Key lime pie ice cream
A pale, tart lime ice cream with graham cracker crumbs folded through, made to taste like the pie.
Sometimes found Found in some shops and some grocery freezers. What the badge means
Key lime pie ice cream turns the pie into a scoop: tart lime in a creamy base, with graham cracker crumbs for the crust. You can find it in some shops and some grocery freezers, but not everywhere.
This page covers how it tastes, how to make key lime pie ice cream at home, what to serve with it, how common it is and what the nutrition figures show.
What key lime pie tastes like
Key lime pie ice cream tastes the way the pie does. It is tart first, with a bright lime flavor from the juice and the zest, then sweet and creamy underneath. The color is a pale yellow-green, soft rather than bright.
The texture comes from two places. The base is smooth and dense, especially in no-churn versions made with sweetened condensed milk. Through it run graham cracker crumbs, which stand in for the pie crust and add a little crunch and a toasty, honeyed note.
The main flavorings are simple: lime juice, lime zest and graham cracker crumbs. Nothing else is needed to make it read as key lime pie.
Where key lime pie comes from
The sources we use do not record who first made key lime pie ice cream or when. What we can tell you is how the flavor is treated under U.S. rules for ice cream.
The Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, in 21 CFR 135.110, covers flavors made with fruit and artificial flavor together. When lime is used alongside artificial lime flavor, the artificial flavor is deemed to predominate if the lime fruit or juice is less than 2% of the finished weight. In practice, a lime ice cream needs a real share of lime before the fruit counts as the main source of its flavor.
At home, that is easy to meet. The juice and zest in a homemade key lime pie ice cream carry the flavor on their own, with no artificial lime needed.
How to make key lime pie at home
The style we suggest is no-churn, made with sweetened condensed milk and whipped cream, the same sweetened condensed milk the pie itself uses. The Base Builder sets up this style for you. A Philadelphia base (no eggs) also works if you have a machine. The Base Builder gives a base formula built on standard food-science ranges, not a tested recipe.
For the lime flavor, steep lime zest in the warm dairy, then strain it out. Stir the lime juice into the cold base just before churning, so its tartness stays bright. In a no-churn version, the condensed milk does the sweetening.
Fold in the graham cracker crumbs at the end of churning. Factories add pieces like cookies as the ice cream leaves the freezer, when it is about as soft as soft serve, and the end of churning is the home version of that moment. If you already have a recipe you like, the Recipe Scaler resizes it to your machine and converts cups to grams.
Base formula
Open the Base Builder: No-churn (condensed milk and whipped cream)
Other styles that suit it: Philadelphia (no eggs)
The Base Builder gives a base formula built on standard food-science ranges, not a tested recipe.
What to serve with key lime pie
Key lime pie ice cream is lovely with the things that go on the pie. A spoonful of whipped cream on top softens the tartness and makes each bowl feel like a slice. Toasted coconut adds crunch and a tropical note that suits lime well. Fresh blueberries give color and a sweet, juicy contrast. For a gathering, set out all three as toppings and let people build their own bowl.
- whipped cream
- toasted coconut
- blueberries
How common key lime pie is
We give key lime pie ice cream a first quarter (half moon) badge, 3 of 5, labeled "Sometimes found": you can find it in some shops and some grocery freezers. The badge describes how easy the flavor is to find, not how much people like it.
No survey we use lists key lime pie by name. That means the badge is our editorial judgement alone, based on how often the flavor turns up, rather than on survey figures. If you want it reliably, making it at home is the surest route, and the no-churn style keeps that simple.
No survey we use lists this flavor by name, so its badge is our own judgement of how easy it is to find.
- Rare Rare enough that you would most likely make it at home.
- Hard to find Look for it in specialty shops and seasonal runs.
- Sometimes found Found in some shops and some grocery freezers.
- Easy to find Common in most grocery freezers.
- Classic A classic you can buy almost anywhere.
Nutrition, roughly
FoodData Central has no record for key lime pie ice cream itself. The figures on this page are for a plain vanilla base, regular to rich: 207 to 249 kcal per 100 grams. For regular vanilla, FDC's own portion of 1/2 cup (66 g) is about 137 kcal, 7.3 g fat and 14 g sugars. Lime juice, graham cracker crumbs and sweetened condensed milk all change these numbers.
Nutrition per 100 grams
| FoodData Central record | Calories | Fat | Saturated fat | Sugars | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ice creams, vanilla FDC 167575 1/2 cup (66 g): about 137 kcal, 7.3 g fat | 207 kcal | 11 g | 6.79 g | 21.2 g | 3.5 g |
| Ice creams, vanilla, rich FDC 167573 | 249 kcal | 16.2 g | 10.30 g | 20.6 g | 3.5 g |
FoodData Central has no record for key lime pie itself: these are the figures for a plain vanilla base, regular to rich. Mix-ins and sweeteners change them.
Questions people ask
What does key lime pie ice cream taste like?
It tastes tart and sweet, like the pie. Lime juice and zest give a bright lime flavor, the base is creamy, and graham cracker crumbs add the crunch and toasty note of the crust. The color is pale yellow-green.
How do you make key lime pie ice cream without a machine?
Use a no-churn base of sweetened condensed milk and whipped cream, the same condensed milk the pie uses. Steep lime zest in warm dairy and strain, stir lime juice into the cold base, then fold in graham cracker crumbs.
When should I add the graham cracker crumbs?
Fold them in at the end of churning. Factories add pieces like cookies as the ice cream leaves the freezer, when it is about as soft as soft serve, and the end of churning is the home equivalent.
Is key lime pie ice cream easy to find in stores?
It is sometimes found, in some shops and some grocery freezers. No survey we use lists it by name, so our 3 of 5 badge is our own judgement of how easy it is to find.
More flavors to try
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Bakery and dessert
Lemon ice cream at home
Pale yellow, bright and tart, with zest, juice or curd
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Bakery and dessert
Cookies and cream ice cream
Vanilla ice cream with crumbled chocolate sandwich cookies
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Bakery and dessert
Cookie dough ice cream
Vanilla ice cream with soft chunks of chocolate chip cookie dough
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Bakery and dessert
Birthday cake ice cream
Sweet vanilla tasting of cake batter, with colorful sprinkles
Plan and make it with these
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Recipe Scaler and Converter
Ice cream recipe converter: cups to grams
Scale an ice cream recipe by a factor, a batch volume or your machine, and see every line in grams and cups.
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Scoop size chart
Ice cream scoop sizes and the disher number chart
The number stamped on an ice cream scoop tells you how many level scoopfuls fill one quart, so a #8 holds 4 fluid ounces (1/2 cup) and a #16 holds 2.
Sources
- 21 CFR 135.110, Ice cream and frozen custard Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR)
- Handling Flour Safely: What You Need to Know U.S. Food and Drug Administration
- Ice Cream Technology e-Book: Freezing/Whipping of Ice Cream H. Douglas Goff, University of Guelph
- Ice creams, vanilla (FDC 167575) U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service
- Ice creams, vanilla, rich (FDC 167573) U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service
Every data source the site uses is on the Sources page.