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Lemon Bars {Paleo-friendly, grain-free, gluten-free} | Lexi's Clean Kitchen

These bright and cheerful Gluten Free Lemon Bars are the perfect summertime treat! They’re creamy and delicious, and best-of-all, so easy to make. Bring them along to your next pot luck or BBQ and everyone will be thanking you!

Gluten Free Lemon BarsGluten Free Lemon Bar Recipe

Lemon bars are one of my staple Summer desserts and I can’t wait for you to try this gluten-free version! The perfect balance of tart lemon, buttery crust, and just the right amount of sweetness. It took us a few tries to perfect this recipe, but man was it WORTH IT! These lemon bars are bursting with lemon goodness and the crust compliments the lemon curd so perfectly. No one will be able to tell these are grain and gluten-free! They will be the hit of your summer BBQs!

Gluten free lemon bars almond flour with powdered sugar

How do you make gluten free lemon bars?

There are three basic steps to making these easy lemon bars:

  1. Assemble the crust. It’s super easy and all mixed up in on bowl. Pat it into the pan and bake it.
  2. Next make the lemon curd. All the ingredients are mixed in a pot, heated until thick and then strained out. You’ll whisk in butter to make it smooth and creamy.
  3. Next you pour the lemon curd into the baked crust and back in the oven it goes for a bit longer!

Lastly, you let the whole thing cool before slicing and serving. Optionally you can dust with powdered sugar to make it just a bit more pretty! But that’s not essential as these are already sweet enough.

Lemon curd in a jar

Other Lemon Curd Uses:

This lemon curd filing is amazing and you can use it for other recipes as well.

  • It makes the perfect filling for cupcakes, like the ones in my cookbook!
  • Use in a layer cake, like our classic birthday cake.
  • Use in overnight oats or chia seed pudding.
  • In an oatmeal bake.
  • As a topping on ice cream!

Watch the video here:

Uses for lemon curd in lemon bar

If you like this summertime dessert, check out these others:

If you like lemon, check out these other lemon recipes:

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Paleo Lemon Bars

Gluten Free Lemon Bars

5 from 4 votes
These bright and cheerful Gluten Free Lemon Bars are the perfect summertime treat! They're creamy and delicious, and best-of-all, so easy to make. Bring them along to your next pot luck or BBQ and everyone will be thanking you!
Servings 9 -12
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes

Ingredients
  

Crust:

  • 2 cups 192g almond flour
  • 2 tablespoon 16g tapioca flour
  • 4 tablespoons grass-fed butter OR coconut oil melted
  • 1/4 cup pure maple syrup or raw honey
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Lemon Curd:

  • 3 large eggs
  • 4 large egg yolks
  • 1/2 cup beet sugar OR maple sugar
  • Zest from 4 lemons
  • 3/4 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice from about 6 lemons
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • 8 tablespoons 1 stick unsalted butter, softened and cut into cubes
  • Powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees °F and line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.
  • Make the crust: Add all ingredients to a large mixing bowl and mix well. Press evenly into the baking pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until crust is lightly brown.
  • Meanwhile, make lemon curd: Place whole eggs and yolks, sugar, lemon zest and juice and sea salt in a medium pot.
  • Over low heat, whisk the lemon curd until it becomes thick enough to coat the back of a spoon and take off heat. This process should take around 8-10 minutes.
  • Using a fine mesh strainer, strain the lemon curd into a medium mixing bowl. Add in the butter and stir well until melted.
  • Pour lemon curd over the crust. Bake for an additional 10-15 minutes. Set aside, let cool completely, cover, and store in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours to set.
  • Top with powdered sugar, slice, and serve!

Notes

This recipe was originally published in June 2015, and updated slightly in June 2019.

Nutrition

Calories: 205kcalCarbohydrates: 11.3gProtein: 3.6gFat: 16.5gSaturated Fat: 8.4gCholesterol: 147mgSodium: 168mgFiber: 0.5gSugar: 9g
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Gluten-free, refined sugar free
Author: Lexi


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Comments

    1. We haven’t tested any alternative sugar-free substitutes with these, unfortunately, so we can’t advise.

  1. 5 stars
    I just made these with coconut sugar! I freaked out thinking they would come out brown but they didn’t! Just a darker yellow. Can’t wait for them to cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar. I also used Schar’s honey grahams for the crust as I didn’t have enough almond flour.

  2. What size lemons do you use for zesting? I by the ones at Costco and it was a lot of zest… turned out a bit bitter. Any idea on how many tablespoons of zest? !st time I made these I just wanted to eat the whole pan though.

  3. 5 stars
    These look amazing! My son is newly gluten-free (and dairy free) and I’m missing my baking!

  4. 5 stars
    Yes! Yes! Yes! Springtime means lemon bars, can’t wait to make these AGAIN so so good!! **don’t try and sub coconut sugar if you’re going for looks- makes the bars look like pumpkin pie, oops! Still taste great though!!

  5. I love lemon bars
    Any suggestions for substituting the butter or oil. Can applesauce take the place?
    Thanks

  6. A blitzed coconut sugar be ok? when it needs to disolve like this i usually blitz in thermo until i have an icing sugar consistancy. Would this work???? Thanks. they look yummo!

  7. This recipe looks amazing and can’t wait to try it! Perfect for summer! Have you tried using ghee in the curd instead of butter? Wondering how it would turn out, for a dairy-free approach.

    1. Hi Giuliana! I haven’t tried ghee yet, but it should work great (as a 1:1 substitute for butter)!! Let me know if you try it!