Lemon Curd is a rich, tangy spread made with lemons, butter, sugar, and eggs. It’s perfect on scones, biscuits, desserts, or pancakes. Homemade is unbeatable!
The Best Lemon Curd Recipe
Of the many desserts shared on this site, this Lemon Curd recipe is the one I make most often at home.
It transforms simple breakfasts, biscuits, cakes, and desserts into something restaurant-worthy. I almost always have a batch in my fridge to spoon over pancakes, waffles, or treats. And it’s a must-have for our holiday or baby/wedding shower brunch crepe bar.
Without fail, people always ask for the recipe when they try it!
What To Eat With Lemon Curd
- As a breakfast addition: Spoon onto homemade crepes, french toast, pancakes, waffles.
- Served over: This incredible biscuit recipe or homemade scones.
- Drizzled over vanilla cheesecake: Buy or make cheesecake bars and spoon curd on top.
- Add to cookies: I love this curd in these lemon curd cookies! Or make sugar cookie cups (directions in this fruit tart recipe) and fill them with curd.
- Make lemon whipped cream: Fold a few spoonfuls of Lemon Curd into freshly whipped cream for an irresistible lemony twist.
- Add to cake: The restaurant I worked at was known for its lemon carrot cake! Try adding Lemon Curd to this carrot cake—spread it in the center over the cream cheese frosting.
Ingredients
This lemon curd needs only five ingredients!
- Butter: Use unsalted, room-temp butter for better control of salt and proper creaming with sugar.
- Lemons: Fresh lemons are key—bottled juice lacks flavor. Use both the juice and zest for the best flavor.
- Eggs: Whole eggs thicken the curd, unlike some recipes that use only yolks.
- Salt: Enhances and balances flavors—just a little makes a big difference.
- Sugar: White granulated sugar works best.
Quick Tip
Lemon curd should coat the back of a spoon when hot—trace a line with your finger, and if it stays, it’s ready. Before removing from heat, it should have a pourable pudding consistency, and once chilled, it thickens to the texture of snack pudding.
How To Make Lemon Curd?
- Pulse: Blend sugar and lemon zest 15-20 times until fine and evenly mixed.
- Add butter: Beat with the sugar-zest mixture until light and creamy.
- Add remaining ingredients: Beat in eggs one at a time, then mix in salt and lemon juice.
- Cook: Pour into a saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until thickened.
- Chill: When chilling the Lemon Curd, press the plastic wrap to touch the surface of the curd. This will help prevent a film from forming during the chilling.
Storage
How To Store Leftover Lemon Curd?
- Refrigerate: Transfer cooled lemon curd to an airtight container or glass jar. Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
- Freeze: For longer storage, freeze curd in a freezer-safe container or zip-top bag for up to 3 months.
- Thaw: Let frozen curd thaw in the fridge overnight before using.
Quick Tip
Remove all the guesswork from your Lemon Curd with a candy thermometer! Here is the candy thermometer I use and highly recommend adding it to your kitchen. And when you have one, you’ll love making this buttercrunch candy, toffee, and honeycomb candy!
More Tasty Lemon Treats:
- Lemon Bars with a shortbread crust
- Magnolia Lemon Pie with a graham cracker crust
- Lemon Cookies with a lemon glaze
- Peach Lemonade with real peaches and lemons
- Lemon Blueberry Sweet Rolls with a lemon glaze
Lemon Curd
Lemon Curd is a zesty homemade treat made with lemons, butter, sugar, and eggs. Perfect for scones, desserts, or pancakes, it’s way better than store-bought!
Equipment
- Candy Thermometer see note 1
- Hand mixer or stand mixer
Ingredients
Lemon Curd
- 1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 large lemons
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter 1/2 cup, at room temperature
- 4 large eggs at room temperature, see note 2
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Pull out eggs and butter to get to room temperature. Use a zester to get 3 tablespoons zest of just the very outer yellow part of the lemon (avoid the white pith below—it is very bitter!), then juice lemons with a citrus juicer to get 1/2 cup juice.
- Combine the sugar and lemon zest in a food processor. Pulse 15–20 times or until zest is broken down and incorporated in sugar. Pour into a large bowl or a bowl attached to a stand mixer.
- Add in the room temperature (not softened or melted!) butter, and using a hand mixer, (or the whisk attachment for a stand mixer), beat until light and creamy, about 2–4 minutes. Scrape sides of the bowl as needed.
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing just briefly to incorporate each egg. Finally, add the salt and 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice. Mix briefly just to combine.
- Pour the mixture into a medium saucepan and place over low heat. Stir constantly with a rubber spatula for about 10–15 minutes or until nicely thickened. The curd should reach 170°F on a candy thermometer. (If it doesn’t reach this heat, it won’t properly set up—see note 3.) Pour curd through a fine mesh sieve and use a spatula to press through the sieve into an airtight container/bowl.
- Cover container with plastic wrap so the plastic wrap is touching the top of the lemon curd and store in the fridge for at least an hour and preferably 8 hours before serving.
Video
Recipe Notes
Note 1: Remove all the guesswork from your Lemon Curd with a candy thermometer! Here is the candy thermometer I use and highly recommend.
Note 2: It’s really important the butter, lemon juice, and eggs are all at the same room temperature. Otherwise, the butter won’t properly cream with the sugar. And the mixture can turn grainy/curdled-looking if cold eggs get added to room temperature butter.
Note 3: While the curd is hot, it should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. (Quick test: Lift the spoon and immediately trace a line across the back of the spoon with your fingertip. We’re looking for the line to retain a clear track.) While it does thicken more as it cools, it should be quite thick (like a pourable pudding) before removing from the heat. When it’s chilled, it should thicken up to a snack pudding cup consistency.
Nutrition Note: Nutrition information is for a 2-tablespoon sized serving.
Storage: Store leftover lemon curd in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 151kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 62mg | Sodium: 37mg | Potassium: 57mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 19g | Vitamin A: 258IU | Vitamin C: 14mg | Calcium: 16mg | Iron: 0.4mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
And we did find out the hard way, it makes just over 1 pint of curd. Poured it in a pint jar & it overflowed a little!
Thanks so much Andrea! 🙂
Made this this morning. Put it on blueberry scones. YUM! Oh, so lemony. Fresh picked lemon’s from our tree. It was a little runner than I thought it should be but then I haven’t had lemon curd very much It was very good.
So, so happy you enjoyed this curd! 🙂
I’m pretty sure I could eat the entire batch of this!
YUM! I love light lemon and this looks divine 🙂 Perfect for Mother’s Day, {or any day at my house, really :)}
Insanely delicious and takes less than 30 minutes to make?! I’m in!
Oh my GOODNESS, girly… this is just utterly delicious!
This Lemon Curd is utterly delightful Chelsea!
I love lemon curd!
This is amazing. Really incredible!