Vegan Lemon Bars
Vegan lemon bars feature a zesty lemon curd with a perfectly-proportioned shortbread crust. You’ll love that this vegan lemon tart is made with minimal ingredients. This recipe is non-dairy and eggless, making it perfect for so many people.
Being vegan can involve some sacrifice, but not where dessert is involved. If you want to have a special treat for the weekend, try these vegan lemon bars.
At first, I wasn’t sure if I could make lemon squares vegan. I mean, lemon curd is almost pure eggs! But soon I realized how quick, easy, and delicious egg-free lemon bars can be!
Serve these lemon bars with drizzles of blueberry syrup over the top for color and flavor!
How to Make Vegan Lemon Bars
You can find the full printable recipe, including ingredient quantities, below. But first, here are some explanations of ingredients and steps to help you make this recipe perfect every time.
Making vegan lemon bars is a simple process. I’ll walk you through it step by step!
- Make the crust by pulsing flour, butter, and powdered sugar in a food processor.
- Press into the bottom of a pan.
- Make the vegan lemon curd by adding the lemon juice, sugar, milk, and cornstarch in a saucepan.
- Cook over medium heat while stirring.
- Bring it to a low boil and reduce heat to a simmer.
- Remove from heat and stir in the remaining ingredients.
- Pour the curd over the crust.
- Bake until the sides are golden brown and the filling firms up.
- Remove from the oven and allow it to cool.
- Transfer to the fridge and chill until set.
- Sprinkle with powdered sugar.
- Slice into bars, and serve.
Key Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you’ll need for this recipe, including substitution ideas:
- Flour — All-purpose flour works great, or you can use whole wheat pastry flour, or gluten-free flour.
- Vegan butter — I use Earth Balance buttery sticks, Miyoko’s, or homemade vegan butter.
- Lemon — We’ll use both the zest and the juice from a lemon.
What Lemons are Best for Lemon Bars?
Look for thin-skinned lemons that do not have green spots. You may think bigger lemons would yield more juice and flavor, but this is not always the case because larger lemons have thicker skins. Each lemon should yield about 1/4 cup or more of juice. To get the most juice possible out of your lemons, you can zap them in the microwave for about 10 to 15 seconds, then roll them firmly on the counter.
For the best lemon bars, you want a perfect ratio of crust to filling. I love these tips from Cooks Illustrated on the science of lemon bars!
Option #1: Vegan Lemon Custard
I’m providing two options for the lemon curd: The first option is a tofu lemon curd. This is what the tofu lemon bars look like.
As you can see, the simple vegan curd creates lemon bars that are much more translucent. Both bars taste amazing, but the simple vegan curd bars have a more traditional look.
- To prepare the tofu lemon curd, combine silken tofu, lemon zest, lemon juice, sugar, cornstarch, nutritional yeast flakes, and turmeric in a food processor. (I didn’t even bother cleaning out the food processor from step one).
- Pulse this until smooth.
- Spoon it over the unbaked crust.
I know it sounds odd adding nutritional yeast flakes and turmeric to lemon curd, but it’s only a little bit and it gives it a sunny yellow color.
Quick Fix Tip
If your sauce develops lumps, finish cooking it in the saucepan and then remove it from heat. Add the remaining ingredients and transfer it to a food processor or blender and pulse in short bursts until the lumps are gone.
Option #2: Simple Vegan Lemon Curd
I like the look of the traditional lemon bar with its more translucent lemon curd. Besides, sometimes you need vegan lemon bars without tofu if you’re serving people with soy allergies.
- Combine the lemon juice, sugar, milk, and cornstarch in a saucepan.
- Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly to dissolve the sugar.
- Bring it to a low boil, then reduce heat to simmer and cook 2–3 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Once the mixture thickens, remove from heat, add the lemon extract, coconut oil, and turmeric. Stir to combine.
- Pour this curd over the prepared crust.
What Makes This Recipe Shine?
- Adding vegan butter to the shortbread crust produces a rich and buttery crust
- Using fresh lemons makes the curd taste zesty and fresh
- Two ways to make the lemon curd gives you options for a delicious and easy dessert recipe, regardless of the ingredients you have on hand!
Storage Tips
Cover and store bars in the fridge. They will keep up to 5 days. They can be cut into individual slices and frozen for up to 2 months.
What are Vegan Lemon Bars?
Lemon bars are sort of like a lemon tart, except baked in a square pan. The nice thing is you can cut the slices into squares which is much more convenient for packing in lunches, etc.
These vegan lemon bars are a sweet treat that is easy to make and a real crowd favorite.
Marly’s Tips
- For a change of pace, try using a vegan graham cracker crust in place of the shortbread crust
- Make gluten-free vegan lemon bars by using gluten-free baking flour
- You can make the crust with coconut oil instead of butter
- Line your pan with foil, then spray it with vegetable spray to help remove the bars from the pan after they’ve cooled
- Tamp down the crust before adding the curd to prevent the crust from rising to the top while baking
- If you want to prevent the bars from cracking, place a shallow pan below it in the oven and fill it with water. The steam from the water adds moisture to the oven
- You can find silken tofu in the produce section of most grocery stores. If you can’t find silken tofu, use medium-firm tofu instead
Reader Reviews
★★★★★
Puja
My mom is very picky in desserts but when I made this (curd version) she couldn’t help but share with other people that ‘my daughter made this’.
★★★★★
Bridget
These are the BEST vegan lemon bars! I made a half batch today using the Simple Lemon Curd (Option #2). The crust and curd were very easy to make… they were delicious!
Vegan Lemon Recipes
If you love these easy vegan lemon bars, you’ll definitely want to try these other vegan lemon dessert recipes too:
That’s it for this vegan lemon bar recipe!
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Vegan Lemon Bars
Ingredients
Vegan Shortbread Crust
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup vegan butter sliced
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
Tofu Lemon Custard (Option #1)
- 12 oz package silken tofu
- zest of 1 lemon
- juice of 1 lemon
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast flakes for color
- pinch ground turmeric (for color)
Simple Vegan Lemon Curd (Option #2)
- ¾ cup lemon juice
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 ½ cups plant-based milk
- 5 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil
- ⅛ teaspoon ground turmeric
For Serving
- 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C. Line a 9×9-inch square pan with foil. Give the foil a light coating of vegetable spray.
- Combine flour, butter, and powdered sugar in a food processor and pulse for several seconds, until combined, but still crumbly. Press into the bottom of the prepared pan. Top with either the Tofu Lemon Curd OR the Simple Lemon Curd.
For the Tofu Lemon Curd (Option #1)
- If you're making your lemon bars with the tofu lemon curd: In the same food processor bowl (no need to wash it out), add the tofu, lemon zest, lemon juice, sugar, cornstarch, nutritional yeast, and turmeric. Pulse until completely smooth. Pour the lemon filling over the crust and evenly distribute across the pan.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the sides are golden brown and the filling is firm (if it's still overly jiggly, you should cook it a few more minutes).
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool. After it's cooled, transfer to the fridge and chill for 1 to 2 hours. Once chilled, grab both sides of the aluminum foil and remove it from the pan.
For the Simple Lemon Curd (Option #2)
- If you're using the simple lemon curd, in a saucepan combine the lemon juice, sugar, milk, and cornstarch. Stir to combine the cornstarch. Cook over medium heat while stirring constantly to dissolve the sugar and to prevent lumps as the mixture thickens. Bring it to a low boil, then reduce heat to simmer and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly. The mixture should get fairly thick. If you get lumps, simply pulse the curd in a food processor or use an immersion blender.
- Once the mixture thickens, remove from heat, add the lemon extract, coconut oil, and turmeric. Stir to combine. Spoon out the lemon curd over the prepared crust.
- Bake for 30 minutes, until the sides are golden brown and the filling is slightly firm. It may be a little jiggly.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool. After it's cooled, transfer to the fridge and chill for 2 to 3 hours. Once chilled, grab both sides of the aluminum foil and remove the bars from the pan.
To Serve:
- Sprinkle the tops of the bars with powdered sugar. Slice into bars and serve.
- Store lemon bars in the fridge. They will keep up to 5 days.
Recommended Equipment
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Video
Notes
Tofu
Option #1 calls for “silken” tofu. You can find that in the produce sections of a lot of U.S. grocery stores and definitely at health food stores. It may or may not be refrigerated and most typically I find it in a small “box” type container rather than a plastic tub. If you can’t find silken tofu, then buy a soft or medium regular tofu. The nutritional estimates are provided for the tofu curd. For Simple Curd (option #2), be sure to allow the curd to thicken in the saucepan before proceeding. Also, use the kind of coconut oil that is solid at room temperature. You can sub coconut oil for the vegan butter in the crust.The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
This post was originally published in 2019 and was updated to include new photos, new text, and an updated recipe in 2021.
Hello! I love your recipes, especially your Potato Salad!
I eat oil free and wondered if you had any suggestions for the crust besides butter or oil? Thank you!
Hi there Dede! I have not tried this but this is what I would do to create an oil free crust: Substitute 1 cup almond flour for the all-purpose flour (to keep some fat in the crust), add a flax egg (1 tablespoon ground flaxseed + 3 tablespoons water), and the sugar. I think this should work. In fact, I may add this as an option for folks! 🙂
Hey Marly! These look fantastic. Thought the same thing about Meyer lemons . I wondered how much powdered sugar goes into the shortbread crust? Did I miss that somewhere? Thank you for another beautiful, easy recipe! Cannot wait to try.
Hi Julie! Thanks for your comment! I know the powdered sugar was originally in the recipe, so it must have accidentally gotten deleted when edits were made. Thanks for letting me know – it’s fixed now! 🙂
What firmness tofu did you use? Soft, Firm, Extra Firm…?
It says in the recipe that it calls for “silken” tofu. You can find that in the produce sections of a lot of U.S. grocery stores and definitely at health food stores. It may or may not be refrigerated and most typically I find it in a small “box” type container rather than a plastic tub. If you can’t find silken tofu, then buy a soft or medium regular tofu. Hope this helps.
I intend to make these soon, but in #2, you say Lemon extract, then say zest later. I think video says extract. Confusing. I’m just going to use zest.
Hi Becky, Yes, you’re right. The recipe instructions should say lemon extract. It’s fixed now. Thanks much for pointing that out. I hope you love this recipe as much as we do!
I have these in the oven right now and I’m so looking forward to it! Will post a follow up. 🙂
I love my lemon so I’ll be adding a tad bit of lemon extract on the next batch. I love how it has a custard consistency. I couldn’t wait for it to cool down so I had a hot lemon bar. lol, it was still yummy! I put the rest in the fridge and can’t wait to try a cold slice of this goodness. 🙂
Thank you for the recipe! <3
Thanks for letting me know how it went Bree! That’s a great idea to add some lemon extract. Sometimes it’s nice being bold with it! Oh, and I’m with you – I can never wait for things to cool like I’m supposed to. Gah! 🙂
I love the anticipation you created. I’m sitting by the computer. Waiting. Hmm. I wonder if I should paint my nails while I’m sitting here. Or maybe I could get some work done. Nah! 🙂
These look amazing and easy! (two pluses in my book!) I was wondering, do you drain the silken tofu before using for this recipe? I know draining silken tofu on paper towels is pretty standard, but I wanted to make sure the extra liquid wasn’t needed for this recipe! I’m going to a BBQ next weekend, and I’m thinking of making and bringing these. 🙂
Silken tofu comes with a very small amount of liquid in the container. I drain that out. But I don’t press the tofu or drain it out on paper towels. It’s a easy recipe and so tasty too. I hope you enjoy your BBQ. Sounds like fun!
Thank you for replying! Our family BBQ was postponed until next weekend, but I wanted to try these, so I made them just for me. SO GOOD! And I even was naughty and impatient, and cut them well before they were cooled. They were super soft, but still tasty, and they firmed up beautifully in the fridge. These are just AMAZING. I’m super excited to bring them this weekend! Great recipe. Thank you!
Angela! I LOVE that you made these just for YOU! You are my hero! I mean, we’re always doing things for other people. We deserve a little Lemon Bars hot out of the oven for ourselves. 🙂
Hi there. I love everything lemon and would love to give this recipe a go but was wondering if I may use coconut butter instead of margarine which I am not a big fan of. Thanks!
Hi Lucia. I haven’t made this with coconut butter before, but I think it would do fine. One idea would be to try Earth Balance’s Coconut Spread. I think it’s formulated to do well in baked goods. If you try it, let me know how it goes!
Your lemon bars look YUMMY but I can’t tolerate soy products 🙁
Any substitutions?
Hi Angela. You can use my coconut sweetened condensed milk to make the lemon curd without soy.It’s a delicious bar, but it won’t have that same distinct creamy layer that this one does.
Thanks, Marly!
You’re welcome! We love making lemon squares, especially for spring and summer desserts!
These look wonderful! I can’t wait to make this! I already have all the ingredients. Thanks!
I hope you love these lemon bars as much as we do!
These look delicious and I am not even a fan of lemon really- I will definitely have to make these! 🙂
Maybe this will be the recipe that will win you over. Welcome to team Lemon! 🙂