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Scrumptious Dairy Free Lemon Curd

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Recipe

Delicious, quick and easy Dairy Free Lemon Curd that’s made without butter!

Learn how to make Dairy Free Lemon Curd, it's tastes so good you won't even miss the butter, it has a superb lemon flavor!! lemon curd sans lactose.

How to Make Dairy Free Lemon Curd

Can you make Lemon curd without butter? Is that even possible? Why, yes, yes it is!

Growing up in Scotland we ate lemon curd a lot as children. I don’t believe we ever made it at home but it was easy to find in jars in the grocery store right next to the jam and marmalade.

Most of the time we put it on toast and if the grown ups weren’t looking we would be eating it out of the jar with a spoon, but I don’t think we managed to pull that off very often..

Well fast forward a lot of years and I’m no longer living in Scotland and as a result of having Celiac disease I can’t tolerate dairy products very well in large amounts, so that’s meant I’ve had to totally rethink and reinvent a lot of the foods that I grew up with.

So how ’bout this lemon curd, I mean traditionally it’s made with butter so that’s that’s a bit of a problem for those of us who can’t eat dairy, right?

Fortunately I’ve found that Earth Balance vegan butter is a good substitute both in my gluten free baking and for some other recipes that require a decent dairy free butter substitute.

Learn how to make Dairy Free Lemon Curd, it's tastes so good you won't even miss the butter, it has a superb lemon flavor!! lemon curd sans lactose.

I just want to give you quick word of caution if you are either new to dairy free or are making this for someone else who has to eat dairy free.

Did you know that not all margarines are dairy free? In chatting to friends who have cooked for me at various times I realised that many of them assumed that margarine is only made with vegetable oils but almost all of them contain some milk so watch out for that.

And to add to the confusion some of the lower fat/low calorie dairy free varieties of margarine  are totally unsuitable for baking, frying or using as a general butter substitute in many recipes because they contain a lot of water and just don’t work in the same way that butter does.

If you’re not in the USA you will need to do a little research on what the best non dairy margarine is to use, if in doubt try one that says it’s suitable for baking and frying as they are typically a little more robust.

More Gluten Free Dairy Free Recipes

Scrumptious Dairy Free Lemon Curd!

Delicious, quick and easy Dairy Free Lemon Curd that's made without butter!
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Total Carbs: 2 g
Protein: 2 g
Servings: 6 servings
4.83 from 84 votes
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Ingredients

  • 2 tsp grated lemon zest
  • 1 ½ cups sugar
  • 5 large egg yolks
  • ½ cup fresh lemon juice
  • ½ cup Dairy Free margarine or butter , I used Earth Balance

Instructions

  1. Combine lemon zest and sugar in food processor.
  2. Pulse to mince zest, then process until zest is as fine as the sugar.
  3. Add egg yolks, lemon juice, process 10 seconds.
  4. With machine still running, pour in melted butter or margarine
  5. Transfer mixture to double boiler and cook over low heat until thickened, about ten minutes.
  6. Cool and refrigerate.
Nutrition Facts
Scrumptious Dairy Free Lemon Curd!
Amount Per Serving
Calories 189 Calories from Fat 171
% Daily Value*
Fat 19g29%
Saturated Fat 4g25%
Cholesterol 162mg54%
Sodium 185mg8%
Potassium 45mg1%
Carbohydrates 2g1%
Protein 2g4%
Vitamin A 895IU18%
Vitamin C 8.7mg11%
Calcium 25mg3%
Iron 0.4mg2%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Nutritional information on Noshtastic is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site.
Author: Noshtastic
Course: Dessert

Dairy Free Lemon Curd, it's so good you won't even miss the butter and has a superb lemon flavor! | lactose free | non dairy lemon curd | another great gluten free recipe from noshtastic.com #lemoncurd #dairyfree #dairyfreelemoncurd #noshtastic

About Sheena Strain

Sheena Strain is the proud owner of Noshtastic, a gluten free website that specializes in easy family meals including Low Carb, Keto, Paleo, Whole30, and many pressure cooker recipes.

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  1. Elizabeth says

    5 stars
    Fabulous! I will be honest an admit I used limes instead of lemons as my son loves anything key lime. It turned out amazingly, smooth and even with the recipe doubled it turned out. Granted it took about 40 minutes to thicken, but no worries I had a podcast on.

    Reply

  4. Kim says

    5 stars
    Fantastic lemon curd! I made this both gluten free and dairy free. I eat both, but I needed to bring a desert that was dairy & gluten free. I used your lemon curd recipe for the lemon curd in a cake I made. I would have never guessed this was gluten and dairy free. It was easy to make. I followed the recipe exactly. At 10 min it was slightly thick, but I wasn’t sure how thick lemon curd should be. I cooked it for about 4 more min. I probably thickened it too much, but no one complained. The student who was dairy & gluten free, and the vegetarian were so grateful for a desert that was home made and tasted like “regular” food. Thanks for sharing your recipe with us!

    Reply

  5. Mark says

    Talk about a quick and easy delicious recipe! I made an Angel Food cake the day before and needed to use the leftover 12 egg yolks, so I chose this recipe. My wife has Celiac and also must eat dairy-free so this is the perfect dessert for her. I’m a disabled veteran, wheelchair-bound, beginning baker, yet had no problems making this Lemon Curd. Definitely going in my “Must Make” file. Thank you for this wonderful recipe!

    Reply

  7. Ami says

    Hello, I’m hoping to make some lemon curd ahead of time to use with another recipe. How long will this lemon curd last in the fridge? Thank you!

    Reply

  8. Sabrina LaRocca says

    5 stars
    This lemon curd is absolutely divine! I recommend using very tart organic lemons. It took me about 15 minutes, rather than 10, before my curd started to thicken. The recipe is fantastic and you’d never know that it’s dairy free.

    Reply

  9. Lulu says

    Could I substitute the dairy free butter with crisco? Do you think that it would still set up just fine?

    Reply

  10. Cindy says

    Thanks so much for this easy, foolproof recipe! I have made it four times and each time it gets rave reviews. No one can tell it’s dairy free!

    Reply

  11. Adrian Karver says

    4 stars
    Great recipe and the finish product looks great. Going to use it tonight to make lemon blueberry dump cake in a cast iron dutch oven. Made this before with store bought lemon curd but my youngest son and wife could not have it due to dairy allergies. Only suggestion for the recipe is to specify that stirring constantly is required during double boiler cooking. I am a novice chef and would not have known if my wife had not corrected me early in the process. Thank you!

    Reply

  13. RollingRanchGirl says

    5 stars
    Perfection! Just made a batch and it tastes so good! Had to cook for about 20 minutes and the texture is spot on! Can’t wait to serve with fruit and as a “drizzle” on my lemon cheesecake bars at my family brunch this weekend.

    Reply

  14. Jane T says

    5 stars
    Sounds wonderful! Where do you buy the Earth Balance? Struggling to find anything in the UK except the nut butters. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

    • Sheena Strain says

      Hi Jane,

      I live in the US and that brand is not available in the UK I don’t think, I’m sorry! Look for a dairy free margarine or vegan butter like “Pure” Sunflower spread, I was able to find that in Tesco last time I was home visiting family. I can’t say for sure but I think that will work for this recipe.

      Reply

  15. Marit Metcalfe says

    5 stars
    I doubled the recipe, used 25% mandarin juice and zest, and used less sugar since I was out and added a little brown sugar(2.25c total vs 3c) this turned out so good! Had some over dairy free coconut milk lime ice cream last night and was in heaven. Thanks for the great recipe.

    Reply

  16. Jane says

    5 stars
    This was absolutely delicious! I mixed the lemon curd with nondairy whipped topping…equal parts! My grandson loved it! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  19. Janis says

    5 stars
    I am preparing this lovely recipe as I type. I am wondering how big a ‘serving size’ (312 cals.) is? I can’t imagine anyway this isn’t going to be a fantastic addition to my cooking repertoire. Thanks.

    Reply

    • Sheena Strain says

      Hi Janis!
      I’m so glad you’re enjoying the recipe. So, this is a recipe I’ve had for a long while and I changed some things up on the recipe card and long story short, I have no idea what I originally thought a serving size was! I have updated it now to make 6 servings (which has created a new per calorie serving of 189) so the total amount is about 1134 calories. I will add, my little calorie counter widget does not have specific brands so if you need a really accurate calorie count you’d be better running it through an online calorie calculator.

      Reply

  20. Erin says

    3 stars
    Thanks for the recipe. I made lime curd with vanilla bean sugar and used the zest from three limes. I cooked it for about 25 minutes and ended up with 2.5 cups.

    Reply

  22. Lauren Burton says

    This recipe was tasty with coconut oil instead of butter. Coconut oil substitutes well for butter because it is 100% fat and has an even larger molecular structure than butter, resulting in less sticking and great mouthfeel. I did have trouble with the lemon curd not getting thick enough. It was thick enough for the pan to show a bit while I was stirring it and achieved a consistency of honey, but didn’t thicken more than that. Next time I might try a little more egg yolk.

    Reply

  23. Marina says

    It looks very delicious. I was excited to try it for me vegan family.. The tile says ‘dairy free’ …but… you use eggs?? Is there an alternative? ingredient that won’t compromise the lemony flavour??

    Reply

    • Sheena Strain says

      Hi Marina, I’m sorry it won’t work for you, I know it’s hard when you’re on a restricted diet. The recipe is indeed dairy free (dairy includes any product made from milk, eggs are not considered to be dairy) I’m not sure how you could make this recipe vegan, you might be better to look for a recipe that’s already vegan as I’m not sure if this one can be made without eggs.

      Reply

  24. Jeanne says

    This was my first go at lemon curd… It tastes delicious! It was easy, but I wasn’t sure how thick was thick eniugh when cooking in the stovetop (double boiler ). It took me about 20 minutes of cooking but my bowl was not super close to the simmering water. It is in the refrigerator right now, and I’m assuming it will continue to thicken , right?

    Thanks for a great recipe!

    Jeanne

    Reply

  26. Michelle says

    Can you jar this and store at room temp or does it need to be refrigerated? Im thinking of gifting some in jars.

    Reply

  27. Joan Belle says

    5 stars
    Just wanted to let you know… I am about to do a test batch of your recipes for these bars. We are having a Summer Solstice Festival, and a friend and I are having a table with hibiscus tea and fruited lemonade to sell with baked “goodies”. I will let you know how they turn out….

    Reply

  29. elaine@cookinandcraftin.com says

    5 stars
    This looks super yummy!! My husband would love it…lemon is one of his favorites! Thanks for Sharing on My 2 Favorite Things on Thursday – Link Party. Hope you come back again tomorrow to share some more stuff!! Pinned!!

    Reply

      • Gail Strasser says

        Earth balance also makes one soy free version that is also suitable for baking and melting in place of butter. I love that this lemon curd recipe doesn’t have to be strained!

        Reply

        • Sheena Strain says

          Thanks Gail! We don’t have to eat soy free but I’ve used that version from time to time if that’s what they had at the store, it tastes just as nice as the other ones.

          Reply