Homemade Lemon Curd

Super easy and so delicious you’ll be making this homemade lemon curd time and time again. Made from five simple ingredients and comes together quickly on the stove.

WHAT IS LEMON CURD?

Lemon curd is a spread like a creamy lemon jam. It has a buttery, sweet, tart lemon flavour and once you make it, I guarantee you’ll be smothering it on everything!

Perfect for:

• Spreading on scones, waffles, English muffins, crumpets, biscuits, toast or croissants.
• Topping a pavlova or in a lemon meringue pie. Both perfect recipes for using up your egg whites!
• Filling macarons, choux pastry, pancakes or ice cream bars.
• Beating into buttercream, whipping cream or mascarpone for filling or topping cakes and cupcakes.
• Stirring into yogurt, cottage cheese, or slathered over ice cream.

Once you’ve made my homemade version, you’ll never be tempted to pick up a jar at the shops again, no sketchy ingredients or thickeners and it tastes amazing.

If you decide to give this recipe a try, let me know! Leave a comment below and rate it – it’s really helpful to me and other readers knowing what you think! And don’t forget to take a picture and tag me @thegourmetlarder or hashtag it #thegourmetlarder on Instagram or Facebook. I love seeing what you’ve been baking! 🙂

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RECIPE HIGHLIGHTS

• EASE: super easy and quick to prepare.
• FREE FROM: this recipe is gluten and nut free. For vegan options please refer to my substitutions section.
• GREAT FOR: spreading on toast, filling cakes, biscuits, cupcakes, scones, tarts, topping muffins, ice cream and more!
• TASTE & TEXTURE: sweet, creamy, smooth and intensely tangy.
• QUANTITY: 400g / 14oz
• TIME: 20 minutes, plus 1 hour chilling.

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INGREDIENTS

For this recipe all you need are these ingredients:

• Fresh lemons (approx. 2 medium lemons) – are the hero of our recipe for both the zest and juice. As we are using the peel of the lemon, it is highly recommended to buy organic if you can. Otherwise look for unwaxed lemons. Do not use bottled juice, it is too acidic.

• Caster or granulated sugar – is to balance out the tartness of the lemons. Alternatively, honey or coconut sugar can be used. See the variations section for more details. Don’t use brown sugar as it will alter the colour of the curd.

• Medium eggs – this recipe calls for both a whole egg and two egg yolks for richness. The eggs create that creamy thick texture like in crème brûlée or custard.

• Butter – adds more creamy richness and also acts as a thickener. The more the lemon curd is chilled in the fridge the thicker it will become.

TIP: I highly recommend adding a good pinch of salt to your sweet sauces. It would seem counterproductive, but it’s not, I promise. Salt helps balance out the sweetness and richness. It also elevates the other ingredients, bringing out the best characteristics of any sauce recipe. In a seemingly absurd or contradictory way, salt intensifies the mouth’s ability to taste sweetness. Sodium sends signals to move glucose into the sweet taste receptor cells in our tongue, triggering the cells to register sweetness. The result is that salt not only alerts our ‘salt sensitivity’, but also our ‘sweet sensitive’ taste buds.
I recommend Maldon Sea salt flakes or Cornish sea salt.

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SUBSTITUTIONS

While I am making recommendations for alternative ingredients, I haven’t necessarily tried them. If you try making any adaptions, I would love to know how you get on and share it with the other readers.

SUGAR-FREE AND LOW-CALORIE OPTIONS

• Sugar free options – for a healthier option replace the cane sugar with 80g of honey.

VEGAN OPTIONS

• Butter suggestions: replace the butter with 50g refined coconut oil or Naturli vegan block or Flora plant-based block butter alternative.

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WHAT VARIATIONS CAN I MAKE?

• Alternative fruit – if you fancy mixing it up a little then replace the lemon with oranges, limes or lemon and passion fruit.

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NUTRITION

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STORAGE

You can store this lemon curd in an airtight container or sterilised jar in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Freezing: You can freeze this spread for up to three months, after simply thaw it in the fridge overnight.

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TOOLS YOU’LL NEED

Here are some kitchen tools that I use and recommend for this recipe.

• 290ml Wide Mouthed Storage Jars

• 370ml Tulip Storage Jar

• 580ml Wide Mouthed Storage Jar

Glass storage jars for sourdough, preserving, canning, yoghurt, kimchi and jam. Choice of different sizes available:

• 3pc Silicone Balloon Whisk Set, Colourful Non Stick, 20cm/8″, 25cm/10″, 30cm/12″

The whisks are ideal for mixing hot and cold batters or creams. They come in three different sizes and are very colourful.

• James Martin Stainless Steel, heavy, 16cm 1.5L Saucepan with Vented Glass Lid, Induction Ready, Oven Safe, Dishwasher Safe, Fully Guaranteed

I prefer to use a heavy based saucepan for boiling milk or cooking creams, the heat is distributed more evenly and allows you to control the heating more accurately.

Please check out my Shop for a curated collection of some of my favourite baking equipment. The Gourmet Larder is an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

TIP: I highly recommend using metric measurements and a digital kitchen scale, rather than cup measurements. If you have ever ended up with dry, dense or crumbly baked goods, it might be because of inaccurate volume measurements, not all measuring cups are made equally. All my recipes on this blog are carefully developed so that you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success, using metric measurements. It is also a lot easier, less messy and you will get far better, consistent results. 🙂
If you are interested in understanding conversions, here you will find the best conversion chart.

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RECIPE TIPS

Avoid overcooking the eggs – by keeping the stove heat level low and continually whisking. Overheating or not whisking will cause the eggs to coagulate and scramble. Alternatively, you can use a double boiler.

If you do get lumps in your curd – they should get removed with the zest when you pass it through a sieve. If it’s still lumpy give it a quick blend with a liquidiser or hand blender until smooth.

The curd is ready when – it has noticeably thickened and coats the back of a wooden spoon.

To avoid a skin forming on the lemon curd – cover with cling film ensuring the film is in direct contact with the curd.

Ensure the curd has been chilled completely – prior to filling cakes or it will run out as it has not had time to thicken to the right consistency.

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