Here’s a complete guide on how to make lemon. A fail-proof recipe for best bright, creamy, tart lemon curd. You’ll be surprised to learn how easy it is to make homemade lemon curd that uses only 5 basic pantry ingredients!
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Ingredients you’ll need
Here’s what you’ll need-
- 6 egg yolks
- ½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ¾ cup granulated sugar (adjust quantity as per taste preference)
- ½ cup chilled butter
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
Use egg yolks instead of whole eggs for thicker, richer, brighter lemon curd! Like bright and sunny! Separate egg yolks from egg whites and use egg yolks along with this recipe. Egg whites won’t be wasted. Put it to good use by making egg white scramble.
Using good quality fresh ripe lemons makes a whole lot of difference for the lemon curd recipe. You’ll need the zest and lemon juice from the lemons. Don’t skip on lemon zest, it adds extra zingy flavor to the curd. Pro-Tip: While zesting lemon, avoid the white part called the pith. It will make the curd taste bitter. Grate only the yellow lemon skin avoiding the white pith.
White granulated sugar gives the best texture to lemon curd. You can increase or reduce the amount of sugar depending on how sweet you like your curd.
How to make lemon curd?
- Add egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice and zest, and salt to a saucepan. Cook on the lowest heat on the stove with constant stirring.
- Cooking low and slow is the key to making lemon curd and don’t stop stirring. Pro-tip: You shouldn’t see any bubbles while cooking lemon curd. Reduce heat to the lowest! If you are having trouble with the temperature, it’s the stove. Better use a double boiler to make lemon curd. It will take a longer time to cook but will result in silky smooth curd.
- While the curd is coming together add chilled(cubed) butter.
- Continue to stir and cook on low flame. Use a cooking thermometer to check the temperature of the curd. When curd reaches 167°F, eggs are fully cooked and it’s safe to eat.
- Alternatively to check for the doneness of curd is to check when curd thickens if it is thick enough to coat the back of your spoon. This indicates the doneness of curd.
- Remove the curd from the heat. Pour thickened lemon curd into a fine-mesh strainer.
- Using a spoon, press through to strain and remove the zest and any scrambled bits of eggs from the curd.
- Strain into a heatproof bowl or jar.
- Keep lemon curd covered with plastic cling wrap to avoid skin formation on top of the curd. Allow the curd to cool for 30 to 45 minutes before you can use it in any recipe or simply transfer it to serving jars to be refrigerated for later use.
Tips to make smooth and velvety lemon curd
- Use egg yolks instead of whole eggs for richer, brighter lemon curd! Use egg whites for another recipe like egg white scramble or egg drop soup. You can freeze egg whites for later use too.
- Use freshly squeezed lemon juice. Bottled lemon juice is far more acidic and will ruin the flavor and taste of the curd.
- The best time to add butter is while the curd is coming together. Adding butter while the pan is still on the stove results in smooth and velvety creamy curd. I promise you won’t have any grainy texture.
- Low and slow is the key to creamy lemon curd. Don’t get tempted to increase the heat, eggs will turn into a scramble. If you are having trouble with the temperature, it’s the stove. Use a double boiler to make lemon curd. It will take a longer time to cook but will result in silky smooth curd.
- Don’t stop whisking. The entire time lemon curd is cooking on the stove, keep whisking.
- Lemon curd is ready when it thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon.
- Always strain your curd using a fine mesh strainer. This will filter out zest bits of lemon and any scrambled eggs bits and give you perfectly smooth curd.
FAQS
Remember curd always thickens once it cools.
If you cooked curd beyond the mentioned time and if it still won’t thicken, it could be that you we off the measurement of ingredients. Like too much lemon juice or too little egg. For every 3 tablespoons of lemon juice use 2 egg yolks (or 1 whole egg).
If your card won’t thicken, try to fix it by adding an extra yolk. First, whisk egg yolk. Add a ladle full of curd mix cooking in the pan to the bowl of egg yolk, and whisk well. Slowly pour the yolk back into the pan. Continue whisking for 5 minutes. It should thicken.
Alternatively –
You can thicken the curd (that won’t thicken even after cooling) by adding corn starch slurry (1 tablespoon corn starch mixed with 3 tablespoons water). Mix slurry to curd, heat on low flame with constant stirring until the curd begins to thicken and coats the back of a wooden spoon.
Or
Simply use the saucy pourable consistency lemon curd as a glaze for cakes or ice cream instead of fixing it. Thin consistency curd tastes incredible too!
If you see lumps in your curd, it’s most likely overcooked egg bits. Your temperature was too high while cooking curd. Remember low and slow is the key to silky smooth creamy curd. You shouldn’t see any bubbles while cooking curd.
If you are having trouble with temperature, it’s the stove. Best use a double boiler to make silky smooth curd (cooking in a double boiler will take a slightly longer time for the curd to cook).
Don’t worry if there are lumps in the curd. Pass the curd through a fine-mesh strainer and strain bits and lumps from the curd; you’ll get silky smooth curd.
If curd breaks and is too lumpy or curdled to pass through a strainer, blend the curd in your blender until smooth.
While zesting lemon, avoid the white part called the pith. It will make the curd taste bitter. Grate only the yellow skin avoiding the white pith.
Some recipes call for adding butter once the curd is thickened and the pan is off the stove. Upon testing I found it results in a grainy texture. Add butter when the pan is still on the stove and the curd is coming together, just before it thickens. This will give you smooth and velvety curd.
Remember to cube butter before you add it to the pan. Helps melt butter better and fast without ending in overcooking eggs.
The lemon curd will keep up-to four weeks refrigerated. For longer storage freeze it.
Proper storing of lemon curd is important. Allow lemon curd to cool completely before storing in serving jars or using it in any recipe like cakes or pies.
Yes, you can. Transfer cooled curd into freezer container leaving a ¼ inch gap on top. Cover tightly with lid and freezer it. The frozen lemon curd will stay for 1 year.
To use frozen curd, thaw for 24 hours in the refrigerator before use.
I eat it with a spoon. It’s so delicious!
It’s a tasty addition to so many things. It’s a great addition to cupcakes, cakes, pies, or tarts, spread on scones or cookies. Use as filling for cupcakes or cakes, make incredible cheesecake or tarts or pies with lemon curd as a layer, spread or drizzle on pancakes and crepes, drizzle on ice cream or swirl into yogurt.
MORE LEMON RECIPES YOU’LL LOVE:
- Lemon Ice Tea
- Strawberry Lemonade
- Lemon Garlic Shrimp
- Greek Lemon Potatoes
- Lemon Pepper Chicken
- Skillet Lemon Chicken
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📋How To Make Lemon Curd
Ingredients
- 6 egg yolks
- ½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ¾ cup granulated sugar adjust quantity as per taste preference
- ½ cup chilled butter
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
Instructions
- Add egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice and zest, and salt to a sauce pan. Cook on lowest heat on stove with constant stirring. Cooking low and slow is the key to making lemon curd and don’t stop stirring.Pro-tip: You shouldn’t see any bubbles while cooking lemon curd. Reduce heat to lowest! If you are having trouble with the temperature, it’s the stove. Better use double boiler to make lemon curd. It will take longer time to cook, but will result in silky smooth curd.
- While the curd in coming together add chilled(cubed) butter. Continue to stir and cook on low flame. Use cooking thermometer to check the temperature of the curd. When curd reaches 167°F, eggs are fully cooked and it’s safe to eat.
- Alternatively to check for the doneness of curd is to check when curd thickens if it is thick enough to coat the back of your spoon. This indicates the doneness of curd.
- Remove sauce pan from stove.
- Pour thickened lemon curd into a fine mesh strainer to strain and remove the zest and any scrambled bits of eggs from the curd. Strain into a heat proof bowl or jar.
- Keep lemon curd covered with plastic cling wrap to avoid skin formation on top of the curd. Allow curd to cool for 30 to 45 minutes before you can use it in any recipe or simply transfer it to serving jars to be refrigerated for later use.
Video
Notes
- Use egg yolks instead of whole eggs for richer, brighter lemon curd! Use egg whites for another recipe like egg white scramble or egg drop soup. You can freeze egg whites for later use too.
- Use freshly squeezed lemon juice. Bottled lemon juice are far more acidic and will ruin the flavor and taste of the curd.
- The best time to add butter is while the curd is coming together. Adding butter while the pan is still on stove results in smooth and velvety creamy curd. I promise you won’t have any grainy texture.
- Low and slow is the key to creamy lemon curd. Don’t get tempted to increase the heat, eggs will turn into scramble. If you are having trouble with the temperature, it’s the stove. Use double boiler to make lemon curd. It will take longer time to cook, but will result in silky smooth curd.
- Don’t stop whisking. The entire time lemon curd is cooking on stove, keep whisking.
- Lemon curd is ready when it thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon.
- Always strain your curd using fine mesh strainer. This will filter out zest bits of lemon and any scrambled eggs bits and give you perfectly smooth curd.
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