These Papaya Bars are a silky smooth custard using fresh papaya fruit on a bed of short bread crust. Perfect for picnics or summer-y get togethers.
There’s this grocery store I only half like and it rhymes with Schrader Joe’s. The flowers, variety of cheeses and cheap bottles of booze, but man do they make me mad sometimes. Usually, I like to go shopping bright and early. On this particular day, I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were carrying green papayas. I happily bought one, attempted to make this salad, only to discover when I cut into the dang “green papaya” that it was in fact a red papaya. So, there I was: “stuck” with this beautiful papaya that had no home, no future. I like to make the best of things and had remembered that I want to make lemon bars without the lemon part.
Generally, I have issues with lemon desserts. I’ve divulged this info before, I think. Every now and again, I do love them. Usually though, lemon bars are not my thing. They mostly leave me with a less than pleasing face. Pucker central, USA.
What are Papaya Bars?
Papaya bars are modeled after lemon bars. There is a base of shortbread crust that is salty and buttery. The crust is topped with a tropical custard made with papaya puree.
As I have been seeing lots of papaya in smoothies lately, I wanted to try to do this! I’m thinking a thick papaya, banana, coconut situation sounds uh-mazing. Or better yet, a papaya lassi with cardamom and a dash of nutmeg.
The color, flavor and texture is all a win. I pair this papaya with a few tablespoons of wildflower honey, which I picked up on the side of the road in Ojai a few weeks ago–it makes for a killer combo.
How to Make Papaya Bars
- Make the crust. This is the easiest part of the recipe. You pulse together flour, sugar, salt and butter until it resembles a course meal. Press the course crumbs into the baking dish.
- Bake the crust. Bake the packed course crumbs until the edges are set.
- Make the filling. Whisk together flour, salt and sugar. Then whisk in the papaya puree, eggs, lemon juice and honey. Pour the filling on top of the hot crust.
- Bake the bars until set. And then you take them out of the oven and let cool to room temperature.
- Dust the top with powdered sugar. Now, make it snow! Dust liberally with powdered sugar and enjoy.
Papaya Bars Recipe
Ingredients
Crust:
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons light or dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup very cold unsalted butter diced
Filling:
- 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- *3/4 cup red papaya puree from a red papaya that weighed: 1.5 pounds
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons good-flavored honey I used wildflower
Topping:
- Powdered sugar optional
Equipment: 9-inch baking dish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare this 9-inch baking dish by buttering it, placing a piece of parchment on the bottom of the dish and then flouring it. Set aside.
- To the jar of a food processor, add the flour, salt and dark brown sugar. Pulse until combined. Add the cubes of butter and then pulse once more until the mixture resembles a coarse meal with a few larger chunks throughout. Transfer the butter and flour mixture to the prepared baking dish and press firmly so the layer is even. Place in the oven to bake for about 15 minutes, and until the edges are set.
- Meanwhile, let's make the filling! To medium bowl, add the sugar, flour and salt, and mix. Whisk in the papaya puree, eggs, lemon juice and honey. The filling should appear glossy and smooth.
- Pour the filling over the hot crust and transfer back to the oven for a remaining 20-25 minutes. You'll know the papaya bars are done when the filling appears set. Cool in the pan on a cooling rack until it reaches room temperature.
- Run a sharp knife along the sides and gently lift the parchment
*To make papaya puree, peel and deseed the papaya. Cut the papaya into chunks and add to the jar of a food processor. Pulse until the papaya is completely smooth.
Notes
Equipment
Nutrition
If you make these Papaya Bars, let me know on Instagram.
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The crust needed more butter (1/2 cup instead of 1/4 cup) than the recipe calls for to hold it together, and the papaya is unnoticeable with the lemon juice. The cooking time is also off, needed to be doubled to set properly.
A nice mix of salty and sweet, but much too sweet for our tastes — will try it again with 1/4 cup sugar. FYI, I used Bob’s Red Mill GF 1:1 flour and it worked fine for anyone out there who want to go GF. I do have a question, has anyone tried it with coconut oil instead of butter? (I used ghee, and it was fine, but I have some family members who are GF AND dairy free.)
I didn’t have the right dish so my crust was a little overcooked but that was my bad. I didn’t have parchment paper but used cooking oil spray and flour to line my pan. It ended up coming off super easy. I don’t like papaya but this was delicious and the kids love it. It is a little on the sweet side but I liked that. I’m excited to try adding new fruits next time and maybe some more butter to the crust
recipe said 1.5 of a papaya and i did just that Probably should have measured instead oops.. im a bit reckless. so it turned out way too liquidy.
did the crust just fine, i agree it did turn out floury
used a bread pan because well. that’s all i had. was an absolute disaster. probably would have all turned out different if i did it in the right pan.
in general i just don’t like papaya but..! Will be trying again to get it correct.
I made with coconut flour for the base which was a nice combo with the papaya.
too sweet for me though so I’d reduce the sugar in the filling next time round.
I agree with Elizabeth. The filling turned out to be good but the crust is just pressed flour. I think it should be 1 cup of butter not 1/4.
These were so good! I cut the sugar down to 1/4 cup because our papaya was super ripe and increased the flour to 1/4 cup. The filling was perfect. However, the crust was a little weird. I followed the recipe exactly but it seemed very “floury” when I put into the dish and the brown sugar never really melted after cooking. I’d probably use white sugar next time and decrease the amount of flour a bit?
This looks delicious. Is it actually .5 pound of papaya which makes 3/4 cup? Just seem to be very little papaya puree. Thank you
Question: What’s the difference between a green and red papaya?
What are the measurements and cooking time if i wanted to make a 13×9 inch pan? This is the second time I am making them. We had some very ripe papaya on our tree! I have so much puree that i need/want to make a bigger pan!
Made these and they were delicious!
We let our papaya get too ripe and my husband wanted me to jist toss oura ( i mean less than $1 but i saw it as an opportunity)/i will def be trying this out!
I made these because my baby turns out is allergic to papaya so I had a huge bag of papaya purée in the freezer. These were delicious but a touch too sweet so next time i would reduce the sugar to 1/3 cup. Also I couldn’t cut these bars nicely, the filling was soft so it would rough up the edges – any ideas to fix this for my next batch? Thanks for the recipe!
Hello,
Thank you so much for this recipe! Delicious, I find it even more delicious on Day 2. I added passionfruit to the papaya and love the taste. This recipe is now saved on my phone for those times we have no internet in CR!
I made my crust gluten free, by taking 1/4 cup of each coconut flour, almond flour, and gluten frre all purpose flour…..the rest of the recipe I left alone They came out fantastically delicious.
Wonderful to hear!