A great lemon tart should stop you in your tracks. The filling has to be silky and smooth, tangy enough to make you pay attention, and just sweet enough to pull you back for another bite. This lemon tart recipe delivers all of that. The filling is a classic stovetop lemon curd made with whole eggs, egg yolks, fresh lemon juice, and real butter, cooked until thick and glossy and poured into a pre-baked tart shell to set in the refrigerator.
Summer is the ideal time to serve this because it is cool, refreshing, and feels elegant without being difficult. It also happens to be one of the best make-ahead desserts you can have in your repertoire. Make it the day before and it is ready when you need it.
Luscious Lemon Tart Recipe At a Glance
20 min active
2 hours chill
8 servings
Make-ahead friendly
The method: a lemon curd filling is cooked stovetop and poured into a buttery pre-baked tart shell to set in the refrigerator. No baking the filling required.
Jump To
The Tart Shell
The Ingredients
The Recipe
Tips for the Best Lemon Curd
How to Serve and Garnish
Make-Ahead, Storage and Freezing
Frequently Asked Questions
The Tart Shell: Two Paths
This recipe gives you two equally good options for the tart shell, and neither one is wrong.
Store-Bought Tart or Pie Shell
A prepared tart shell or refrigerated pie crust is a perfectly legitimate choice and one we actively recommend when you want to focus your energy on the filling. Look for a pre-baked 9-inch tart shell, or use an unbaked refrigerated pie crust fitted into a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom and blind-baked yourself. The result is every bit as good and the prep time drops significantly.
Make Your Own
If you want to make the crust from scratch, a simple sweet shortcrust pastry works beautifully. The key steps for any homemade tart crust are the same: chill the dough before pressing it into the pan, freeze it for 15 to 20 minutes before blind baking, use pie weights or dried beans to prevent puffing, and bake it fully before adding the filling. A soggy bottom is the enemy of a great tart and the only way to avoid it is a properly blind-baked shell. Allow the baked shell to cool completely before pouring in the lemon curd.
Tip: Whatever crust you choose, make sure it is completely cooled before filling. Pouring warm curd into a warm shell can cause the bottom to soften. Room temperature or fully chilled is the target.
The Ingredients
Use Organic Lemons
Since this recipe calls for both the zest and juice of the lemons, organic is strongly recommended. Conventional lemons are often coated with wax and treated with post-harvest fungicides that concentrate on the skin. When you are zesting the peel directly into your filling, organic lemons eliminate that concern and tend to have a more aromatic, intensely flavored zest as well. You will need approximately 5 lemons for this recipe.
Whole Eggs and Egg Yolks
The combination of 3 whole eggs and 5 egg yolks is intentional. Whole eggs prov
