Lemon Meringue Pie

Name: Lemon Meringue Pie
Prep time: 45 min
Total time: 7 h 10 min
Yield: 8
Ingredients: 1 cup Gold Medal™ all-purpose flour; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1/3 cup cold shortening; 3 to 4 tablespoons cold water; 3 egg yolks; 1 1/2 cups sugar; 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon cornstarch; 1 1/2 cups water; 3 tablespoons butter; 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest; 1/2 cup lemon juice; 3 egg whites, room temperature; 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar; 6 tablespoons sugar; 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Ingredients:15
Servings:8

By Betty Crocker Kitchens(Opens in a new tab)Updated 09/04/2024

Lemon Meringue Pie

Ingredients:15
Servings:8

Whether you crave the old-fashioned flavor of a homemade lemon meringue pie, or you’re trying it for the first time, this top-rated recipe promises to be a sweet-tart delight! It’s a trio of layers that blend perfectly for irresistible taste and texture. You start with a tender, flaky baked pie shell, fill it with smooth, tangy-sweet lemony custard-like filling, and top it all off with a cloud-like, billowy meringue.

This light, airy pie is always a hit on hot summer days and adds a refreshing finish to your Easter or Mother’s Day celebrations. It’s the perfect pie to make as we embrace the warm, sunny days of spring and summer.

Our step-by-step directions will help you master lemon meringue pie, even if it’s your first time making it. We’ve perfected this classic recipe over the years with the best tips and tricks, so it’s always a baking success in your kitchen. Our recipe makes just right amount of filling and meringue for perfect layers. This is a show-stopping dessert that will earn you rave reviews and plenty of requests to make it again!

How to Make Lemon Meringue Pie

Here’s the general instructions for making our best lemon meringue pie recipe. Follow the recipe for the more detailed directions that have been thoroughly tested in our Test Kitchens, for delicious results:

Making the Pie Crust

Pastry dough is made from mixing flour and salt and cutting in vegetable shortening until it’s dispersed throughout, the consistency of coarse crumbs. Water is then added to form the dough. The dough is chilled, rolled out, and eased into a pie plate. The edge of the dough is given a decorative edge before being baked.

Making the Lemon Filling

A custard-like lemon filling for lemon meringue pie is made by cooking sugar, water, and cornstarch until the mixture boils and thickens. Using a fork, beat your egg yolks and gradually add to the boiling mixture a little at a time. Stir in the butter, and both lemon juice and lemon zest. Remove from heat and cover the pan to keep the filling hot so that the meringue will stick to it.

Making the Meringue

Our easy meringue recipe for lemon meringue pie uses egg whites and cream of tartar beaten with a mixer until foamy. Sugar is added a tablespoon at a time, until glossy, stiff peaks form.

Putting It All Together

Spread the hot lemon filling in the baked crust. Immediately add the meringue over the lemon filling to seal it to the filling and keep it from weeping (moisture droplets from forming on the meringue) or shrinking during baking.

Baking the Pie

Bake the pie until the meringue top is browned, and the eggs reach 160°F to ensure they are cooked.

Serving Lemon Meringue Pie

For the best flavor and texture of this sensational lemon meringue pie filling recipe, don’t skip the four hours of refrigeration after it cools. It’s important to give this pie its full refrigeration time so the filling has time to properly set up. This will make serving nicely shaped pieces a breeze! With a long refrigeration time, this recipe can be made earlier in the day, to take the pressure off making the rest of the meal.

Lemon meringue pie is always enjoyed chilled, right from the refrigerator. Although making the meringue is relatively straightforward, it can be sensitive to temperature and humidity. Serving the pie cold not only preserves the ideal texture but also ensures that the egg whites in the meringue and the egg yolks in the filling stay at a safe temperature for food safety.

To cut beautifully shaped pieces, use a sharp knife with a smooth blade and cut through all the layers. Use a pie server (a triangle-shaped server) to lift the pieces out onto serving plates.

The light, airy texture of this pie makes it a great choice to serve after an indulgent, heavy meal or when you are looking for a lighter summertime dessert.

Storing and Reheating Lemon Meringue Pie

It’s best to make and serve lemon meringue pie on the same day, for the meringue to be at its very best. As it sits in the refrigerator, it can absorb moisture from the air, which deflates the meringue and causes it to weep (form tiny water droplets). If your pie was made on a humid day, the meringue may weep as you refrigerate it for serving. If it does weep, it’s ok to still eat it. If you have any leftover lemon meringue pie, store it loosely covered in the refrigerator up to 1 day.

Betty’s Best Pie Recipes

Betty Crocker has been perfecting pie recipes for generations! Once you know the techniques for making a flaky crust, you’ll want to experiment with many types and flavors of pie. It’s one of our favorite ways to show our love to family and friends. Try one of these favorites:

Summer Pies

Classic Blueberry Pie is another delicious fruit pie to make in the summer when the berries are at their peak of flavor.

Easy Key Lime Pie also has a sweet-tart flavor, in the same way lemon meringue pie does. It’s super-easy to make and can be made ahead, so it’s ready to eat when you are.

Fall Pies

Impossibly-Easy-Pumpkin-Pie is a great fall pie that doesn’t require making a crust! It magically forms its own crust by making a batter that starts with Bisquick™ mix.

Salted Caramel Apple Slab Pie is layered with autumnal flavors, like pumpkin pie, and perfect for any fall or winter gathering.

Holiday Pies

Decadent-Pecan-Pie is an easy, yet impressive pie, that’s perfect for your Thanksgiving or Christmas meal.

Chocolate-Cream-Pie has a chocolatey pudding-like filling, somewhat like the lemon custard filling in lemon meringue pie, but it’s made with melted marshmallows.

Browse more delicious pie recipes to suit every taste and every season—and every day of the year!

Frequently Asked Questions

Keeping the pie crust flaky on your lemon meringue pie is simple with a few things to keep in mind:

Perfectly Baked Crust: Bake it until it’s light brown. If it is underbaked, it can become soggy when the filling is added.

Perfectly Cooked Filling: Use the texture cues as well as times given when making the filling, to be sure to have a filling that is the correct thickness. If your filling is thin and runny, it could make the crust soggy.

Cool and Refrigerate the Pie: After the pie is baked, cool it on a cooling rack for 1 hour. Then refrigerate the pie for 4 hours or until the filling is set (it won’t jiggle when the pie plate is shaken).

Serving the Pie: Serve it on the same day it’s made, so the filling doesn’t have a chance to soften the crust.

Here are our best tips for preventing meringue from weeping (water droplets that form on the meringue, causing the meringue to somewhat deflate).

Bake on a Dry Day: It’s best to make a lemon meringue pie on a non-humid day, if possible, so that the meringue can’t absorb the moisture from the air.

Carefully Spread the Meringue: Take care to completely cover the filling with the meringue around the edge of the pie, so that no spots of filling can be seen. By trapping the moist filling completely under the meringue, it’s harder for it to pick up moisture and weep.

Serve It the Same Day: Serve the pie on the same day it’s made to prevent further storage which can allow moisture to get into the meringue and cause weeping.

Lemon Meringue Pie

Prep time:45 min
Total time:7 hr 10 min
Ingredients:15
Servings:8
Calories per serving:400

Ingredient

Pastry

1 cup Gold Medal™ all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cold shortening
3 to 4 tablespoons cold water

Filling

3 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 1/2 cups water
3 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1/2 cup lemon juice

Meringue

3 egg whites, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
6 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

Step 1
In medium bowl, mix flour and salt. Cut in shortening, using pastry blender (or pulling 2 table knives through ingredients in opposite directions), until mixture forms coarse crumbs the size of small peas. Sprinkle with cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork until flour mixture is moistened and can be pressed into a ball.

Step 2
Shape into flattened round on lightly floured surface. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate about 45 minutes or until dough is cold.

Step 3
Heat oven to 450°F. With floured rolling pin, roll pastry on lightly floured surface into round 2 inches larger than upside-down 9-inch glass pie plate. Fold pastry into fourths; place in pie plate, or roll pastry loosely around rolling pin and transfer to pie plate. Unfold or unroll pastry and ease into plate, pressing firmly against bottom and side. Trim overhanging edge of pastry 1 inch from rim of pie plate. Fold and roll pastry under, even with plate; flute as desired. Prick bottom and side of pastry thoroughly with fork to prevent puffing. Bake 13 to 15 minutes or until light brown; cool on cooling rack.

Step 4
Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. In small bowl, beat egg yolks with fork. In 2-quart saucepan, mix 1 1/2 cups sugar and the cornstarch; gradually stir in 1 1/2 cups water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir 1 minute.

Step 5
Immediately stir with whisk at least half of hot mixture into egg yolks; stir back into hot mixture in saucepan. Return to boiling; boil and stir constantly 2 minutes; remove from heat. Stir in butter, lemon zest and lemon juice with whisk. Cover and keep warm.

Step 6
In medium bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar with electric mixer on high speed until foamy. Beat in sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time; scrape side of bowl occasionally. Continue beating until stiff, glossy peaks form and sugar is completely dissolved. Beat in vanilla. Pour hot lemon filling into baked pie shell. Immediately drop spoonfuls of meringue onto hot lemon filling, and carefully spread meringue to cover top completely, spreading to edge of crust to prevent shrinkage or weeping.

Step 7
Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until meringue is browned and temperature reaches 160°F. Cool on cooling rack 1 hour. Refrigerate about 4 hours or until filling is set. Store loosely covered in refrigerator.

Recipe Tips

The key for perfect meringue is using just egg whites. Be sure to cleanly separate the whites from the yolks, because even a speck of yolk will prevent the whites from beating up properly.
Be ready to quickly beat up the egg whites so they can be spread directly on the hot filling—the heat helps seal the meringue to the pie.
To ensure success with this recipe, let the pie cool for one hour, then chill for four hours or until filling is set before slicing into it.
Use Betty Crocker™ pie crust mix for the scratch pie crust in this recipe to save time and elbow grease.

Nutrition Facts

Calories
400
Total Fat
14g
Protein
4g
Total Carbohydrate
65g
Sugars
47g

Servings: 8

Serving Size: 1 Serving

Amount Per Serving Calories : 400

Nutrition Facts
Food Component / Nutrient	Amount	% , Daily Value*
Total Fat	14g	22%
Saturated Fat	5g	26%
Trans Fat	0g	% Value Not Available
Monounsaturated Fat	3&½g	% Value Not Available
Polyunsaturated Fat	4g	% Value Not Available
Omega-3	0g	% Value Not Available
Cholesterol	80mg	27%
Sodium	190mg	8%
Total Carbohydrate	65g	22%
Dietary Fiber	0g	0%
Soluble Fiber	0g	% Value Not Available
Insoluble Fiber	0g	% Value Not Available
Sugars	47g	% Value Not Available
Protein	4g	% Value Not Available
Vitamin D	Value Not Available	4%
Calcium	Value Not Available	0%
Iron	Value Not Available	6%
Potassium	75mg	2%
Vitamin A	Value Not Available	4%
Vitamin C	Value Not Available	6%
Vitamin E	Value Not Available	10%
Thiamin	Value Not Available	8%
Riboflavin	Value Not Available	10%
Niacin	Value Not Available	4%
Vitamin B6	Value Not Available	0%
Folic Acid	Value Not Available	8%
Vitamin B12	Value Not Available	4%
Pantothenic Acid	Value Not Available	4%
Phosphorus	Value Not Available	6%
Magnesium	Value Not Available	0%
Zinc	Value Not Available	2%
Manganese	Value Not Available	6%
Selenium	Value Not Available	15%
Copper	Value Not Available	0%
Beta-Carotene	Value Not Available	% Value Not Available
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

Exchanges

Starch 1,
Fruit 0,
Other Carbohydrate 3&½,
Skim Milk 0,
Low-Fat Milk 0,
Milk 0,
Vegetable 0,
Very Lean Meat 0,
Lean Meat 0,
Medium-Fat Meat 0,
High-Fat Meat 0,
Fat 2&½,
Fruits 0c,
Vegetables 0c,
Grains 1oz-eq,
Meat & Beans 0oz-eq,
Dairy 0c,
Fats & Oils 3tsp

Carbohydrate Choice

Carbohydrate Choice4

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How to Make Lemon Meringue Pie