I always do because of the eggy custardy thing....but I suppose there is enough lemon to keep them...
I think for me and my family I wouldn't bother....for the masses....probably.

I personally wouldn't worry about it if you can't find space in the fridge -- the eggs are cooked. Seems not that different to me than leaving a hard boiled egg out overnight.

That said, now you've got me craving lemon bars!

I don't leave hard boiled eggs out overnight!

I don't refrigerate lemon bars..

Like Weed, I've never had a batch of them that needed refrigeration.

Like Terri, I don't refrigerate lemon bars. And, although I no longer leave hard boiled eggs out overnight, we used to leave them sitting on the back of the bar for a couple of days, selling them for consumption with beer.

Of course,enough alcohol and probably you don't notice the eggs...

Annie

The recipe I use says:

"Bar cookies keep, covered and chilled, 3 days."

And I keep hard boiled eggs refrigerated too.... Isn;t that the usual culprit when people get "food poisoning" from potato salad? The hard cooked eggs that are left unrefrigerated in the salad?

Alexa

I always thought it was the mayo...but it has to be mayo mixed with an ingredient...

When growing up my great grandmother used to keep miracle whip on the counter... ???

"Isn;t that the usual culprit when people get "food poisoning" from potato salad? The hard cooked eggs that are left unrefrigerated in the salad? "

Nope, it would be the raw egg in homemade mayo.

MYTH: Mayonnaise is often the cause of food-borne illness.

REALITY: Mayonnaise does not cause food poisoning, bacteria do. And bacteria grow best on foods that contain protein and are at temperatures between 40-140 degrees F. Commercially prepared mayonnaise is safe to use. At greater risk for developing bacteria are the foods mayonnaise is commonly mixed with for picnics and potlucks, such as pasta, potatoes, eggs, chicken, or tuna. But even these will be safe if you keep your cooler below 40 degrees F.

Here is a link that might be useful: Food Poisoning Myths

Alexa, the food safety experts say they should be refrigerated. Of course, they're still ticked that I eat runny eggs and raw beef too...

If I were going to keep them longer than overnight, I'd probably refrigerate them. I've never had a pan last long enough to be an issue, I only bake them when I'm taking them somewhere or I'd eat the whole pan, a couple a day, until they were gone, love the darned things.

But, the eggs ARE baked and mixed with copious amounts of an extremely acidic ingredient, lemon juice. We also keep cookies and cakes, breads, etc. that contain eggs unrefrigerated all the time. Lemon bars are slightly different because of the "custard" factor, but I am not uncomfortable leaving them sit in the breakroom unrefrigerated all morning at work anyway.

Annie

Appreciate all the replies - can always count on the folks here! Found room in the fridge, figured at the least maybe the crust wouldn't get soggy.
Taking the few left up to my Mom Friday so that will be 4 hours in the car but since I've kept them mostly in the fridge I think they will be fine.
And of course found the recipe here too!

It is the cooked eggs in the potato salad that gives you salmonella, not the Mayo, the eggs in mayo and are not cooked. You can keep a fresh non cooked eggs up to 21 days. Cooked eggs one week.

No. Cooking kills the salmonella. Mayonnaise in bottles, nowadays, usually has pasteurized eggs, so they've already killed the salmonella at the factory.

you are right. I did not know they were pasteurizing the egg shells. that changes everything.

I've heard it's actually the onion! Onions are amazing at absorbing bacteria. In fact, when someone is sick in a household, it's a good idea to place halved onions around the house to absorb germs. In the same way, I've heard that you should never eat an onion in raw form that has been cut longer than a half hour or so because of all of the bacteria it absorbs. Food for thought! :)

lramelow, you are half right. Cut onions are left sitting at places like hot dog bars and fresh onions are plopped right on top of the old ones.

Snopes says this:

Are cut bulb onions therefore a health scourge one must be on guard against? No scientific evidence points in that direction. What reports there are that tie onions to outbreaks of food poisoning almost exclusively name green onions (also known as long onions or scallions) as the culprit. Although both sorts could be exposed to e. coli and other nasties during their time in the ground or while being handled during the move to market, green onions are chopped up and eaten as is, whereas the paperish brown peel that covers bulb onions and which is discarded rather than ingested acts as a shield against contamination.

The one instance we found that fingered bulb onions as the transmitter in a food poisoning case was the 1984 sickening of 28 people in Peoria, Illinois. Botulism was passed to those unfortunate souls by the sauteed onions used on a restaurant's "patty melt" (a cheeseburger on rye with sauteed onions).

Mayo is acidic enough that it's probably not the culprit, especially commercial mayonnaise. The cut edges of onions are also acidic, from the sulfuric acid. I'd be more likely to blame the potatoes or the hard boiled eggs.

Annie

And onions are not "amazing at absorbing bacteria". and do not absorb germs from the air and are perfectly safe after being cut for hours....
https://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/2012/12/29/is-it-true-that-onions-can-absorb-bacteria/

I find mine get soupy when I refrigerated them, similarly to how a lemon meringue pie would weep. I think it depends on how much custard to crust ratio you get.

I am known for my lemon bars....make them often (several times a month) and I have NEVER refrigerated them. They are fully cooked and do not require refrigeration, in the same manner that cakes that contain a lot of eggs (angel food/sponge cake) do not require refrigeration. Even when sold in bakeries they are not refrigerated.

Actually I have to give some a bit of information because of the false information given..the ingredient in potatoe salad that will make you sick if left out and then refrigerated is the potatoes.. they attract a certain bacteria which is a halophil which is a bacteria that grows better in cool or cold environments.. a little something I learned in microbiology .

I love lemon bars & made some tonight. Was wondering about them being refrigerated. After reading all of your helpful n scary comments about bacteria n ecoli and such, I've decided to 1. Never eat potato salad again , ha ha and 2 just eat the darn lemon bars n I won't have to make room in fridge either. Geez ? thank you all for your help.

Hydrophilic bacteria are aerobic and the cause of rot in potatoes. But not a worry in potato salad unless you used soft and rotting potatoes. yes it grows better in cool conditions and salt does not inhibit the growth, but you are very unlikely to have that in potato salad. In fact it's most often not the potato salad that made you sick, more likely the fried chicken that wasn't refrigerated.