Easy Lemon Bars

Sharing is caring!

Only Basic 6 Pantry Staple Ingredients are required to make these luscious Lemon Bars! A sweet and buttery shortbread base is topped with a zesty lemon filling and dusted with some powdered sugar just before serving.

Easy Lemon Bars

I started making these Classic Lemon Bars at home, from scratch, right after I first got married – almost 23 years ago! Not only are these lemon bars pretty as a picture, but they are super simple to make too.

A Classic Lemon Bar is delicious, sweet buttery pastry is topped with a fresh and zesty lemon topping. My Lemon Bars or “Lemon Squares” are perfect to bring along to church potlucks, picnics, cookouts, and any many other gatherings.

I started with a basic recipe and tweaked it just a bit until it was perfect for me! They are bow baked regularly as I know there are a real hit at any party.

If you prefer Lime to Lemon, give these Key Lime Bars a try!

How to make Easy Lemon Bars:

• Preheat the oven to 350F and line a 9×13-inch baking dish with parchment paper.
• In a large bowl, combine flour, melted butter, powdered sugar, and salt.

• Mix together gently using a fork but take care NOT TO OVER MIX.
• Gently press the crust mixture into the base of a baking dish and place into the hot oven for 20 minutes or until the edges are lightly brown.

• While the crust is baking, slightly beat eggs in another mixing bowl.
• Whisk in sugar and lemon juice until combined.

• As soon as the crust is golden, remove the tin from the oven and pour over the lemon mixture.
• Return the pan to the oven and bake for a further 15 minutes.
• Now remove the pan from the oven, cover with foil, and bake for another 15 minutes.

• Once the bars have baked, remove the pan from the oven and gently lift the lemon bars out of the pan, using the parchment paper and set onto a wire cooling rack.
• Dust with powdered sugar and allow the bars cool completely on a wire rack, before cutting.

Classic Lemon Bar ingredients:

Only 6 basic pantry staple ingredients are required to make these LUSCIOUS Lemon Bars:

• BUTTER: my microwave oven has a melt butter feature on it, but you can also melt it on the stove-top, in a saucepan.
• UNBLEACHED FLOUR: I’ve found unbleached flour works best for me, but you can also use All Purpose if that’s what you have on hand.
• POWDERED SUGAR: My actual Powdered Sugar Shaker is old, it’s from a Pampered Chef party, circa 1999’ish. It still works great! It keeps a reasonable amount of powdered sugar handy for me to easily use when baking. However, I love using the dusting wand for lightly covering finished items.

Onwon Powder Sugar Shaker with Lid – Stainless Steel Fine Mesh Shaker Cinnamon Icing Sugar Powder Cocoa Flour Chocolate Coffee Sifter Sprinkler Dredgers for Coffee Cappuccino LatteOXO Good Grips Baker’s Dusting Wand for Sugar, Flour and Spices

• GRANULATED SUGAR: This recipe uses 2 cups of sugar. I get asked about sugar substitutes frequently, but have not tried using them in this recipe. I’d love to know the results though, if any of you try it!
• EGGS: I use 4 large eggs.
• LEMONS: This recipes uses both the ZEST and JUICE from lemons in this recipe. The Zester below is my preferred tool to use. I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and it affects the joints in my hands. This one is easy for me to hold and use! FRESH LEMONS work much better than bottled lemon juice for this one.

OXO Good Grips Zester and Grater

How many lemons make a cup of lemon juice?

An average sized lemon will usually give you 2½-3 tablespoons of lemon juice, so you’d need 5-6 medium lemons for a cup of lemon juice. THIS RECIPE calls for 5 tablespoons of Lemon Juice, so you’ll likely only need a couple of lemons to yield enough.

For best results when juicing a lemon:

To get the maximum amount of lemon juice out of a lemon, or indeed any citrus fruit, I recommending rolling the lemon around on the counter for a few seconds first before slicing and juicing. This rolling action releases the juices within the fruit.

You can then use a juicer to collect and measure the juice. If you don’t have a juicer handy, after slicing the lemon in half, hold the lemon pulp side up, over a measuring cup and squeeze. The juice will drip down into the cup leaving any pulp/seeds inside the lemon.

TOP TIP: Save any leftover lemon rind to grind up in the garbage disposal. It’ll clean the blades and leave a fresh scent behind!

How long will these lemon bars last?

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

To freeze, wrap each lemon bar individually with plastic wrap and store them in freezer for up to 1 month.

Recipe hints & tips:

• I recommend using a glassing baking dish, as I find that a metallic pan can transfer a bit of a metallic taste. I do use other pans in various recipes, but find the heat transfer for this one is the best in my Glass OXO Good Grips Baking Dish.
• Always line the pan with parchment paper as this makes it so much easier to remove the bars from the pan after baking. It can also prevent over browning on the bottom of the Lemon Bars.
• Don’t over mix the cake mixture as it will result in a tough biscuit base, instead use a light touch and handle as little as possible.
• I always use real lemons when making these lemon bars as the flavor is so much better than using bottled lemon juice.
• Allow the bars to cool completely before slicing and serving.
• If you enjoy fruit bars as much as my family does, you will not want to miss out on these delicious mango bars from The Unlikely Baker. They are DIVINE!

Don’t miss these additional delicious Lemon Recipes here at When Is Dinner:

• Paleo Lemon Bars
• Lemon Turmeric Popsicles
• Keto Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake
• Lemon Sugar Cookie Pie
• Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
• Strawberry Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
• Lemon Chicken Zoodle Bowls
• Lemon Basil Orzo Pasta Salad

These are a few items I find helpful in my own kitchen when preparing these Lemon Bars:

OXO Good Grips 2-Cup Angled Measuring CupPrepworks by Progressive Ultimate 19-Piece Measuring Cups & Spoon SetOXO Good Grips Freezer-to-Oven Safe 3 Qt Glass Baking Dish with Lid, 9 x 13OXO Good Grips 3-piece Mixing Bowl Set, White Bowls with Blue/Green/Brown HandlesOXO Good Grips 11-Inch Better Balloon WhiskThe Lemon Cookbook: 50 Sweet & Savory Recipes to Brighten Every MealLemons and Limes: 75 bright and zesty ways to enjoy cooking with citrusSally’s Baking Addiction: Irresistible Cookies, Cupcakes, and Desserts for Your Sweet-Tooth FixThe Deceptively Easy Dessert Cookbook: Simple Recipes for Extraordinary No-Bake & Baked Sweets