Name: Old Fashioned Lemon Curd
Prep time: 3 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 13 min
Ingredients: 1 cup granulated sugar; 2 large eggs (beaten); 2 tablespoons salted butter (melted); 6 tablespoons lemon juice (the juice of 2 lemons)

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This simple 4-ingredient lemon curd recipe is easy and no-fuss. It is SO lemony, sweet, and scrumptious, perfect for cakes, cupcakes, or lemon curd cheesecake.

A mason jar filled most of the way with lemon curd. Lemons sit in the background.

This lemon curd is so delicious and truly perfect to pair with countless desserts and baked goods.

This recipe is ridiculously simple, too. Throw all four ingredients in a saucepan on the stove and whisk until they melt and then thicken. That’s it.

The result is absolute perfection and is perfect to pair with scones, toast, on cakes or as a filling for them, or to use on my delicious lemon curd cheesecake!

If you’re looking for more yummy lemon desserts, check out these lavender lemon scones, lemon blueberry scones, and blueberry lemon olive oil cake.

Lemon curd cheesecake sits on a wooden cake stand. It is decorated with whipped cream and one slice is cut out of it also sitting with the cheesecake.

Ingredients

lemon juice – You’ll use the juice of two lemons for this recipe. If you’re feeling it, you can zest those lemons and mix the zest in with the sugar before adding it to the saucepan. This will heighten the lemon flavor, but it’s not necessary if you’re looking to save time.
granulated sugar – This is what makes this lemon curd so sweet.
salted butter – I always use salted butter–rarely will you find unsalted butter in my kitchen. But if you only have unsalted butter, add 1/4 teaspoon of salt to the saucepan as well. Salt helps to complement the sweetness of the sugar and the tartness of the lemons. You’ll melt the butter before adding it to the saucepan.
eggs – Two large room temperature eggs are used for this recipe. I throw all the ingredients into the saucepan at the same time, but you’ll need to make sure that you’re continuously whisking because we don’t want the eggs to scramble!

Step-By-Step Instructions

Step One process shot shows a medium saucepan with all the ingredients in the pan. Dried lavender adorn the side of the saucepan.

Step One: Beat the eggs and add them, along with the sugar and melted butter, to a medium saucepan. Add the lemon juice and cook in a sauce pan over low-medium heat, whisking continuously.

This picture shows the saucepan with all the ingredients melted and bubbling.

Step Two: The ingredients will start to melt and bubble. Continue constantly whisking until it is thick (about 7-10 minutes).

This picture shows the saucepan with the lemon curd thickened after cooking over the stove. Lemons and lavender adorn the side of the saucepan.

Step Three: Once the lemon curd has thickened, remove it from heat and allow it to cool completely before using it in recipes.

Storage

This lemon curd can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 1-2 weeks. I like to make my lemon curd the day before I use it for a recipe to save time.