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.
Are you a pie lover?
You may also want to check out this popular collection of our Top Ten Pie Recipes!
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.
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 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
Is the butter salted or unsalted?
Either is fine. Your choice.
my meringue came out like syrup? 🙁 how long do you have to whip it? to end up fluffy?
In my stand mixer it takes just a few minutes. You should ensure that your bowl and utensils are very clean. Any trace of oil of example, can prevent egg whites from stiffening.
Made this pie. It had the best tasting lemon filling ever. Followed the recipe and doesn't need any changes. Absolutely the best ever no more box filling in this house! The meringue was nice and fluffy but I found it too sweet....maybe next time I will cut the sugar by half. I did have a problem with weeping but I don't have enough experience with this type of recipe to know why. If anyone can suggest what causes this or why this happens I would like to know what you think.
Meringue is sweet by nature. Cutting the sugar too much can cause it to collapse. Be careful.
I don't like meringue at all. Can you bake it without it? thx
Just ignore the meringue and add whipped cream on top. The filling does not need to be baked after filling the baked pie shell.
This was my first time making it completely from scratch and it turned out great! Thank you so much for sharing your recipe!
My meringue never fluffed up! what did I do? What can I do?
Were all your implements...bowl, beaters, bowl scrapers really clean? The smallest amount of oil or grease can cause meringue to fail. Glass or metal bowl os best because it's easiest to get very clean. Try again and good luck.
I've been told that when dividing your egg whites for the meringue, if there is even one speck of yolk in there, the whites will not fluff up. So if the yolk pops...
This recipe is very similar to my super old cookbook I stole from Mom. 😉 It was my first time to make lemon meringue from scratch. It was challenging, but turned out DELICIOUS! Thank you for the thorough instructions. It was very helpful!
I have made this pie twice now. Wonderful recipe!! The only adjustment I made was that the filling is skimpy for the two pie crusts so I just doubled the filling/meringue recipe. Then I have 2 BIG pies. Really nice recipe. A keeper!!
The filling is for one pie, the pastry for two as indicated.
This was Very Best Lemon Meringue Pie EVER. Fresh, flavorful, easy. Thrilled this was the recipe I chose to make!
Will this recipe be ok to make the day before I serve it?
Yes.
The best and in my book the original, lemon meringue pie's fill I g is only made with sweetened condense milk. No flour or cornstarch. The lemon juice (fresh) when added to the condense milk will thicken beautifully. Then add egg yolks and lastly meringue. You will never use flour plus again. TO DIE FOR. Maybe its only us South African's who swear by the condense milk. Try it you won't be disappointed.
Is the filling baked? Can you point me to an actual recipe?
The filling and meringue recipe is awesome! It's definitely a go to. I did have a big issue with the crust. I made the pie twice and each time the shell would shrink when it first went in to bake. I followed the recipe exactly and poked holes in the bottom. Will use a different shell recipe with this filling and meringue.
Do blind bake the shells with baking weights? Do you let the dough rest after rolling and before baking? In my experience, those are the best ways to avoid shells shrinking in the oven. I always have great success with this recipe that way.
I have made this 3 times now. Each time it's amazing. Husband asks for it all the time. I also made it using limes. Also amazing!!! Thank you. Husband now thinks I'm a great baker haha
Pie is the way to a man's heart! 🙂
Why does the meringue separate from the pie
Condensation mostly but sometimes undercooked meringue. Adding your meringue as close to serving time as possible might help.
So.....cool only in fridge, not on the counter? And can someone tell me is it normal for juice to run out from under the pie? This happens with all my recipes that I've tried.
Counter first, then fridge. I like to serve my pie the day I make it so that less weeping will occur.