Why This Recipe Works

Our North Carolina Lemon Pie recipe starts with a salty crust made with saltine crackers, melted butter, and a light corn syrup. For a well-balanced filling, we whisk condensed milk, eggs, heavy cream, lemon juice, lemon zest, and salt in a bowl. Once the crust is toasted, we pour the filling in the crust and bake it. After baking, this lemon pie with saltine crust cools completely before refrigerating for at least four hours. As a final touch, we make the whipped topping (heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla) by mixing it in a stand mixer until stiff peaks form, then spread the topping over the pie before serving.

Before You Begin

You will need about 53 saltines, roughly one-and-a-half sleeves, to equal 6 ounces.

Instructions

for the crust

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine saltines and salt in food processor and pulse to coarse crumbs, about 15 pulses. Add melted butter and corn syrup and pulse until crumbs are broken down into oatmeal-size pieces, about 15 pulses.

Transfer saltine mixture to greased 9-inch pie plate. Using bottom of dry measuring cup, press crumbs into even layer on bottom and sides of plate, using your hand to keep crumbs from spilling over plate edge. Place plate on baking sheet and bake until light golden brown and fragrant, 17 to 19 minutes.

for the filling

Whisk condensed milk, egg yolks, cream, lemon zest, and salt in bowl until fully combined. Whisk in lemon juice until fully incorporated.

With pie plate still on sheet, pour filling into crust (crust needn’t be cool). Bake pie until edges are beginning to set but center still jiggles when shaken, 15 to 17 minutes. Place pie on wire rack and let cool completely. Refrigerate pie until fully chilled, about 4 hours.

for the topping

Using stand mixer fitted with whisk, whip cream, sugar, and vanilla on medium-low speed until foamy, about 1 minute. Increase speed to high and whip until stiff peaks form, 1 to 3 minutes. Spread whipped cream over top of pie. Serve.