This key lime pie recipe is made even more delicious by adding a coconut component. Key Lime Pie with Coconut is perfectly sweet with a nutty, delicious coconut flavor.
Have you ever been to Key West, Florida. It’s at the southern most tip of Florida. It’s a magical place where you can visit Ernest Hemmingway’s house (with all his cats), drink in the streets), see the sunset and sunrise in the same place AND, of course, eat all the key lime pie. Authentic key lime pie.
What Is Key Lime Pie
Key Lime Pie is a specialty pie from Key West, Florida. Eating a slice of this heaven while in Key West is a heaven. The best key lime pie traditionally consists of the following:
- A graham cracker crust.
- Sweet custard filling filled with lime flavor.
- A meringue topping that’s torched until medium golden brown.
I figured that adding a bit of coconut to the mix would be a good look!
How to Make Key Lime Pie
- Make the graham cracker crust. This means combining melted butter, graham cracker crumbs and salt.
- Press it into the pie dish. I find it easiest to do this with a cup measure; it really helps pack the cookie crumbs into the bottom and sides of the pie dish.
- Bake the crust.
- Mix up the filling. Add the strained the key lime juice and mix it with the coconut milk, sweetened condensed milk, key lime zest and salt.
- Pour the filling into the pie crust. I like to open the oven, add the pie dish to the rack and pour the filling to eliminate having to move the pie dish all full with filling.
- Bake it until the filling is set! And then let it cool to room temperature and transfer to the fridge for 2 hours to chill.
- Toast the coconut flakes (that we’re gonna use for garnish).
- Make the topping of coconut cream and heavy cream.
- Add the topping to the top of the pie.
Can You Freeze Key Lime Pie with Coconut
Yes you can absolutely freeze it. Bake the pie and then allow it to cool to room temperature. Wrap it tightly with plastic wrap and then transfer to the freezer. Will stay good for up to 3 months.
Tips and Tricks
- Use a cup measure to help you pack and even out the graham cracker crumbs. This helps a lot!
- Strain the key lime juice! This removes the pulp which is important! Key lime pie strain!
Can You Use Regular Limes for Key Lime Pie?
You definitely can! I would suggest adding more lime zest; up by 1/2 tablespoon of zest. The pie won’t be as tart and bright, but it’ll still be super delicious.
If you make this Key Lime Pie with Coconut, let me know on Instagram!
Looking for more dessert recipes? Here are some other options:
- Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies
- Olive Oil Berry Cake
- Strawberry Sheet Cake with Rhubarb Frosting
- Gluten-Free Strawberry Tart
- Strawberry and Cream Cookies
- Piña Colada Cake
Key Lime Pie Recipe
Ingredients
Graham Cracker Crust
- 1 cup finely ground graham cracker crumbs (from about 8 crackers)
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
Key Lime Pie Filling:
- 1 cup full-fat unsweetened coconut milk
- 1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated key lime zest (from about 4 key limes)
- 1/2 cup fresh key lime juice strained (from about 12 key limes)
- 5 large egg yolks
- 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Key Lime Pie Topping:
- 1/4 cup sweetened or unsweetened coconut flakes (I used chips)
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
Instructions
- To Make the Crust:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. To a medium bowl, mix together the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, salt and butter; it should feel like wet sand. When thoroughly mixed, add to your 9-inch pie dish. Press the crumbs up the sides and all over the bottom of the dish until you have an even layer of crust.
- Transfer to the oven to bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until lightly golden brown. Remove and set aside and allow to cool completely.
- To Make the Filling:
- Turn the oven down to 325 degrees F. Start this process by scooping out three tablespoons of the coconut cream that's sitting at the top of the can of coconut milk. Transfer this coconut cream to the refrigerator (we’re going to use it as part of the topping!).
- Whisk together the remaining coconut cream (if any) and coconut milk together (you can do this in the can). Make sure the clumps aren't super large, some small clumps are ok.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the coconut milk, key lime zest, key lime juice, egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk and salt. Again, little clumps are ok, but big clumps, not ok--break them up with a fork if they're throughout.
- I found it easiest to add the filling to the pie dish when it was in the oven—no spillage! Place the pie dish with the crust on a baking sheet and transfer to the middle rack of the oven.
- Pour in the filling, close the door and allow to bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until the top is firm to the touch yet still a wobbly. Remove from the oven and cool for about 10 minutes. Transfer it to the fridge so it can set for at least 2 hours. It’s a long time to wait but it’s well worth it! If you can do it overnight, even better! The colder the better.
- Since the oven is already hot, we’re going to toast some coconut flakes.
- To a small baking dish, add the coconut flakes and allow to toast for about 5 minutes in the oven, until lightly golden brown. Set aside.
- To Serve the Key Lime Pie:
- Right before serving, make the topping. By now the coconut cream should be very cold. Add the coconut cream and powdered sugar to the bowl of a stand-up mixer with the whisk attachment; beat until smooth, about 2 minutes.
- With the mixer running, pour in about 2 tablespoons of heavy cream (eyeball this measurement) and beat until incorporated. Slowly incorporate the rest of the heavy cream until smooth and medium peaks form, about 2 minutes. Just an FYI, you don't want over-beaten whipped cream so do not walk away!
- Pour the whipped cream on top of the pie and spread it around--get artsy with it. Sprinkle the toasted coconut flakes on top and slice and serve.
Notes
- Before you start, make sure you know that this pie has to set in the fridge for 2 hours before serving or else it'll be a sloppy ol' mess.
- Full-fat coconut milk gave me the best flavor and texture (silky smooth!), but lite coconut milk will also work (my first go-around used lite).
- If you can't find key limes, you can use bottled key lime juice! For the zest, feel free to use regular lime zest.
- Lastly, a question I'll probably get: will this work with regular limes? Yes, absolutely, but I'd increase the zest by about 1/2 tablespoon.
Equipment
Nutrition
How long can you store this pie in the fridge for before it goes bad ?
probably 2-3 days!
Everyone LOVED this pie and it’s so easy to make. I used normal (not Key) limes and it’s still delicious. Thank you for this lovely recipe!
This is SO good!! I had to leave out the coconut cream because it wasn’t on the ingredients list and I didn’t buy it. I used just the coconut milk and it worked great. Love all your recipes! Thank you!
This recipe was absolutely AMAZING!!! The only thing I changed was instead of a graham cracker crust I used Biscoff cookies. I love your content and have been making a lot of your recipes.
hi daisy! love hearing this. the biscoff cookie crust sounds amazing! so glad you loved this 🙂
Hi! This is in the oven and smells delicious!! I only just realized that I don’t have heavy cream— ack!! But I’m going to go with a merengue topping (still got those egg whites!). But, do you recommend leaving the pie at room temp? Will it still set? I’ll need to run the merengue under the broiler for a few. Thanks!
(Also, we’re making this bc my daughters have been obsessed with the Muppets Lime in the Coconut sketch.)
that should work! honestly not sure because i’ve never made it without it. let me know how it goes!
After the filling is added to the baked crust, should the keylime pie be baked? I put it in the fridge directly after filling if. Should I pop it in the oven before serving? (My filling was cooked on the stove.) If so, how long and what temp? Thanks much! 🙂
Murray
I’m not sure. This recipe is for this specific recipe which is to be baked. So not sure what recipe you’re using sorry!
Made this today and shared with key lime pie lover friends…it was a smashing hit
YAY! LOVE!
I used a pyrex 9 inch (23 cm) standard pie plate, but I had filling left over…I built the crust up to the top of the rim, though it did sink a little when I baked the crust. I think even if I had poured all the way to the very top of the crust (I assume I was supposed to leave a little rim) I would have had some left over. Should this have happened? Any suggestion of what to do with the small amount of left over filling? I hate to waste it.
I had about 4 tablespoons of filling leftover and I did contemplate tweaking the recipe (because I hate leftover anything), but then it’d basically mean you’d use less coconut milk and less condensed milk from the can, which wouldn’t really solve the problem (because what could you really do with a few tablespoons of condensed milk?). You could transfer it to a small ramekin and bake that off. It’d almost be like a cooked custard of sorts!
ooo, excellent idea! I didn’t think about baking it in a ramekin.
I mean, you could definitely put that condensed milk in your coffee, or in French toast, or a biscuit…
This looks so good! I fell in love with Key Lime Pie during summers on Kiawah. Everytime I have some, it takes me back!
Kari
http://www.sweetteasweeite.com
Looks amazing Adrianna! I have a bit of an obsession with coconut desserts, it seems like every second dessert recipe I come up with has coconut cream in it (and often lime too 🙂 ). If you can get hold of shaved coconut (larger than flakes) they toast up beautifully for a dish like this!
This pie looks amazing! I am definitely wanting to make a key lime pie soon!