No-Bake Frozen Margarita Pie
No-Bake Frozen Margarita Pie is cool and creamy, with a salty-sweet pretzel crust and a frosty filling flavored with fresh lime juice, tequila, and triple sec! Or substitute extra-lime juice for an alcohol-free version!
The heat this summer has been a doozy, and while relief is on the horizon, we're not quite there yet. So before it's time to move onto pumpkin, it seems like an appropriate time to reshare a recipe that I make each summer (right around the time I get my annual urge to move to Colorado)...Frozen Margarita Pie! Because who needs a cocktail when you can enjoy a frosty piece of spiked pie instead? 😉
The first time I ever made dinner for my then-boyfriend/now-husband back in '01, I cooked my famous King Ranch Chicken Casserole with a side of Slow Cooker Charro Beans and culminated the meal with this pie for dessert. It was a huge hit that night... and every time I've made it since, it continues to get rave reviews. In fact, the pretzel crust component is so yummy that I've lent it to other pie recipes on several occasions.
Alcohol-Free Version
I used to always make this Frozen Margarita Pie with the tequila and triple sec included, while whipping up a second dessert option for my kids. But a few years ago, I decided to increase the lime juice a bit and leave out the liquor to see if a family-friendly version of this recipe would work.
Sure enough, it did...and the kids loved it! In fact, my eldest enjoyed it so much that he requested it for his big birthday bash that year. Margarita Pie to celebrate turning 9? Why not! Just tell your friends your mom made you Frozen *Lime* Pie, m'kay?
Ingredients
For the Crust:
- Salted pretzels. Finely crush 'em in a food processor or in a sealed bag, using a rolling pin or the flat side of a meat mallet. You can use any shape of pretzels so long as they weigh a total of 5 ounces.
- Granulated sugar.
- Butter. Melted. I typcially use unsalted butter, since the pretzels are already salty, but salted would work as well.
For the Margarita Pie Filling:
- Heavy cream.
- Sweetened condensed milk.
- Fresh-squeezed lime juice. An all-natural bottled lime juice is also fine, but try to make sure the only ingredient is 100% lime juice.
- Lime zest. I love using my trusty Microplane grater for this.
- Tequila + triple sec. To put the "margarita" in your Frozen Margarita Pie! 😉 Or make your pie alcohol-free, as mentioned in the previous section, by increasing the lime juice in place of the liquor.
How to Make Frozen Margarita Pie
Aside from its cooling effects and obvious deliciousness, the other thing you'll love about this Frozen Margarita Pie is how easy it is to make. No need to roll out a pie crust! No need to turn on the oven and further stress the A/C on a hot summer day!
- Combine the pretzel crumbs, sugar, and melted butter until well-combined (I actually like to use a food processor to make this step totally effortless). Press mixture into a glass pie plate.
- Whip some heavy cream until soft peaks form.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the remaining filling ingredients until well combined.
- Gently fold the whipped cream into the filling mixture until just incorporated.
- Pour the filling into the prepared crust, spread to the edges, and sprinkle with additional lime zest, if desired.
- Freeze, uncovered, for at least six hours. Cover with plastic wrap and re-freeze until ready to serve.
And then prepare yourself for frozen dessert bliss!
Slicing Your Pie
I feel the need to warn you that you may as well consider the first slice of this pie to be sacrificial. In other words, there's no easy way to remove it from the dish without the pretzel crust breaking into frozen fractals all around.
But that's okay...simply remove the ugly slice (and take one for the team by quickly eating it before anyone realizes that it even existed). The next slice will come out much more cleanly since you'll have the empty space from the now-missing first slice in which to maneuver your knife and/or pie server.
Just be sure to let your pie thaw at room temperature for about ten minutes before carefully slicing with a sharp knife, ensuring that you press through all the way to the bottom of the dish.
Frozen Margarita Pie would be the perfect dessert to cap off your favorite Mexican or Tex-Mex meal.
But honestly, it would be good after just about any meal...or, you know, in the middle of a sweltering summer day when your stir-crazy offspring are driving you crazy.
Your call... 😉
More Frosty, Boozy Treats
No-Bake Frozen Margarita Pie
Ingredients
FOR THE CRUST:
- 5 ounces salted pretzels, finely crushed in a blender or food processor
- ½ cup sugar
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
FOR THE FILLING:
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
- ½ cup fresh-squeezed lime juice
- 1 tablespoon lime zest, plus additional for garnish (optional)
- 1 ½ tablespoons tequila
- 1 tablespoon triple sec
Instructions
- Mix together the pretzel crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. Press into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch glass (or Pyrex) pie plate. Set aside.
- Use an electric mixer to whip heavy cream to soft peaks. In a large separate bowl, stir together the sweetened condensed milk, lime juice, lime zest, tequila, and triple sec until well combined. Gently fold the whipped cream into the condensed milk mixture until just incorporated.
- Pour the filling into the prepared crust and sprinkle with additional lime zest, if desired. Freeze for 6 hours up to overnight, then cover with plastic wrap and re-freeze until ready to serve.
- Allow pie to sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes before slicing with a sharp knife and serving.
Video
Notes
- I ground my pretzels in the food processor, then added the sugar and the melted butter and pulsed until the ingredients were combined.
- Feel free to tweak the amount of tequila & triple sec to your taste, but keep in mind that the flavor from the liquor tends to intensify with time.
- Or, for a booze-free, family-friendly pie, you may omit the tequila and triple sec and increase the lime juice to â…” cup.
- You may require more or less thawing time before slicing, depending on how cold your freezer is and how frozen your pie is.
Nutrition
Post originally published July 28, 2016, and updated on July 24, 20202, and August 12, 2022.
I use silver tequila for this pie.
Can you use already prepared whipped cream instead ?
I haven't tried using prepared whipped cream in this recipe, Sandra, but I imagine it would work. Just keep in mind that the 2 cups of heavy cream that this recipe calls for whips up into about 4 cups of whipped cream. Also, if the whipped cream you are using is already sweetened, that will cause your final pie to turn out sweeter than by following the original recipe. Hope this helps, and good luck if you decide to give it a try! 🙂
I’m wondering how I can make this in a 9x13. Should I double the filling🤔
That should be about right, Pam! A 9" pie plate has a capacity of 6-ish cups (or up to 8 cups, if it's a deep pie plate), and a 9x13" dish has a capacity of 12-14 cups. So if you double this recipe for a 9x13", the level might not come up exactly as high as the regular recipe made in a pie plate, but it should be close. Good luck! 🙂
I love this pie and have served it multiple times, recipe asked for each time.
I am invited to spend the week of the July Fourth at a dear relative’s lake house.
I am bringing a meal prepared at my home to show my gratitude. Since the menu is southwestern, I can’t think of a better dessert. I was wondering if I could make this the day before we arrive. Place it in the refrigerator and then in the cooler for the drive. Once arrived, pop it in her freezer for dinner that night. Would this work?
SB
Hi Sharon! I haven't tried that so no guarantees, and I think it partly depends on how long the drive is. But if the pie is frozen solid when you place it in the cooler -- and you pack A LOT of ice in the cooler -- I bet it could make it up 2-3 hours. The pie will definitely soften and thaw a bit in the cooler, but it should hold its form okay. And as long as it has several hours back in the freezer once you arrive, it should mostly refreeze, though it may be a bit softer than usual when you serve it. Good luck if you decide to give it a try, and happy 4th! 🙂
Samantha,
I followed your advice. I froze the pie for over 16 hours. Right before we left I put ice packs in the cooler and set the pie directly on the ice packs. When we arrived at the lake three hours later it was still mostly frozen. I immediately place it the freezer. When we had it few hours later, it was absolutely delicious. I was worried it might be icy. It was not, and everyone loved it. Thank you.
So happy to hear that it worked out! 🙂
Fabulous flavor! Only issue I had was the crust! It got so hard, I couldn’t cut it. It tasted great, but was so dense. Not sure how to change that without defrosting the pie completely.
It sounds like the crust may have become overly compacted. Try to gently press your pretzel mixture into the pan so that the crust just holds together, but don't press too firmly or it will become too compacted and will be hard to cut once frozen. Hope that helps! 🙂