Chef John's Lemon Bars

12/30/25

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/232799/chef-johns-lemon-bars/

Ingredients

Shortbread crust

  • 120g all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter (softened)

  • 28.25g confectioner’s sugar
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp salt

Lemon curd

  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 egg yolk

  • 2 tbsp all purpose flour
  • 198g granulated sugar

  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp lemon zest

Directions

Shortbread crust

  1. Mash butter and flour together in a bowl until thoroughly combined
  2. Mix in confectioner’s sugar, vanilla, and salt until fully combined
  3. Grease an 8x8 cake pan and press crust mixture into the pan, prick bottom with a fork
  4. Bake at 350ºF for 22 minutes

Wait for crust to finish baking before starting next step 1

Lemon curd
5. In a large bowl, beat together 2 large eggs and 1 egg yolk 6. Whisk in granulated sugar and 2 tbsp of all-purpose flour until smooth 2 7. Whisk in lemon juice an lemon zest for 2 minutes 8. Pour over cooled crust, bake at 350ºF for 25 minutes

Notes

  • This recipe produces about a 1:1 ratio of crust to lemon, which I find perfect

  1. If you prepare the lemon curd while the crust is baking and dump it right into the hot crust, you will cook the curd touching the crust too fast and it’ll be eggy ↩︎

  2. I like lemon bars more lemony and less sweet, I’ve been able to reduce the granulated sugar by about -40g and replace it with a tablespoon or so of flour and a splash more lemon juice without affecting the texture noticeabley ↩︎