Lemon Raspberry Bars
Updated May 29, 2020
This easy recipe for lemon raspberry bars is a family favorite. These bars are the perfect dessert for summer parties and potlucks!
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We are less than one week away from the 4th of July. If you are looking for a summer dessert to impress your family and friends, look no further. These lemon raspberry bars will knock everyone’s flip flops off! The bars are beautiful and easy to make, but don’t tell-remember we are trying to impress this holiday:)
Lemon desserts are perfect for summer time. I love making bar treats for holiday celebrations too. They are easy to make, cut, serve, and everyone loves them. These bars have a thick graham cracker crust that is topped with a creamy lemon raspberry filling. The fresh raspberries add a hint of tartness to the luscious lemon filling. The bars are best served chilled and can be made in advance, another bonus. These lemon raspberry bars are a no fuss dessert that everyone will love.
Celebrate the 4th of July with lemon raspberry bars. Everyone at the party will want the recipe for these dreamy lemon raspberry bars. You are welcome to share the recipe or it can be our little secret on how simple these beautiful bars are to make:)
More Lemon Recipes
- Lemon Blueberry Bars
- Lemon Sugar Cookies Bars
- Glazed Lemon Cookies
- Lemon Sugar Cookies
- Lemon Blueberry Cake
Lemon Raspberry Bars
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
- 6 tablespoons salted butter, melted
- 1/4 cup sugar
- Zest of one lemon
For the filling:
- 2 large egg yolks
- 14 oz sweetened condensed milk (fat free works too)
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 6 ounces fresh raspberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray a 8 by 8 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, sugar, and lemon zest. Stir until graham cracker crumbs are moist. Press crumbs into the prepared pan, pressing the crust mixture one inch up the side of the pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature.
- Once the crust is cool, combine the egg yolks and condensed milk until well mixed. Stir in the lemon juice and lemon zest. Stir until mixture begins to slightly thicken. Gently fold in the raspberries. Fold carefully so you don’t break the raspberries.
- Pour the lemon raspberry filling evenly over the graham cracker crust. Bake for 15 minutes, or until just set.
- Cool to room temperature, then chill for at least one hour before serving. Cut into bars and serve. Keep bars in the refrigerator-up to five days.
- *Note-use fresh raspberries and make sure you gently fold the berries into the lemon filling or you will have pink bars.
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?
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I LOVE lemon desserts, so this is right up my alley. It looks delicious. Beautiful pictures, Maria!
It looks like a cheesecake but no cheese, and that’s okay. The condensed milk has all the yummyness one needs.
The texture reminds me of cheesecake too. Good call Peter!
I make lemon bars with condensed milk but really must try adding the raspberries
So pretty and delicious looking!
Cheers,
Rosa
These are so pretty Maria.
(Too pretty for Josh.)
We were just talking yesterday about the deliciousness of lemon in the summer. Something about it just sucks you in. 😉 And, with raspberry? Yeah!
Perfect summer treat Maria!! Looks great 🙂
Ironically, I just posted a fruity bar recipe as well! You and I are on the same page.
These are definitely ideal for the fourth! I may just have to make them!
wow, these do sound perfect for summer!
These look refreshing and perfect for summer! Thanks for sharing your recipe!
These look fabulous Maria! I can’t wait for your post about EVO. I was so bummed that I couldn’t make it. I’ve heard from several bloggers that it was awesome. Maybe next year.
My two favorite flavors, raspberry and lemon. These look so simple yet beautiful. Glad you had a great weekend at the conference.
These look delicious and beautiful, Maria! Can’t wait to try them!
Gorgeous, gorgeous lemon bars! I love the combination of lemon and raspberry, and these bars look fabulous!
These are beautiful! They look really fresh and light, the perfect thing for a summer snack.
i love graham cracker crusts and lemon with berries!
I’m with you, bars are easy to prepare when company is coming over. What a nice treat, love the berries and the lemon. Nice touch.
Love anything lemon! I also love how easy this is to make!
Those are gorgeous! I’m definitely going to try this recipe soon!!
Perfect flavor combo for the hot weather–cool and refreshing!
Ooh!! Those look absolutely delicious – and perfect for Canada day too!
Yes, you can make these for Canada day too! Any celebration or just because:)
I love everything about this! From the graham cracker base, the creamy topping, to the fact that you can easily make it ahead of time. It really is perfect for entertaining! What a great recipe 🙂
I’m so glad that Kitchen Confidante posted this on Twitter because these are beautiful!
Glad you found us too:)
These bars are gorgeous. I absolutely love the flavor combination!
This looks so refreshing! Definitely on my to-make list!
Such a pretty photo and these look delish! It was so great to meet you in person at EVO! It was so fun and Utah is awesome! Please keep in touch!
It was nice meeting you too!
I love any type of citrus dessert, this one looks amazing. I want to make a raspberry dessert next week, this is a great idea, beautiful!
Love the raspberries in there. Perfect for the holiday.
with this post, i’m beginning to think raspberries should trump blueberries as the most picturesque fruit…
This looks so refreshing. Perfect for a bbq! Thanks, Maria!
Lemon and raspberry- you can’t get much more summery than that! These look like a delicious picnic treat- thank you for sharing the recipe. 🙂
these look yummy. i have some fresh raspberries…i may have to dash into my kitchen and whip these up!
Every aspect of this dessert is perfect for summer. I love it.
That looks wonderful. I absolutely LOVE how thick the crust is compared to the filling. YUM.
So pretty. Perfect for summer
these look delish! thanks for sharing. i think i will have to whip up a batch for our 4th celebration, as well! xo
This looks fabulous! I think I may make some of these tomorrow. I have some raspberries and blackberries that need to be used soon so I may just use both. Yay! I have been trying to figure out how to use them…now I know.
holy freaking destroy my diet recipe!!! I LOVE RASPBERRIES. Heart Heart Heart. Can I just come over and taste one of them.. that way I won’t make a whole batch and eat them all. Amen.
Yum, I adore the combination of lemon and raspberry so these sound perfect to me. Definitely adding them to the list of things to make!
These bars look fantastic. I love the photography! Thanks for sharing this recipe.
I can’t believe the 4th of July is coming up so soon! These bars look absolutely gorgeous. Perfect for all that summer fruit!
Mmmm! This looks like the perfect place to showcase raspberries!
Perfect picnic food. Lemon and raspberries are heavenly together!
Hi Maria those bars look so lucious!! I love anything lemon. I am so glad i got to meet you at Evo!! I had such a wonderful time and your husband is so nice. He cracks me up.
I can taste those just by looking at them. So creamy and sweet and fruity. Raspberries arne’t quite in season yet in these parts, but should be in a couple weeks and I can’t wait to start playing with them.
Ohhh those look amazing! I love raspberry w/ cheesecake – even better if there’s lemon involved! This is why I love summer – berry desserts! 🙂
Mmmm, this is definitely the season for lemons! I have some meyer lemons sitting in the fridge and these sound like a perfect use. Just have to pick up some raspberries now-oh, the sweetness of summer!
These really sound outstanding. They are a perfect finish for a holiday barbecue or picnic. I hope you have a grand holiday. Blessings…Mary
stunning!
AH these are perfect! My gma LOVES raspberry lemon things and she’s visiting in a few weeks. I will put these on the menu!
These look amazing! My little sister loves lemon raspberry stuff so I try to make a lemon-raspberry dessert for her every year for her birthday. This one needs to be added to the list!
Perfect for the 4th! I like that you brought the lemon flavor into the crust as well.
Those are so beautiful sweet and tany and luscious! I can just tell. GREG
OK, I’m desperate for a red, white and blue recipe for the 4th of July. I’m thinking of adding in some blueberries to this recipe and calling it patriotic. Please don’t hate me, I’ll link back to you, of course. And as always, my first born child is offered up to you as well. He’s now 28 and requires minimal care.
mmm love sweet tart bars like this!
if you dont want to end up with “pink” and are not the gentlest folder, freeze the raspberries before hand.
Just made these today – glorious! I absolutely love them. Not too sweet, not too tart. And your previous commenter was very right – the addition of lemon zest to the crust really adds a subtle, lovely extra hint of lemon. I’m trying hard to not return to my fridge to eat the rest. Substituting blueberries instead of raspberries would be great as well, I think.
Mmm these look perfect for a picnic or an afternoon on the back porch! They sound so refreshing!
What a beautiful, bright and Summery treat! I recently made lemon icebox pie, which is sort of similar, except you serve it straight from the freezer. I love how you used raspberries in your bars as well.
I made these bars for a picnic yesterday. I doubled the recipe before I realized that I only had one can of sweetened condensed milk. I used 8oz cream cheese instead and they still came out beautiful. I also used blueberries because the grocery store didn’t have any decent fresh raspberries. The texture and taste of the bars made them hit at the bbq!
Love your adaptations! I will have to try the bars with blueberries next time!
Those look really terrific Maria! I just love a graham cracker crust and we are starting to get amazing raspberries in Seattle. Nice job and I’m so glad you had fun at the conference!
I made these bars to bring for dessert to a 4th of July recipe this weekend, and WOW! Such a hit! Thanks for sharing such a great recipe that will definitely be put to use again soon.
Glad the bars were a hit at your party. Thanks for letting us know!
These were beyond delicious!! Thank you for sharing this recipe, it is a new favorite. I am going to post them on my blog soon and will give you all the credit and link to you. Thanks again!
So glad you enjoyed the bars. I can’t wait to see your post!
These are my favorite new summer go-to dessert! Easy, tasty, and gorgeous in my lime green dish 🙂 Thanks!
I came across this recipe (and your cool blog) the other day while I was looking for a new lemony dessert to serve for a casual party. I’m a private chef, and I made these tonight for my clients. Wow…what a delicious (and so easy!) dessert. Rave reviews! A keeper.
Mandy-thanks for stopping by, we hope to see you often. Glad you and your clients enjoyed the bars.
I made these and they were a HUGE hit! I posted them on my blog so come check it out sometime. Thanks for a great recipe!
http://foodjunkiefromtexas.blogspot.com/2010/07/lemon-berry-bars.html
Hi Maria – I’m making this to take to a friend whose wife was killed in a plane crash yesterday. Looks homey and yummy and comforting!
Donna-sorry to hear about your friend. I hope these bars help cheer them up.
I’m making these for Labor Day but I want to make them in a cupcake tin so everyone can grab their own. Will I need to adjust cooking times much for this?
Just watch them, you might need to take them out early by a couple of minutes. Great idea! Enjoy!
We just had these for dessert and OMG are they good! Even my very picky DH complimented them a few times and called them “delightful”!
These are a favorite at our house. So glad you liked them!
Have you ever used frozen raspberries? I am dying to make this but can’t find any good fresh raspberries.
I haven’t used frozen raspberries, but I am sure they would be fine. Let me know! Enjoy!
I was just cruising through your recipes and this one made me stop. It looked exactly like the bars our friends brought over for us last weekend, after they had picked our raspberries while we were out of town for a few days. I asked for the recipe and they scanned it for me, but it lost the source info on the bottom during the translation – it’s definitely your recipe. So fun to learn it’s yours – and it’s delicious!
Glad you liked the lemon raspberry bars and glad you found the recipe:)
These were very good, lemony and summery. However, I followed the recipe exactly and used an 8×8 pan and only got 9 bars. If I had cut them into 16 as suggested, they would have been very tiny, much smaller than the photos.
My daughter made these for us and they WERE delicious. See them on her blog at:
http://thebrightsidestudio.blogspot.com/2012/06/recipe-lemon-raspberry-bars.html
I could go for a little less butter in the crust, but otherwise perfect.
I made these with blueberries added for the 4th of July.. I couldn’t stop myself from licking the bowl so I can only imagine how the finished product will taste. Thanks for the great recipe!
Can regular instead of lowfat sweetened condensed milk be used?
Yes, you can use regular sweetened condensed milk. Enjoy!
The flavor in these is GREAT and the texture if PERFECT! However, I think I will alter the crumb/filling proportions next time I bake these. I saw the use of the 9×9 in the pictures, then read the reviews and saw that the recipe indeed was for a 9×13. The crumbs easily covered the bottom of the 9×13 and the crumb layer was the perfect depth, however, the lemon/filling layer is below 1/2 in. thick. The next time I make these I will probably opt to just use enough crumbs to cover the bottom of a 9×9 or 11×7 with the filling to see if I can get a bit more thickness out of the lemon layer.
Thank you. Love lemon and raspberries.
I was wondering if I could press the crust into cup cake wrappers to make individual portions or if it would be better to make them whole and just cut squares that I could set down into cupckae wrappers for serving. Thanks in advance for any advice. Wendy
Your style is very unique in comparison to other folks I’ve read stuff from. Thank you for posting when you’ve got the
opportunity, Guess I’ll just book mark this blog.
I am a huge lemon bar fiend but have never had “creamy” ones like these that are made with condensed milk so I gave them a try. LOVED them! I can never decide if I prefer shortbread crust or graham cracker crust for lemon bars though, next time I make these I might try the shortbread and see how it pairs.
Can I double the recipe and make it in a 9×13 pan?
My husband, my mother and myself are all diabetic. How do you think this recipe would be if I used Splenda (or something similar)?
I just joined this site 5 minutes ago and have already shared the Lemon Raspberry Bars. They look so summery and scrumptious! Saturday’s dessert 🙂
I made these with fresh wild blackberries that were in season and they were amazing! Fabulous recipe! Thanks.
can I use sweetened condensed milk with fat ?
Yes!
These look fantastic! At first I thought these were cheesecake bars 🙂
Are the raw eggs ok to be consumed by kids in the recipe !
What are Graham crackers
Perfect ! I like that you brought the lemon flavor into the crust as well.
These are my favorite new summer go-to dessert! Easy, tasty, and gorgeous in my lime green dish. Thanks 🙂
Glad you like the bars!
Nice website how could you maintain this in such a good way
Anyway I’m gonna bookmark this website
wow, great post.
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I’ve made these a couple of times. I love the idea and the flavor, but the the crust is always very soggy.
I’ve never had the crust come out soggy. Try baking it a little longer.
Works out really well and it is easy to clean up. It tastes like a light cheese cake wich is perfect for a summer day
Glad you liked the bars!
Can a buttom “crust” be used with almone flour instead of graham crackers
loved this dessert. Unfortunately my crust had to much butter & I got some egg white in my egg yolks. They still tasted delicious.
Can you double it do a 12×9 pan?
Before I make it how much lemon zest goes into crust?
My husband, son and I absolutely loved these bars. We live in Michigan and I bake with local fruit all summer-long, and freeze a lot of it for the winter time. The consensus was that this was the best recipe I have ever baked. We are going to eat half and freeze half. I now wish I had made a double batch.
do these freeze well?
I notice you say specifically use fresh raspberries. Do you mean frozen can’t be used? Or to just use the freshest you can find? I have a bag of Trader Joe’s frozen organic raspberries that I would love to use in this!
Frozen will work! Enjoy!
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This torte was a pleasant surprise. My husband and I couldn’t wait for it to chill as I made it later in the evening. Sweet and tart. Perfect size for 2. Will have dessert for a few days. Omit the sugar in the crust though. It never dissolves in a graham cracker crust. Graham crackers are already sweet on their own so save the cals.
Thank you for another informative site. Where else could I get that type of info written in such an ideal way? I’ve a project that I’m just now working on, and I have been on the look out for such information.
These are my signature bake at the office and everyone loves them. Have made them at least half a dozen times! Don’t compact the graham crumbs TOO firmly or it’ll be hard to cut the bars.
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