Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker Easy Lemon Curd is sweet and tart and is delicious on cakes and cupcakes. It is ready in less than 15 minutes in your Pressure Cooker.
Pressure Cooker Easy Lemon Curd
Pressure Cooker Easy Lemon Curd
If you have seen my Fool Proof Lemon Curd recipe, which cooks on the stove, but want to use your Pressure Cooker, you are in luck. No longer do you have to stand over the stove and watch a candy thermometer.
If you want to use the stove, try my Fool Proof Lemon Curd. What is nice about the stove top version, is that you can easily adjust the thickness of the curd by cooking it longer and use the curd in Thumbprint cookies and other recipes, which require a very thick, jellied curd.
I like to use Eureka Lemons for my Curd, but you can certainly use Meyer Lemons or any other lemon. In fact, many types of citrus make delicious Curd.
Try my Pressure Cooker Easy Key Lime Curd, Lime Curd or Orange Curd. Grapefruit Curd is quite delicious too. I like to use Pink Grapefruit, as the color is lovely.
Cast of Ingredients for Totally Fool Proof Lemon Curd
Gather your ingredients together and let the butter come to room temperature.
Using a Bakers Scale, weigh the butter, then the sugar and mix together.
Add the eggs, one at a time.
If you don’t have a Bakers Scale, just use Measuring Cups. A Hand Mixer, stand mixer all are fine to use.
I use my Food Processor because it is so easy and for me, and it is easier to weigh ingredients right in the mixing vessel.
An Immersion Hand Blender will work really well too.
The texture of the Lemon Curd will Change
Notice the change in texture in each step.
Combine the butter and sugar first and process, until completely combined. It will look a bit chunky.
Make sure you blend everything together really well!
Add in the eggs and process until smooth. Once you add in the lemon, things will look weird, but don’t panic. 🙂
You will now see that once the lemon is added, the mix will look a bit curdled. Don’t scream! It will smooth out during cooking.
Pour into Mason Jars
Pour the mixture into three Half Pint (8 oz) Mason Jars or two Wide Mouth Mason Jars and loosely turn the lid until it just catches.
See how it still looks a bit curdled?
It is fine, really, I promise.
You don’t want a tight lid as you are not canning and you don’t want pressure to build inside the jars.
ekovana Stackable Stainless Steel Steamer Insert Pans
***** If you prefer to make your Pressure Cooker Lemon Curd in one large container, it’s easy.
I recommend using these Stainless Steel Stacking Pans.
They have legs, so you don’t need to worry about a Trivet and they come with a cover!
Add two minutes to your cook time. You can easily do a double batch too!
Put some water in the Pressure Cooker, place a Stainless Steel Trivet and then place the three Mason Jars on the trivet.
Make sure the Mason Jars are on loosely, just until you feel the catch when screwing them on.
A little leakage from the Mason Jars is to be expected. Just wipe them off when they come out of the Pressure Cooker.
Taller Wide Mouth Mason Jars will work too and will avoid the leakage, but I prefer to use the smaller Mason Jars for easy storage.
After the Mason jars are removed from the Pressure Cooker, take a butter knife and carefully remove the lid.
A handy hint from Amy S. – to take the lids off, use the rounded end (bottle opener) of an old fashioned “church key.” Pops right off, doesn’t bend the lid, and no sharp knives.
Well, in this case, I asked my husband to take a butter knife and do the dirty work.
I am prone to knocking things over and making a mess.
Use as Microplane to zest the lemon rind. Make sure to just get off the yellow part and not the pith (the white part) or else it will be bitter.
I use this Microplane for grating cinnamon, nutmeg and all kinds of stuff. After the Curd comes out of the Pressure Cooker, add in the lemon zest.
Remember, if you are using Meyer Lemons for your Curd, do not use the Zest; use another kind of lemon, as the thin skin of the Meyer Lemon is quite bitter.
Give the curd a good whisk so that the Zest is nicely incorporated into the Lemon Curd.
The foam you see will disappear and you will achieve a silky texture.
You can already see the difference in the front jar v. the back jars, which have not yet been stirred.
Place the lids back on the Mason jars and allow to sit out for about 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, place the Mason jars in the refrigerator until completely chilled.
Pressure Cooker Easy Lemon Curd
The Pressure Cooker Easy Lemon Curd will continue to thicken as it cools.
Here’s one of my Meyer Lemon trees. Our other one is a Dwarf Meyer Lemon tree. We also have a Eureka Lemon tree, which makes the best lemonade, and gives great zest.
If you love this Pressure Cooker Lemon Curd, be sure to try my Pressure Cooker Easy Key Lime Curd.
If you want to make Curd the old fashion way, here is my Fool Proof Lemon Curd recipe for making the Curd on the stove. 🙂
Equipment Used
- Instant Pot Smart DUO60
- J.A. Henckels Classic 7-inch Hollow Edge Santoku Knife
- Amco Advanced Performance 18/10 Stainless Steel Measuring Spoons
- Culina Stackable (Dry) Stainless Steel Measuring Cups
- Anchor Hocking Glass (Liquid) Measuring Cups
- Rösle Stainless Steel Flat Whisk
- OXO Good Grips Cutting Board
- Stainless Steel Tall/Short Trivet & Egg Cooker Set
- Stainless Steel Insert Pans for cooking Curd in one large vessel
- Bakers Math Scale
- Kitchen Math Bakers Scale
- 11 Cup Food Processor
- Kerr Half Pint (8 oz) Mason Jars
- Microplane Stainless Steel Zester
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Here is the handy printable recipe:
Pressure Cooker Easy Lemon Curd
Print Pin RateIngredients
- 6 TBL/85 grams Unsalted Butter
- 1 cup/200 grams White Sugar
- 2 large Eggs
- 2 large Egg Yolks
- 2/3 cup/150 grams Lemon Juice
- 1-2 tsp Lemon Zest grated
Instructions
- In the bowl of food processor (or with an Immersion Blender or Hand Blender), mix the butter and sugar for about 2 minutes, or until completely smooth. Slowly add the eggs and yolks and mix for just 1 minute.
- Add the lemon juice and mix to combine. The mixture will look curdled, but it will smooth out as it cooks.
- Divide Mixture into Mason jars and place the lids, turning until the lid catches, but not super tight. If using a large pan, use the lid with the vent holes.
- Place 1.5 cups of water in the Pressure Cooker and place a trivet inside. Place Mason jars on top of trivet or place large pan on trivet.
- Lock on lid and close the Pressure Valve. Cook at High Pressure for 10 minutes. When Beep is heard, allow a 10 minute Natural Pressure Release.
- Remove jars (or pan) from Pressure Cooker and carefully open. Add in the Lemon Zest and stir into the curd, until very smooth. Place lids on Curd and tighten just until the lid catches.
- Allow to cool for 25 minutes and then place in the refrigerator overnight. Curd will thicken as it cools.
Notes
PIN this Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Easy Lemon Curd!
Pressure Cooker Easy Lemon Curd
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I am diabetic. Do you think you could make this with Splenda instead of sugar?
Hi Anita. I have not made this recipe with Splenda, so I cannot answer the question from personal experience. Jill
Normaly, I am not a big lover of lemon when it comes to food. I love this curd!! Lemony, but not too tart! This has a very mild taste. I made the New York vanilla bean cheesecake and this lemon curd for a house warming party. One gal told me she loved this curd. I tried the cheese cake without it, then tried with it. This lemon curd just added a greater level of flavor! I made sure every bite had this delicious sauce on it. When I got back home, I fb’d the stove top recipe for this lemon curd to the gal that raved about it. She doesn’t have an instant pot yet!
I only have extra large eggs, wondering if/how I should adjust for that?
Just finished making this, stirred and now cooling (I did lick the spoon after stirring, yum). Immersion blender did not work, used my hand mixer, next time will use my smoothy maker. This is going on top of your Meyer lemon cheesecake I made last night. My first cheesecake so a little nervous. It looks great though. Thank you for the detailed explanations you give.
Hello
Thank you for all your great recipes. I have a question about the lemon curd recipe, can a make this in larger jars and transfer to smaller jars? It makes such a mess in the small ones and I am making them as gifts.
Hi Darcy. You can easily use a casserole dish and then make the transfer. Jill
I just made this and it’s wonderful! I am taking it to TN for our family Christmas vacation and I am going to make Easy Lemon Curd Mousse from Plated Cravings for dessert. I will definitely make this again! Yum!
De-e-e-licious! I made it exactly like the recipe and it is divine. Just tart enough to balance out the sweet & vice versa.
I’ve made this twice now, it’s SO good and SO easy! Thank you!
Juicing lemons for the 2/3 cup. Pulp or no puld? Does it make a difference?
Can you use brown sugar instead of white here?
I’ve not tried this with brown sugar. Jill
This is my favorite food. I eat it most days on my yogurt and or oatmeal. My son said, “this is the stuff of my dreams”
Quite the contrary, Meyer lemon peels are lovely to eat, not bitter like regular lemons.
I love Meyer lemons and do not find the zest to be bitter at all – that is part of why I love them. However, the thin delicate skin can be hard to zest sometimes. I can’t wait to try this recipe.
I was wondering why you do not up the zest in with the sugar and pluse in the food processor. Why wait till the end to add. I have always added the zest with the sugar/ Just wondering?
Mary, I added the zest with everything else in the food processor and it seems fine so far (it is cooking as I type). I could not find my zester so took the “easy” way out after I used a peeler to peel the yellow off the lemons. Of course, I realize that my zest is going to be extremely pulverized when done. I just wish I’d have realized that hubby picked up pint jars instead of half-pint jars. I would have definitely doubled the recipe!
I absolutely LOVE this recipe – thank you! Quick question though, I made it last night (and admittedly I was tired and in a hurry) and I woke up this morning and it was grainy. I’ve never had this happen before with this recipe and was wondering what I may have done wrong?
Thanks!
It is possible the mixture wasn’t fully blended prior to cooking. Cold butter? Jill
I’m very new at this so I will need all the help I can get. You explain everything so well even I can understand.
Thank you, Marsha. Jill
Hi, I just made the lemon curd, and it was great! I did have a problem though: when I opened up my pot after the 10 minutes of NPR, a lot of my curd had leaked out of my jars. When I opened them, all three were half full or less, and when I had put them in, they were all full to about half an inch from the top. I was wondering if you could help me out with figuring out what happened so I can make sure it doesn’t happen again. Thanks for the great recipe otherwise!!
Hi Ilsa. perhaps the lids were not on all the way, or maybe the eggs were larger and made more curd. You can make this in one pan, if you like. Jill
Help! I did something wrong, but I don’t know what. Everything looked and smelled amazing going in to the instant pot. About 6 -8 minutes i while cooking it even smelled great. But when I took the lid off the pot … yuck. I went ahead and stirred, added the zest and stuck my finger in for a little taste. Metal, tinny, yuck!!! Let it cool, smell and taste worsened. Dumped it all down the drain.
Why??? I’d love to try again if anyone has suggestions on what to change. Was it my jars and lids? I used ball brand.
Made this twice already, and a third time with orange. Very easy and delicious. Thank you.
Hi,
I made Jill’s lemon curd recipe. It was fantastic. The only thing I wasn’t pleased with is I made it in the Stack and Cook double pot pan, there is a metallic after taste. Has anyone else had this experience?
Thanks,
Mary
I made mine in the stacking containers and I had an metallic after taste. What did I do wrong?
Thank you for the recipe! I love all of your recipes actually. Can I substitute brown sugar for the white and can I use less if desired? We are controlling sugar and salt in our diets for health reasons.
Again, thank you so much for sharing your recipes, it has been great being able to eat healthy and at home.
Sincerely,
Brenda
I made this last night and it was delicious! Thanks for a great recipe. It tastes amazing over my homemade (also made in the Instant Pot) vanilla yogurt. Yum!!
If the lids are sealed, does that give them shelf life or is it a must to refrigerate?
I’ve made this twice. I’ve also made the pink grapefruit version (my personal favorite) with your instapot yogurt recipe ! Fantastic. My kids ask for it all the time!
Hi Lindsey. Pink grapefruit sounds wonderful! Jill
Throw long if you double it and put it in larger jars?
I made this for the first time and it’s amszing! Very simple and my husband gave it two thumbs up.
I made this for the first time today and it’s amazing! Very simple to make and it is perfect.
Can lemon curd be used as pie filling?
Curd is not as thick as pie filling. You may need to thicken it with cornstarch and then YES! Jill
I made this thus morning and its amazing!!!!! I’m going to try orange next time. But I would really like to make a double batch in pint jars. Do you need to increase the cook time? I’m a little nervous to make it the stacking pans due to some comments saying they got a metallic taste.
A
I love the Greek yogurt. The lemon curd recipe sounds wonderful. I also enjoy Noosa’s Blackberry Serrano. Do you have a thought on how to make a similar compote/jam to add to Greek yogurt?
I have made this before and it was delicious! However, I have tried again the last 2 times and each time it has been extremely runny right out of the IP. What am I doing wrong? I used one large glass bowl inside the pot and added the extra 2 minutes to this last batch, fingers crossed it turns out!
Do you cover the glass bowl with foil? Thanks!
I made this recipe this morning and used “European style butter” and there is a layer of melted fat on the top. I used a food scale and measured exactly. I’m thinking this is because “European style butter” has a higher fat count than traditional American butter. Other than not using this type of butter (it’s what I had and needed to be used up), is there any modifications I could have made to the recipe? Thanks!
If making with orange, do you decrease the amount of sugar since oranges are naturally sweeter than lemons to begin with? I have an excess of citrus right now and it’s already 90 degrees out so I’m making every recipe i can find that doesn’t require the oven!
Yes, I would reduce the sugar. Jill