Creamy Yuzu Pie Bars (Easy Yuzu Dessert)

These yuzu pie bars are a riff on my creamy yuzu pie, but baked in a square for easy sharing! Yuzu is a Japanese citrus, tart like a lemon and punchy like a grapefruit. These yuzu pie bars have a graham cracker crust, an easy, creamy filling, and a whipped cream topping. They’re super easy to make and to share.

What is Yuzu?

Yuzu is a type of citrus. It’s about the size of an orange and has a yellow peel like a lemon. Yuzu is very popular in Japan, but is also found throughout East Asia. In terms of flavor, yuzu is much more sour (at least to my tastebuds) than lemons or limes. I find that yuzu has more floral notes than other citrus as well.

How Do You Use Yuzu?

You can use yuzu pretty much the exact same ways you would use lemons or limes. For example, you could do dipping sauces, like ponzu. You could also use it in salad dressing, squeezed onto vegetables, pasta, or even mixed into tea.

But my favorite way to use yuzu is in desserts! With added sweetener, yuzu has an amazing flavor: super punchy from its acidity, but also floral and sweet. It’s like lemon on steroids. I’ve used it before in many recipes: my yuzu lemon cupcakes, yuzu glazed donuts, and of course my yuzu pie.

Where Can You Find Yuzu or Yuzu Juice?

I find it pretty difficult to find fresh yuzu in stores, even with a Japanese market nearby. (Side note: I am planning on trying to grow yuzu in my yard next year, as I just recently learned they do well in the Pacific Northwest!). But it’s fairly simple to find yuzu juice in stores. And if you don’t have an Asian market near you, there’s always Amazon.

The tricky part about yuzu juice is that it is often sold as yuzu extract or juice concentrates. That means the concentration of yuzu will be different from brand to brand. Especially considering that yuzu is much more sour than lemon, you could get huge ranges in flavor. To avoid having your desserts come out disastrously sour, please always taste your yuzu juice first. You want your juice to taste just a little more sour than lemon juice. Chances are you may need to reduce the amount of yuzu juice called for in the recipe and dilute it with water.

Recipe Notes and Yuzu Pie Variations

Other than testing your yuzu juice, this recipe is fairly straightforward! It’s based off a typical key lime pie recipe, so it’s easy to make flavor substitutions. Instead of graham cracker crust, you could try a gingersnap crust or macadamia nut crust. Lime or lemons could be easily substituted for the yuzu as well. A teaspoon of orange blossom water or almond extract would add different floral notes to the filing. You could even try a creamsicle flavor using orange juice and vanilla!

But my favorite is always yuzu because you find it so rarely in America.

Lastly, I really love my citrus desserts to be TART. If you would rather have a mild flavor, you can reduce the amount of yuzu juice by half and dilute it with water. (See recipe note).

Here’s a video showing me making these yuzu pie bars, just for fun!

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Anyway, I hope you give this recipe a try and let me know what you think! Leave me a comment here or find me on Instagram!