3-Ingredient Lemon Bars
These Easy Lemon Crumble Bars only have 3 ingredients! This summertime dessert recipe only needs cake mix, butter and lemon pie filling!
EASY LEMON CRUMBLE BARS
You never know where a recipe will take you. I love the story of how this particular recipe plopped into my lap. While hanging out on facebook, answering some questions, I got a question from a reader named Toni (hi Toni!). She had a couple of cans of lemon pie filling in her pantry and she wanted some ideas on how to use them up. I suggested a recipe I had on the site here called Lemon Dream Cake. But I also decided to ask folks on facebook if they had any recipe suggestions. Well, someone did! Sandi G. (Hi Sandi!), shared a crazy-easy recipe to use up a can of lemon pie filling.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (SEE RECIPE CARD BELOW FOR THE FULL RECIPE)
- yellow cake mix
- salted butter
- lemon pie filling
HOW TO MAKE 3 INGREDIENT LEMON BARS
Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray 9×13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. If you’ve followed my blog for a while, y’all know I’m a big fan of Baker’s Joy nonstick spray. It has flour in it. It is so awesome for baking. In a bowl, combine softened butter with dry cake mix.
Mix until crumbly. Now at this point, you might think to yourself, this stuff is so crumbly, how is it going to pack into the baking dish and make a crust? Well, I thought the same thing. But it all pushes together nicely and bakes up so well. Just make sure you are using real butter for this, I’m not so sure margarine would hold up in this recipe. But if anyone tries it, let me know. Before you go any further, you’ll need to set aside 1/2 cup of this crumbly mixture.
Take the rest of the crust mixture and press it into a 9×13 baking dish. Spread it out evenly and then just go around and pack it down in there with your hands. Spoon lemon pie filling onto crust. Do your best to spread it out as evenly as possible.
Then take the 1/2 cup of crust mixture that you set aside earlier and sprinkle all over lemon pie filling. This is going to give you a nice little crumble topping.
Bake at 350F for about 20-25 minutes. The crumble on top will just start to turn a very light golden brown. Then slice up and serve. This crust slices up very nicely. I like to eat it while it is still a little warm but it was really good nice and cold from being stored in the refrigerator. I bet that would be delicious during the hot summer months.
CRAVING MORE RECIPES?
- Lemon Brownies
- Starbucks Lemon Loaf
- Cherry Crumble Bars
- Apple Crumble Bars
- Lemon Bars with Nilla Wafer Crust
- Lemon Magic Cake
- Classic Lemon Bars
Originally published: February 2013
Updated & Republished: June 2019
3-Ingredient Lemon Bars
Ingredients
- 1 box yellow cake mix
- 1 stick salted butter (1/2 cup) softened to room temperature
- 22 ounce can lemon pie filling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray 9×13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a bowl, combine softened butter with dry cake mix. Mix until crumbly.
- Set aside 1/2 cup of this crumbly mixture for the topping.
- Take the rest of the crust mixture and press it into baking dish.
- Spread it out evenly and then just go around and pack it down in there with your hands.
- Spoon lemon pie filling evenly onto crust layer.
- Then take the 1/2 cup of crust mixture that you set aside earlier and sprinkle all over lemon pie filling.
- Bake at 350F for about 20-25 minutes. The crumble on top will just start to turn a very light golden brown.
- Allow to cool then slice up and serve.
Video
Notes
- This crust slices up very nicely. I like to eat it while it is still a little warm but it was really good nice and cold from being stored in the refrigerator.
- This should be covered and stored in the fridge. I found if I just covered it and left it out that the crust would soften up a bit so put in the refrigerator if not eating it all the same day it’s made.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
this is going in the keeper file! the kids and i just loved it!
i just made this and used butter. it didn't get crumbly so i added a couple tablespoons of flour to mix with the 1/2 cup for the topping. worked! i also used a can and a half of pie filling. we'll see what happens!
I tried this recipe tonight and it was delicious ! I only had margarine on hand it the crust turned out fine, but the crumble was not very crumbly. I would recommend using butter. It tastes a lot like the lemon girl scout cookies to me. My husband said that it tastes like a Hostess Lemon pie. I will say that I had a hard time finding the canned lemon pie filling. All 3 of the local grocery stores near me had shelf space for it, but no cans on the shelf. Hope they are not discontinuing it. I would love to make this again !!
Hi! I've made something similiar but add the step of mixing the lemon filling with a block of cream cheese. Very yummy and helps up the tang factor a bit!
Thank you Leah! I'm glad you liked this one!!
This was so easy and so very delicious. I still cant believe how simple it was! Great recipe!
Fiddlesticks-hmmmm. Possibly. It just depends on how much you LOVE lemon.
P. Lea, this is a sweet lemon dessert, not really tangy. ~Brandie
Thanks for sharing, looks good! Valerie
I am a bit picky with my lemon desserts. I like them to really taste like lemon, tangy lemon and not sweet and fake. How does this one turn out?
YUM! I want to make these & do a blog review, fingers crossed they're as good as yours!;)
Trying this recipe but with chocolate cake and raspberry pie filling, hopefully it's yummy 🙂
Just wondering if you have tried this recipe with a lemon cake ?
Do you think maybe that would be over kill on the lemon flavor ?
Thanks !
I was just thinking the same thing. I don’t think there is such a thing as too much lemon flavour!! lol
How wonderful! I love this – it's easy and I can do it. 🙂 I will be doing this very soon.
Brandie, although I'm not a big lemon fan, I think the flavor possibilites for this recipe are many…
Mostly, I just wanted to say that your blog is one of my VERY favorites…and I subscribe to many blogs…and I'm always excited to see your emails. LOVE the Weekend Potluck! Keep doing what you're doing – it rocks!
Debbie
DebNJoizee919@aol.com
I don't even like lemon anything (except for lemonade), but these look delicious and SUPER DUPER easy! I have to try this and might have to try it with other flavors too. Thanks!
A 3 ingredient recipe; that's crazy…Crazy is good! Even a non-baker can whip up a batch of these pretty bars.
A Lemon Lover's Dream come true!! I love anything lemon and I think I found a new favorite:) You have several lemon recipes I'm going to try~ Lynn @ Turnips 2 Tangerines
This sounds fantastic! I'm going to make them for my boyfriend and I this weekend. Question first… how many ounces should the can of lemon pie filling be? Thank you! 🙂
Sincerely,
Autumn (the one with the military boyfriend) lol
Made these tonight!! Great! 🙂
Yummmm
Yum! I can't wait to make this recipe. I love cake mix recipes.
I am making these soon! Thanks for sharing this simple and yummy recipe!
Sounds AWESOME!!! Also, I might try cherry filling!!!
cherry sounds good
Think I'll try key lime,,,,
I wondered about cherry
I'm going to make these today as soon as the butter comes to room temperature! Sounds easy to make! I'm sure they will be gone in 2 days!
I am pinning this one! That looks wonderful and I love everything lemon!