The perfect lemon curd (4 ingredients only)

This is the perfect lemon curd recipe you can easily make from scratch and I am pretty sure you will never buy store bought again!

When I started my baker journey a few years ago, lemon was the first flavour I received a lot of compliments on from others. I just love everything about lemon desserts whether it´s lemon pie, macaron, pound cake, choux, or even ice cream. Having said that, store-bought lemon curd and lemon desserts sometimes lack that special kick that you will get making it at home. This homemade lemon curd recipe is the smoothest, most delicious goodness in the world.

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• Ingredient notes
• How to make this recipe
• The perfect lemon curd (4 ingredients only)

Ingredient notes

1. Lemon: Using lemon and lemon zest makes the desserts wonderfully flavourful and aromatic. Make sure you use fresh, organic lemon (or one which has no chemicals on the skin) and only grate the yellow part of the skin, not the white. First, take the zest off then simply squeeze the juice out. The recipe is given in grams as the amount of juice that comes out of lemon can greatly vary!
2. Granulated sugar: Use normal white granulated sugar, nothing fancy or expensive. If you want to learn about the different types of sugar and how to use them in baking, please read my article in here. In this lemon curd recipe the curd will be tangy and not overly sweet, which is my preference for lemon desserts. Feel free to adjust the quantity of the sugar for your taste
3. Egg: Room temperature as always and use only the yolk, which will thicken the curd. If you wonder what to do with the leftover egg white, why not try my pavlova recipe. Some other recipes out there use whole egg, I prefer using yolk only for a few reasons: 1. Colour 2. Texture 3. Easier to cook and less likely to end up like scrambled egg
4. Butter: Use always unsalted as you want to be in control of the quantity of the salt. I am using 82% fat content butter in all my recipes. In this recipe, the butter needs to be at room temperature so avoid last-minute microwaving. The butter makes the lemon curd incredible rich and creamy. The 100 g I state in the recipe is really at the edge to make super creamy, buttery lemon curd which is my favorite however you can try the recipe with 75g butter only and see which consistency you prefer. Both will provide a thick curd

Make sure to check out my lemon desserts collection.

How to make this recipe

1. Why need double boiler to cook lemon curd

A double boiler is a standard method for melting chocolate without burning it and also for cooking lemon curd without ending up with a scrambled egg. I made curd a few times directly on the stove but it is much safer to use a double boiler and I recommend starting with that than perhaps moving into cooking now on the stove once more comfortable.

For the double boiler, all you need is a saucepan and a glass bowl that rests on the rim. You might have to play around with combinations of pans and bowls to find the perfect fit but it works perfectly fine. While cooking the curd, the water should not touch the bottom of the bowl. Easy peasy!

2. How to make lemon curd from scratch?

Making home made lemon curd is so easy and so quick, you will never ever need to worry about buying it from store!

• Place lemon juice, egg yolk, and sugar in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water (double boiler) and cook the curd over medium-high heat whisking constantly. Whisking is important to avoid egg yolks from curdling
• After about 8-10 minutes the mixture starts to thicken like custard. I find the temperature at this stage is around 80C/176C
• Remove the curd from the heat and to be on the safe side, pour the cooked curd through a sieve so you will get rid of any potential egg bits in there
• With a rubber spatula mix in room temperature butter in small cubes one by one, makes sure each cube is fully incorporated before adding the next. If you have a blender, blend butter into curd, if not, make sure you fully incorporate it with your spatula
• Fold the zest in. Make sure you won´t leave the zest out, it will give so much flavour!
• Pour curd into a jar and place plastic wrap directly on top so it is touching the top of the curd. (This prevents skin forming on top.) The curd will continue to thicken as it cools in the fridge
• Store in fridge for a week although it will be gone much quicker

3. How long does it take to make lemon curd?

The whole cooking process is literally not more than 10 minutes however the curd and the butter in it needs to be set in the fridge for a few hours minimum or ideally overnight. Please be patient, it´s worth it!

4. What is the consistency of the lemon curd?

The recipe below provides an ideal consistency to fill a lemon tart, lemon pie, cupcakes, cakes or spread on toast, scone, pancake. On the other hand, if you want to use it for e.g. macaron filling, you will need a slightly firmer and more stable consistency. In that case, I recommend to add 1 sheet of gelatin into the warm curd (soak gelatin into cold water first).

4. Variations of lemon curd

The good thing about homemade lemon curd is that you can experiment with adding other citrus or fresh herbs. Try replacing some of the lemon juice with lime, orange, or even passion fruit juice, and see how that tastes! Or, feel free to play around with herbs eg. mint, thyme, or basil all go very well with lemon curd.