Easy, home-made Lemon Curd
This Easy Lemon Curd Recipe will enable you to make fresh, zesty lemon curd in a matter of minutes. It is so easy to make and is totally different from over-sweetened shop-bought lemon curd which just does not have anything like the same level of sharp lemony flavour. This is one of those recipes where the minimal effort really pays off with a product that is so much better than the ready-made version.
Many people think it is hard to make Lemon Curd and worry about ending up with lemon-flavoured scrambled eggs rather than smooth curd. Do not worry! The acid in the lemon juice prevents the eggs scrambling when they are heated. All you need to do is cook over a low heat and make sure you stir the mixture while it is thickening. The whole recipe only takes around 10 minutes – quicker than going down to the shops to buy a jar of ready-made Lemon Curd.
You can make Curd from a number of other tropical fruit such as lime, orange, mango and passion fruit. I think it works best with strongly flavoured fruit – if you are a fan of rhubarb, have a look at my recipe for Rhubarb Curd.
There are so many uses for Easy Lemon Curd..
So what can you do with Lemon Curd? Well, lots and lots of things, actually! First off, it is great as a spread on bread as an alternative to jam or honey. It is also great stirred into plain yogurt or spooned over vanilla ice cream. However, in my opinion, it really comes into its own as a cooking ingredient. Its punch of lemony flavour is fantastic in all kinds of sweet dishes. It is particularly useful as a filling for cakes and in all kinds of puddings.
Other lemon-flavoured recipes
Lemon is one of my favourite flavours. I will always go for the lemon cake rather than the chocolate cake! If you like lemon too, you might like my Lemon Pavlova or easy Lemon Curd Ice Cream, both of which use my home-made Lemon Curd. Or you could check out some of my other lemon-flavoured recipes such as my Lemon Drizzle Cake, Lemon Biscuits and Lemon Verbena Ice Cream.
PrintEasy Lemon Curd Recipe
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 5
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 300 ml lemon curd 1x
- Category: Curd
- Cuisine: English
Description
This Easy Lemon Curd Recipe is fool-proof and only takes ten minutes. In less time than it takes to go to the shop to buy ready-made Lemon Curd, you can have the far superior zesty, lemony home-made version.
Ingredients
- 2 unwaxed lemons
- 85 g butter
- 225 g caster sugar
- 3 eggs
Instructions
- Finely grate the zest of the lemons into a small, heavy-based saucepan.
- Squeeze the lemons and add their juice to the saucepan together with the butter and sugar.
- Beat the eggs and add these to the saucepan.
- Put the saucepan over a very low heat and stir until the butter has melted and the ingredients have combined.
- Continue stirring over the low heat until the mixture has thickened. This should take around five minutes.
- Pour the mixture into sterilised jam jars and allow to cool.
Notes
Make sure you use unwaxed lemons which are available in most supermarkets. You want lemon zest rather than wax in your curd!
Don’t worry about ending up with scrambled eggs! The acid in the lemon juice will prevent this.
You can sterilise your jam jars by washing them in warm, soapy water, rinsing well and then drying off for 15 minutes in an oven set at 140C/120C fan/gas 1.
The lemon curd will keep for three weeks in the refridgerator.