Silky Lemon Meringue Pie

This lemon meringue pie is the perfect lemon dessert. It has a flaky homemade pie crust, a silky, tart lemon filling, and is topped with clouds of torched meringue.

Hi hi! Just popping in to share this super delicious lemon meringue pie recipe! I tested and re tested this recipe, until I was able to get the smoothest, silkiest lemon filling, wrapped up in a flaky pie crust, and finished with mounds of fluffy torched meringue.

This lemon meringue pie is an absolute winner - I took my various test to a bunch of different friends, and they all raved about it, particularly how amazing smooth the filling is and how well it is complimented by the meringue topping.

I love making lemon desserts, and I love making homemade pie, and I didn't have a lemon meringue pie recipe on here, so I knew what I had to do! To me, this is the best lemon meringue pie recipe - the filling is super super smooth, and I just love all things toasty meringue.

Lemon meringue pie is a great make-ahead pie recipe - you can bake the whole thing up to 1-2 days ahead, and then add the meringue just before serving. Just the best - I love it so much and I hope that you do too!

Components of Lemon Meringue Pie

This easy lemon meringue pie recipe has a few components, but the workload is easy to break up, and I promise the extra work is so, so worth it!

• Flaky pie crust. I use my go-to homemade pie crust recipe, which gets fully blind baked before the lemon filling is added.
• Lemon filling. This is more of a lemon tart filling recipe than a pie, but I wanted to use it because of how punchy and silky smooth it is. It's just so good and makes for what I think is the best lemon meringue pie.
• Meringue Pie Topping. I use my favourite Swiss Meringue recipe, which I love because it is super smooth, easy to work with, and just so much fun to torch once it is on the pie.

How to make Lemon Meringue Pie

This easy lemon meringue pie recipe has a couple of steps, but I promise that if you follow the recipe correctly, you'll make the most amazing lemon meringue pie!

• Blind bake your pie crust. The second baking period of this lemon meringue pie is at a super low temperature, so I like to fully blind bake my pie crust before proceeding with the recipe.
• Make the lemon filling. This is an egg set custard, where you make a syrup from lemon juice and sugar, then infuse it with zest, and temper eggs and yolks with the warm syrup and cream, before straining into your blind baked pie crust. It's super smooth, super lemony, and just so, so good.
• Bake the pie. This lemon meringue pie filling bakes at a super low temperature - 110°c / 230°f, until the edges are set but the middle is still jiggly.
• Cool the pie. Cooling it slowly is super important. I cool my lemon meringue pie in the oven with the door cracked until room temperature, then you can either store it at room temperature or in the fridge until you are ready to add the meringue.
• Make the Swiss Meringue. The final step in this lemon meringue pie is to make the swiss meringue topping, pile up onto the pie, and torch to perfection.

The best meringue for Lemon Meringue Pie

I use a Swiss meringue to top my lemon meringue pie. It is my favourite - I also use it on my lemon meringue bars, and to make the most perfect pavlova. A Swiss meringue gets cooked over a water bath before being whipped up, which makes it safe to eat without the need for baking.

It also makes it perfect for torching, which I love to do. I haven't tried to make this recipe with a different meringue, so I really recommend making the Swiss. You also don't need to add meringue if you want to leave it plain and have an amazing lemon pie recipe, or add whipped cream! You can also leave the meringue plain if you like, but it will be super sticky.

This meringue recipe makes enough for a hefty meringue topping - the good thing about baking in grams is that meringue is just a ratio of 1:1.5 of egg whites to sugar, so weigh however many whites you have, and use 1.5x that weight in sugar, and that is the perfect meringue ratio if you want to scale the recipe!

How to torch meringue

I use a blow torch to torch my meringue - I use a bernzomatic from the hardware store. I find these larger torches are generally better than a culinary torch - they are easier to control and you can torch things from further away as the flame is larger, giving you a nice even torch.

Once you have spread the meringue on top of the lemon meringue pie, light up your torch and carefully move it back and forth over the meringue to toast it to perfection.

Can I put the meringue under the grill?

I haven't tried torching the meringue any other way than using the blow torch - I don't know how well it would go putting the lemon meringue pie under the grill / broiler because the lemon filling is quite delicate, so I would worry that it would melt.

Pie Crust for Lemon Meringue Pie

I use my foolproof homemade pie crust recipe for this Lemon Meringue Pie recipe.. The recipe makes two discs of pie dough, so you can freeze one to use in another single crust pie recipe, or store for another time.

Does Lemon Meringue Pie need to be blind baked?

Because this lemon meringue pie goes back in the oven at a super low temperature, I prefer to fully blind bake the crust before adding the lemon pie filling. The filling is super wet, so this ensures that the crust is sealed off, and prevents it from going soggy.

To give an extra layer of insurance, I brush the inside of the crust with egg wash, then return it to the oven for 2 minutes to set.

For all my tips on par-baking a homemade pie crust, check out my post: How to blind bake pie crust

How to break up the workload for Lemon Meringue Pie

There are a few ways that you can break up the workload for this lemon meringue pie recipe to make it easier on you.

Remember that the pie does need quite a long time in the oven to cool down with the door cracked - you could bake it in the evening and leave it to cool down overnight in the oven. Here are a few options for breaking up the workload:

• Make your pie crust in advance. Pie dough stores for up to 3 days in the fridge, or 3 months in the freezer - I like to make a bulk amount and store in my freezer for whenever I need it.
• Blind Bake your crust ahead of time. Blind baked pie crust can be made up to 24 hours ahead. Store wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature until you are ready to use.
• Make the pie in advance. The lemon meringue pie needs a good amount of time to cool down, so it is great to make the day before you need it and store in the fridge. Store it without the meringue on top, and add the meringue close to serving. If you find that it has gathered some moisture in the fridge, carefully blot it off with a paper towel.

How do you store Lemon Meringue Pie?

I store lemon meringue pie in the fridge, either in an airtight container or lightly covered with plastic wrap. Once the meringue is on the top of the pie, it may not hold the crispy torched exterior but I like to blow torch the sides to add some extra toastiness to leftover pieces before serving.

The secret to preventing lemon pie from cracking - a slow cool down!

I made this lemon meringue pie about 8 times while testing - I nailed down the filling super fast, then was struggling with it cracking as the pie cooled. This came from a combination of things - over baking the meringue, and then removing it from the oven and leaving it to cool too quickly.

Because the lemon filling is an egg set custard, as it bakes then cools the protein in the eggs contract, causing cracks in the surface of the pie.

I found the way around this was to bake the lemon pie at a super low temperature, until it is just done, then cool it in the oven with the door cracked with a wooden spoon, letting the pie cool slowly, giving a nice crack free surface.

If the pie does crack it's really not the end of the world - that's what meringue is for! I just wanted to get a nice clean surface because I'm super stubborn, and we got there!

How do you get clean slices of pie?

The key to getting super clean cuts of pie - a nice sharp knife, and wiping the knife between cuts.

Wiping the knife between cuts is super important as it cleans the knife off, meaning that the meringue doesn't drag down onto the filling too much.

Frequently Asked Questions

What tools and equipment do you use?
You can find a full list of the tools and equipment I use on my products page

Which pan did you use?

My go-to pie pan is a metal USA pan. You can read more about my pie pan preferences in my post on how to blind bake pie crust!

What is heavy cream?

Heavy cream, or 'heavy whipping cream' is the cream you use to make whipped cream. Some countries have different varieties of cream, which is why I specify. Use the kind you would use to make whipped cream!

What do you serve with lemon meringue pie?

If you don't want to do the Swiss meringue topping, you could also top this pie with softly whipped cream, which would go so nicely with the lemon filling!

For more pie recipes, check out:

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