There’s no egg and no oven in a Mexican lime pie, and the filling still slices. Half a cup of lime juice does the setting, in about a minute, inside the blender. Pay de limón (pie deh lee-MOHN) is what Mexican home cooks make when they want a cold, tangy dessert for a crowd: a crust of crushed Maria cookies and butter, and a cream of sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk and lime that firms up in the fridge. If you know key lime pie, think of its softer, no-bake cousin. Below you’ll find how much lime to use so it sets without turning bitter, the crumb-to-butter ratio that keeps the crust from crumbling, the swaps for a US or UK supermarket, and when the baked version is worth it.
What is Mexican lime pie, and is it worth making?
How do you make Mexican lime pie? Crush 200 g (7 oz) of Maria cookies with 90 g (6½ tbsp) of melted butter and press them into a 9-inch (23 cm) pie dish. Blend a can of sweetened condensed milk with a can of evaporated milk, then pour in ½ cup (120 ml) of lime juice with the blender running until the mixture thickens. Pour it over the crust and chill 4 hours, or overnight. 260 minutes for 10 servings.
Yes, if you can wait. It’s 20 minutes of work and six ingredients, all of them in a regular US or UK supermarket, and it’s better made the day before than the day of. It’s not the dessert for tonight: the filling needs 4 hours in the fridge before it cuts.
It suits a taco night, a potluck or a dessert table for 8 to 12, anyone who likes tart-and-sweet, and cooks without a reliable oven. It doesn’t suit anyone after a low-sugar dessert (each slice carries about 29 g of sugar) or a firm, custardy pie: the classic version is creamy and slices soft.
In Mexico, limón means the small green lime, and that lime is the same species as the key lime, Citrus × aurantiifolia, smaller, seedier, more acidic and more aromatic than the Persian limes most supermarkets sell, according to Wikipedia. So the flavor gap between a pay de limón and a key lime pie is smaller than the method gap.
Key lime pie adds egg and bakes; Eagle Brand, the condensed milk maker, gives 20 minutes at 350°F (175°C) for its version. Carlota de limón, the other Mexican classic, is the same lime cream layered with whole Maria cookies in a dish, as in the Goya and Laylita recipes. Pay de limón sits in between: crumb crust like a pie, no eggs like a carlota.
Ingredients, with US and UK swaps
The recipe card has the amounts: 200 g (7 oz) cookies, 90 g (6½ tbsp) butter, one can of each milk and ½ cup (120 ml) of lime juice for a 9-inch (23 cm) dish. Here’s what to buy where you live.
| Ingredient | In the US | In the UK | What changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maria cookies | Goya or Gamesa, 7 oz (198 g) pack, sold at Walmart | Maria biscuits if you find them, or digestives | graham crackers make a toastier crust, digestives a sandier one |
| Mexican limes | key limes, or about 4 Persian limes | about 4 limes | Persian limes are milder: add the zest |
| Bottled lime juice | key lime juice in bottles | bottled lime juice | sets the same, tastes flatter |
| Sweetened condensed milk | 14 oz (397 g) can | 397 g tin | nothing |
| Evaporated milk | 12 oz (354 g) can | 410 g tin, use 360 g | nothing |
| Butter | 6½ tbsp unsalted | 90 g from a 250 g block | salted works; the crust tastes saltier |
How much lime juice, and why more doesn’t help
Half a cup (120 ml) per can of condensed milk. I compared six published recipes for pay de limón and carlota; they run from 60 to 180 ml (¼ to ¾ cup), and three of them land on ½ cup. Nestlé Mexico uses only ¼ cup, which sets but tastes mostly of milk. Excélsior’s 180 ml works because it adds 190 g (6.7 oz) of cream cheese to hold the filling.
Going over doesn’t make it firmer. Milenio warns that too much lime makes the filling lose stability, and on Emmymade’s carlota a reader who used more than ½ cup reports that the cream never thickened.
Goya and Emmymade get ½ cup from about 4 Persian limes. Key limes are smaller: Mama Maggie’s Kitchen calls for 10 of them where it would use 5 regular limes. Squeeze them without crushing the peel, and zest only the green layer: the white pith underneath is bitter, as Nestlé Ecuador’s recipe points out.
Why it sets without baking
Lime juice is strongly acidic, between pH 2 and 2.35 in the Clemson University Extension food pH table. Casein, the main milk protein, stays dispersed in milk as negatively charged micelles at milk’s normal pH of 6.6. Lower the pH toward 4.6, casein’s isoelectric point, and the micelles lose the charge that kept them apart and clump. Plain milk would split into curds and whey. Condensed milk is denser: by USDA figures it carries 7.9 g of protein per 100 g, about two and a half times the 3.2 g in whole milk, and more than half its weight is sugar, so the clumping proteins knit into a thick, spoonable cream instead. Wikipedia describes the same thing in key lime pie: the condensed milk proteins and the acidic juice curdle, thickening the filling without baking. The evaporated milk is what makes the Mexican version softer than a key lime filling; the fridge does the rest.
A crust that holds together
45 g of butter for every 100 g of cookies (200 g with 90 g, or 7 oz with 6½ tbsp). That’s Excélsior’s ratio, close to King Arthur’s graham crust (175 g crumbs to 85 g butter) and a little leaner than Nestlé Mexico’s 30 Marías with 90 g. Less butter only works if you bake the crust; Chilango uses 50 g for 200 g of cookies and bakes it at 200°C (390°F). The test is your fist: squeezed crumbs should hold as a clump.
Equipment. A blender, a 9-inch (23 cm) pie dish at least 1½ in (3.5 cm) deep (a springform pan unmolds more neatly), a flat-bottomed glass and a juicer. No blender? An immersion blender or a whisk, with the lime added even more slowly.
Make-ahead plan, and how to tell it’s working
Twenty minutes hands-on, four hours in the fridge. Blend the filling while the crust firms in the freezer, and nothing waits on anything else.
Make it the night before. Excélsior, Goya and Emmymade all recommend an overnight chill, and in my kitchen it slices cleaner at 8 hours than at 4. The pressed crust also keeps, covered in the fridge, for a day.
Signs it’s on track.
- Crumbs hold together when squeezed. If they fall apart, add 1 tablespoon of butter.
- Filling turns from milky to a cream that leaves a trail on the surface within 30 to 60 seconds of adding the lime. Still thin? Blend 30 seconds more before you reach for more juice.
- Set after 4 hours: the center barely wobbles when you nudge the dish and the top doesn’t stick to your finger.
- Slicing after 30 minutes in the freezer, with a hot, dry knife, gives straight edges.
Feeding a crowd. One 9-inch (23 cm) pie gives 10 slices of about 116 g (4 oz); 8 generous, 12 thin. For 20, double the recipe in a 9 × 13 in (23 × 33 cm) baking dish, which has 1.8 times the area of the round pie dish, and cut 20 squares. For an 11-inch (28 cm) pan, multiply everything by 1.5.
Mistakes that ruin a Mexican lime pie
- It didn’t set → too little time, or reduced-sugar condensed milk, which Milenio advises against. Give it the night; if it’s still loose after 8 hours, an hour in the freezer turns it into a frozen lime pie.
- It tastes bitter → pith got in through the zest or the juicer. Green zest only.
- The filling is lumpy → the lime went in all at once. Blend 20 seconds more on high.
- The crust crumbles → too little butter or too little pressure. 45 g per 100 g of crumbs, and press with a glass.
- Slices slump → cut straight from the fridge with a cold knife. Freeze 30 minutes and use a hot knife.
Kids, spice and allergens. No heat at all, and most children like it. It contains milk and wheat (the cookies); the classic has no egg. Check the cookie label for anyone with allergies, since recipes vary by brand.
Which version should you make?
- Firmer, cleaner slices → blend 190 g (6.7 oz) of softened cream cheese with the milks before the lime, as Excélsior does. About 388 kcal a slice.
- Faster → 1 tbsp (7 g) unflavored gelatin bloomed 5 minutes in 2 tbsp (30 ml) water, melted over hot water and blended in, as in UnoTV’s version. It sets in 2 to 3 hours.
- Closer to key lime pie → skip the evaporated milk and blend the condensed milk with 3 egg yolks and ½ cup (120 ml) lime juice; bake 15 minutes at 350°F (180°C), as Nestlé Ecuador does, then chill 2 hours. The FDA says dishes containing eggs should be cooked to 160°F (71°C); for pregnant guests, young children or older adults, use pasteurized yolks.
- With meringue → a Swiss meringue: 3 egg whites and 150 g (¾ cup) sugar whisked over simmering water to 160°F (71°C), until no sugar grains remain, then beaten until the bowl feels cool and browned with a torch. Excélsior warns that meringue starts weeping syrup after 48 hours, so add it on serving day.
- Frozen, for a hot day → 1 to 2 hours in the freezer instead of the fridge; Nestlé Mexico suggests it.
- Gluten-free → any dry gluten-free cookie, same butter ratio.
What it costs
In the US, a 10-slice pie comes to about $7.12, or $0.71 a slice, with October 2026 prices.
Condensed and evaporated milk are store brands at Walmart; the cookies are Goya Maria at Walmart; butter and limes use the BLS August 2026 averages (the BLS tracks lemons, not limes, so that line is an estimate). In the UK, the two Carnation tins at Tesco cost £1.75 (condensed, 397 g) and £1.65 (evaporated, 410 g); I couldn’t find reliable prices for the rest, so I won’t give a total. Cream cheese raises the bill.
Serving, storing and freezing
How it’s served. Cold, in wedges, with lime zest on top; sometimes with meringue or whipped cream. It’s the natural ending to tacos al pastor or a heavy plate of Colombian chicken rice, with a mug of Mexican café de olla to offset the cold and the sweet.
For a dessert table, it sits well next to other make-ahead desserts: a Colombian flan set in a water bath on the stovetop, a no-bake passion fruit dessert set with gelatin, a Mexican mosaic gelatin that serves 20, and a tres leches cake built on the same two cans.
Fridge. The USDA FSIS leftovers guidance and the FDA egg-safety page agree: no more than 2 hours out of the fridge, 1 hour above 90°F (32°C), and 3 to 4 days at 40°F (4°C) or below, covered. With meringue, eat it within 48 hours.
Freezer. The classic freezes into a frozen lime pie. I keep it no longer than a month, wrapped in plastic and foil, and leave it out 15 to 20 minutes before slicing. Meringue doesn’t freeze. There’s nothing to reheat: if it softens on the table, 30 minutes in the freezer brings it back.
Mexican lime pie FAQ
Why didn’t my lime pie set? Usually time: it needs 4 hours and slices best after a night. The other causes are reduced-sugar condensed milk and too much juice; more than ½ cup (120 ml) per can loosens it.
Is Mexican lime pie the same as key lime pie? No. Key lime pie bakes condensed milk and lime with egg in a graham crust; the Mexican version adds evaporated milk, skips the egg and sets in the fridge. The limes are the same species.
Can I use bottled lime juice? Yes, it sets the same because the acid does the work. The flavor is flatter; I only use it when I can’t get limes.
Can I use lemons instead of limes? It sets (lemon juice sits at pH 2.00 to 2.60 in the same Clemson table), but it tastes like a lemon pie rather than a Mexican one.
Can I make it without evaporated milk? Swap in a can of heavy cream (double cream in the UK) for a richer, thicker filling. With condensed milk and lime alone, you need egg yolks and the oven.
Does it contain raw egg? The classic has no egg at all. The baked version and the meringue do; cook both to 160°F (71°C).
How long does it keep? 3 to 4 days in the fridge at 40°F (4°C) or below, and about a month in the freezer.
Nutrition per slice
Per slice (1/10 of the pie, about 116 g / 4 oz), calculated from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy) with the recipe amounts and a 387 g Mexican can of condensed milk; a 14 oz (397 g) US can adds about 3 kcal a slice.
- Calories: 321 kcal
- Protein: 7 g
- Carbohydrates: 40 g
- Fat: 16 g, of which 9 g saturated
- Fiber: 1 g
- Sugars: 29 g
- Sodium: 163 mg
Condensed milk is 39 % of the calories and the crust 45 %; the lime adds 1 %. Cut into 12, a slice drops to 268 kcal.
I grew up in Venezuela and live in Colombia, and in both places a limón is green, so the only thing this pie ever asked of me was patience. The first one I cut at two hours slid across the plate. Now I blend it after dinner and don’t open the fridge door on it until the next day. Josnaisis.