling and the creamy topping. I prefer non-key limes, as this recipe uses, finding them more tart than key limes. Also less work to juice them. My two cents ..

Yes, people , this is NOT a key lime pie , so why are you all comparing it . Its a delicious spring pie , i took the easy way out with a graham cracker crust , next time i will make the crust in the recipe because it really has a great light flavor, and comes together really fast .

Love how some readers - Tara! - declare that this is "NOT" key lime pie. The title of the recipe plainly states that it is a 'Florida' lime pie. The difference is in the type of lime, not the crust.

I love @Robert Basta's idea of adding cayenne and pecans to an Oreo crust. Gotta try that."Her successor in New York was Craig Claiborne, whose star eclipsed hers for, among other things, systemic reasons we wrestle with still." Indeed!Also, check out Maggie Ruggiero's food styling in this pie photo -- for once she managed to do something that wasn't entirely boring!

In South Florida, where I spent my teens, I’ve had Key Lime pie in the actual Keys with both merengue and whipped cream. My fervent preference is for whipped cream. For the poster who claimed that whipped cream made it too sweet confused me because merengue is always sweeten but whipped cream needn’t be. Unsweetened whipped cream is a perfect foil for both the custard’s sweet-tart elements.

I make it with a gingersnap crust. Always seems to be a hit. I worked in a restaurant in Florida that was know for its key lime pie--they never had meringue on them, always whipped cream.