Last Updated on May 4, 2026 by Deliciously Organic Editor
Lemon Icebox Pie really packs in the flavor for a simple southern staple. The filling has just four ingredients and bursts with the freshness of lemons while sitting atop a delicious graham cracker crust.
My Grandma made this pie each time we visited my grandparents in Louisiana when I was a kid. It brings back memories of long summer days, playing outside with my cousins, and big family dinners.
Various companies now sell organic coconut condensed milk that contains only a few ingredients. One of my favorites is Let’s Do Organic.
Or, for a homemade option, it’s really very easy to make homemade sweetened condensed milk at home. It’s just a matter of putting a few ingredients in a saucepan and letting them simmer for a while. You’ll find my Homemade Dairy-Free Sweetened Condensed Milk recipe on page 275 of The Grain-Free Family Table.
Here are some more summertime pies you might enjoy!
Grain-Free Apple Pie
Chocolate Pudding Pie
Lemon Meringue Ice Cream Pie
Lemon Icebox Pie (Gluten-Free)
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 hours
- Total Time: 3 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: Makes one 9-inch pie
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1/2 recipe of homemade graham crackers
- 4 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
For the Filling:
- 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk or for a homemade option - 1 recipe of dairy-free sweetened condensed milk
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
- 3 pastured egg yolks
For the Whipped Cream:
- 1 cup heavy cream or coconut cream, whipped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and adjust the rack to the middle position. Oil a 9-inch pie plate. Place the graham crackers in the bowl of a food processor and process until finely ground. Add the coconut oil and process until the crumbs are damp. Press the crust on the bottom and up the sides of the pie plate. Bake for 11 minutes.
- Whisk the condensed milk, lemon zest, lemon juice and egg yolks until the mixture begins to thicken. Pour the filling into the baked crust and bake for 8 minutes, (the pie filling shouldn’t jiggle in the middle when you gently shake it). Cool completely, cover with plastic wrap or parchment paper and chill in the refrigerator for 3 hours. Top with whipped cream before serving. Serve cold.
Oh my, wow oh wow. So happy for the graham cracker and sweetened codenamed recipes too. Thanks!!!
You’re welcome!
Oops…. condensed….
How do you make sweetened condensed milk using real whole milk?
I don’t have a recipe for sweetened condensed milk using whole milk. You will probably have some luck over on Google.
Help! I made your sweetened condensed milk from your cookbook. after simmering for 3 hours I put in mason jar and put in fridge. It separated into 3 layers, hard white coconut fat, oil, and brown milk (witch was a little thicker, but no where close to the thickness of the picture in your book. What did I do wrong? I use Natural Value BPA free can. I don’t like ice cream made with coconut milk, because i end up with hard chunks of coconut fat throughout. And whipping cream is impossible to make.
Hmm…I’m not sure what happened. In all of our testing (I have all cookbook recipes tested by a professional test kitchen before the cookbook goes to the publisher) we never had any issues with it separating. We tested with Native Forest Organic Coconut Milk. What brand of honey did you use?
My observations on the coconut milk: I’ve always used Native Forest, and I’ve made beautiful whipped cream with it, as well as other delicious recipes. Recently, I needed to order a case of it on Amazon, and the price had gone through the roof for some reason, so I tried the Natural Value brand. Never again.It is grainy and not nearly as thick and creamy as the Native Forest. I would suspect that the brand is actually the problem.
I had the same experience. That’s why I use Native Forest. It’s always smooth and creamy!
I want to drink that filling with a straw. So pretty!
I use a local raw honey from our farmers market. I think I’m going to try a different brand of coconut milk and see if it makes a difference. I wound up using evaporated milk to make condensed milk and followed your directions for the lemon ice box pie. It was not as pretty as yours but still tasted good.
Hmm, I seem to have had the same experience with trying to make the sweetened condensed milk as Rene (May 27 post). Mine didn’t thicken to a consistency like the picture in the cookbook, but I tried to use it in the ice box cake anyway thinking maybe that wouldn’t be a problem. That was not a good idea! After baking the filling for almost triple the time (20 mins), it still wouldn’t set. The taste is amazing, but I can’t serve it as pie…maybe soup 🙂 I’ll have to try again sometime. The Graham cracker recipe works a treat though! Yum.
Hmm…I’m not sure what happened. I just made the sweetened condensed milk again this weekend and it worked perfectly. What brand of coconut oil and honey did you use? I decided to test the pie again as well, didn’t hear the timer go off and burned it all! Ha! Happens to all of us sometimes! 🙂 If you prefer, you could add 3 more yolks to the filling and instead of baking the pie, you could freeze it (very similar to my Frozen Key Lime pie in my cookbook). It will be nice a cold and a perfect treat for the summer!
You recommended safe sunscreens in one of your posts. I somehow lost it and wonder if I could get that information again? I will look here for your reply. Thank you so much!
Carrie, you are amazing!! Thank you for these yummy, awesome, SO MUCH BETTER FOR YOU recipes that make us feel like we are not culinary outcasts for needing grain-free options. You are a genius and so generous! Thanks for the hard work it took to create your book as well, what a profound compilation! I cannot imagine how many hours it took you to perfect these recipes, but SOOOO many get to benefit!! Worth every penny to me a thousand times over!! Thank you, thank you!!!!
I would like to top the lemon filling with an egg-whipped Meringue. How do I adjust the baking time ? Thank you for a GF DF lemon pie!
I’m not sure as I haven’t tried the recipe in that way.
When I whisk the ingredients together do I do this over a low heat?
This recipe looks great! But what do you mean by “pastured egg yolks?” Did you mean “pasteurized?” Or eggs from pasture-raised, cage-free hens? Or???
Pastured eggs are eggs where the chickens were allowed to be out on the pasture.
This looks soooo good. Using a coconut milk based sweetened condensed milk, does the pie taste like coconut at all? Thank you!
I didn’t find that it did when I tested it!
This isn’t paleo. It contains sugar. 🙁
Honey is considered Paleo