These vegan lemon bars are the best ever. Tangy, sweet and lemony with a shortbread crust and a filling that tastes like lemon meringue pie!
I love lemon flavors when it comes to dessert. The tart flavors really offset the sweetness in a wonderful way.
These lemon bars are my new favorite thing. And I know that I say a lot of things are my new favorite thing, but.. you guys, these are just so good.
They taste just like lemon meringue pies! Minus the meringue of course. But the flavor is just wonderful.
And if you’re like me and love the combination of tart lemon flavor with sweet dessert then you’ll also love our vegan lemon cake and our vegan lemon pie. Not to mention our vegan lemon cookies, lemon cupcakes and our vegan lemon pound cake.
How to make Vegan Lemon Bars
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- You start off by making the shortbread crust. The recipe is based on our recipe for vegan shortbread cookies and it’s totally divine.
- Add all purpose flour, sugar and salt to a mixing bowl and then add in some vegan butter.
TIP: Vegan butter is basically dairy free margarine. If you don’t have a vegan made brand like Earth Balance (USA) or Nuttelex (Australia) then do a search of the margarines you do have available and see if you can find one that is dairy-free. You can also make your own homemade vegan butter (our recipe has a coconut oil base) that works great in baking!
- Then comes the messy (but fun) part. Get in there with your hands and break up the butter with the flour until it’s crumbly, then start to form it into a big ball of dough.
- Spray a 9×13 dish with non-stick spray and line it with parchment paper so that there is overhang on either side (you’ll use this to lift the lemon bars out easily later).
- Place the dough into the prepared dish and use your hands to smooth it down evenly across the bottom of the dish. It takes a little patience to get it smoothed out all the way to the sides and into the corners but it’ll get there.
- Place into the oven and bake for 20 minutes at 350°F (180°C) until the edges are lightly browned.
Make the Lemon Filling
- When your shortbread crust is ready, get started on your lemon filling.
- Simply add some freshly squeezed lemon juice, sugar, lemon extract, salt, coconut cream, cornstarch and turmeric to a saucepan and whisk as it heats until it’s nice and smooth and well combined. Then switch to a wooden spoon and keep stirring.
- It will suddenly start to thicken dramatically, then you know it’s done.
- Pour the lemon filling out over the top of the shortbread crust and smooth down.
TOP TIPS: If you can’t find lemon extract, you can omit it, but the lemon flavor will be more subtle. Turmeric is just for color, you don’t taste it in the final result. You can also omit this if you prefer. As you can see, mine is so yellow it’s practically fluorescent.
- Return it to the oven to bake for another 15 minutes at 350°F. The lemon filling will come out looking like the first photo in the collage below.
- Leave it to cool on a wire cooling rack on the countertop for an hour or so, and then place the whole dish into the fridge to chill completely.
- You need it to be completely chilled before you slice it into squares. So it will need to be in the fridge for at least 2 hours, but if you can leave it overnight, then that will be most ideal.
- When chilled, remove it from the fridge and lift the dessert out of the dish using the parchment paper overhang. Place onto a wooden board and cut into 24 squares.
- Then sprinkle some powdered sugar over the top and you have lemon bars that are ready to serve!
Recipe Q&A
Yes, in fact it’s perfect if you do. They get to the perfect consistency if they have a chance to chill overnight in the fridge, so this is the perfect dessert to make the night before.
They keep perfectly in the fridge in a covered container for around a week.
Yes they freeze very well. Place the squares into a freezer safe container and freeze. When you’re ready for them, just place them into the fridge to thaw and serve straight from the fridge.
It’s likely possible to make these gluten-free if you use a gluten-free all purpose flour blend to replace the regular flour. I have not tested this so far, but I think it would work.
More Delicious Vegan Bars (and Slices)
- Vegan Rice Krispie Treats
- Vegan Peanut Butter Bars
- Vegan Blondies
- Vegan Twix
- Vegan Snickers
- Vegan Chocolate Brownies
Vegan Lemon Bars
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 35 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 24
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These vegan lemon bars are the best ever. Tangy, sweet and lemony with a shortbread crust and a filling that tastes like lemon meringue pie!
Ingredients
For the Shortbread Crust:
- 2 cups (250g) All Purpose Flour*
- 1/2 cup (100g) White Sugar
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1 cup (225g) Vegan Butter
For the Lemon Filling:
- 1 cup (240ml) Lemon Juice (Freshly Squeezed, about 4 Large Lemons)
- 2 cups (400g) White Sugar
- 1 tsp Lemon Extract
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1 14oz (400ml) Can Coconut Cream
- 1/2 cup (64g) Cornstarch
- 1/8 tsp Turmeric*
For Decorating:
- Powdered Sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and prepare a 9×13 baking dish by spraying it with non stick spray and lining it with parchment paper so that there is a parchment paper overhang on each side. Set aside.
- Add the all purpose flour, white sugar and salt for your shortbread crust to a mixing bowl and mix together.
- Then add in the vegan butter.
- Use your hands to break up the butter with the flour until it reaches a crumbly texture, then gradually start to form it into a big ball of dough.
- Place the dough into the prepared dish and use your hands to smooth it down across the bottom of the dish into a smooth even layer.
- Place into the oven and bake for 20 minutes until the edges are lightly browned. When it’s done, remove from the oven, leaving the oven on, and let it sit on the countertop while you prepare the lemon filling.
- Add the freshly squeezed lemon juice, sugar, lemon extract, salt, coconut cream, cornstarch and turmeric to a saucepan and whisk as it heats until the ingredients are well combined. Then switch to a wooden spoon and keep stirring. It will suddenly start to thicken dramatically and then you’ll know it’s done.
- Pour the lemon filling out over the top of the shortbread crust and smooth down.
- Return it to the oven to bake for another 15 minutes at 350°F.
- Remove from the oven and place the dish onto a a wire cooling rack on the countertop for about an hour to cool down before placing the whole dish into the fridge to chill completely.
- Let it chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours until completely chilled before slicing into squares. It’s even more ideal if you can leave it overnight to really firm up before slicing.
- When chilled, remove it from the fridge and lift the dessert out of the dish using the parchment paper overhang. Place onto a wooden board and cut into 24 squares.
- Then sprinkle some powdered sugar over the top and you’re ready to serve!
Notes
*Weigh your flour for the most accurate results. If you’re using only a cup measure then make sure you use the spoon and level method for the best accuracy.
*Turmeric is just for color and can be omitted if you prefer.
*Prep time does not include time spent chilling in the fridge.
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Vegan
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Square (of 24)
- Calories: 231
- Sugar: 21.3g
- Sodium: 148mg
- Fat: 11g
- Saturated Fat: 4.9g
- Carbohydrates: 32.3g
- Fiber: 0.3g
- Protein: 1.3g
Keywords: vegan lemon bars
This looks so so so good! I am trying to eliminate sugar from my diet and wondering if you think this would work with a sugar substitute like Erithrytol or Stevia? I usually use Swerve and it works fine for most recipes but wondering if this would change the sticky texture of the lemon topping…. your expert opinion would be much appreciated!
Hi Caro, if Swerve usually works for you in recipes then that is probably the safest bet to continue with that. I haven’t experimented with any sugar substitutes like Stevia so I honestly don’t have any advice to offer there. All the best!
Hi, can I replace the cornflour with regular all purpose flour? It’s the only ingredient I’m missing
Hi Maria, all purpose flour isn’t as good at thickening as cornstarch. So you would usually have to use double the amount of flour to equal the cornstarch, and I just don’t think using that much flour in this recipe would have a good effect. So I don’t think it would be possible.
These bars turned out PERFECTLY. They do indeed taste like lemon meringue pie filling! One thing I struggled with was the best temp to use on the stove when stirring the filling ingredients. I have gas burners and I wasn’t sure whether I should stay in the medium/medium high range or cook things on low. Alison, I would love your input!
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Medium to high is perfect. As long as you’re stirring it all the while and you have a good saucepan then that usually would work out great. If you had a very thin bottomed pot (can burn more easily) then a lower temp might be better.
Hey, so I’ve managed to get this finished and put in the fridge, it never really hit a “magic” moment where it thickened so much…if i stopped stirring the sugar would kind of clump up. I wonder if i should have used more than 1/2 a cup of cornstarch given i used fairly thick coconut milk not full cream? I couldn’t find instructions on temperature for heating up the filling, or for roughly how long until it would thicken, would love those added to recipe! the filling does taste amazing as of right now though. Keep making amazing recipes! i follow you on instagram 🙂
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I usually use medium heat, but there is pretty much no doubt that it has thickened up and it happens quite fast. It’s also a lot of cornstarch so I don’t think anyone would need to use more. I’m wondering where you’re based though, because apparently it’s called cornflour in the UK.
SO good! We had an abundance of limes but no lemons, so I mixed up the recipe and used lime juice and zest and fresh grated ginger – worked so well! Thanks for this wonderful recipe, it went down an absolute treat with my (non-vegan) family. Will definitely be making again 🙂
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Fantastic! Thanks so much Jodie!
You can substitute all purpose flour with oat flour for crust for a gluten free option.
We made these a few days ago. They are AMAZING! Thank you so much for this recipe. My kids have allergies to dairy, so this lemon bar recipe is now a staple in our home. Can’t thank you enough. Also, they freeze well.
So happy to hear that! Thanks for sharing! 🙂