Homemade Lemon Meringue Pie. If your lemon meringue pie comes from powder in a box, STOP! A fantastic homemade lemon meringue pie, made completely from scratch, tastes much better and is actually just as easy to prepare.
Homemade Lemon Meringue Pie
Here’s one for the lemon lovers. Made completely from scratch, just like Grandma used to make. No artificial anything here! So much better than those artificial powder pretenders. Reminds me of Sunday suppers while growing up.
How to zest a lemon, to maximize flavor.
A homemade lemon meringue pie is a good reason to perfect your pastry making technique too. I always recommend that beginner bakers start with pastry pie shells before moving on to two crust filled pies.
Homemade Lemon Meringue Pie
You will get a better feel for working with the the dough and likely have more success in getting a flaky pastry if you practice with making pie shells for filled or custard pies first.
How to blind bake a pastry crust. First, prepare the pastry as directed.
Add a layer of parchment paper and baking weights to the unbaked pastry shell, like this brown rice, which I use many times over.
Bake pastry crust for 15 minutes, then remove the baking weights and bake for about 5 minutes more.
Finished flakey pastry crust.
Fresh lemons bring bright, fresh flavour to so many desserts.
Perfect your flaky crust technique here and then move on to two crust fruit pies when you are more comfortable with pie pastry.
The filling should be very thick before adding the egg yolk mixture.
Are you a pie lover?
You may also want to check out this popular collection of our Top Ten Pie Recipes!
Originally published Oct, 2007
Like this Homemade Lemon Meringue Pie recipe?
You’ll find many more like this in our Cakes and Pies Category and even more indulgent recipes in our Desserts Category.
It’s easy to keep up with the latest home style cooking & baking ideas from Rock Recipes. Be sure to follow Rock Recipes Facebook Page and follow us on Instagram.
Plus you’ll see daily recipe suggestions from decadent desserts to quick delicious weekday meals too.
Homemade Lemon Meringue Pie
You can also sign up for our FREE newsletter to know immediately when we add new recipes. You’ll also get weekly suggestions for great family friendly meals and desserts too!
Rock Recipes a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Our product recommendations are almost exclusively for those we currently use or have used in the past.
The Very Best Homemade Lemon Meringue Pie
If your pie comes from powder in a box, STOP! A fantastic homemade lemon meringue pie, made completely from scratch, tastes much better and is actually just as easy to prepare.
Ingredients
For the Pastry. Sufficient for two 10 inch pie shells.
- 1 cup very cold butter cut into small cubes
- 2 ½ cups flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 1/4 cup ice water, or a little more. Only enough to make a dough form.
For the Filling
- 1/3 cup corn starch
- 1/3 cup cake flour
- pinch salt
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 5 egg yolk slightly beaten
- Zest of 2 lemons, very finely chopped
- Juice of 2 lemons, about 1/4 cup.
- 2 cups water
- 3 tbsp butter
For the meringue
- 5 egg whites
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- ¼ tsp cream of tarter
- Pinch salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
To make the pastry
- Using a food processor or a pastry blender cut cold butter into flour and salt until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Small pieces of butter should still be visible.
- Pour cold water over the mixture and work in by tossing with a fork until dough begins to form. Use your hands as little as possible and work the dough as little as possible.
- Divide dough into 2 balls, flatten into 2 rounds, wrap in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to rest for a minimum of 20 minutes. You can freeze the second round for another time.
- You can make your dough the previous day but make sure you take it out of the fridge for 10 minutes to warm slightly before rolling out.
- Roll the dough into a 12 inch round and place in the bottom of a 10 inch pie plate.
- Trim and flute the edges as desired. Poke a few holes in the bottom of the pastry shell, rest in the refrigerator for an additional 20 minutes before baking at 400 degrees F for 12 – 15 minutes or until golden brown. (For best results I often now blind bake the crust as shown tin the photos above.)
- Cool completely before adding the filling.
To make the filling
- In a medium saucepan, combine corn starch, cake flour, sugar and salt. Pour in water and stir constantly over medium low heat until mixture comes to a slow boil.
- Remove the pan from the heat and reduce the flame to low.
- Pour about a cup of this mixture onto the slightly beaten egg yolks while whisking constantly.
- Pour the egg mixture back into the rest of the other mixture in the pot, whisking constantly.
- Return to the stove and cook for an additional 3 minutes stirring constantly.
- Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice and lemon rind.
- Finally whisk in your butter one tbsp at a time.
- Pour the filling into the baked and cooled shell. Let stand for a few minutes while preparing the meringue.
To prepare the meringue
- Whip egg whites, vanilla, salt and cream of tarter to soft peaks.
- Very gradually add the sugar while continuing to beat the egg whites.
- Dollop in heaping tablespoonfuls onto pie. Gently spread over the filling, making sure that the meringue touches the crust all the way around the pie. This will help to prevent the meringue from shrinking.
- Bake in a 325 degree F oven for about 20 to 25 minutes or until the meringue is well browned. Cool pie thoroughly in the refrigerator before serving.
- Keep refrigerated.
- Dip a sharp knife in cold water to help with cutting the pie into slices and clean the knife with paper towel between cuts.
Notes
In reviewing the comments and following up with some people who had issues with this recipe, please note that you should not attempt to make any substitutions. At the end, when it says to add the butter, ONLY REAL DAIRY BUTTER will work. Many people have reported using margarine, even the tub of spreadable margarine. That is the road to sure disaster. Butter means butter.
- The amount of lemon juice is often asked about online and in emails. I get about 1/4 cup of lemon juice out of 2 lemons. For safety sake don't add more than that. The lemon flavour comes mostly from the zest anyway. The juice just gives it a little tangy flavour. -Be sure to cook the base enough before adding the juice and butter. Use a silicone spatula to scrape the bottom as you stir, so that the mixture will not burn, but it has to be as thick as possible as is shown in the photo.
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.
Nutrition Information
Yield
12Serving Size
gAmount Per Serving Calories 299Saturated Fat 12gCholesterol 129mgSodium 284mgCarbohydrates 27gSugar 20gProtein 3g
Treena
Saturday 24th of April 2021
This was the first Lemon Meringue pie I made and it looks so amazing. I am proud. Thank you.
Kate
Monday 5th of April 2021
I should have paid attention to many of the reviews and not made this! Meringue was way too sweet and even though the filling was thick when I put it in the crust, it ended up runny this recipe is a no for me
Ryan Jacobs
Sunday 4th of April 2021
The lemon mixture would not thicken up. I had to add more corn starch. There should not be cake flour in it. Also, the directions were not specific. You should start mixing the meringue slowly. It just says to whip it. Would not use this recipe again.
Homemade Lemon Meringue Pie. Old fashioned & scratch made! - All Foods Magazine
Friday 2nd of April 2021
[…] post Homemade Lemon Meringue Pie. Old fashioned & scratch made! appeared first on Rock […]
Maddie
Sunday 21st of March 2021
If you read through the blog portion, it better explains to stir and boil the cornstarch mixture until it is extremely thick, before adding the egg mixture. In the recipe itself, it says to bring to a slow boil then add egg mixture. This step makes a huge difference in whether or not the filling will set.