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These refreshing vegan lemon bars are the perfect easy summer dessert! The recipe features a gluten-free crust made from oat and almond flour and a simple no-bake filling! Chill, cut, and enjoy! Vegan Glutenfree Soyfree Recipe
Calling all lovers of lemon desserts! These lemon bars are the summer dessert you have been waiting for! Vegan Lemon Bars!!. They have a crunchy base and a rich and creamy lemon filling that you will love!
I love that this lemon bar recipe takes only minutes to assemble. The crust needs to bake in the oven for 12 minutes but the filling is no-bake. So from there, you can just let the fridge or freezer do its thing until the cashew filling hardens.
I don’t even need to whip out my food processor to make the crust, which is a really simple mix of oat flour (use gluten-free if needed), almond flour, flax meal, and maple syrup. It tastes like a traditional cookie crust. Try it -you’ll love it!
For the filling, I use nutribullet and blend it for half a minute then let it sit for 5 mins the. Blend again. I repeat this 3-4 times and it works out well for soaked cashews. If your blender doesn’t make a smooth cashew blend, use a high-speed blender as we need to blend cashews until very smooth. 4-6 hours of soaking is ideal for making cashew-based desserts. If you are pressed for time, soak the cashews for 15 minutes in hot water.
The rich and creamy blend of coconut cream with lots of lemon juice and zest makes the filling taste like lemon curd! So delish – no judgment if you grab a spoon and enjoy some straight from the blender.
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Creamy Vegan Lemon Bars (Gluten-free)
Ingredients
Crust:
- 3/4 cup oat flour, plus 2 tablespoons
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 2 tablespoons cane sugar , or any granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon flax seed meal , mixed with 1 tablespoon non-dairy milk
For the filling:
- 1 cup raw cashews , soaked in hot water for at least an hour
- 1 cup coconut cream
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch, , optional
- 1 tbsp lemon zest , zest of a lemon
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
Instructions
- In a bowl, add all the dry ingredients for the crust and mix well.
- Then add in the maple syrup and flaxseed milk mix. Press and mix to a make a dough. Press this dough into a parchment-lined 9x5 inch loaf pan and even it out. You can also use an 8x8 inch brownie pan.
- Bake in a 350 Fahrenheit (180c) oven for 12-14 minutes or until the center is starting to firm up.
- Meanwhile, make the filling. Blend the drained cashews, coconut cream, corn starch, lemon zest, salt, sugar, and lemon juice until very smooth. You want to blend it at least 3 or 4 times for atleast 30 seconds for the cashews to break down into smooth cream. Taste and adjust sweetness.
- Pour this mixture onto the baked crust. Even it out. Then place in the fridge to set. You can also put it in the freezer for an hour so that it's easier to slice.
- Remove it from the freezer and slice it into slices, and serve!
- You can store it in the refrigerator for 5 days. And freeze for upto 2 months. Thaw on the counter for 15-20 mins before serving
Video
Notes
- Coconut cream substitute , use 1/2 cup cashews and 1/2 cup non dairy yogurt. So the recipe now has a total of 1.5 cups cashews
- To make without oats, use regular all purpose flour or a gf blend for Glutenfree
- You can buy whole cans of coconut cream or you just put a can of full-fat coconut milk in the fridge and spoon off the solid cream that gathers on top.
- Make sure to use raw unsalted cashews and that you properly soak them. If you have a high-speed blender like a Vitamix, you won't require that much soaking time as the mixer is powerful enough to break them down.
- You can top the bars with coconut whip, lemon slices, and more lemon zest if you’d like.
- Cashew sub: you can use 1 cup coconut cream instead. The flavor of coconut will be strong
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Ingredients:
- crust: a mix of oat flour and almond flour sweetened with cane sugar and maple syrup.
- Homemade flax egg made from flax meal and non-dairy milk helps hold the crust together
- filling: a vegan cheesecake like base made of cashews, coconut cream, sugar, and cornstarch
- flavor: we use both lemon zest and lemon juice to make these lemon bars taste really lemony
Tips:
- You can buy whole cans of coconut cream or you just put a can of full-fat coconut milk in the fridge and spoon off the solid cream that gathers on top.
- For individual vegan lemon bars make these in mini muffin pans.
- Make sure to buy raw unsalted cashews and that you properly soak them. If you have a high-speed blender like a Vitamix, you won’t require that much soaking time as the mixer is powerful enough to break them down.
- You can top the bars with coconut whip, lemon slices, and more lemon zest if you’d like.
How to make Vegan Lemon Bars:
In a bowl, add all the dry ingredients for the crust and mix well.
Then add in the maple syrup and flaxseed egg. Press and mix to form a dough.
Press this dough into a parchment-lined 9×5 inch loaf pan and even it out. You can also use an 8 x8 inch brownie pan.
Bake in a 350 Fahrenheit (180c) oven for 12-14 minutes or until the center is starting to firm up.
Meanwhile, make the filling. Blend the drained cashews, coconut cream, corn starch, lemon zest, salt, sugar, and lemon juice until very smooth. You want to blend it at least 3 or 4 times for the cashews to break down into a smooth cream. Taste and adjust sweetness.
Pour this mixture onto the baked crust. Even it out. Then place in the fridge to set. You can also put it in the freezer for at least an hour so that it’s easier to slice.
Once it’s somewhat frozen, remove the bars from the freezer and slice into square slices and serve!
Storing vegan cheesecakes
You can store it in the refrigerator for 5 days.
I don’t know which part was better! The crust was perfect and the smooth, fresh, lemon flavor had just enough sweetness… everything really came together. Richa’s deserts always disappear quick around here.
Awesome! Thank you for sharing.
Just made this and the lemon flavour really popped! For the lemon layer, I used about 150g of cashew butter instead, 40g white sugar, zest and juice (about 50g) from 1 lemon.
Also great tip to put it in freezer so that it firms up for better cutting!
Thank you for sharing!!
So glad you liked it!!
Hello! Can I substitute arrowroot starch for the cornstarch?
Thanks!
Yes
This looks fabulous! However, I’m allergic to citrus. Do you have another creamy filling idea for this crust?
I have a recipe for apple custard squares: https://www.veganricha.com/vegan-apple-custard-squares/