Homemade Lemon Meringue Pie. Old fashioned & scratch made!
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.
Originally published Oct, 2007
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.
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.
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.
Perfect your flaky crust technique here and then move on to two crust fruit pies when you are more comfortable with pie pastry.
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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 teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup ice water, or a little more. Only enough to make a dough form.
For the Filling
- ⅓ cup corn starch
- ⅓ 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 ¼ cup.
- 2 cups water
- 3 tablespoon butter
For the meringue
- 5 egg whites
- 1 ¼ cups sugar
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tarter
- Pinch salt
- 1 teaspoon 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 tablespoon 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 ¼ 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
Beautifully presented & outstanding taste! (^_^)
Oh my! I tried this recipe and must have done something so wrong! My mixture never thickened up and my meringue was liquidy. I've made lemon meringue using boxed pudding for years and never had an issue. Your photo's are amazing. Any clue what could have happened??
Sounds like your meringue might have come into contact with some oil. Make sure the utensils are grease free. Did you have a specific issue with the filling Substitute anything?
Thats exactly what happen to me!! Im so sad
What happened? Not sure what you're referring to here?
OKAY, I made this yesterday and after reading the comments, I was a little intimidated. However, I am here to tell you it turned out beautiful! I started the meringue after I got the pie shell made. Then as the meringue was whipping, I started on the filling. Needless to say, I learned to multitask very quickly. This Kansas City baker is one happy gal!!
How do you stop your pie from weeping. I have put meringue on while pie is warm right to edge and also tried when meringue is cooled a bit. Thank You Ethel
Try adding meringue on a hot pie and browning it at a higher temp. The shorter the time in the oven the better.
This turned out amazing!!! So easy and delicious. Thank you.
I have a question. The recipe states that the pastry is sufficient for two 10in pie plates. Is the filling and meringue also for two pies?
Bo. You just can freeze one pastry for another pie later....or just make a half batch of the pastry of you prefer.
Is there really supposed to be 1 1/4 cups of sugar in the meringue? That seems like so much.
You can cut back a little if you like. I do like a sweet meringue.
Hello, can you please look at this recipe as it is different from another that I found on your page. Is the filling portion correct? My filling did not set at all before putting on the meringue. I put it in and baked it anyway. Will the filling set while cooling or do I have to start from scratch? This is not the first lemon pie I have made from scratch. The pies are in the fridge cooling now.
They are meant to set fully when cooled. The filling should be a warm pudding consistency when hot.
oops,my meringue slid off my pie, what did I do wrong?
I'm finding it's best to add the meringue while the filling is still warm but it does happen the longer the pie stays around before being served.
A step that keeps the meringue in place is to be sure you make contact with edges of the crust and make a seal.
Also, let the filling cool a bit before spreading the meringue. If steam gets trapped between the two it will slip off when serving
Haven’t made a lemon pie from scratch in years and I look forward to one tomorrow.
Thanks for the recipe.
Turned out amazing! My dad will be very happy(: Birthday dessert
I have made this for my husband and will be making it again for Thanksgiving. It was pure perfection!!!!
I just bought a bag of lemons myself to make it again. I love it!
Hi Barry, can you make this the day before without the meringue shrinking?
I usually make it a day ahead.
Can you answer a question I have had for a long long time? Is it necessary to refrigerate this pie? When I do, it seems the meringue becomes gummy. Any suggestions? Thanks
It is really in order for it to set properly and not spoil. Sounds like you are not whipping your meringue enough. Mine never lasts more than a day anyway.
Hi! What a beautiful pie! I'm looking for a recipe that doesn't have an egg taste! Every single one I have made taste so strong in egg we have stopped making them and just buy the box kind. Any suggestions!!?
I can't say that I've noticed that in this recipe. The lemon zest usually puts the zing in there to up the lemon flavour.
Hi.. I tried to make this pie and the filling became too runny.. Lemon sizes differ, so how much lemon juice (liquid) should I add? (the lemons I used were large).. Thank you..
Maybe a little too large. I use average size. Next time I'll measure the juice and update the method photos too.
omg, great pie! It was perfect. I added a little bit of lemon extract because my lemons were on the small size. Other than that, followed your recipe to a T! My kids and I loved it and so did my co-workers. Definitely want to keep this in the recipe file. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing your success! I love this pie too!
looks so yummy!!! some times my crust is so wet,a pool of water,when I cut it,do you know what causes this?
Jean the wetness is from your meringue....go to All Recipes.com and look for No Weep Meringue....there is a cornsyrup step that is extra in the process and make the meringue wee free..try it
Thank you for this lemon merengue pie recipie,,I made today it was so delicious and look so pretty merengue xxx
So glad it was such a success!