Lemon Meringue Pie

A homemade lemon meringue pie with a crispy all-butter pie crust, creamy lemon curd filling, and a fluffy French meringue topping is easy to make if you follow this recipe carefully.

Lemon Meringue Pie might seem intimidating, but I promise that I’ll give you all of my test tips and instructions so that you can have lemon meringue pie success!

The finished pie is well worth the effort too. You’ll love this lemon pie with a bright, zesty, and silky filling and a cloud-like topping with chewy edges just like toasted marshmallows.

If you want to try your hand at more classic pie recipes, make sure you check out my Peach Pie and Blueberry Pie recipes too.

Ingredients for Lemon Meringue Pie

Simple ingredients combined expertly create the best lemon meringue pie.

Complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.

• Pie Crust: 1 nine-inch pie crust is the bottom layer of this pie. You will want to blind bake it so that it’s fully baked before adding the filling. My all-butter pie crust recipe is perfect, or use your favorite recipe. Some enjoy a graham cracker crust with lemon meringue pie too!

Lemon Filling for Pie

• Egg Yolks: Just the yolks from four large eggs are used in the lemon curd layer of the pie. Good news though, the whites are needed later for the meringue, so there’s no waste.
• Water: To get the right consistency, more liquid is needed. This filling is very similar to classic lemon curd but thinned with water to make it work as a pie filling.
• Granulated Sugar: For a perfectly sweetened yet still tart lemon curd.
• Corn Starch: This is the ingredient that thickens the filling so that you’ll get perfect slices.
• Salt: Just a bit helps to balance the sweetness and the other flavors.
• Lemon Juice and Zest: Only FRESH lemon will do for this delicious pie. You’ll need 3-4 juicy lemons to get a half cup of juice.
• Butter: Added to the filling at the end, this makes the lemon curd silky and smooth.

Meringue for Lemon Pie

• Granulated Sugar: A meringue is primarily made of sugar and egg whites, plus stabilizers for the right texture.
• Cornstarch: It’s the secret ingredient in my meringue that keeps small droplets of liquid from forming on the topping – this is called beading, and you don’t want it!
• Egg Whites: Before you start to whip these up, be sure that they are at room temperature.
• Cream of Tartar: This ingredient is an acid added to many recipes to help egg whites whip up better. It’s used similarly in macarons.
• Salt and Vanilla Extract: To add delicious flavor to the meringue layer of the pie.

How To Make Lemon Meringue Pie

1. Bake the Crust: Before doing anything else, blind bake your pie crust and let it cool completely. This can be made ahead, I usually bake my pie crust at night to make the pie on the next day.
2. Make the Meringue: In a small bowl, combine the sugar with cornstarch and set aside. In a bowl of a standing mixer, whip the egg whites with cream of tartar for 1 minute or until soft peaks. Then slowly add in the sugar mixture (1 tablespoon at a time) until stiff peaks form. Right before stiff peaks form make sure to add in the vanilla extract.

1. Make the Lemon Curd: In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs very well and set aside. In a saucepan over medium-high heat, combine water, sugar, cornstarch, salt, and lemon juice. Cook the mixture while stirring with a whisk constantly for about 2-3 minutes.
2. Temper the Egg Yolks: Add about a half cup of the hot mixture to the whisked yolks and whisk vigorously. This will make the eggs come closer to the temperature of the heated mixture without scrambling.
3. Finish the Curd: Add the egg yolk mixture into the lemon mixture and cook for 3-4 more minutes. It will thicken. Remove from heat, and whisk in the lemon zest and butter cubes, the butter will make the filling silky and smooth.
4. Build the Pie: Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C. Pour the lemon curd into the baked crust. Briefly whip the meringue again for 20-30 seconds to fluff it up, then spread it over the hot lemon curd filling, making sure that you touch it to all edges of the pie crust to create a seal.

7. Bake: Bake the pie in the preheated oven for just 10 minutes, or until the meringue topping is toasted and lightly browned. Allow to cool at room temperature for 1.5-2 hours before slicing.

Meringue Tips

• Fat is the enemy of meringues: For this reason, it’s very important that your bowls and utensils are very clean and dry. It’s also important that when separating your eggs that the whites are free from any bits of yolk. Even a speck of yellow egg yolk or oil in the egg whites will keep them from whipping.
• Use room temperature eggs: Cold egg whites will be much harder to whip to stiff peaks. Allow the eggs to sit until they are at room temperature before beginning.
• Avoid overmixing: Stop mixing as soon as the egg whites come to stiff peaks. Overmixing can cause the meringue to break and may make it too thick to spread.
• Add cornstarch to the meringue: This is the secret ingredient that keeps small droplets of liquid from forming on your topping.
• Toasting the meringue: I use a quick trip in the oven to toast the top of my lemon meringue pie, but you can also do this using a kitchen torch. There’s no need to bake this pie, you simply need to brown the top.
• Create a good seal: To avoid shrinking, spread the meringue all the way to the edges of the pie crust before baking. It’s helpful to start from the outer edge since too much meringue piled onto the center of the pie could sink. Go lightly.