Healthy Lemon Bars are the perfect healthy lemon dessert. Paleo, gluten free, and made with no sugar- they’re delicious and easy to make! These gluten free lemon bars are made with coconut flour and have the perfect creamy filling and decadent crust- one of the best healthy lemon desserts! This post is sponsored by my friends at Bob’s Red Mill.
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These Healthy Lemon Bars are one of our favorite desserts. They check off all the boxes for a yummy dessert – perfectly sweet and lemony while still being totally rich.. plus they’ve got multiple textures in one (creamy lemon filling, crispy cookie bottom).
They’re pretty much the ultimate summer treat (but we eat them year round!)
This lemon bar recipe is based off a (not so healthy) lemon bar recipe that I’ve been making for Tyler over the past couple of months. I wanted a grain free, and lower sugar version that we could enjoy.
What makes these lemon bars healthy?
- gluten free, grain free, dairy free
- lower in sugar/naturally sweetened
- no weird ingredients!
I’m happy to say these taste just like the ‘real’ lemon bar while being totally paleo, dairy free, gluten free, grain free, and sweetened with just maple syrup.
They’re seriously a DREAM dessert. You’re going to love them!
Ingredients for Gluten Free Lemon Bars
To make these gluten free lemon bars you’ll need only 8 ingredients:
- maple syrup
- ghee
- eggs
- Bob’s Red Mill Coconut Flour
- Bob’s Red Mill Tapioca Flour
- lemon juice / lemon zest
- vanilla extract
You can find substitutions for all of these ingredients below in the green shaded substitutions box.
You’ll need 4-5 large lemons for the juice. Use fresh squeezed lemon juice instead of the one that comes in the jar!
It will also be helpful to have a citrus zester and a citrus juicer. We recommend making these in a metal 8×8 baking pan.
🍋 Important Tip:
Make sure to use freshly squeezed lemon juice and lemon zest. NO bottled lemon juice. It will not taste as good!
Coconut flour is perfect for baking because it’s super versatile. No matter what allergies or dietary preferences your family and friends have they can enjoy this. It is gluten free, dairy free, nut free, soy free, sugar free, grain free and fairly low carb when compared to white flour.
We love to bake with Bob’s Red Mill Coconut Flour and use it in so many recipes from Protein Cookies to Buffalo Turkey Meatballs
How to make Healthy Lemon Bars
Making Healthy Lemon Bars is easy! Here’s how to do it:
- In a large mixing cup or bowl mix together the maple syrup, vanilla, ghee, and egg. Make sure the ghee is cooled so you don’t scramble the egg.
- In a bowl add the coconut flour, tapioca flour, and lemon zest. Stream in the liquids as you mix up the flour with a fork. At first, it will seem too wet, but keep mixing, because coconut flour soaks up liquid as it sets.
- You will have something that resembles a dough when you’re finished mixing and it comes together.
- Press the dough into an 8×8 baking pan sprayed with cooking spray or lined with parchment.
- While the crust is baking, whisk together the eggs, zest, maple syrup, lemon juice, and tapioca flour until it’s perfectly smooth. If your egg whites aren’t fully mixed in make sure to really whisk them well! Otherwise, you will wind up with small pieces of cooked egg whites in your bars.
- When the crust is done baking pour the filling immediately into it. Do not wait for it to cool. Carefully transfer it to the oven and turn the oven down to 325 degrees. Bake 14-16 minutes.
I over-baked this particular batch by one minute (yes.. that’s all it takes!) hence why there are a few cracks in them.
The cracks don’t bother me.. and they don’t affect the taste at all. I think it makes them look a bit more rustic 😉
Serving Paleo Lemon Bars:
These Lemon Bars are best made 24 hours in advance of when you have to serve them. They only need about 90 minutes to cool, but if they can set in the refrigerator overnight they’ll be even better!
Powdered Sugar: These lemon bars are fine to serve as is totally plain, or you can dust the lemon squares with powdered sugar. Powdered sugar isn’t paleo, but it makes the bars pretty and hides any imperfections. If the lemon bars are at all moist/have condensation at the top of them, blot with a paper towel before adding powdered sugar. Otherwise, the sugar will get absorbed
Serving Size: I divided this into. 9 servings, but you could cut in to 16 if you’d like smaller lemon bars.
Serve chilled: These paleo lemon bars should be served chilled. They’re fine to sit out at room temp for 2-3 hours, but they will get soft, and they’re meant to be eaten cold.
Substitutions for Healthy Lemon Bars
You guys know we love to provide you with substitutions for recipes, but sadly – this lemon dessert just isn’t one where you can make substitutions. If you make these bars as is you’ll wind up with perfect gluten free, paleo, healthier lemon bars.
Baking pan: This recipe was tested in both glass and metal baking dishes. Metal conducts heat far better than glass so it got done quicker. You’ll also notice some cracking if you bake it past the just set stage. This is fine and doesn’t affect the flavor at all.
Lemon: You can swap the lemon for lime in this recipe for key lime pie bars. We do not recommend using jarred lemon juice. Use fresh squeezed lemon juice.
Flour: I don’t recommend other flours for the crust, especially almond flour. The crust is a tried and true formula of coconut flour and tapioca. The tapioca provides a binder along with the egg.
Eggs: You can’t substitute eggs in this recipe. They are essential for the taste and texture of lemon bars. If you need an egg free lemon bar – check out this Vegan Lemon Bar Recipe
Ghee: Ghee was used for flavor. Coconut oil is just too oily. We don’t recommend coconut oil for a swap for two reasons -you just don’t get that cookie flavor if you use it, and it also is really greasy. Grass fed butter, regular butter (if not paleo) are all fine subs for the ghee.
Coconut Sugar: is not recommended for this recipe. It just doesn’t melt down like liquid sugars or regular sugar. We tried it.. and I promise you, it doesn’t taste good.
Maple Syrup: We haven’t tried substituting maple syrup for honey, but I think it might work. I can’t be sure without testing it!
Doubling the recipe: I haven’t tried doubling this recipe but I’m sure it would work in a 9×13 pan.
Keto/Low Carb: Unfortunately we can’t offer substitutions for this recipe to make it low carb but you can check out this Keto Lemon Bars recipe!
I mean… don’t you just want to take a bite?!
How to store lemon bars:
Do you need to refrigerate lemon bars? Yes, lemon bars must be stored in the refrigerator. They will last in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Lemon bars can get a little moist on top from condensation in the refrigerator so I recommend just blotting them with a paper towel before serving.
Freezing – I haven’t tried freezing these lemon bars but I wouldn’t recommend it. I don’t think they would freeze well.
We hope you love these lemon bars just as much as we did!
Healthy Lemon Bars
Ingredients
Crust:
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/3 cup ghee melted and cooled
- 1 large egg
- 2/3 cup Bob’s Red Mill Coconut Flour
- 1/4 cup Bob’s Red Mill Tapioca Flour
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest zest of about 1/2 lemon
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Filling:
- 1/2 cup lemon juice freshly squeezed. about 4-5 lemons depending on size
- 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon zest about zest of 2 lemons
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 4 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons tapioca flour
Instructions
- Preheat Oven to 350 degrees
- In a large mixing cup or bowl mix together the maple syrup, vanilla, ghee, and egg. Make sure the ghee is cooled so you don’t scramble the egg.
- In a bowl add the coconut flour, tapioca flour and lemon zest. Stream in the liquids as you mix up the flour with a fork. At first it will seem too wet, but keep mixing, because coconut flour soaks up liquid as it sets.
- You will have something that resembles a dough when you’re finished mixing and it comes together.
- Press the dough into an 8×8 baking pan sprayed with cooking spray or lined with parchment.
- Give the dough a few pricks with a fork, but DO NOT go the entire way through it. Just a couple.
- Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. It should just look set when you bake it and have maybe a little bit of a golden edge. If the dough puffed at all just give it a little prick with your fork to deflate.
- While the crust is baking, whisk together the eggs, zest, maple syrup, lemon juice and tapioca flour until it’s perfectly smooth.
- When the crust is done baking pour the filling immediately into it. Do not wait for it to cool.
- Carefully transfer it to the oven and turn the oven down to 325 degrees. Bake 14-16 minutes.
- Watch the bars closely as you want to remove them when they’re just set. Pull the bars out and allow them to cool completely before transferring to the fridge for 90 minutes. Cut and serve with whipped topping or powdered sugar (not paleo, but delicious and traditional).
Katie says
I just made these for Christmas Eve dinner tonight. They are so good! I think I should have baked the crust a bit longer though. Also, when I baked the whole thing there was a layer on top that looked like scrambled egg. I’m sure I did something wrong when mixing, but I was able to just scrape it off and smooth out the top and it was fine. I am going to try lime next time. Thank you!
Lili says
My daughter is allergic to coconut. Do you have a suggestion for a substitute?
The Clean Eating Couple says
Unfortunately I don’t! gluten free baking is really finicky so I can’t offer a substitute here!
Linda Ferrell says
Do you melt the ghee then measure or measure ghee then melt?
The Clean Eating Couple says
melt it and then measure it!
Lexie says
I absolutely love these lemon bars!! They taste amazing!
The Clean Eating Couple says
So glad you liked them, Lexie! Thank you!
Yanhel says
I’ve made these lemon bars multiple times and everyone always loves them. I always get asked for the recipe and when I send them the link to the Clean Eating Couple they are surprised to find out they are paleo & gluten free!
The Clean Eating Couple says
Thank you so much, Yanhel! So glad you like them!
Kaitlin says
Had to make a different lemon filling due to lack of ingredients, so I can’t speak on that, however:
The crust was absolutely AMAZING! The subtle tang of lemon in these complimented the bars and was not overwhelming when filled with a lemon filling. They weren’t as crumbly as traditional shortbread which I appreciate and had a soft but firm texture that held up well to a thick filling! Delicious and hopefully will have the correct ingredients on hand next time to make the whole bars!!
The Clean Eating Couple says
So glad you liked them, Kaitlin! Thanks!
Chelsea White says
Hi, my husband and I just found your site–and I am thrilled!! I was wondering if you could tell me how much regular sugar i could use in the recipe as I have an allergy to maple syrup? Thank you! I’d love to make these really soon with our sons!!
The Clean Eating Couple says
Hi Chelsea – I’m sorry but I don’t know how to convert this recipe to use regular maple syrup – I would probably just look for a regular lemon bar recipe! Baking is such a science and I only tested them with maple syrup. Coconut sugar did not work.
Tammi says
Are there any possible egg replacements that might work?
The Clean Eating Couple says
No you definitely can’t replace eggs in this. They’re essential to the texture. Sorry!
MaryKate says
So excited to make this for a birthday this weekend!! I can’t find tapioca starch at my locks grocery store. Will cornstarch work do you think, or completely ruin them?
The Clean Eating Couple says
Hi MaryKate – Tapioca flour is not the same as corn starch and that will 100% not work in this recipe – please don’t try it, I’d be so sad to see them ruined!! Most grocery stores will have it in the health food section next to the almond/coconut flour. Otherwise – grab it on bobsredmill.com or on amazon prime! https://amzn.to/3fd4aiF Hope this helps!
Abigail says
OMG! Best gluten free lemon squares ever! I tried it with limes too and just as delicious!! I recommend having some willpower and wait the full 24hrs. When I’m looking for a gluten free recipe this is the first place check.
The Clean Eating Couple says
Thank you, Abigail!! Glad you liked them 🙂 They’re so yummy with limes!!
Julie says
Can’t wait to try! 🙂
The Clean Eating Couple says
Hope you love them!
Kristin says
I made these lemon bars last night. They are so tasty! They remind me of traditional lemon bar cookies that my mom used to make around Christmas time, only these are more on the tart side than the sweet side, which is exactly how I like them. It did take slightly longer than suggested for the lemon filling to set in the over, but I think that’s because my oven is nearing the end of its lifespan and needs replaced. I am not a big baker. In fact, I bake only once or twice a year, maybe slightly more if there is a special occasion. These bars were easy to make, and I just happened to have all of the ingredients on hand when the recipe popped up in my inbox. I highly recommend making these!
The Clean Eating Couple says
Thank you so much, Kaitlin! I’m so glad you like them!