Confession time: I LOVE lemon bars! Although, traditionally, they are made with eggs and butter, making them not at all vegan. Enter, Sam Turnbull: Veganizer at large!! Trust me when I say these Easy Vegan Lemon Squares are over-the-top scrumptious, delicious and (as always) you don't need eggs, butter, or any animal products to make them. How's that for a game changer of a vegan dessert recipe, eh?
My Easy Vegan Lemon Squares are super easy to make with ingredients you may already have around your kitchen. I'm not sure how familiar you are with me and my recipes, but that's kind of a "theme" around here: fast, easy, cheap, fuss-free, and delicious!!
The buttery, crunchy crust will delight at first bite before melting in your mouth and the fresh, tart lemon curd is a refreshing companion to that flavour. These bars are fast-becoming a new favourite in my house. Seriously - we can't stop eating these things!!
How To Make Easy Vegan Lemon Squares:
For the shortbread crust: Preheat your oven to 325F (170C). Line an 8" x 8" pan with parchment paper, leaving overhang on the sides so the bars are easy to remove from the pan. Alternatively use a silicon pan.
In a medium bowl, add the melted vegan butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and salt. Mix to combine. Lastly add the flour and mix to make a firm dough. Dump the dough into the prepared pan and press with your fingers to firmly pack and evenly spread the dough. Bake for 17 - 19 minutes until the dough is golden around the edges. Remove from the oven and if there are any bubbles you can poke them with a fork to remove them. Set aside.
For the easy vegan lemon squares layer: Add the sugar and cornstarch to pan and whisk to combine. Add the plant-based milk, lemon juice, and turmeric and whisk. (It's ok if the milk curdles, it will come back together when cooked).
Now put the pot over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer. Whisk often while simmering until the lemon square filling gets thick, translucent, and bright yellow, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in the vanilla extract.
Pour the lemon layer onto the baked shortbread crust and evenly spread with a spatula. Allow to cool on the counter for about 30 minutes and then pop it in the fridge to cool for 1 - 2 hours, or overnight until completely chilled. When chilled you can remove bars from the pan and slice.
Sprinkle the lemon bars with powdered sugar if desired, just before serving. Store your easy vegan lemon squares in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 1 week. If you would like to try another, more spreadable lemony recipe that you can spread on scones, try my Easy Vegan Lemon Curd.
Common Questions:
- Can I make lemon bars gluten-free? Yes! If you swap out the all-purpose flour for a gluten-free, it should work perfectly! Check out the comments below as some people have already tried this and had great success 🙂
- How long do lemon bars keep? If kept covered, lemon bars can keep in your fridge for about 1 week.
- Can you freeze lemon bars? Yes, you can. Lemon bars can be frozen for up to 3-4 months if stored away in an air-tight container. Simply cut the cooled bars (without powdered sugar topping) into squares, then place in a container and freeze.
Bon Appetegan!
Sam Turnbull.
Easy Vegan Lemon Squares
Ingredients
For the Vegan Shortbread Crust:
- ½ cup vegan butter, melted
- ¼ cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
For the Vegan Lemon Layer:
- 1 ⅓ cups white sugar
- 6 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 ⅓ cup plant-based milk (such as oat or soy)
- ½ cup lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric (optional for colour)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 - 2 tablespoons powdered sugar (optional for dusting)
Instructions
For the shortbread crust:
- Preheat your oven to 325F (170C). Line an 8" x 8" pan with parchment paper, leaving overhang on the sides so the bars are easy to remove from the pan. Alternatively use a silicon pan.
- In a medium bowl, add the melted vegan butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and salt. Mix to combine. Lastly add the flour and mix to make a firm dough. Dump the dough into the prepared pan and press with your fingers to firmly pack and evenly spread the dough. Bake for 17 - 19 minutes until the dough is golden around the edges. Remove from the oven and if there are any bubbles you can poke them with a fork to remove them. Set aside.
For the lemon layer:
- Add the sugar and cornstarch to pan and whisk to combine. Add the plant-based milk, lemon juice, and turmeric and whisk. (It's ok if the milk curdles, it will come back together when cooked). Now put the pot over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer. Whisk often while simmering until the lemon filling gets thick, translucent, and bright yellow, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in the vanilla extract.
- Pour the lemon layer onto the baked shortbread crust and evenly spread with a spatula. Allow to cool on the counter for about 30 minutes and then pop it in the fridge to cool for 1 - 2 hours, or overnight until completely chilled. When chilled you can remove bars from the pan and slice. Sprinkle the bars with powdered sugar if desired, just before serving. Store lemon bars in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.
Rosie says
I’ve never commented on a recipe before, but this was so good I just had too.
These came out absolutely perfect and taste just like the non-vegan kind.
Anyone that’s saying their topping came out too liquidly definitely didn’t cook it long enough. Once the mixture starts bubbling (simmering) it almost instantly turns thick and clearer. For me it took about 8 minutes.
I cannot wait to make these again!!
Sam Turnbull says
Thrilled you enjoyed them so much Rosie!! 🙂
Tonya says
First recipe from It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken that I can’t recommend. I made four batches of these today for a vegan bake sale tomorrow. All batches are runny liquid on top of soggy mess. Frantically trying to come up with plan B. Not sure what I did wrong; I cooked the lemon topping as long as recommended.
Kristine says
I made these for Easter. They were fantastic. Mine were more like a sloppy pile of lemon on top of the shortbread as opposed to nice looking squares like yours, but they tasted delicious. I added in some zest as well. I'll make again for sure!
Suzanne says
Next time I will add lemon zest. Not very lemony without lemon zest
Bailey says
These are absolutely delicious and I got lots of compliments at work, but I was stressed while making them! Here's the comment no one asked for, but if you're here then maybe you're having some doubts of your own. I thought for sure I read that lemon zest was needed. Then I read the recipe again...no lemon zest? Well, this was AFTER I had already zested 2 lemons. I was going to add it regardless (at the same time as the vanilla), but in the end I completely forgot about it. I had a vision of lemon coconut squares, so when making the shortbread I added 1/2 c of grated coconut and subbed 1/2 of the vanilla extract for coconut extract. Since I added coconut, I reduced my flour to 3/4c and I also used GF flour (Robin Hood). I don’t think this had any effect on the end result. You don’t need the crust to rise, so GF works just fine. I felt very weird using melted butter. Instinct told me to cut in the butter like when making pastry. I used the melted butter method, and my dough did seem very wet. I sprinkled a touch more flour, but didn't want it to end up tough. It didn’t seem like enough dough. I really had to pat and pat to get it to reach all the edges. I pricked the dough multiple times with a fork so that I didn’t get any bubbles. My oven runs hot, so I reduced the temp to 320, but my thermometer still read close to 350. I baked the crust for the full 19 minutes and it was just golden on the edges. Now for the lemon curd saga. I added everything except the lemon juice to the cold pot. I let the milk warm up a bit and dissolve the sugar, then I slowly poured in the lemon juice while whisking. I think if my mixture would have curdled at that point, I would have cried and thrown the whole thing away. I stood whisking for about 5 mins, heat on medium. Nothing happening except a whole lot of bubbles. I read another comment about turning up the heat, so I did and it only took about 3 minutes for the transformation to happen. This filling will give you an arm workout! The bubbles disappeared and the colour became a much brighter yellow and was looking like lemon pie filling. My faith was restored once again! I poured the lemon filling into the crust and let it cool for quite a while on the counter before placing it in the fridge overnight. I covered mine with a tea-towel, as I thought that would prevent it from sweating. I was wrong. The next morning it still had small beads of moisture on the surface. I dusted them with powdered sugar, which dissolved immediately and made a really shiny coating on top. It looked cool, but I really wanted the powdered sugar dusting. I don’t know what the secret is to getting the powdered sugar dusting to stay white. Maybe I should have let them chill in the fridge with no covering? I think it needs a bit of a crust on top when the powdered sugar goes on in order to not dissolve. All in all, a delicious recipe. I hope my comment helps anyone who is doubtful in their own process. It all works out in the end!
MommaCanCook says
That was long winded and pointless.
Allison says
Amazing recipe! I love the simple ingredients. The curd turned out beautifully and the crust nice and crumbly. I did modify it slightly: I added a bit more flour to the crust dough because it was very soft and I wanted the consistency to be firmer. I also baked it a few minutes longer to get a nice light brown colour on it. Also a note is that before you cook the curd it will be very pale, but it transforms to a bright vibrant yellow once you cook it. I was concerned about the colour at first but happily surprised later. Overall fantastic recipe and definitely will make again
Sam Turnbull says
Thank you Allison, glad you enjoyed!
Steph says
These were good but the shortbread wasn't super crumbly as I remember regular shortbread being. Perhaps I patted it down too much in the pan? The lemon curd is delicious on its own.
Joanne C says
I loved them!!!! Thank you for this! You make transitioning to plant based foods/ vegan so much easier and delicious!
Sam Turnbull says
That makes me so happy! Thank you Joanne 🙂
Latalullah says
The advice to cook the custard long enough is fact. Mine’s a little loose but didn’t stop me from eating a strip out of the pan while they were still warm.
I ran out of corn starch and subbed a tblsp of tapioca starch which worked.
These will be a regular on my cheat days.
Simple and a little too delicious lol
Sam did it again
Annie says
Hi, this looks awesome. I hate vanilla.. can't stand it. can I skip it or replace it with something else?
Ziggy says
I skipped the vanilla. You could probably use an alternative extract too if you wanted, especially in the crust, like maple extract.
Isaac says
This recipe is a definitive 5/5! Delicious, pantry-friendly, and easy to make. Make sure your heat is high enough to thicken the custard and you're golden.
Natasha says
Thank you for this tip. Mine wasn’t thickening on medium/high I turned it up and it started thickening right away!
Shawn Mackenzie says
These lemon bars are exceptionally good. I read comments that made me nervous, but I want to say--Sam's recipes are fantastic and this one even impressed my Mother in Law who assumes vegan food will be brown! I did cook the crust with convection and it came out golden brown and so pretty.....my son asked if I could serve that crust as cookies. Another 5/5 for Sam and thank you for making me look like a good baker!
Dave says
I love this recipe and have made it many times. The only change is I use a date and almond or walnut crust layer. So good. Thank you!
Robert Lamb says
I was wondering if I can substitute passionfruit juice for the lemon juice? I have a lot of passionfruit, or lilikoi, as it is known in Hawai’i. I also want to do the same thing for the lemon curd recipe.
Sara Chicas-Harding says
Holy MOLY - So good and so easy! If you're not a baker but want to impress this is the recipe to make!
Jess says
Really good and easy