Easy Lemonade Pie is the perfect summer pie. It’s cool and creamy, with lots of lemon flavor, and it really does taste just like lemonade!
When I’m browsing recipe books, I look for all of the similar recipes. When I see one more than a handful of times, I know it must have been a good one.
So it goes with this easy Lemonade Pie recipe. I found it in a handful of cookbooks spanning 1981–1988, plus a newspaper clipping with an unknown date. It seems the 80’s were the heyday for this cool and creamy treat.
It’s truly perfect for summer (just like No Bake Raspberry Pie and No Cook Banana Pudding). We’ll bake the crust for a few minutes so it’ll stick together nicely, but the filling is no-bake.
You can serve it chilled from the fridge, or straight from the freezer. Either way, it’s a delightful dessert when you want something light and refreshing!
Ingredients
Scroll down to the recipe card for the complete list of ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Easy Lemonade Pie
Stir the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter together. Pat gently into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie dish. You’ll want to pat it so it sticks together nicely, but don’t pack it in very tightly (that leads to a crumbly crust).
Bake the crust for 10 minutes in a 350°F oven. Let cool completely.
When the crust is cool, whisk together the sweetened condensed milk and the lemonade concentrate (you’ll need 1 cup of concentrate, from a 12 ounce can). Add a drop or two of yellow food coloring, if you like. Then, fold in the whipped topping.
Note: two-thirds of a can of lemonade concentrate is a weird amount, isn’t it? Lemonade concentrate used to be sold in 8 ounce cans (now, it’s sold in 12 ounce cans). I guess you’ll just have to make lemonade with the rest of it!
Pour the mixture into the cooked and cooled graham cracker crust.
Refrigerate for at least 4 hours to set up, or freeze for at least 2 hours. Slice and serve!
Should I refrigerate or freeze lemonade pie?
It’s up to you! Most vintage recipes call for serving the pie from the refrigerator. More modern recipes call for freezing it.
Here’s how it’ll taste both ways:
- When the pie is stored in the refrigerator, the consistency will be soft and super creamy, similar to the texture of defrosted whipped topping.
- When the pie is stored in the freezer, the consistency is like soft-serve ice cream: creamy and very cold, but not hard like regular ice cream.
You really can’t go wrong here. I personally loved it frozen. Try both ways and see which you prefer!
Variations
Some more modern variations on this recipe add a block of softened cream cheese to the sweetened condensed milk mixture. I haven’t tried it that way, but it sounds like a tasty way to mix it up!
Also, you can use any variety of juice concentrate that you like. Pink lemonade, grape, limeade, or orange juice concentrates would all be good.
More old fashioned chilled desserts
- Cherry Delight
- Strawberry Icebox Cake
- Pistachio Cake with Pudding Mix
- Jell-O Poke Cake
- Chocolate Eclair Cake
📖 Recipe
Easy Lemonade Pie
Ingredients
- 1½ cups graham cracker crumbs
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 6 tablespoons melted butter
- 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup frozen lemonade concentrate, defrosted (about ⅔ of a 12 oz can)
- 1 (8 oz) container whipped topping (such as Cool Whip), defrosted
- 3 –4 drops yellow food coloring (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a large bowl, stir together the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter.
- Pat into a 9-inch pie dish, packing down the crumbs gently until they stick together (if you press too hard, the crust will be crumbly).
- Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the sweetened condensed milk, lemonade concentrate, and yellow food coloring (if using).
- Fold in the whipped topping.
- Pour into the cooled crust. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or freeze for at least 2 hours.
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