Healthy Lemon Bars
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Last updated on Apr 04, 2025
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These healthy lemon bars have an almond flour shortbread crust and a creamy, perfectly tart lemon filling. They’re gluten-free, dairy-free, naturally sweetened and made with only 6 simple ingredients!
If you’re a fan of lemon desserts you’re in for a real treat (literally!) with these healthy lemon bars. They combine an almond flour shortbread crust with a creamy, tart filling that is chef’s kiss. I can’t wait for you to try them!
Classic lemon bars are usually made with butter, white flour and white sugar (and lots of it!), but to make these lemon bars healthier I used almond flour, maple syrup and no oil or butter! The shortbread crust is made with just 2 simple ingredients (almond flour and maple syrup) and then you only need 4 more ingredients to make the filling. How easy is that?!
Why You’ll Love These Bars
- They’re bursting with lemon flavor!
- Super easy to make and only requires 6 main ingredients!
- These bars are gluten-free, dairy-free and naturally sweetened.
Ingredients Needed
- eggs – the eggs help to bind the filling and create a creamy, custard-like texture.
- maple syrup – both the crust and filling are naturally sweetened with pure maple syrup.
- lemon – the star of the show here! We’re using both fresh lemon juice and lemon zest in the filling.
- almond flour – we’re using almond flour to make the shortbread crust and to help provide structure for the filling. I used Bob’s Red Mill super fine almond flour, which is blanched almond flour meaning the skin has been removed from the nut prior to grinding into a powder. I don’t recommend swapping the almond flour for a different type of flour.
- baking powder – helps these bars to rise!
- salt – just a pinch to bring all the flavors together.
- powdered sugar – I love topping these bars with a sprinkle of powdered sugar for garnish. This is optional!
How to Make
Preheat oven: Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line an 8×8 baking dish with parchment paper or spray with cooking spray.
Make & bake crust: Make crust by combining almond flour and maple syrup in a medium bowl. Press the dough firmly into the prepared baking dish. Place crust in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, until lightly golden.
Mix filling: While crust is baking, whisk filling ingredients (eggs, maple syrup, almond flour, baking powder, salt, lemon juice and lemon zest) together in a large mixing bowl. Once crust is done baking, remove from oven and slowly pour filling onto crust.
Bake, cool and serve: Return baking dish to oven and cook for 20-25 minutes, until filling looks set and is no longer jiggly in the middle. Remove from oven and let cool completely at room temperature. Then let cool in fridge until the bars set up, about 4 hours. Sift powdered sugar onto bars, cut and serve.
Tips For Success
- Use fresh lemon juice and zest. The flavor of fresh lemon juice and zest is far superior to that of bottled juice and will make a big difference in the final product.
- Use room temperature ingredients. This will help the ingredients to combine more easily and create a smooth filling.
- Don’t over-bake. Just bake the bars until the edges are golden brown and the filling is set. The filling should jiggle just a little bit when you shake the pan, but not slosh around.
- Cool completely. This will allow the filling to set and make it easier to cut cleanly. Also, make sure to cool these bars at room temperature before placing in the fridge to set. If you put these bars in the fridge while the bars are still warm it might cause the top to crack.
- Garnish with powdered sugar just before serving. If garnishing with powdered sugar do so once bars have completely cooled. If you add the powdered sugar while bars are still warm the powdered sugar will melt into the bars.
How to Store Lemon Bars
In the fridge: Before storing these lemon bars, make sure they’ve cooled completely. You can store them in an airtight sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
In the freezer: If you freeze these bars I recommend storing them with parchment paper in between the bars so they don’t stick together. Store in a freezer-safe container for up to 1 month. Before serving, let them thaw in the refrigerator.
Lemon Bar FAQ’s
Unfortunately not. This recipe was specifically created to be made with almond flour and using another flour won’t yield the same results. I did test these bars with oat flour and they didn’t turn out. The crust was super dry and crumbly, which makes sense because the almond flour has more fat so works better for this simple shortbread crust.
Sometimes you might notice some white air bubbles on the top of your lemon bars. That’s totally normal and is caused by the air from the eggs rising to the surface while baking. These bubbles shouldn’t affect the taste of the bars and the dusting of confectioners’ sugar will cover those bubbles right up!
The crust is going to be soft because of the almond flour, but it shouldn’t be soggy. If your crust mixture is wet before baking it might need to be mixed together a little more. If it’s soggy after baking it probably needs a little more time baking in the oven.
More Lemon Recipes to Try
- Lemon Ricotta Cookies
- Lemon Almond Flour Cookies
- Blueberry Lemon Overnight Oats
- Raspberry Lemon Overnight Oats
- Blueberry Lemon Baked Oatmeal
- Gluten-Free Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
- Healthy Lemon Loaf (Starbucks Copycat)
More Almond Flour Recipes
- Almond Cookies
- Almond Flour Cupcakes
- Healthy Birthday Cake
- Almond Flour Cookies with Chocolate Chips
- Birthday Cake Cookies
- Almond Flour Thumbprint Cookies
- Almond Flour Pancakes
- Oatmeal Banana Muffins
- Almond Flour Muffins
- Almond Flour Waffles
Check out all of the almond flour recipes as well as the full collection of dessert recipes on EBF!
If you enjoyed this recipe, please consider leaving a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below.
Healthy Lemon Bars
Ingredients
Crust:
- 2 cups almond flour
- ½ cup maple syrup
Filling:
- 4 large eggs
- ½ cup maple syrup
- ⅔ cup lemon juice
- ¼ cup almond flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- Pinch of fine sea salt
- Zest from 1 lemon
Garnish:
- Powdered sugar, sifted, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line an 8×8 baking dish with parchment paper or spray with cooking spray.
- Make crust by combining almond flour and maple syrup in a medium bowl.
- Press dough firmly into prepared baking dish. Place crust in oven and bake for about 20 minutes, until lightly golden.
- While crust is baking, whisk filling ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
- Once crust is done baking, remove from oven and slowly pour filling onto crust.
- Return baking dish to oven to cook for 20-25 minutes, until filling looks set and is no longer jiggly in the middle.
- Remove from oven and let cool completely at room temperature. Then let cool in fridge until bars set up, about 4 hours over overnight.
- Sift powdered sugar onto bars if using, cut and serve.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Turned out amazing! Was looking for a healthier version and came across your recipe!! Just added shredded coconut to filling batter and even ate 2 pieces while still warm!! Make it!! Thank u
Yay! So glad you found and loved this version, Maya! Love the idea of adding shredded coconut—sounds delicious. Thanks so much for making the recipe and coming back to leave a review. I really appreciate it!
These looked so promising and the best part is they’re healthy too! But after following the recipe exactly, my bars were very hard to eat- the crust crumbled and the filling was grainy. I know they are healthy and the taste has to be sacrificed a little but they tasted nothing like regular lemon bars to me. This was my first recipe of yours but after reading some other reviews there is still a lot of love for the rest of your creations!
Hi Victoria! I am so sorry to hear this recipe didn’t turn out for you. I am going to re-test this recipe to see what adjustments we can make so this doesn’t keep happening. I appreciate you sharing your feedback!