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My childhood favorite Lemon Meringue Pie recipe has a delicious fresh lemon flavor with the perfect fluffy meringue topping.
Do you love pie recipes? Try this No-Bake Cheesecake, Banana Cream Pie, Key Lime Pie, or Chess Pie!
I should be sick of Lemon Meringue Pie.
I should be sick of Lemon Meringue Pie.It was one of your family's favorites when I was young and our home turned into a mini hunger games whenever mom made it. You literally had to get a piece and hide it or you'd be out of luck. It's one of my brother's all time favorite desserts, he he would even request it as his birthday “cake”. The tart, creamy pie filling mixed with a billowing meringue is just irresistible! And to make it a real star it needs our easy homemade pie crust! .
I have two other favorite Lemons pies you cant miss: Lemon Chiffon Pie, and Lemon Cream Pie.
How to make Lemon Meringue Pie:
Make Meringue: In a small saucepan, whisk together cornstarch and water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickens. Remove from heat. In a small bowl, stir together cream of tartar and sugar. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites with electric mixers until frothy. With the mixer running, add sugar mixture a spoonful at a time, until fully incorporated. Continue beating until soft peaks. Add thickened cornstarch mixture, beating in a spoonful at a time. Mix until stiff peaks form, about 1-2 minutes. Set aside.
Heat Mixture: In a medium saucepan, whisk together 1 cup sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt. Stir in water, lemon juice and lemon zest. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in butter.
Temper Eggs: In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks. Add a spoonful of the hot sugar mixture into bowl of beaten egg yolks and whisk. (This tempers the eggs slowly so the eggs don't scramble when added).
Finish Lemon Filling: Whisk the egg yolk mixture back into saucepan and bring to a low boil, stirring constantly, until thick. Remove from heat. Pour filling into baked pie shell.
Bake: Spread meringue over hot lemon filling, spreading all the way to the edge, making sure there are no gaps between the pie crust and the meringue, so it doesn't shrink away while baking. Use the back of your spoon to create decorative peaks in the meringue. Bake for 10 minutes or until the meringue is lightly golden. Transfer to a wire rack and cool to room temperature before serving. This pie is best served the same day.
Tips for the Perfect Lemon Meringue Pie:
A Hot Pie: First, and most importantly, the pie filling should be hot when you spoon the meringue on top. The hot filling will help bake the meringue, instead of just stopping at the surface and “weeping”, causing your meringue to slide off when the pie is sliced. It also helps to avoid baking on super humid days.
Cornstarch and Cream of Tartar: My last tip for a fool-proof meringue is using a little bit of cornstarch and cream of tarter in the meringue to give it a stronger structure when baking.
My Favorite Lemon Recipes:
- Lemon Bars
- Lemon Cake
- Lemon Poppyseed Bread
- Lemon Mousse
- Lemon Ricotta Pancakes
- Homemade Lemonade
- Lemon Chicken Pasta
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Lemon Meringue Pie
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 9-inch pre-baked pie crust
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 3 Tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 1 Tablespoon lemon zest, (about 1 large lemon)
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 4 large egg yolks, , separated
Meringue:
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 4 large egg whites , , room temperature (fresh eggs work best)
Instructions
- Grab 4 eggs and separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and set aside.
Meringue:
- In a small saucepan, whisk together cornstarch and water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened. Remove from heat and set aside.
- In a small bowl, stir together cream of tartar and sugar. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites with electric mixers until frothy.
- With the mixers running, add the sugar mixture, a spoonful at a time, until fully incorporated. Continue beating until soft peaks. Add the thickened cornstarch mixture while beating, a spoonful at a time. Mix until stiff peaks form, about 1-2 minutes. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Lemon Filling:
- In a medium saucepan, whisk together 1 cup sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt. Stir in water, lemon juice and lemon zest. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in butter.
- Beat the egg yolks with a fork. Add a spoonful of the hot saucepan mixture into the egg yolk mixture and whisk together to temper the eggs (gradually warm them). Repeat, with a few more spoonfuls. Whisk the egg yolk mixture back into remaining sugar mixture in the pot.
- Bring to a gently boil and continue to cook while stirring constantly, until thick. Remove from heat.
Assemble:
- Pour hot lemon filling into baked pie shell. Immediately add meringue on top, covering every surface, spreading it around all the way to the edge of the pie so there are not gaps between the pie crust and meringue. Use the back of your spoon to create decorative peaks in the meringue.
- Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes or until the meringue is lightly browned.
- Transfer to a wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 2 hours. This pie is best served the same day.
- Store leftover lemon meringue pie covered in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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*I originally shared this recipe March 2015. Updated February 2019 and November 2024.
Recipe originally adapted from All Recipes
I made this for Thanksgiving and it was excellent. The texture and taste was very good. Lots of compliments.
Pie turned out fantastic! They are my specialty. I found if I lay out each ingredient measured, before I start, it saves me errors along the way. Life is distracting sometimes, I still managed 2 errors. I added the tbs. of cornstarch for the meringue in the filling. It set well, not too thick after all! Since it was a birthday pie, requested by my daughter, I added 2 more egg whites for over the top meringue. I did add a tad more cream of tartar, but forgot to add more sugar. It still turned out well, pie is so sweet anyway.
I followed the recipe exactly. Did not skimp on the cooking and thickening of the filling. It did not set up. A total waste of my efforts.
I’m sorry to hear that but this recipe is fine and I know that from making it several times. Take ur time and figure out what went wrong.
This recipe is just fine! It is very much like my husband’s grandmother’s recipe, which won her accolades, and which I have been making for over fifty years, successfully. Delicious lemon filling, not too tart or too sweet. My grandmother-in-law did not make her meringue with corn starch though, only beaten whites, sugar and cream of tartar.
Just made this, and the filling turned out beautifully! Do not be afraid to use thîs recipe.
love it!!
first tine making lemon meringue pie, so it’s very possible that we made the mistake, and not the recipe. but, from our try, the meringue turned out well (we used lemon juice instead of cream of tar tar since we didn’t have that). but for the lemon curd, it became runnier the more we stirred? not sure how that happened either, so after baking, the lemon curd was just a pool inside the crust. so when we cut it, you can kinda tell what happened😂
If I want to skip the meringue part do I need to bake the filling in the crust at all, or just serve it when it’s done? (My dad wants whipped cream on top instead.)
No, you don’t need to bake it without the meringue, but I would let it set for several hours before serving. Enjoy@
Great
Wonderful! Never had such pretty meringue and I am in my 70’s too. This will be my go to recipe for sure.
I’m attempting this tomorrow, is there any way to make it a two step process? I’d love to be able to do crust and curd tomorrow and whip up the meringue the following morning before it’s served… would this work?
Thanks!
Yes, it would work fine, the meringue just may not seal as well to the lemon filling.
Far from fail proof. In general good pie. Watch out for thickness in rind.
This recipe did not work. I am not a novice baker and I followed the directions exactly. After cooling down, the curd did not set up and the pie was a soupy mess.
You may not be a novice baker but everybody makes mistakes. Somewhere along the line you failed to do, or not to do, something essential.
I’ve made several hundred lemon meringues over the past 50 or so years and all the recipes were basically the same as this one, give or take , maybe cornstarch or cream of tartare in the meringue, depends what’s on hand.
Some, like yours, failed.
Have another go , but focus on the cornstarch.
The same thing happened to me!!! I have all fresh ingredients, including cornstarch and cream of tartar. It pained me to waste the whole pie. I will try again😔