This is the perfect lemon meringue pie! With a delicious homemade pie crust, tart and smooth lemon filling, and a fluffy toasted meringue topping, it’s impossible to resist.
Let’s welcome a fresh new season with a fresh new pie—the pie I’ve been taunting you with for weeks!! The beautiful, the timeless, the Classic Lemon Meringue Pie.
My lemon meringue pie recipe has a billowy and toasty meringue topping, a balanced sweet/tart lemon filling, and an extra thick and flaky pie crust. I worked on this recipe for a long time, making at least a dozen meringue pies in the past few months. Both my kitchen and head were exploding lemons. Whenever we had friends or family stop by, I’d force lemon meringue pie on them. “PLEASE TELL ME YOUR THOUGHTS” I begged while barely blinking.
How to Make Lemon Meringue Pie
Over the years and especially the past few months, I learned that lemon meringue pie can be a daunting process but it doesn’t have to be. Let me make this recipe easy for you by giving you a tested (and praised!!!) recipe, lots of helpful recipe notes, and a video so you can watch it come to life. Perhaps you’re looking for Easter dessert recipes? Celebrating a birthday? Or just want to enjoy a beautiful lemon-y pie? No matter your reason, I’ve got you 🙂
- Blind bake pie crust
- Prepare lemon meringue pie filling
- Whip meringue topping
- Spread meringue on top of filling
- Bake pie until toasty brown on top
Now that you have a general idea of the process, let’s learn why this lemon meringue pie recipe works and what mistakes to avoid.
Here’s Why This Recipe Works
There are 3 main roadblocks when making lemon meringue pie: a soggy pie crust, a watery lemon filling, and/or a weeping meringue. Let’s work through each.
- Let’s avoid a soggy pie crust: Start by reviewing how we blind bake pie crust. You want to partially blind bake the crust because it will continue to bake when you bake the assembled lemon meringue pie. Watch me blind bake the crust I use for this lemon meringue pie in my separate post on how to blind bake pie crust. Lots of tips and tricks there. And to get those pretty decorative edges, see my how to crimp and flute pie crust tutorial.
- Let’s avoid a watery lemon filling: This is where I always had the most trouble. Lemon meringue pie filling is basically a thinner version of lemon curd. You’ll temper egg yolks. And before you run away screaming, watch me do this in the video below. Promise it’s not scary. While lemon meringue pie filling should be blissfully creamy, we also want it to be stable enough to slice somewhat neatly. (Think: a slightly firmer version of pudding, but not as firm as jello.) There was a lot of back and forth with the water vs lemon juice vs cornstarch vs sugar amounts. Follow my lemon meringue pie filling below. It’s not too tart, not too sweet, and has the silkiest, yet not-too-watery texture.
- Let’s avoid a weeping meringue: There are many different types of meringue topping, but let’s use a French meringue. Beat egg whites into soft peaks, add sugar, then beat into stiff peaks. Unless you want to waste a bunch of egg whites in failed meringue attempts, read these tips: Make sure you begin with just egg whites. Not even a drip of egg yolks. Make sure the bowl you’re using is completely wiped clean. No oil or water residue. Make sure you add cream of tartar. This will stabilize your meringue. Make sure you add the sugar *after* soft peaks are formed. If added before that, the egg whites could stretch too much which prevents a stiff peak altogether. (These tips apply for my chocolate swirled meringue cookies, too.) Make sure you spread the meringue topping so it touches the pie crust. This seals the lemon filling underneath and allows the crust to grip onto the meringue so the two do not separate. And, finally, don’t make lemon meringue pie on a humid day.
How to Make Lemon Meringue Pie Topping
The meringue toasts in the oven. A lot of recipes call for putting the whole pie under the broiler, but I prefer to bake it so that the egg whites have a chance to cook through. Also, see the end of step 6 in the recipe below. Make sure you spread the meringue topping on while the filling is still warm. The warm filling helps seal the two layers together, preventing separation.
- Did you know? (1) Room temperature egg whites whip faster than cold egg whites. And (2) room temperature egg whites whip into a greater volume than cold egg whites. So make sure your egg whites are at room temperature before starting the meringue.
- Time saving tip: You need 5 egg yolks for the lemon filling and 5 egg whites for the meringue topping. Separate the 5 eggs while they are cold. (Cold eggs separate easier! Remember NO egg yolks in the meringue, not even a smidge.) Leave the egg whites out on the counter. Blind bake the pie crust and prepare the lemon filling. By the time you’re ready to start the meringue, the egg whites will be room temperature.
Meringue can be tricky, but you’re a baker and you can absolutely handle this.
Craving something smaller? Here is my lemon bars recipe.
PrintClassic Lemon Meringue Pie
- Prep Time: 6 hours
- Cook Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
- Total Time: 7 hours, 10 minutes
- Yield: one 9-inch pie
- Category: Pie
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This is the perfect lemon meringue pie! With a delicious homemade pie crust, tart and smooth lemon filling, and a fluffy toasted meringue topping, it’s impossible to resist.
Ingredients
- Homemade Pie Crust*
- 5 large egg yolks (use the whites in the meringue below)
- 1 and 1/3 cups (320ml) water
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup (38g) cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (120ml) fresh lemon juice
- 1 Tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 Tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
Meringue
- 5 large egg whites, at room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Pie crust: I like to make sure my pie dough is prepared before I begin making lemon meringue pie. I always make pie dough the night before because it needs to chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before rolling out and blind baking (next step).
- Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C) and adjust your oven rack to the lowest position. Partially blind bake pie crust in a 9-inch pie dish. (Follow blind baking instructions through step 9. Be sure to crimp or flute the pie crust edges, too.) Tip: You can get started on the lemon meringue pie filling steps while your crust is blind baking. But making the filling is time sensitive because you will temper the egg yolks, so if multi-tasking isn’t your thing, just wait until your crust is done blind baking before beginning the filling.
- Reduce oven temperature to 350°F (177°C).
- Watch the video below to see how I work through each of the following steps.
- Make the filling: Whisk the egg yolks together in a medium bowl or liquid measuring cup. Set aside. Whisk the water, granulated sugar, cornstarch, salt, lemon juice, and lemon zest together in a medium saucepan over medium heat. The mixture will be thin and cloudy, then eventually begin thickening and bubbling after about 6 minutes. Once thickened, give it a whisk and reduce heat to low.
- Temper the egg yolks: Very slowly stream a few large spoonfuls of warm lemon mixture into the beaten egg yolks. Then, also in a very slow stream, whisk the egg yolk mixture into the saucepan. Turn heat back up to medium. Cook until the mixture is thick and big bubbles begin bursting at the surface. Remove the pan from heat and whisk in the butter. Spread filling into the warm partially baked crust. Set aside as you prepare the meringue. (Don’t let the filling cool down too much as you want a warm filling when you top with the meringue in step 7. The warm filling helps seal the two layers together, preventing separation.)
- Make the meringue: With a handheld mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar together on medium speed for 1 minute, then increase to high speed until soft peaks form, about 4 more minutes. Add the sugar and salt, then continue beating on high speed until glossy stiff peaks form, about 2 more minutes. Spread meringue on top of filling. (I like to make decorative peaks with the back of a large spoon.) Make sure you spread the meringue all the way to the edges so that it touches the crust. This helps prevent the meringue from weeping.
- Bake pie on the lowest oven rack for 20-25 minutes. (If the meringue is browning too quickly, tent a piece of foil over it as best you can without the foil touching the meringue.) When pie is done, remove from the oven, place on a wire rack, and allow to cool at room temperature for 1 hour before placing in the refrigerator to chill. Chill for 4 hours before slicing and serving.
- Cover any leftovers and store in the refrigerator. Lemon meringue pie tastes best on day 1 because it doesn’t keep very well. No matter how hard you try to prevent it, the meringue will wilt and separate over time. Best to enjoy right away.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: The pie crust can be prepared ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. You can also blind bake the crust ahead of time, see how to blind bake pie crust for details. Lemon meringue pie is not the best pie to freeze. The filling and meringue’s texture are never quite the same.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | 9-inch Pie Dish | Rolling Pin | Pie Weights | Glass Mixing Bowls | Citrus Zester | Saucepan | Whisk | Cooling Rack
- Pie Crust: My homemade pie crust recipe makes 2 pie crusts. If you use my “dough strip” method explained in my how to blind bake pie crust tutorial, you will need 1 and 1/2 pie crusts. Or you can skip that little trick and just use 1 pie crust.
- Prepare Ahead of Time: Prep all of your ingredients before you begin, including grating the lemon zest and separating the eggs. Don’t multitask unless you’re confident! The filling is time sensitive and you want to make sure everything is ready when you need to add it. Prep all of the meringue ingredients as well. You want them on hand, especially the sugar and salt, the very moment you need them. Don’t walk away from the bowl of egg whites as they whip. Meringue can beat into stiff peaks quite quickly.
I think my meringue was too runny, It didn’t take peaks too well. Is this from not whipping long enough? Otherwise I think it turned out wonderfully! We’ll find out after it’s done baking and chilling. Perfect recipe and very detailed – thanks!
Hi Justin, whip the meringue until it reaches stiff peaks. Did you try this on a humid day or was there any trace of egg yolk in the white mixture? Both would prevent the whites from reaching stiff peaks.
I’ve tried making a few Pies like this but this one is by FAAAAAR the best, turned out successfully!!!
Thank you so much for sharing this magical Lemon Meringue Pie Recipe!!
(This will be my go to this day forth )
Hello, I baked this pie quite recently and it came out very nice, except for the fact that the meringue didn’t want to stick to the lemon filling. I made sure to eat it on day 1 after baking and followed the rest of the instructions well. I’d love to know how to fix this issue. Thank you 🙂
Hi Audrey! Thank you so much for making this recipe. Make sure you spread the meringue topping on while the filling is still warm. The warm filling helps seal the two layers together, preventing separation.
Hi Tori, absolutely! Follow the pre-bake times for our creamy lemon pie crust.
Oh, Sally, have I got a story about this pie for you! After my husband (who is a lover of lemon meringue pie, and asks for it as his dessert for every occasion!) raved about how good this was in a frozen store bought pie crust last year, I decided I wanted to make your homemade crust as well! I have NEVER made a pie crust from scratch and am a total amateur baker. Well, from accidentally adding too much butter to the crust (1 whole stick) and none to the curd (it was right there on the counter!), it would seem I tried EVERYTHING I could to mess this pie up! However, while some of the crust melted and blobbed onto the floor of the oven, it still baked up and turned out so TASTY that I was amazed! As for the filling, no harm done, it still set up and tasted great!! Sally, you have outdone yourself, in that you can make a fool-proof (emphasis on fool ) pie crust and pie that hold up even under “pressure.” I LOVE these recipes and will be sharing them with all my friends and neighbors!! And of course will be giving all the credit to you! Cheers! PS, I do have pictures if you want to see them.
Anyone ever doubled this to make two pies? Any problems?
Hi Annie, The homemade pie crust recipe makes 2 pie crusts so that should help. But this is a rather finicky recipe and we recommend making the rest of each pie one pie at a time.
I made a double recipe my first time out, and though I thought I followed instructions there was some liquid underneath the meringue. I don’t know if it came from the meringue or the lemon filling. I’m sure it was something I did – probably divided the filling and meringue unevenly. It was absolutely delicious however! And my meringue didn’t weep a bit.
This was such a delicious Lemon Meringue Pie. Just made a second recipe today and it turned out just as fantastic. Working on how to send a picture. Looks as beautiful as it tastes.
Do you think Meyer lemons would work in the recipe?
Hi Shawn, We used regular lemons in this lemon meringue pie, but you could substitute with Meyer lemons with no other changes to the recipe. Enjoy!
Made this for my husband and it was amazing! The crust was so good and perfect amount of lemon tang!
This turned out excellent. Filling set and meringue was perfect and browned nicely. This was my first time making this kind of pie. My husband said it was best dessert I’d ever made.
I cooled pie to room temp then put in fridge for an hour. Yes, there’s a lot of steps and I used a lot of bowls and pans, but worth every step.
A perfect lemon meringue pie! Don’t change a thing!
This recipe could open a business. If followed exactly there is heaven. You remind me of the amazing Maida Heatter with your precise instructions, explanations and obvious enjoyment of sharing! I learned a lot from your recipe, especially how to make a perfect meringue.
I have one problem with blind baking the crust: when I lift out the sugar weighted parchment paper some of the bottom crust pulls away. Any suggestions to remedy the problem? I usually just scrape it up and press it back in place and the lemon meringue is so delicious it is never noticed, but I would like to achieve a perfect blind baked crust. Thank you for sharing your desire and tenacity for perfection!
Tom
Hi Tom, thank you so much for the comment and we’re so glad to read how much you love this lemon meringue pie recipe. Parchment sticking to the pie dough is completely normal, but see if extending the partial blind baking time helps, even adding 3-4 extra minutes to (hopefully) help the crust set a bit more before removing the weights/sugar.
Thank for the blind baking tip! I will definitely try it next time!
Oh my gosh Sally thank you so much for the recipe for lemon meringue pie it was perfect, I have been trying other recipes for awhile now and this one is amazing thank you, thank you thank you love it
Can I use my homemade lemon curd as the filling?
Hi Christie! Lemon curd won’t set up thick enough and the slices will be messy.
This is such a fantastic recipe, and I’ve found the filling to be so versatile for other lemony desserts (like the raspberry lemon tartlets I’m making right now!). Thanks so much!
I finally made a meringue that works thanks to this recipe. I wish I could send a pic. It’s so pretty. My treat for fat Tuesday.
I followed your directions to the T but I didn’t have time to watch the videos, and the pie came out PERFECTLY! I made it for Valentine’s Day for my husband since it’s his favorite. The meringue came out beautifully, piled high on top of the lemon filling. And the filling was the perfect combination of sweetness and tart. I used my own crust recipe but I learned how to make the crust not shrink from you! Thank you! I actually didn’t start making the pie until 3pm – crust included and it didn’t come out of the oven at 6:30pm. We wanted to eat it for Valentine’s Day so I just plopped it in the snow for 2-1/2 hours and it set perfectly! And my husband said it was even better the next day. It didn’t weep or shrink. It was perfect on day 2, and 3! I wish I could post a photo of it so you could see the evidence. THANK YOU SALLY! You helped me make Valentine’s Day really special!
Hi. I love your simple recipe for the lemon meringue pie. Though I have a question. When the pie is done, i notice some liquid forming in the bottom of pie. It’s not much, maybe 2-3 tsp. Could you advise what I did wrong?
Aside from that – it is most delicious. Whole family loves it
Hi Luisa! Did you happen to bake this pie on a humid day? A humid day will almost always result in a weepy meringue.
Good Morning
I tried your recipe all was good but after I put the meringue on it says to bake for 25 min more it was dried out and tenting it was close to impossible My question is how long does it taken in the oven to kill the salmonella in the whites because I can always use a torch to brown the top without drying out the meringue please help. OR SHOULD I USE PASTURE WHITES. LYN
Hi! What if I have no cream of tartar for the meringue ? Can I substitute with lemon juice? If so, what would you recommend is the right quantity to add ? Thank you!
Hi Sally,
I’d like to ask if it’s a crime to use store bought puff pastry? I hate to do home-made crusts and I feel like this way I could avoid any accidents. Btw your recipe looks amazing and I can’t wait to tried it! I remember lemon meringues from Sydney where I lived 3 years.
Hi Kristina! You can use store-bought crust, but I recommend pie crust instead of puff pastry. The blind baking instructions are the same if you use store-bought.
The filling for this pie is fantastic! Perfect ratio of tartness and sweetness, and the ratio of meringue to filling is excellent. Too many recipes skimp on the meringue. I did use Meyer lemons (because I have a Meyer lemon tree in my yard). I think the meringue could be a bit sweeter, so I’ll increase sugar next time. I did ensure that the filling boiled for 1 minute to make sure the cornstarch fully activated (I think that’s very important), and my filling is the perfect consistency and slices wonderfully. Wish I could share a picture of my beautiful pie. Only took about 22 minutes in my oven, and I test and calibrate it frequently. Thanks for sharing this recipe and tips. It was my very first lemon meringue pie, made for my husband for Valentines Day (his request for his favorite dessert).
My first time with meringue. I followed the directions to the letter. Perfect! Lovely! We can’t wait to eat it this afternoon. A perfect ending for a Valentines’s Day dinner. Thanks Sally!
What should it be like?
Thank you for the recipe. I have never tasted lemon meringue pie before, can you please describe what the meringue texture and mouth feel should be like? I am not sure what I am aiming for. Cruncy? Crispy? Soft?
I just made this, it was great! The meringue has complimented the filling and the pie crust recipe is spot on! Thanks for a great recipe!
Made for my son-in-laws birthday. It looked beautiful ,loved all the tips.I tasted the pudding it was rather mild but probably because I used Meyer Lemons. Also, next time I will pre-bake the crust longer. I moved the meringue covered pie to bottom shelf to let the bottom and sides cook longer. I also felt there should have been more lemon custard,next time I will make more. Altogether I was pleased ,thanks for the guidance.
I made this recipe (pastry included) using vegan butter and it turned out amazing. Everyone I served it to couldn’t believe it was dairy free!
Truly the best lemon meringue pie I have ever made or eaten…and lemon meringue is one of my favorites…a little more work, but well worth it!!! It is my go to from now on…
Great flavor, but the egg lemon custard needs to BOIL (after tempering) and really thicken up before pouring into the crust. There is a chemical reaction that happens with the starch and the yolks and it needs high heat. Her recipe mentions “seeing bubbles” and I just think it needs to be more specific. The video doesn’t show boiling either. I just cooked mine to 160F… Anyways, a very runny albeit tasty pie. Next time!
Just wondering what proportions you would do if using a 10 ” pie plate?
Hi Linda, that would require additional testing but let us know if you try it. I would simply use the recipe as written and reduce the bake times since the pie filling and crust will be thinner.
It was everything I ever could have dreamed of.
My partner said it was the best lemon meringue pie he had ever eaten (tied with his grandmother of course).
Thank you!
Love this recipe. Just the right mix of sweet and tart. Followed the instructions with great care and it was perfect. I’ve never been able to master the consistency of the filling before. This recipe nails it. Thank you!
This was my first homemade lemon meringue pie and it turned out better than I expected! I will definitely try this recipe again.