Gluten-Free & Vegan No-Bake Lime Tarts
These No-Bake Lime Tarts have a smooth and creamy cashew filling with tangy lime flavor. They’re gluten-free, paleo, and vegan and made in the blender. The perfect cool summer treat!
Remember those No-Bake Lemon Tarts I made for you a few weeks ago??? With their incredibly smooth and tart filling, they stayed on my mind a lot longer than they lasted in my kitchen. They disappeared SO quickly and to such rave reviews, I was immediately craving another batch.
I also heard from a few of you who made and loved them. As I was chatting with one girl about how much she enjoyed them, I proposed the idea of wanting to change the crust around a bit. She concurred, and we agreed something a little graham cracker-crust like would be fabulous.
I didn’t want to make the same tarts again with just a new crust, so I decided to let another citrus shine for this one: limes! I’ve not given nearly enough love to limes here on Bakerita, and I’m determined to get a few more limey recipes up here.
These No-Bake Lime Tarts, though? They are certainly a very delicious, tart, creamy start to that endeavor. And since there’s no baking required, they’ll keep you nice and cool on those warm summer days that are rapidly approaching…
What you’ll need to make the crust
You’ll need a food processor or a high powered blender for this recipe. I use my handy dandy Vitamix. You’ll use it for both the crust and the filling. No real need to wash between either, so double win!
For the crust, simply combine almond flour, dates, coconut oil, cinnamon, kosher salt, and fresh lime juice and zest in the food processor or blender. Pulse until sticky and combined.
Miraculously, with the almond flour, dates, and cinnamon, it does manage to taste similar to graham cracker crust! The lime zest and juice add a bit of zing, to help bring out the lime flavor of the filling, but you can skip them in the crust if you want it to be more pure.
How to make the vegan lime filling
The ingredients you’ll need:
- Soaked Raw Cashews
- Lime Juice & Zest
- Coconut Oil
- Coconut Milk
- Maple Syrup
- Vanilla Extract
- Sea Salt
After pressing the crust into the pans, just toss all the ingredients for the filling into your food processor or blender and let it process until you have a smooth, creamy filling. You can’t really over-process here. I let it blend, blend, blend while I clean measuring cups.
Once it’s luscious and smooth and oh so creamy, divide it between your crusts and pop them in the fridge, or freezer if you’re impatient. In an hour or two, you’re ready to devour.
These No-Bake Lime Tarts are a zingy and fresh dessert that’s easy to make, super refreshing, and perfect to serve to company…or just to have around any old day :) you can keep them indefinitely in your freezer too, so you’ll always have a refreshing lime treat on hand. I prefer them straight from the fridge though – cool and refreshing, with the perfect smooth and firm texture!
These tarts are a paleo, vegan, dairy-free, and refined sugar-free treat that everyone will enjoy. Bet you won’t be able to have just one bite ;) enjoy!
Want more bright, citrusy treats? Look no further…
Vegan Strawberry Lemonade Tart with Hazelnut Crust
This Vegan Strawberry Lemonade Tart is a no-bake, gluten-free and paleo recipe made with loads of fresh strawberries and lemons. The scrumptious agar-thickened filling plays perfectly with the date-sweetened hazelnut crust.
No-Bake Vegan Lemon Cheesecake
This No-Bake Lemon Cheesecake is a cashew-based raw, vegan, and Paleo cheesecake adorned with slices of juicy citrus. It’s incredibly creamy, a little tangy, and lightly sweetened with maple syrup. Based on the number of citrus recipes I’ve posted over the many years I’ve been creating recipes, you would think I really didn’t like citrus.
No-Bake Vegan Lemon Tarts
These No-Bake Lemon Tarts are easy to make with tart lemon flavor. The super creamy and bright lemon filling is perfectly complemented by the lemony cashew coconut crust. These vegan, gluten-free and Paleo tarts are perfect for warm days!
Gluten-Free & Vegan No-Bake Lime Tarts
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 3 small tarts 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: No-Bake
- Cuisine: Healthy
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These No-Bake Lime Tarts are smooth and creamy with a bright, refreshing lime flavor. These no-bake, raw tarts are easy to make and they’re gluten-free, paleo, and vegan. They’re the perfect cool summer treat!
Ingredients
For the crust
- 1 cup almond flour
- 4 pitted dates
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 teaspoon lime zest
For the filling
- 1 cup raw cashews, soaked in cold water for at least 4 hours or overnight
- ½ cup lime juice
- ⅓ cup coconut oil
- ¼ cup canned coconut milk
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon lime zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Lightly grease three 4” tart pans or one 9” tart pan with coconut oil.
- For the crust, combine all of the ingredients for the crust and pulse to combine, breaking up the dates, until it’s fully moistened and sticks together.
- Press evenly along the bottom and up the sides of your prepared pan/s. Set aside.
- In the same food processor or blender (no need to wash between), combine all of the ingredients in the filling. Turn the food processor or blender on medium-high and blend for about 2 minutes, or until the mixture is silky smooth and creamy. Scrape down the sides as necessary. You may need to add a bit more coconut milk or lime juice to get it to blend smoothly if your blender isn’t super high-powered. Once it’s smooth, taste and adjust the maple syrup or lime juice if desired, depending on your tastes.
- Pour the filling into the prepared crust and smooth the top.
- Place in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour to set before serving. Serve chilled, and keep any leftovers in the refrigerator for up to a week (or freezer for longer storage).
These lime tarts look so good!
Mmmm I love lime in sweet treats! These sound awesome – especially those crusts!!
Would love to try making this. I am wondering if the coconut milk needs to be refrigerated and solidified for use in the filling or if it should be used in its liquid form. Thank you!
It should be in it’s liquid state, Browine. Hope you enjoy.
YUMMM! I would love one with a big mound of berries!
I just made the no bake lemon tart with the crust from the lime tart! SO SO GOOD!!!
Yesss I’ve been meaning to do that and hoping people would! So glad you enjoyed it, Tina.
These sound delicious! Do you think that filling would be enough for one 9″ or 10″ tart instead?
Doh! Just saw that step 1 says you can use a 9″ pan!
Glad you noticed that! Hope you enjoy the tart, Pamcita :)
Hello and thank you for this wonderful recipe!
I was wondering how difficult it was to pop the crusts out of the tart pans and whether you had any recommendations to do well.
Sabrina :) :)
Hi Sabrina, I use pans with a removeable bottom so they came out super easily! Here’s an Amazon (affiliate) link to the ones I use: http://amzn.to/2uncBEW
These tarts look so amazing! What a beautiful dessert!
Thanks so much Jessica!
Made this and it’s so delicious thank you. The tart flavour really hits the spot. I did find a 9″ too big for the crust quantity though and it just fit an 8″. I made it all super thin too.
These sound delicious. Do you think it would work to make mini/individual ones in a muffin tin?
Hi Jette, yup that will be just fine! :) Enjoy!
Made this over the weekend for a party and it floored my husband that the filling was cashews & coconut, not dairy. I was making fifteen 3″ tarts so I tripled the recipe (which says it makes three 4″ tarts) – I had enough for the tarts plus a halfway-full 10″ pie pan! I was a little short on crust for the pie pan. However, I do not have a vitamix/blendtec and so my filling was a little grainy even after sending it through my 1mm strainer, and I did soak the cashews for 12 hours before using them. I attempted cheesecloth but that didn’t work well. I found the crust became soggy quickly, so I’d recommend serving these within a few hours of making them (or maybe leaving out the lime juice in the crust if it still comes together well that way?). Our leftovers were very wet the next day. I wasn’t sure what kind of dates were being called for, so I used 14 instead of 12 deglet noors (smaller than medjool). I think 12 would’ve been sufficient. The filling was quite tangy which I appreciate in citrus desserts but some might like it a little sweeter. I thought I might be able to taste the coconut in the filling between the milk and oil but I used half virgin and half refined coconut oil and I couldn’t taste it at all. I’d probably use all virgin next time.
I’d recommend this recipe if you have a high-powered blender and are able to serve them within 3-4 hours of making them.
Thanks for sharing all the feedback, Amy!! So glad to hear that you enjoyed the recipe.
These truly are the perfect summer treat! Very easy and quick to make. They last long in the refrigerator. Plus the fact that they don’t require cooking is the best part of all!
So glad you’re loving them, Mary! No-bake desserts are the best during the summer :)