Lemon curd is a thick, lemon mixture traditionally paired with scones during a British afternoon tea. It is now used all over the sweet world, but most often as a topping for tarts or a filling for choux pastry.
Its bright, vibrant colour makes it an easy choice for a fun dessert. But what if you don’t have any lemon curd to hand and don’t have time to make your own?
Our 4 Substitutes for Lemon Curd
Seeing as the main ingredient of lemon curd is lemon, it is a food with an extremely heavy citrusy taste.
Lots of lemon zest and juice are added to a sugary, buttery mix. This produces a strongly acidic flavour, but the butter creates a smooth, creamy curd which helps to take away that bitter edge.
Here are our top 4 substitutes that can replicate the iconic lemon curd flavour:
1) Lime Curd
As is the case in many areas of cooking, lime can be used to replace the intense lemon in a lemon flavoured recipe.
The main difference between the two citruses is that lime is more on the bitter side while lemon tends to favour acidity. That is why lemons are commonly used over lime in desserts as it is easy to mould that acidity into a tangy dessert.
Lime curd will certainly bode well as a lemon substitute if you balance out its bitterness with a pinch of salt, however.
You will not achieve the same vibrant yellow dessert when using lime curd as it tends to take on the appearance of tartar sauce. Though if you prefer the aesthetic of lemon curd then you could always add a little yellow food colouring.
Make Your Own Lime Curd
Lime curd is just as easy to make at home as lemon curd, so if you have the time then you might want to give it a go.
It is advised that you specifically follow a lime curd recipe as they would have accounted for the flavour difference. Remember to sieve out any lime peel when serving homemade lime curd as its peels do tend to be tougher and unpleasant to eat.
2) Lemon Custard
Custard is generally made using the same ingredients as curd but contains less juice and zest, giving it a significantly milder flavour.
While there are specific lemon flavoured custard products and recipes available, the lemon flavouring is mostly added as an afterthought rather than made the main focus on the dish like in lemon curd.
The texture of the custard is different slightly from curd as it uses corn starch as a thickening agent.
Curd relies on the combination of eggs, sugar, and butter to make it thick and smooth, giving it a creamier texture than custard.
When used alongside other dessert ingredients, the texture difference will not be an issue, however.
Cheat’s Lemon Custard
If you don’t have the skills to make lemon custard from scratch, use whatever tinned vanilla custard you have and mix in some lemon zest, juice or both!
Not only will it be a cheaper alternative to buying lemon custard, but you will also be able to control how strong its lemon kick is.
3) Lemon Pie Filling
Lemon curd and lemon pie filling are completely interchangeable no matter what recipe you follow. Like custard, lemon pie filling uses corn-starch to thicken it up but is made to be used in similar ways to lemon curd.
If you buy premade lemon pie filling, then you will not have to worry about the textures being too different. It is also a much more affordable alternative than lemon curd.
Add Lemon Tang
The main issue with lemon pie filling is that it relies on lemon puree to achieve its lemon flavour. This means that it has a much milder flavour than lemon curd. To resolve this, simply add extra lemon juice or zest to give your desserts that extra kick.
4) Lemon Marmalade
The first thing to note about lemon marmalade is that it is made by boiling down large pieces of lemon. Every part of the lemon is used, from the zest to the pulp.
Marmalade is very rarely a smooth spread because of how it is made, so be prepared for a vastly different texture to lemon curd.
The use of whole lemons makes marmalade an extremely citrusy substitute. You will not have to worry about adding your own lemon flavouring as marmalade is already toeing the overwhelming line.
But the sugar and additional water used to cook the lemons means that marmalade strikes the perfect lemony balance.
Use Other Citrusy Marmalade
Lemon marmalade can be difficult to find in your everyday supermarket. Instead, you can use orange marmalade which will be just as strongly flavoured. You will not get the lemon taste using orange marmalade, but it is still a citrusy flavour.
Other Substitutes for Lemon Curd
If you don’t have the above ingredients to hand, you can always use:
- Lemon Jam – Made using lemon juice, lemon jam will be very tasteful. However, it can contain seeds and hard pieces of peel and will not be creamy like lemon curd.
- Cottage Cheese and Lemon Juice – So long as you blend it up, cottage cheese will provide the tangy creaminess of lemon curd. Add ample lemon juice to give it that lemon kick.
Summary
Lemon curd has such a unique combination of flavours and textures that can be hard to replicate.
However, there are plenty of substitutes that are just as full of flavour as lemon curd-like lemon custard.
Though if you would prefer to match the texture of lemon curd while still having a similar flavour, go with lime curd.