Baked with layers of buttery shortbread and a tangy fresh lemon custard filling, you’ll soon see why these are the best lemon bars!
You know spring’s right around the corner when you see a stack of sunshine like this! Lemon bars have entered the chat.
I’m talking just the right amount of sweet, a whole lot of intense lemon flavor, and an absolutely flawless buttery shortbread crust.
Yeah, you might want to consider living in that pan down there.
At first glance these lemon bars may sound a little intimidating for a home baking project but this recipe is actually so simple, you don’t need a mixer, and only a handful of basic ingredients!
Word to the wise: fresh lemon is key here though, trust me.
These Lemon Bars feature…
- A tender, buttery shortbread crust
- A silky, tangy lemon filling
- Ready in minutes and easy to make ahead of time
Making the Lemon Bars
(scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe)
Ingredients You Will Need
- Unsalted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Kosher salt
- All-purpose flour
- Eggs
- Lemon
- Powdered sugar
Choosing Your Pan
You will need a square 9-inch baking pan for these lemon bars. This size pan gives the bars that ideal crust-to-filling ratio and bars can be removed from pan easily by using parchment paper.
Tips for Perfect Lemon Bars
- Measure flour correctly – I use the spoon-and-level technique for measuring flour as this will prevent over-measuring your flour. Use a spoon to scoop flour into the measuring cup, then level with the back of a knife.
- Pre-bake shortbread crust – a 15-20 minute pre-bake will help the crust set up a bit before adding the filling.
- Use fresh lemon – use freshly-squeezed lemon juice for the best flavor.
- Rub lemon zest into sugar – this will help release the oils from the zest.
- Tap pan before baking – gently tap the pan on the countertop several times to release any air bubbles in the filling.
- Chill bars before cutting – make sure bars are chilled entirely before cutting.
- Clean knife between cuts – this will make for clean, neat slices.
Recipe Variations
Try these ideas for a different twist on these bars.
- Use a different citrus – try grapefruit or lime juice in place of the lemon.
- Add fruit – top lemon filling with fresh raspberries, blackberries, or sliced strawberries.
- Top lemon bars – try a drizzle of melted white chocolate.
Storing Lemon Bars
These lemon bars store well in refrigerator up to 6 days. I recommend slicing bars ahead of time, store in an airtight container and top with powdered sugar when ready to serve.
One bite of these luscious lemon bars in all their buttery shortbread and custardy lemon glory and you’ll be hooked on spring.
Forget spring actually, you’ll find these gems in my fridge pretty much all the time now.
Save this recipe using the ‘save to recipe box’ button below. If you make it, please let us know! Leave a comment + star rating below, or take a photo and tag it on Instagram with #wholeandheavenlyoven.
Try these other luscious bars next!
Best Lemon Bars
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Ingredients
Shortbread Crust
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
Lemon Filling
- 1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
- 4 large eggs
- 3/4 cup freshly-squeezed lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
- Powdered sugar for topping
Instructions
Shortbread Crust
- Preheat oven to 350F and line a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Place butter and sugar in the bowl of a large stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment OR in a large mixing bowl with a wooden spoon. Mix on medium speed or by hand until creamy, about 2 minutes.
- Fold vanilla, salt, and flour into butter mixture until dough is just combined (dough will be very stiff, fold and squish it together until cohesive). Pat dough in an even layer in the bottom of prepared pan and prick dough all over with a fork.
- Bake shortbread crust at 350F 15-20 minutes until edges of crust are a light golden brown. Remove crust from oven and keep oven on.
Lemon Filling
- Place sugar and lemon zest in a medium bowl and use your fingers to rub lemon zest into sugar to release the oils.
- Add eggs, lemon juice, salt, and flour to sugar mixture and whisk well until smooth. Pour over pre-baked shortbread crust and gently tap pan several times on countertop to release air bubbles from filling.
- Bake lemon bars at 350F an additional 15-20 minutes until filling is set with just a slight wiggle to the center.
- Allow bars to cool completely on a wire cooling rack then transfer to refrigerator and chill at least 2 hours before cutting into slices and topping with powdered sugar for serving. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
This post was updated with new recipe adjustments and photos on 2/26/25.
Tina @ Tina's Chic Corner says
I made lemon bars a few years ago and they didn’t taste lemony at all. What a dissapointment. But these look amazing…bright lovely yellow…and I can tell with the lemon juice and zest that these will definitely taste lemony. Can’t wait to try them. 🙂
Sarah says
That is definitely one of my biggest pet peeves about anything lemon-flavored—If it’s not enough lemon-y enough, it just ruins it for me! I was very happy when I tasted these bars, to find that they had a perfect balance of lemon flavor. LMK how you like these bars, Tina! 🙂
Natalie @ Tastes Lovely says
I am a huge sucker for lemon bars. So good and bright! And that is so nuts you talked about Little House on the Prairie, because I said in my post today that I feel like I’m in Little House on the Prairie when I eat my bean soup. WHOA! Great minds think alike : )
PS-Do you know if your blog has an “RSS Feed” set up? I’d love to add you to my reader, but every time I try and add you it says “blog feed not found”. Try going to feedburner.com and setting it up. Then I can add you to my Feedly blog feed reader and see all your new posts as they come up : )
Sarah says
Haha! That thought did hit me as I was reading your post this morning, Natalie! Too weird! 😀 And I’m working on getting my RSS feed set up—I’ve been having nothing but problems with feedburner lately..Is feed burner what you use for your blog, Natalie? or is it some other email subscription plugin?
Natalie @ Tastes Lovely says
I think my feed is set up through feed burner. Or maybe it’s set up with Jetpack, a wordpress plug-in? To be honest, I hired someone to do the “backend” of my blog, so I’m not positive. But I’ve used feedburner before and it worked. Wish I could be more help!
Sarah says
Thanks for the info, Natalie! Sorry I have so many questions, but could you recommend someone that I could hire to the tech-y stuff behind my blog? Thanks for all your help!
Natalie @ Tastes Lovely says
Don’t worry about it, I love helping! Oh my gosh, if you’re looking to hire a web designer I cannot recommend Sara at moonsteamdesign.com. She is amazing! She helped me design my whole blog, did my logo for me, and did all the “techy” behind the scene stuff to make it function so great. I just let her know the basic layout, colors I wanted, and what “menus” I wanted at the top of my site. I think I paid around $200, and she is worth every penny. Other web designers I contacted were charging over $2500, insane. You must contact her! Your photography is already so beautiful, so having a fancied up blog will be the finishing touch : )
She has the answer for everything. I keep going back to her and hiring her to do more and more things for me, and she also designed our “business” website, acorn-films.com. It only took a few weeks too. The other web designer I was looking at had a 13 month lead time. Crazy!
Contact her and let her know what you’re thinking, and she can give you pricing. Hope that helps!
Sarah says
Wow! Thanks so much for all this info, Natalie! I will definitely be contacting this web designer! 😀
Natalie @ Tastes Lovely says
Whoops, just read that back and meant to say I cannot recommend Sara at moonsteamdesign.com ENOUGH! Haha!
Jennifer S. says
After chocolate I love lemon. Had to pin this one. 🙂
Sarah says
Thanks for pinning, Jennifer!
Gloria // Simply Gloria says
I love Little House On The Prairie! I grew up watching the shows every week.
Lemon bars have got to be my most fave! So cute how she was asking where the chocolate was… too funny!
Jelli says
These look great! Love the photos but don’t know what xylitol is. Guessing I couldn’t find it in a local Costa Rican grocery store. Can I sub the same amount of sugar?
Sarah says
Absolutely! Powdered sugar or granulated sugar would be a fine substitute. 😉
Krista @ Joyful Healthy Eats says
Yum.. these lemon bars look absolutely delicious Sarah. Love all the photos too, absolute stunners! 🙂 Thanks for sharing at Show Stopper! 🙂 Pinned
Sarah says
Thanks so much, Krista! You’re too sweet. 🙂 Thanks for pin, as well!