Prize-Winning Key Lime Pie Recipe (2024)

Are you ready for the BEST Key Lime Pie recipe? This creamy, refreshing, prize-winning Key Lime Pie recipe is easy to make! (Bonus! You can make it & enjoy the pie the same day). AND its such and easy dessert recipe to make!

Guess what?? I won a trip to the Florida Keys in the Philadelphia Florida Keys Cook-Off a few weeks ago! Pinch me!The competitors had to cook in 2 challenges and I won! I wanted to share myPrize Winning Key Lime Pie Recipe today and tell you a little bit about what went down! It's long, feel free to hit the jump to recipe button 🙂

I LOVE hearing in the comments below, comments and images on Instagram and Facebook as well as in emails just how many of you have made this pie! And how it has become a part of so many special occasions! Thank you all for letting me know! This pie really is SO easy, creamy, refreshing and delicious...Plus you can't mess it up!!

First the story...then I will show you how to make the BEST Key Lime Pie...So many people have now made my Prize-Winning Key Lime Pie recipe! It's just so cool! Hope you enjoy it as well!

24 Philadelphia-Area Influencers were invited to The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College on Walnut Street in downtown Philadelphia for the 2nd Florida Key's Cook-Off. The first was held in 2015 in Montreal.

I was thrilled to be invited! As a food blogger, when I make what I share here on Souffle Bombay, it's just me home alone doing what I do (me and my mountain of dishes)!!

So imagine just how fun it was for me to get out with other foodies and have some fun in the kitchen. Even if I didn't win, which I never expected to, I would have loved the whole experience!

This was my first trip to a culinary school. I was super-impressed with The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill Collegein Philadelphia. From the many kitchens for the students to learn and work into the themed rooms for dinner service and the overall look and feel of the place. it is something special!

Chef Bobby Stokey was our host and one of the three judges. Chef Bobby did a couple of culinary demonstrations before we all got down to it. He showed us a couple of deliciousKey West Style seafood dishes. So fresh and simple!

Chef Bobby owns a number ofrestaurants in the Florida Keys (Marker 88, Sundowner, Ballyhoos and Senor Frijoles) so he sure knows his way around a kitchen as well as the flavors of the Keys!

I found it interesting that traditional Key Lime Pies down in the Keys are topped with meringue. They are more like a lemon meringue pie. My husband loves Key Lime Pie and orders it out when he comes across it, yet I never saw one in-person with meringue in the Philadelphia Area. It's always whipped cream.

Going into the challenge we all knew we had to make a Key Lime Pie.

We each were allowed to bring a secret ingredient to make our Key Lime Pie. My first thought was tequila, so I made one in my test run with that. My second thought (because I know what my husband likes in a dessert) was sour cream.

I let my family and a couple of friends blind test both Key Lime Pie Recipes and the result was down the middle! SO...the night of the competition, I brought both thinking, I would decide which to use in the moment.

Marissa from the Preston & Steve Morning show brought chocolate, Alex Holleyfrom Fox News brought grits (yes grits for her crust...it's a thing down South), my food blogger bestie, Linda, brought Key Lime Liquor, another food blogger friend, Lisa brought Candied Pecans and on and on it went.

It was just like an episode of MasterChef or Top Chef! We all had to stand in our places...Ingredients were set up and Chef Bobby yelled Ready...Set...GO!!! And we were off! It was a little bit crazy!

While our pies chilled, we got down to our second challenge...the mystery ingredient from the Florida Keys. Which turned out to be beautiful Yellow Tail Snapper fillets. I had never worked with or eaten it before. However, I am pretty familiar with halibut, so I figured it was similar to cook with.

Ingredients were set out for us to choose from. I quickly decided to do something I thought no one would do. A curry sauce, similar to one of my favorite ways to prepare halibut...Take a look at my recipe (image below) for Pan Seared Halibut in Thai Curry Sauce.

I grabbed tomatoes, ginger, onion, etc. I cooked them down and finished the sauce with coconut milk and seasonings. Whatever I could find in that kitchen to give it the flavors I was thinking of in my head, I grabbed. As far as the fish, I simply pan-fried it with seasonings, then sat it atop the sauce I made.

Once finished cooking, we raised our hands and the Judges came around and tried each of our dishes. (We had 45 minutes for the pie and 45 for the fish).

I kept hearing Gordon Ramsay in my head. "Stick to one thing...do it well, taste, taste, taste" so that's what I did. Each judge independently tasted and scored our yellow-tail snapper entrée as well as our pie. Then the scores were merged.

Imagine my surprise when the called out the top pie, then the top entrée (who each won a nice gift basket). Then suddenly they called out the overall winner...The winner of the title "Honorary Florida Key's Chef"...The winner of the week-long trip to the FloridaKeys And...it... was... MEEEEE!!!

I was shaking from head to toe as I headed up to the balcony where Chef Bobby, Pat Croce, and others were waiting to congratulate me!!

And I gave Chef Bobbya BIG kiss!!! He was surprised haha!!

II hope you make this Key Lime Pie, you will love it!! It is light, crisp, cold and delicious.

Bring this refreshing dessert to BBQ's and graduations (keep it in the fridge until serving). Make it for Mother's Day, a new neighbor, someone who needs a smile put on their face. Or make it just for you and eat the whole thing!! Report back and tell me what you think!!

Ingredients for Key Lime Pie Recipe

• graham cracker crumbs
• sugar
• butter
• sweetened condensed milk
• sour cream
• key lime juice see key limes
• egg yolks
• lime zest
• heavy cream
• vanilla
• powdered sugar

Key Lime Pie Baking Tips

• Bake pie ON a baking sheet. This way when you pull it out, you don't accidently put a finger or oven mitt print in your pie. Trust me, I speak from experience lol!
• Allow the key lime pie to cool completely before placing in your refrigerator.
• Allow the pie to chill for at least 3 hours.
• To chill your pie the fastest, place it on the very bottom shelf of your fridge. Cold falls, so this area is the coldest.
• Don't put they whipped cream topping on until shortly before you plan to enjoy. It does hold up well, I just do this so it doesn't get messed up.
• Either don't cover the pie if you have topped it or keep it in a domed container to protect it.

Storage

This pie actually holds up great. You can make it a day ahead of time and put the whipped cream on top the day of. It will taste good for days! If you have a pie or cake carrier to store it in that's the best way to keep it fresh without messing up the whipped cream.

Other recipes to try

If you enjoy making desserts (or eating them) as much as I do, you need to try one or all of the following: If lime is not your thing, try my Easy Lemon Pie, just like Key Lime Pie but with lemon.

Homemade Apple Fritters.Just a handful of ingredients yields a memorable dessert or breakfast treat! Everyone loves an Apple Fitter!

When cranberries are in season, this "pie" will get rave reviews! It's different and delicious! Get the recipe for this vintage Nantucket Cranberry Pie.

Post updated June 24, 2023. Originally published May 12, 2017.

Enjoy!

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