Easy Homemade Lemon Curd 🍋
Make your own delicious homemade lemon curd in just 20 minutes using just 4 simple ingredients. Full of the goodness of eggs and the freshness of lemon, this curd keeps well and can be used in so many different ways.
Lemon Curd is, essentially, just cooled lemon custard. But even easier to make.
It really is a case of letting the sugar, butter and lemon juice and zest melt in a bain marie, adding beaten eggs and then letting it cook for 12 minutes.
Beautiful on a buttered slice of my White Bread Loaf, Seeded Granary Bread or Easy Homemade Sourdough.
The flavour? Well, far better than any bought lemon curd I have ever tried, to be sure. It has a lightness to it that you don't get with bought lemon curd. It tastes fresh and airy with a creamy soft texture and a delicious sweet lemon flavour.
Used in my LEMON TIRAMISU recipe, I now prefer to make lemon curd, knowing it is free from additives and has lots of goodness in it from all of the eggs and fresh lemons.
I now also use it in my Lemon Victoria Sponge cake.
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Why make this Easy Homemade Lemon Curd?
Goodness of eggs and lemons 🍋
Takes 20 minutes to make 🍋
Keeps well refrigerated 🍋
Only 4 ingredients needed 🍋
Perfect for a cake filling 🍋
Gets some eggy goodness into children 🍋
No additives 🍋
Ingredients
See the Recipe card below for the exact quantities.
You will need:
- Lemons
- Large eggs
- Caster sugar (superfine sugar)
- Unsalted butter
Instructions
See Recipe card at the end for exact instructions.
Soooooo easy!....
Add your lemon juice, zest, sugar and butter to a heatproof mixing bowl set securely over a pan of simmering water but not actually touching the water. Stir gently until all of the butter has melted.
Then add your beaten eggs and egg yolk and mix thoroughly together. Cook for 8 minutes and then put the curd through a sieve to remove the bits of lemon zest. Return the curd to the pan and cook for another 5-7 minutes until the lemon curd coats the back of a spoon. Set aside to fully cool.
Storage
This recipe makes enough Homemade Lemon Curd for one 0.5 litre jar.
Stored in a sterilised and sealed jar (if you want instructions regarding how to do this, go to Sterilising Glass Jars), homemade lemon curd will keep for up to 2 weeks.
Top tips for perfect Lemon Curd 😊
Use fresh lemons 🍋
Fresh lemons are really needed for this recipe. They have a far better flavour than bought lemon juice, which can taste somewhat artificial.
Beat your eggs 🥚 thoroughly before adding
As you don't want to end up with a scrambled egg effect!
Keep stirring 🥄 constantly but gently
This will ensure the lemon curd cooks evenly and again prevents any risk of the eggs scrambling or any white bits of egg white forming. Plus, if not stirred regularly, you can find that your lemon curd becomes grainy.
FAQ
Homemade Lemon Curd should coat the back of a spoon and stay there when it is ready. This usually takes 10-15 minutes to achieve. When it has cooled and set, it should be smooth and creamy, not as thick as jam.
Homemade lemon curd is far lighter than bought lemon curd. It has an airy, fresh texture and flavour. It is sweet but still very lemony.
Related
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📖 Recipe
Easy Homemade Lemon Curd
Here's what you'll need...
- Large heavy based saucepan
- Large heatproof mixing bowl for a bain marie i.e. the bowl has to fit on the saucepan securely but not touch the water below
- Sterilised jars
Ingredients you'll need...
Lemon Curd
- 130 ml Lemon juice from about 3 lemons. (¾ Cup)
- 2 tablespoon Lemon zest
- 200 g Caster sugar (1 Cup of superfine sugar)
- 95 g Unsalted butter cut into 2 cm cubes (6 tablespoons)
- 3 Large eggs
- 1 Large egg yolk
Here's what we do...
- Create a bain marie - i.e. take your large saucepan and fill it about a third full with boiling water and allow it to simmer. Check that your heatproof mixing bowl will fit on the top without touching the water below.
- Add your lemon juice and zest, your sugar and cubed butter to your heatproof mixing bowl and place it securely over the pan of simmering water.
- Stir gently until the butter has melted.
- Whisk your eggs and egg yolk together until incorporated and no egg white remains.
- Pour your eggs into the melted butter mixture and keep stirring to be sure they mix in well. A balloon whisk works well for this.
- Cook for 8 minutes, continually stirring, and then remove from the heat and put the curd through a sieve to remove the pieces of lemon zest.
- Return the curd to the saucepan and continue to cook for another 5-7 minutes, stirring lightly to be sure that the curd cooks evenly.
- By this point you should find that if you dip a dessert spoon into the curd, it will coat the back of it. That means the curd is done. If not, continue to cook for another couple of minutes.
- Remove the bowl from the pan and set it aside to let it fully cool.
- Once cool, give the lemon curd a stir and then pour it into a sterilised jar, seal and refrigerate.
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