One bite of this Keto Lemon Cream Pie and you will be hooked! It has a mouthwateringly tangy, creamy filling in a crisp keto pie crust. Honestly, it’s like sunshine on your tongue! It really doesn’t get any better than this.
There are some desserts that just stick with you. And I don’t mean this in a bad way, as in something making you too full or uncomfortable. I mean it in the sense that it was so delicious, you can’t stop thinking about it. This lemon sour cream pie is one of them.
I have a lot of great keto pie recipes, like Keto Pecan Pie and Keto Peanut Butter Pie. But if you love lemon, then this keto dessert is an absolute must. It’s been a fan favorite since I first published it in 2016.
And now I’ve tweaked the recipe just a smidge to make it better than ever!
Why we love this recipe
- Gluten-free crust: My famous almond flour pie crust is super easy and completely gluten-free and low carb.
- Smooth custard filling: The pie filling involves making a lemon custard and then folding in some sour cream. It is so velvety smooth and rich!
- Tangy lemon flavor: Pucker up, buttercup! This wonderful lemon cream pie is full of that bright, fresh citrus flavor.
- Low carb dessert: With only 5.7 grams of carbs per serving, it’s a perfect dessert for low carb and keto diets.
Reader’s Thoughts
“Made this yesterday for the first time. It was truly delicious! Served it to my non-keto friends and family and they all love it. Carolyn, you are a keto baking genius!! Thank you for working out this recipe and for sharing this and all your other great recipes.” — MjeanF
Ingredient Notes
- Sweetener: I used a combination of Swerve confectioners and some allulose to get an extra smooth, creamy filling. I also like this pie quite tangy so I only used half a cup sweetener total.
- Glucomannan: Conventional sour cream pie uses cornstarch to thicken the filling, but glucomannan helps the keto filling set properly. You can also use xanthan gum.
- Heavy cream: Heavy cream gives the pie a silky consistency.
- Egg yolks: You also need plenty of egg yolks for a custard filling like this one.
- Lemon: You can’t have lemon pie without the lemon!
- Butter: Chilled butter helps cool the custard more quickly and helps it set faster.
- Lemon extract: For more lemon flavor, I also use a little lemon extract.
- Sour cream: Use full fat sour cream as it may not set properly with anything less. I don’t recommend substituting greek yogurt for this recipe.
- Easy keto pie crust: You will want to make the fully baked version of this crust. For a nut free option you can use sunflower seed flour for the crust. It is a 1:1 ratio with almond flour, but do know that your crust will be more gray in appearance.
Step by step directions
- Whisk the sweeteners: In a large, heavy-duty saucepan, whisk together the sweeteners and glucomannan.
- Simmer the cream: Add the cream, egg yolks, lemon zest, and lemon juice and whisk to combined. Set over medium heat, whisking frequently, until the mixture begins to thicken. This takes 7 to 10 minutes. Keep a close eye on it, you do not want it to curdle.
- Add the butter: Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the butter and lemon extract. Let cool to room temperature.
- Add the sour cream: Whisk in the sour cream until no lumps remain. Pour the mixture into pie shell and refrigerate for at least 4 hours to set – the longer, the better, so overnight is best if you can wait that long.
- Serve: Top with lightly sweetened whipped cream and serve.
Tips for Success
For this recipe, you need a fully-baked pie crust. So bake it 15 to 20 minutes, until it’s a nice light golden brown. Let it cool completely.
As with any custard-like filling, you need to watch this one carefully. Don’t walk away while it’s cooking. Just hang out there right by your stove, whisking and watching, as it will likely take less than 10 minutes.
The best way I can describe knowing when it’s done is watching your whisk carefully as you move it through the custard. When it’s first cooking, it is very liquid and sloshes around the pan. When it starts to thicken, you will see the mixture move more lazily. Your whisk will almost leave tracks for a quick second. Once it hits that point, remove it from heat immediately.
Troubleshooting:
– Oh no, you over-cooked the custard and you see curdles! Quick, get it into a blender (or use an immersion blender) and blend on low until smooth.
– Oh no, you undercooked the custard and the pie didn’t set properly! Simply stick it in the freezer and serve it frozen. It will be delicious!
Sweetener options
The pie crust requires an erythritol based sweetener to crisp up properly. Any amount of allulose will make it quite soft.
For the filling, I recommend a mix of erythritol and allulose (or xylitol). This helps provide enough structure but also keeps the filling from re-crystallizing as it cools. I don’t recommend using only allulose, as it may never firm up properly. If you use only erythritol, I recommend using a powdered version and only whisking it at the end of cooking the custard.
If that sounds confusing, please leave a comment and I will explain further what I mean.
Frequently Asked Questions
I recommend making this pie one day in advance of serving, as it firms up better overnight. I don’t suggest making it ahead much more than that, unless you plan to freeze it. Creamy custard desserts like this should be served and consumed within 4 to 5 days.
Store the pie in the fridge at all times. It will last for up to 4 days. You can also freeze this pie for up to a month. Wrap it up tightly to avoid freezer burn and only add the whipped cream when ready to serve.
This keto lemon pie recipe has 5.7g of carbs and 1.8g of fiber per serving. That comes to 3.9g net carbs per serving.
More Keto Lemon Desserts
Keto Lemon Pie Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 tbsp (91 g) powdered sweetener
- 2 to 4 tbsp allulose, or xylitol
- 1/2 tsp (0.25 tsp) glucomannan, (can sub xanthan gum, see notes)
- 3/4 cup (177.44 ml) heavy cream
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 1/2 cup (118.29 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 4 large (4) egg yolks
- 3 tbsp (42.61 g) butter, chilled and cut into pieces
- 3/4 tsp (1 tsp) lemon extract
- 1 cup (230 g) full fat sour cream
- 1 keto pie crust, fully baked
Instructions
- In a large, heavy-duty saucepan, whisk together the sweeteners and glucomannan.
- Add the cream, egg yolks, lemon zest, and lemon juice and whisk to combined. Set over medium heat, whisking frequently, until the mixture begins to thicken. This takes 7 to 10 minutes. Keep a close eye on it, you do not want it to curdle.
- Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the butter and lemon extract. Let cool to room temperature.
- Whisk in the sour cream until no lumps remain. Pour the mixture into pie shell and refrigerate for at least 4 hours to set – the longer, the better, so overnight is best if you can wait that long.
- Top with lightly sweetened whipped cream.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.
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This pie is amazing! I just had a slice for breakfast! Thanks for the great recipes!
Lovely site! I live in Mexico so it is hard for me to get some ingredients. I have not found guar gum or xantham gum YET. Until I do, is there a substitute. I know it is the binder. Thank you!
Hmmmmm, I don’t know of any other substitutes that would be easy to find, like gluccomannan (I am sure that’s even harder to find!). You could try an extra egg yolk to thicken and if it doesn’t set properly, freeze it for a while until it’s firm but still sliceable?
Yay! I found a source! Someone that has lived here a while also suggested guar gum in case anyone else ever asks. 🙂 Looking so forward to this as lemon and lime are my favorite. Thanks!
How much glucomannan would you use instead of xanthum gum?
I find them interchangeable in amounts.
Made this tonight and it is every bit as good as it looks! Since my son and his little girls arrived at 9 o’clock, we broke out the pie after it had been in the fridge a little less than 5 hours. It was still soft like pudding, but heavenly, nonetheless. This will be my go-to for taking to pot lucks or serving to guests from now on!
I made this over the weekend for our family mid-winter Christmas dinner, although the taste was great (I like it extra tart too!) It didn’t set and was mostly pretty soupy in the middle 🙁 I feel the instruction to heat ‘until mixture thickens’ confused me a bit. I didn’t know how thick it was supposed to be and I didn’t want to overcook it as stated so i took it off the heat at 8 minutes but it was only slightly thicker than heavy cream at that stage. Can you give any kind of descriptor of what level of thickness it needs to get to before its ready? I’d love to make it again! (oh and the pie crust worked great as well – my first time making a pie EVER 🙂
I have made this three times so far – and will definitely be making it again and again. It’s so good! I use twice the xanthan gum that the recipe calls for and it turns out thick enough to set up. Like you, the first time I made it, it was soupy even when chilled.
I’ve made this three times in the last month! We just couldn’t stop devouring this fantastic pie. My daughter is due to visit next month and I’ll just have to make it again, poor us, lol. Thank you so much for your meticulous creations and your wonderful blog. I’m always so excited to find your next posting in my email.
Loved this and so did my company. I generally am only attracted to dark chocolate recipes, but my visitors can’t have caffeine even just what is found in chocolate so it was great to have a delicious non chocolate dessert to offer them.
I’ve made this now three times and LOVE it! Thank you for such an enjoyable recipe!
So glad! It might be one of my faves from recent months too.
I made this, this week. But I forgot to whisk in the lemon extract and butter, which I had all cubed, ready to go, but in the fridge. It still set up nicely overnight, though, and is super yummy, anyway! LOL
Phew! 🙂
Wow!!! I made this for a special meal over the weekend and it was delicious. Perfect. You have outdone yourself with this one! Thank you!
This was absolutely delicious!
Hi,
This recipe looks wonderful! I have a question…after reading it a few times I don’t see instructions on what to do with the strained lemon zest. What am I missing here?
Thanks!
Strained lemon zest? I don’t know what you mean. There is lemon zest and it goes in the first step, as stated. I never mention “strained” lemon zest.
Shared on my Facebook page and trying to figure out how to reblog this on Blogger. I don’t post any recipes on my page or my blog before vetting them thoroughly, and this one passed all the tests. :))
I would love to follow you I love your recipe but it doesn’t have any way on here to follow you
Do you mean my email list? http://madmimi.com/signups/107971/join
I made this pie yesterday and everyone enjoyed it. I think this is my favorite lo carb dessert and since it can be done ahead of time, it is perfect for company.
I made this pie yesterday and everyone loved it. It’s the best lo carb dessert I have made. Thanks for the recipe.
Ok…I am lazy and want to avoid as many carbs as possible so I made puddings. It is in the frig now but it was delicious warm. Thanks for a keeper recipe.
It would be lovely as pudding too!
Oh my goodness — this is the perfect pie (and crust)!! I made this for a party as the low- carb offering for myself and my hubby and everyone LOVED it. :). The crust was perfect and the lemon sour cream filling was sweet & tart and I only used 1/2 cup of swerve. OH and the pie pieces came out perfectly – the crust didn’t stick nor fall apart!! Oh my word — this pie is heavenly. Thanks!!!
That makes me so happy to hear!