Lemon Meringue Pie Recipe

This is the perfect lemon meringue pie! With a delicious homemade pie crust, tart and smooth lemon filling, and a fluffy toasted meringue topping, it’s impossible to resist.

Let’s welcome a fresh new season with a fresh new pie—the pie I’ve been taunting you with for weeks!! The beautiful, the timeless, the Classic Lemon Meringue Pie.

My lemon meringue pie recipe has a billowy and toasty meringue topping, a balanced sweet/tart lemon filling, and an extra thick and flaky pie crust. I worked on this recipe for a long time, making at least a dozen meringue pies in the past few months. Both my kitchen and head were exploding lemons. Whenever we had friends or family stop by, I’d force lemon meringue pie on them. “PLEASE TELL ME YOUR THOUGHTS” I begged while barely blinking.

Over the years and especially the past few months, I learned that lemon meringue pie can be a daunting process but it doesn’t have to be. Let me make this recipe easy for you by giving you a tested (and praised!!!) recipe, lots of helpful recipe notes, and a video so you can watch it come to life. Perhaps you’re looking for Easter dessert recipes? Celebrating a birthday? Or just want to enjoy a beautiful lemon-y pie? No matter your reason, I’ve got you

Now that you have a general idea of the process, let’s learn why this lemon meringue pie recipe works and what mistakes to avoid.

There are 3 main roadblocks when making lemon meringue pie: a soggy pie crust, a watery lemon filling, and/or a weeping meringue. Let’s work through each.

The meringue toasts in the oven. A lot of recipes call for putting the whole pie under the broiler, but I prefer to bake it so that the egg whites have a chance to cook through. Also, see the end of step 6 in the recipe below. Make sure you spread the meringue topping on while the filling is still warm. The warm filling helps seal the two layers together, preventing separation.

This is the perfect lemon meringue pie! With a delicious homemade pie crust, tart and smooth lemon filling, and a fluffy toasted meringue topping, it’s impossible to resist.

Classic Lemon Meringue Pie

This is the perfect lemon meringue pie! With a delicious homemade pie crust, tart and smooth lemon filling, and a fluffy toasted meringue topping, it’s impossible to resist.

Prep: 6h

Total: 7h10min

Yield: 9

Ingredients:

• Homemade Pie Crust*
• 5 large egg yolks (use the whites in the meringue below)
• 1 and 1/3 cups (320ml) water
• 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup (38g) cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (120ml) fresh lemon juice
• 1 Tablespoon lemon zest
• 2 Tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 5 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Instruction:

1. I like to make sure my pie dough is prepared before I begin making lemon meringue pie. I always make pie dough the night before because it needs to chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before rolling out and blind baking (next step).
2. Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C) and adjust your oven rack to the lowest position. Partially blind bake pie crust in a 9-inch pie dish. (Follow blind baking instructions through step 9.) Tip: You can get started on the lemon meringue pie filling steps while your crust is blind baking. But making the filling is time sensitive because you will temper the egg yolks, so if multi-tasking isn’t your thing, just wait until your crust is done blind baking before beginning the filling.
3. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F (177°C).
4. Watch the video below to see how I work through each of the following steps.
5. Whisk the egg yolks together in a medium bowl or liquid measuring cup. Set aside. Whisk the water, granulated sugar, cornstarch, salt, lemon juice, and lemon zest together in a medium saucepan over medium heat. The mixture will be thin and cloudy, then eventually begin thickening and bubbling after about 6 minutes. Once thickened, give it a whisk and reduce heat to low.
6. Very slowly stream a few large spoonfuls of warm lemon mixture into the beaten egg yolks. Then, also in a very slow stream, whisk the egg yolk mixture into the saucepan. Turn heat back up to medium. Cook until the mixture is thick and big bubbles begin bursting at the surface. Remove the pan from heat and whisk in the butter. Spread filling into the warm partially baked crust. Set aside as you prepare the meringue. (Don’t let the filling cool down too much as you want a warm filling when you top with the meringue in step 7. The warm filling helps seal the two layers together, preventing separation.)
7. With a handheld mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar together on medium speed for 1 minute, then increase to high speed until soft peaks form, about 4 more minutes. Add the sugar and salt, then continue beating on high speed until glossy stiff peaks form, about 2 more minutes. Spread meringue on top of filling. (I like to make decorative peaks with the back of a large spoon.) Make sure you spread the meringue all the way to the edges so that it touches the crust. This helps prevent the meringue from weeping.
8. Bake pie on the lowest oven rack for 20-25 minutes. (If the meringue is browning too quickly, tent a piece of foil over it as best you can without the foil touching the meringue.) When pie is done, remove from the oven, place on a wire rack, and allow to cool at room temperature for 1 hour before placing in the refrigerator to chill. Chill for 4 hours before slicing and serving.
9. Cover any leftovers and store in the refrigerator. Lemon meringue pie tastes best on day 1 because it doesn’t keep very well. No matter how hard you try to prevent it, the meringue will wilt and separate over time. Best to enjoy right away.

The Best Lemon Meringue Pie

It’s the stuff of dreams: a classic sweet and tart dessert with a foolproof meringue topping that won’t weep! We use mostly butter in our from-scratch pie dough, but also add a little vegetable shortening as well — we found that this combination creates a crust that is both tender and flaky.

Total: 0 9 0

Yield: 8 to 10 servings

Serving Size: 1 of 10 servings

Nutrition Facts: servingSize 1 of 10 servings, calories 357, Fat 15g, Saturated Fat 8g, Carbohydrate 52g, Fiber 1g, Sugar 36g, Protein 5g, Cholesterol 101mg, Sodium 246mg

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting (see Cook’s Note)
• 2 tablespoons cold vegetable shortening
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 6 tablespoons very cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 3 to 6 tablespoons ice water
• 1 cup sugar
• 5 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice plus 2 teaspoons gently packed lemon zest
• 4 large egg yolks
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 5 large egg whites
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• Pinch fine salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instruction:

1. For the pie crust: Pulse the flour, shortening, sugar, salt and vinegar in a food processor until the mixture looks like damp sand, about 10 pulses. Add the butter and pulse until you can still see large pea-sized pieces. Sprinkle in 3 tablespoons ice water and pulse until the dough begins to come together. Pinch the dough; if it doesn’t hold together, add up to 3 more tablespoons ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough holds together when pinched. Lay out a sheet of plastic wrap and dump the dough onto the plastic. Using the edges of the plastic, press the dough into a disc. Wrap tightly and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour and preferably overnight. (Freeze up to 2 months.)
2. On a lightly floured work surface, roll the dough out into a 13-inch round. Place in a 9-inch pie dish, gently pressing the dough into the edges and letting the excess dough drape over the sides. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
4. Trim any excess dough with a paring knife and crimp the edges decoratively or press them down with the tines of a fork. Prick the dough on the bottom all over with a fork. Place a sheet of parchment paper inside the dough and fill with pie weights or uncooked rice or beans. Bake for 10 minutes. Carefully remove the parchment and weights and bake until the crust is deep golden brown on the edges and lightly golden in the center, 10 to 12 minutes more. Let the crust cool to room temperature.
5. For the filling: Whisk together the sugar, cornstarch and salt in a medium saucepan. Add the lemon juice and 1 1/2 cups water and whisk to combine. Whisk the egg yolks in a separate medium bowl. Place the sugar mixture over medium heat and cook, continuing to gently whisk, until the mixture begins to bubble and is extremely thick. Temper the eggs yolks by slowly adding half of the hot sugar mixture to the yolks while constantly whisking. Add the tempered yolks to the saucepan and return to the heat. Bring the mixture back to a simmer and cook, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula, for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and lemon zest until completely melted and incorporated. Pour the filling directly into the pie crust and cover with plastic wrap pressed directly against the surface of the filling (see Cook’s Note). Refrigerate while you make the meringue.
6. For the meringue: Add the egg whites to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment along with the sugar, cream of tartar and salt. Whisk together to combine. Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water. Cook, whisking constantly, until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture feels hot to the touch. Transfer the bowl to the mixer and add the vanilla. Whisk on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, 5 to 6 minutes.
7. Remove the plastic wrap from the pie and gently mound the meringue on top of the filling. Use an offset spatula to make sure the meringue completely covers the filling and meets the crust all around the edges. (This will seal in the filling and help prevent weeping.) Use the offset spatula to create swirls and peaks in the meringue. Toast the meringue using a kitchen torch or broil in the oven until golden brown, keeping an eye on the meringue if broiling, 1 to 2 minutes. Refrigerate the pie until the filling is completely cool and set, about 4 hours.

Classic Lemon Meringue Pie – Gold Medal Flour

Taste a classic recipe! This pie is bursting with fresh lemon taste and a sweet, creamy real meringue topping.

Prep: 30min

Total: 225min

Yield: 8

Serving Size: 1 Serving

Nutrition Facts: servingSize 1 Serving

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Gold Medal™ all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon shortening
• 2 to 3 tablespoons cold water
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 3 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 2 drops yellow food color, if desired
• 3 egg whites
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Instruction:

1. Bake 8 to 12 minutes or until meringue is light brown. Cool away from draft 2 hours. Cover and refrigerate cooled pie until serving. Store in refrigerator.
2. Rise to the occasion! If using self-rising flour, there is no need to add salt.

Best Lemon Meringue Pie Recipe …seriously

FAQ

How do you keep lemon meringue pie from getting watery?

What is the secret to great meringue?

1. When making meringues, always cook egg whites to avoid salmonella poisoning.
2. Don’t use packaged egg whites to make meringue. …
3. Use fresh egg whites. …
4. Use eggs at room temperature. …
5. Never let any yolk get into the whites.
6. Don’t overbeat egg whites.

Does cream of tartar keep meringue from weeping?

Why is my lemon meringue pie filling not thickening?