How to Make Lemon Bars is the perfect recipe everyone loves and easy to prepare. These lemon desserts are made with just a few ingredients and are wonderful for picnics, bake sales, and potlucks.

Best Lemon Bars Recipe

If you’re looking for more simple recipes, Homemade Lemon Ice and Easy Candied Ginger will make your taste buds happy.

I grew up on this recipe for How to Make Lemon Bars. My mom found it in a church cookbook with members’ favorite recipes. She had tried several other lemon bar recipes from other sources before finding the one she liked the best.

Complicated recipes aren’t my style, and I’m guessing not yours. This traditional lemon bar recipe is one of the easiest desserts. It will surely be one of your most requested recipes from family and friends.

The powdered sugar in the crust makes these bars so special. You also don’t want a bar with a thick crust, so these are the perfect way to make them.

Serve traditional lemon bars with coffee for the perfect combination.

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Fun Facts About Lemons

I like to add a bit of trivia to my recipes because it adds a little fun to dinner table conversations. I’ve gone throughout my life not knowing if lemons are native to America. Now I know.  

• According to contemporaryfoodlab.com, lemons were brought to the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1493.  
• Lemons are grown primarily in California and Arizona. They produce 95% of the lemons consumed in the United States.  
• On average, the US consumes three pounds of lemons per person.  
• Each lemon holds, on average, three tablespoons of juice.  
• Lemon trees can produce lemons all year round.  
• You can get 500-600 pounds of lemons from a single tree every year.  
• Miners in the gold rush of 1849 paid a premium price for lemons because they helped prevent scurvy. This demand makes California one of the top-producing states.

Best Way to Store Lemons

You can leave your lemons on your counter or in a bowl on your dining room table.  

If you want to keep them fresher longer, store them in the refrigerator in a plastic bag. Properly stored, lemons will last from 3 to 4 weeks.  

Ingredients to Gather

• Butter – creates a rich, tender shortbread crust for lemon bars, providing a buttery foundation that perfectly balances the bright, tangy filling.
• Powdered Sugar – adds a delicate sweetness to the crust and a light, snowy finish on top, enhancing the texture and presentation of lemon bars.
• Flour – provides structure to the buttery shortbread crust and the smooth, tangy lemon filling.
• Sugar – sweetens the tart lemon filling, balancing its bright citrus flavor and contributing to the bars’ smooth, custard-like texture.
• Eggs – give the lemon filling its rich, custard-like texture, helping it set into a smooth and creamy layer that contrasts beautifully with the buttery crust.
• Lemon – brings a vibrant, tangy flavor to the filling, creating the signature bright and refreshing taste that makes lemon bars irresistible.

Simple Ingredients

1 1/2 sticks of butter, room temperature

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus 3 tablespoons

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

3 eggs

Juice of two lemons

Directions for Making Lemon Bars

1) Mix butter, powdered sugar, and 1 1/2 cups of flour in a large bowl with a hand mixer until it resembles pie dough. Pat shortbread crust mixture into a 9×13-inch baking pan.

2) Bake crust for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

3) Mix the white sugar, eggs, and fresh lemon juice in a medium bowl. Pour the lemon mixture over the baked buttery shortbread crust. Bake for 20 minutes more until bubbly.

4) Sift additional confectioners’ sugar over the top of the lemon bars, giving them a generous dusting. Cool on a wire rack or parchment paper.

5) Cut the cooled bars into squares with a sharp knife for clean slices.

Tips for making Homemade Lemon Bars

• You can substitute Meyer lemons for regular lemons in this recipe.
• This is the handy gadget I use to squeeze lemon or lime juice. I found it on Amazon here.
• For more lemon flavor, add lemon zest.
• You can substitute almond flour for all purpose flour.

How should you store lemon bars?

If you eat your lemon bars within a day or two, you can store them in an airtight container. Properly stored, lemon bars will stay fresh up to one week in the refrigerator.

Can you freeze lemon bars?

You can freeze lemon bars for up to 3-4 months when stored correctly in a covered container.

We’ve reached the end of How to Make Lemon Bars. I hope you enjoyed this childhood favorite recipe.

Let me know in the comments below how you liked this easy lemon bars recipe. 

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Thanks for stopping by. I’m so happy you found us!  

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