Passion Fruit Curd

Name: Passion Fruit Curd
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Ingredients: 2 whole large eggs (both yolk and white); 2 large egg yolks; ½ cup passion fruit purée; ½ cup white sugar; 6 tablespoons salted butter (cut into small cubes)

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Add a tropical touch to your favorite sweets with this homemade passion fruit curd! Tart passion fruit purée and rich egg yolks come together to make the perfect fruit curd — every spoonful is wonderfully indulgent with an ultra silky, smooth texture. Plus, you can prepare this delicious passion fruit curd in just 20 minutes, making it your go-to dessert when you’re short on time, and you can use it in so many different ways.

A glass jar of passion fruit curd on a white serving tray with purple and white flowers on a cream-colored wooden surface.

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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Ingredients
Step-by-Step Instructions
How to Store
Serving Ideas
Recipe FAQs
Variations and Substitutions
Expert Tips
Perfect Pairing
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Full of tropical fruit flavor: Move over, lemon curd. Thanks to real passion fruit purée, this fresh curd is the perfect beachy sweet treat. You’ll want to make this all summer long.

Ultra versatile: With a good fruit curd, you can get so many different uses out of one recipe.

Quick and easy: Need dessert in a hurry? This passion fruit curd has your back, and it’s surprisingly simple to make. Plus, you can make it well ahead of serving time for easy entertaining.

Ingredients

Passion fruit purée: If you have fresh passion fruits, you can use those, but frozen passion fruit purée works just as well. Passion fruit is expensive, and depending on your location, it can be hard to find. These days, you can find frozen passion fruit at your standard grocery store, and I’ve even seen it at Walmart.

Eggs: We use a combination of whole eggs and egg yolks. You can reserve the leftover egg whites for another use.

Butter: This adds the perfect luxurious texture. I like to use salted butter, but you can always add a pinch of salt if you only have unsalted butter.

Sugar: We use white granulated sugar for its pure flavor.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: We start by adding the passion fruit purée, whole eggs, egg yolks and sugar to a heat-resistant bowl and place the bowl over simmering water on medium-low heat. Now we continuously whisk the mixture until it thickens (photo 1). I find this takes about five to 10 minutes.

A black whisk mixing together the curd ingredients in a large stainless steel mixing bowl over simmering water.

Step 2: Once the mixture thickens so that it coats the back of a spoon, we turn off the heat and stir in the butter (photo 2).

The curd coating a wooden spoon over a mixing bowl after it had a chance to thicken while cooking.

Step 3: From here, we strain the curd through a fine-mesh sieve (photo 3). Technically, this step is optional, but it ensures we don’t get any little cooked bits for an ultra silky and smooth passion fruit curd.

Straining the curd over a fine-mesh sieve into a small white bowl on a cream-colored wooden surface.

Step 4: Now we place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd and refrigerate it until chilled (photo 4). The plastic wrap prevents a film from forming on the surface, so don’t skip this step.

The passion fruit curd in a white bowl on a cream-colored wooden surface with plastic wrap on top.

And that’s all it takes to make the most perfect passion fruit curd. Grab a spoon and savor that tropical flavor.

How to Store

Once refrigerated with the plastic wrap in an airtight container, the curd should last for about a week. Of course, I’d be shocked if it lasts that long — that’d take some serious will power.

You can also freeze the curd. Keep it in a freezer-safe container, and it should last for six months. To thaw it, simply place it in the refrigerator overnight.

Serving Ideas

Oh, the options — besides eating by the spoonful, this passion fruit curd has so many uses. You can spoon this curd into these cookie cups or flaky tart shells. Here are a few more ways to use it.

Swirled into a passion fruit cheesecake.
Spread on scones, biscuits or shortcakes.
Used as a filling between layers of sponge cake.
Dollop on crepes, French toast, waffles or pancakes.
Drizzle on top of pavlova or a fruit salad.
Stuff into cream puffs.

Recipe FAQs

How do you prepare passion fruit purée?

If you’d like to make your own fresh purée instead of using frozen purée, simply add passion fruit pulp to a small food processor or blender with a splash of water and process. Once it’s nice and smooth, pass the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve to remove any larger pulp bits and seeds. Of course, if you want seeds in your curd, you don’t have to strain the mixture.

How can you tell if a passion fruit is ripe?

A ripe passion fruit has wrinkly skin and a dark purple hue. The passion fruit will be too tart if the skin is still smooth.

Why does my curd have lumps?

This is a sign that some of the egg bits cooked, which means the heat was too high. Fortunately, this is where straining helps.

Can you cook the passion fruit curd using direct heat?

You can use direct heat, but you’re much more likely to overcook the eggs. Using indirect heat over simmering water is a safer bet and the traditional way of preparing curd. That said, if you’d like to use direct heat, keep the heat low and use a heavy-bottomed, nonreactive pot made from stainless steel, glass or ceramic.

Looking straight on to a glass jar of passion fruit curd on a white serving tray with a purple flower in front.

Variations and Substitutions

Use another fruit purée: Try making a curd with another fresh fruit purée, such as strawberries, bananas, raspberries or peaches.

Swap the passion fruit for a citrus juice: Alternatively, if you’d like to make a traditional citrus curd, you can use lemon juice, lime juice, orange juice or grapefruit juice in place of the passion fruit.

Avoid substituting passion fruit purée for passion fruit concentrate or juice: Passion fruit juice or concentrate has added sugar, and it’s not quite as brightly flavored as purée.

Expert Tips

Watch the heat: Keep the water to a simmer, not a boil. If it’s too hot, you can overcook the eggs.

Don’t stop whisking: This also prevents overcooking the eggs.

Cook until the curd reaches a consistency similar to hollandaise sauce: If the curd is still thin, the eggs need more time to cook. Likewise, don’t cook the curd longer than necessary. Once the curd hits the proper consistency, immediately pull it from the heat.

Perfect Pairing

If you’d like to enjoy a refreshing beer on the side, a witbier is a great call. This beer comes with a touch of coriander spice and lemon to complement the tropical fruit notes, and it has a slightly creamy finish that’s nice with the silky curd. A blond ale is another tasty choice.

For a wine, a sauvignon blanc with a great option. This crisp white wine offers citrusy notes with a touch of passion fruit to make it a natural pairing.

You might also love a passion fruit cocktail. Try my passion fruit martini, passion fruit margarita or passion fruit mojito for an extra tropical boost.

For the perfect tropical dessert, I hope you try this fresh passion fruit curd recipe. It’s sure to be a new summer favorite.

Cheers!

A hand holding a gold spoon drizzling some of the passion fruit curd into the glass jar on a white serving tray.

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