No-bake, no-fuss! This gluten free, paleo and keto key lime pie is extra creamy, citrusy and with all good-for-you ingredients!
Paleo & Keto Key Lime Pie 🍋
No-Bake, No-Fuss!
That’s right, this low carb key lime pie is a breeze to whip up! And, arguably even more important, without losing any of that explosive citrus kick you know and love.
Key limes, otherwise known as Mexican or West Indian limes, are smaller (yet a lot tastier!) than conventional ones. When at their prime, they’re characterized by a bolder and more acidic punch. And, as the name suggests, they’re the star ingredient of this low carb and keto pie. Still, you can go for regular limes too!
And don’t skip the instant ‘graham cracker’ crust, it’s a-mazing (and easy-peasy, so no excuse).
Just like our key lime cheesecake-for-1, feel free to adjust the serving size for this guy and whip it up as fat bombs. And be sure to keep them handy in your freezer for fresh keto treats!
The Sweetener 🍯
You can pretty much use whatever sweetener floats your boat here. As even though you’ll get slightly different tasting results with each sweetener, the key lime zest is pretty good at masking aftertastes.
But the sweeteners must be powdered. Think erythritol (Lakanto or Swerve), xylitol and Pyure (at half the amount). And if paleo (or not restricted by sugar), coconut sugar is your best bet here. My favorite for least aftertaste is xylitol, but you’ve got options.
So get your blender out, make sure it’s completely dry, and process your sweetener of choice until powdered. Just make sure you wait a few moments for the dust to settle before opening the blender or food processor.
Or you can always grab a bag of Powdered Swerve (i.e. confectioner’s).
You can even use stevia drops and pure monk fruit here too. For real, use whatever floats your boat.
And if using xylitol, make sure to be careful if you have a pup (or furry creature) around the house, as it’s highly toxic to the little guys! 🐕
No-Bake Gluten Free, Paleo & Keto Key Lime Pie
Oh, and if baking with cups rather than grams is your thing, just click on US Cups for an instant conversion.
Ingredients
For the keto graham cracker crust
- 192 g almond flour or meal (both work great!)
- 1/4-1/2 cup powdered xylitol or sweetener of choice, to taste
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 56 g melted unsalted grass-fed butter or ghee/coconut oil, as needed
For the keto key lime pie
- 400 g avocado about 3
- 250 g coconut cream chilled (see notes)**
- 2 tablespoons freshly grated key lime zest
- 80 ml freshly squeezed key lime juice to taste
- 1/3-1/2 cup powdered xylitol or sweetener of choice, to taste
- 1/4-1/2 teaspoon kosher salt to taste
Instructions
For the keto graham cracker crust
- Lightly toast almond flour in a skillet or pan over medium heat, until fully golden and fragrant (2-4 minutes). This is very important taste-wise, so don't skip!
- Transfer toasted almond flour to a medium bowl, and mix in sweetener, cinnamon and salt. Add in butter, mix until thoroughly combined, and press into an 8 or 9-inch pie dish. Allow to come to room temperature and freeze while you make the pie filling.
For the keto key lime pie
- Blend all the filling ingredients (starting with the lower amounts) together using an immersion blender (or high speed blender) until creamy smooth. Taste for sweetness, tanginess and seasoning and adjust accordingly. Key limes can vary a lot in taste, so start with the lower amount and add to taste (keeping in mind that the flavors will develop while chilling).
- Spread the key lime filling over the graham crust lined pie and refrigerate preferably overnight (the key lime kick becomes so much better!). But if in a pickle you can always pop it in the freezer for an hour or so.
- Keep in the fridge for 3-4 days, and frozen for a month or two.
Can you use honey as a sweetener ?
You say use powder sweetener but then suggest drops or pure monk fruit. So which is it? Ibwant to use pure monk fruit liquid. Can I
Can this crust be baked if Im switching out the filling?
I really enjoyed the filling for this pie. I used xylitol and cream cheese and it came out delicious 😋. I always love your recipes. I’m willing the keto bread recipe. I’ve had soo many eggy breads that I just gave up.
Try the bread Khwezi! Neither the 90 second bread or the proper sandwich bread are eggy 😉
Hi i have monkfruit powdered and regular sugar how mich should i use?
I love this recipe, my non sugar-free/grain-free family and friends loved it. I have made it on several occasions. Depending on the ripeness of the avocado, the flavor may be more or less avocado-ey. Also the color is so beautiful. I’ve also subbed with vegan butter to make it animal free.
Thanks for the recipe. This was delicious, although definitely had quite a bit of avocado flavor. I followed the recipe exactly by weight and used just shy of 3 avocados, but added just a bit more lime juice and zest because I love limes. The avocados were just ripe. I let it sit for about 6 hours in the refrigerator. The great thing was, my dinner guests were all avocado fans and loved my “avocado” pie, and half of them requested the recipe, so definitely a hit, but I guess I was just hoping the avocado wouldn’t be so obvious. I agree with you that it’s even better the next day, although still tasted a bit avocado-y. I will try again maybe with your soaked cashew suggestion. Again, I and my guests love avocado so the taste was just fine. Delicious even. I was just hoping for the key limes to be more of the star. This crust was epic, by the way. I didn’t think it’d turn out without baking, but the toasting ahead of time made it absolutely perfect in taste and texture. So similar to a graham cracker crust. Maybe even better! ❤️
Didn’t think this would work, but it totally does. It tastes and looks incredible and keeps the beautiful green color. For stevia I had to add a lot, something like 80 drops liquid. I also put more lime juice. For sure you need to taste the filling before you pour it in. Best lime pie ever!
I made this for a friend’s birthday last night and it was really good! It only set for a few hours but was delicious! Today it is even better. My kids and husband loved it until they heard that it had avocado and erythritol in it. Next time I have to keep my mouth shut!!! (more for me though) 🙂
This came out awesome! Key lime is my husband’s favorite pie and he said I’d knocked it out of the park. I said silent thanks to you 😀 . I used Lakanto monkfruit with Erythritol for sweetener and most of a huge Florida avocado, as that is what I had on hand. Thai kitchen sells coconut cream in a can, so used up the whole can. Thank you so much for this healthy low carb pie.
I didn’t have coconut cream in the house. So I substituted creamed cheese. Taste amazing!
That sounds great! Did you leave the cream cheese to get to room temp?
Any avocado substitute? This looks good but hubby can’t have avocado and we are dairy free. More coconut cream??
I would try soaked cashews, almonds, or macadamias made into a puree, or cashew or macadamia butter (less). If this doesn’t set up enough in the fridge, add some coconut oil to help it set.
Also if you want it green add a small handful of baby spinach or lightly steamed spinach, or something similar.
I wouldn’t do that tbh… spinach has texture and a very distinct taste- it’ll be hard for it to go completely unnoticed 😉
Yeah fair enough. I would only use maybe 4 or 5 baby spinach leaves in the whole pie, which wouldn’t give much presence.
The avocado version I made did taste of avocado to be honest, which was odd, but I don’t know. I used the weight of avocado suggested.
Mmmm thanks for letting me know Bob! Someone else did comment the same thing for the first time (today in fact!), so I’ll take a look. Honestly when you add fresh ingredients some variables are bound to change (my key limes could’ve been more zesty etc). xo!
I wonder if the type of avocado used makes a difference with the flavour?
I have been loving all the recipes I have tried from you, but I am having trouble with this one. I’m not sure if it’s the sweetener (I only had stevia on hand), or if I used too much lime juice/zest, but it came out very tart almost like a sour avocado, and pretty much inedible. The crust: perfection! I made it into little muffin cups for a “fat bomb” and was making them to share so I doubled the recipe and got 72!! Maybe I didn’t add enough sweetener? I could dip them in chocolate…ha! Or maybe it was because i doubled it? Sometimes recipes have trouble doing that. Any suggestions or insight?
Oh- I loved both the cookies n cream and cookie dough fat bombs. Amazing! The cookie dough ones are so simple! And the cookies n cream ones are wonderful with the added coffee flavor. Just beautiful!
I made this for 4th of July and it was a big hit! Zesting all those limes were a pain but worth the effort! Thanks for another great recipe Paola 🙂
AAwesome to hear Joyce! 😉
Ingredient called for “1/4-1/2 cup powdered xylitol”, however the link is for granulated xylitol. Which is correct?
Hi Ping! Xylitol isn’t sold in powdered form, but if you read the section on sweeteners it explains that you can powder it yourself xo
Thank you for replying so quickly!
I just whipped this up, and it’s chilling in the fridge right now. Mine does look a lot greener than in your photos. I wonder if it’s the coconut/avocado ratio? I did weigh both, but maybe I needed more coconut cream. Oh well… it tastes great!
Could also be the avocados? When you use natural products they’re always bound to be some variations! Let it hang out in your fridge if you can overnight for best taste (tastes great after even just a few hours, but you’ll know what I mean tomorrow!) xo!
Thanks for this recipe. Going to make today.
Are the measurements (I’m using ounces) for the coconut cream and avocado by weight or by volume (fluid ounces)? In other words, should I weigh them or measure in a liquid measuring cup? Thanks!
Hi Alison! If possible weigh them xo!m
Hi. When I click on the US button to convert the measurements to cups it works great on the screen but most of it reverts back to grams when I click the print button. I’ve been writing the conversion on the printed recipe by hand but would be nice if I didn’t have to. Do you have any idea why this would happen. Thanks.
We’re working on adding this feature with the recipe plugin provided Mary, hopefully it’ll be available soon
This looks truly amazing… can’t wait to try the recipe! Thanks so much for sharing this and so many others too….
Thank you Liz!! Hope you love it!!
That looks totally amazing! Was searching for a no bake cheesecake like recipe when I bumped into this one. And I love lime in everything so will be making this next week! Can’t wait to try it!
how do i make the white whipped cream on the top?
Whip up some heavy whipping cream and just pipe it with a star tip 🙂
Not gonna lie, even though I’ve made plenty of great recipes from you, I was still a bit skeptical of this one. But once again you did not disappoint at all! I made a 1/3 of the recipe with my daughter into small treats and they’re unbelievably good. You would never think these are healthy desserts and the crust blew my mind! You’re a genius
Oh, Paola, I am so confused. Regarding the instructions for the KETO GRAHAM CRACKER CRUST, you say, “Allow to come to room temperature and freeze while you make the pie filling.” What ingredients are not already at room temperature? Please help me understand.
Hi LaWanda! Since you toasted the almond flour and the butter is melted, your mix will lightly be a bit warm 😉 xo!
Can’t wait to try this AND the bagels! Any chance you’ll ever try a baguette or maybe even a crusty dinner roll recipe? Also, just wanted to share – I know you’ve mentioned sukrin gold before (amazing!) but just in case you haven’t tried the regular sukrin powdered and sukrin:1, they are the best substitutes for sugar I’ve ever tasted. Even though they’re just erythritol like Swerve, I really don’t pickup any of that cooling sensation and aftertaste I get from Swerve. Even non-keto friends have said it’s impossible to tell it apart from sugar. I have to order it online, but I think it’s well worth it. You’ve probably already tried them, but just in case! 🙂
How many cans of coconut milk does it take to get 9oz of coconut cream?
This might vary a bit from brand to brand, but I used 1 xo!
Love you and your recipes but, do you mean No Fuss? I am sure there isn’t any fuzz either but I thought I should just make sure.
Thanks for all you do!!
Can you tell English is my third language ;)! Thanks Linda had a great laugh!
You’re a true artist Paola! It’s such a pleasure to gawk at your creations 🙂