Active Time
45 minutes
Total Time
1 hour 20 minutes plus chilling
Developed to rival Thanksgiving turkey as Star for the Day, our best lemon meringue pie recipe is a showstopper any time of year. The towering concoction is impressive but not austere. Familiar yet refreshing—and you get to set the whole thing on fire (almost).
It starts with an exceptionally flaky pie crust, which comes from the technique of quartering your assembled pie dough and stacking the quadrants before rolling them out (a kind of low-key lamination). Note: This recipe makes enough pie dough for two single-crust pies. You can reduce the amounts by half, but why not make the second disk and pop it into the freezer? It will hold for up to 3 months; use it to make another dessert (say, chocolate pudding pie) down the line.
For bold flavor, the pie filling gets the zest of 4 whole lemons. If you don’t have a rasp-style grater (or yours is dull), this is a good time to buy one. Otherwise, peel the yellow skin of the lemon, avoiding the bitter white pith, with a vegetable peeler, then place the strips of lemon zest in a blender or food processor with the water listed in the directions, and blitz until puréed before whisking it into the egg and cornstarch mixture.
You can easily break up the work over a few days if you’d like. The lemon curd filling will need to chill in the prebaked pie shell for at least 2 hours before serving, but it will hold for up to 3 days. The egg whites will also be fine in the fridge for a few days; wait until you’re ready to serve to make the meringue topping. When medium-stiff peaks form, transfer the fluffy garnish to a piping bag for the dotted look pictured, or just pile and swirl it on top of the pie and singe it to finish. While a broiler will work, this recipe is an excellent excuse to buy a kitchen torch.
Ingredients
8 servings
PIE CRUST
2
2
2⅔
1½
PIE FILLING
1
⅓
2
4
1
1
3
ASSEMBLY
4
¾
½
¼
Preparation
PIE CRUST
Step 1
Whisk 2 Tbsp. sugar, 2 tsp. Diamond Crystal or 1 tsp. Morton kosher salt, and 2⅔ cups (333 g) all-purpose flour in a medium bowl. Add 1½ cups (3 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into ½" pieces, and, using your fingers, smash each piece into a thin disk. Take your time doing this and don’t feel compelled to break butter into even smaller pieces. Drizzle ⅔ cup ice-cold water over, dispersing it as widely as possible, and mix with a rubber spatula to bring mixture together into a shaggy mass.
Step 2
Turn dough out onto a surface and work together with your hands, pushing and flattening until dough holds together when squeezed in your palm but some streaks of dry flour are still visible. Divide dough into 2 portions.
Step 3
Flatten 1 portion of dough into an 8"-diameter disk. Cut into quarters, stack pieces on top of one another, and flatten dough with a rolling pin to about half of its original height. At this point dough should hold together with no dry spots remaining, and have nice big flakes of butter showing. Use a bench scraper or a large knife to clean any clingy bits of dough from surface. Dust surface with flour, then dust top of dough with flour. Roll out to a ¼"–⅜"-thick round. Wrap dough around rolling pin and transfer to a standard 9"-diameter pie plate. Unfurl into dish, then lift edges and allow dough to slump down into dish. Trim overhang to an even 1" (there will be some excess). Fold overhang under and crimp as desired. Cover and chill until very cold, at least 1 hour and up to 12 hours (cover tightly in plastic wrap if chilling longer than 1 hour). Repeat process with remaining dough and another pie plate. Or form into a 1½"-thick disk, wrap in plastic, and chill up to 3 days (or freeze up to 1 month).
Step 4
Place a rack in middle of oven; preheat oven to 400°. Lay 2 sheets of parchment paper over dough and fill with pie weights or dried beans (they should fill the dish). Set on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet (this will keep any butter drips from smoking up your oven). Bake until edges are lightly golden and bottom is opaque (carefully lift parchment to check; when ready, the crust will not stick to parchment), 30–35 minutes. Remove from oven; reduce oven temperature to 300°. Lift out parchment and weights. Bake crust until evenly deep golden brown all over, 10–15 minutes. If baking both crusts, turn oven dial back up to 400° and let oven preheat; repeat with remaining crust.
PIE FILLING
Step 5
Whisk 1 cup (200 g) sugar and ⅓ cup cornstarch in a medium saucepan to combine. Add 2 large eggs and 4 large egg yolks to sugar mixture and whisk vigorously, making sure to get into corners of pan, until mixture is smooth and pale. Whisk in the finely grated zest of 4 lemons, 1 cup fresh lemon juice, 1 tsp. Diamond Crystal or ½ tsp. Morton kosher salt, and 1½ cups water.
Step 6
Place saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer, whisking often and making sure to get into corners of pan, 8–10 minutes (mixture should be bubbling and thickened). Reduce heat and continue to simmer, whisking constantly, 3 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes, whisking every minute.
Step 7
Add 3 Tbsp. chilled unsalted butter to lemon filling and whisk until melted and fully incorporated. Scrape hot filling into baked pie crust; smooth surface. Chill until cold and set, at least 2 hours and up to 3 days.
ASSEMBLY
Step 8
Combine 4 large egg whites, room temperature, ¾ cup (150 g) sugar, ½ tsp. Diamond Crystal or ¼ tsp. Morton kosher salt, and ¼ tsp. cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer or another heatproof large bowl; set over a large saucepan filled with 1" simmering water (bowl shouldn’t touch the water). Heat, stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved and mixture is warm to the touch, about 4 minutes.
Step 9
Fit bowl onto mixer fitted with whisk attachment (or use an electric mixer) and beat on medium-high speed until meringue is more than tripled in volume and medium peaks form, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a large round tip (or a resealable plastic bag will work—just snip off a corner after bag is filled). Pipe meringue on top of lemon filling and toast with a kitchen torch or under the broiler.
Do Ahead: Pie (without meringue) can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled.
Editor’s note: This lemon meringue pie recipe was first printed in our November 2019 Thanksgiving issue. Head this way for more of our favorite lemon desserts →
Leave a Review
Reviews (43)
Back to TopIt was great. I love that all of lemons and all of eggs get used up within the recipe. I cut sugar a bit from both filling and meringue and used less butter in the filling and still came out great.
Irina
4/1/2024
Great recipe! I made for my friend’s b-day party and it was a real hit. I did add more lemon zest and a few drops of lemon extract to the filling to get an even more zingy finish. Very difficult to transport! I would also recommend doubling the meringue amount if you want a show stopping top. Was less than I would have imagined, and I was running too late to double! Over all great great, pretty time consuming but the whole party was obsessed! Overall love!
S. Abenj
New York City
3/18/2024
The only issue I had was the description on how to prebake the crust. I over cooked it and it came out super crunchy to the point it was hard to cut. I'm from New Orleans and don't know what a chestnut is, so the "chestnut brown" description was lost on me. I overbaked it thinking it needed to be dark brown. I guessed a chestnut looked like a pecan? My bad, but maybe an alternate description for those who are unfamiliar with it. The filing was magnificent. I used Meyer lemons we grew and it had such a wonderful flavor and texture. Will make again.
Zen Master
New Orleans, La.
1/15/2023
As has already been noted, it is confusing that the filling is really only enough for one pie, but you make crust for two. Some advice for doubling the filling is sorely needed. Also, I need to know some things about the meringue - should I put it on the pie when the pie is hot, when the meringue is hot, both? Should I put it in the fridge after I broil because it should be served cold? Or will that make it weepy? So the recipe could use some more details, but making it directly as written made a scrumptious pie - I am just so nervous about putting the meringue on the pie because I don’t want it to weep!!
Griffin Mama
Lansing, MI
11/23/2022
worked perfectly. Mixed the pie crust on the first day, blind baked, made the curd, filled and finished the next day. TOTALLY worth the work. The filling/curd tasted a bit thin initially, but after setting for a few hours turned out to be perfect. I did use a little more zest than the recipe called for, mostly b/c I zested almost every lemon I used, and it took 6+ lemons to get the necessary juice. No torch, so I just whacked it under the broiler for a minute and it was perfectly crisped.
Heather K
Denver, CO
3/4/2021
Came out great! A question, is the meringue in this recipe Swiss meringue?
Nicole
Los Angeles, CA
12/21/2020
Everything about this pie was absolutely incredible. And making it definitely makes you feel like some kind of chef. The result is SO devine that my family was surprised it was not boulangerie bought. Yes, it takes time to make, but the result is very much worth it. The meringue is sweet yet not sickly and perfectly balances the lemon cream, which set pefectly as well. Everything just went as it was supposed to and that is thanks to he very clear and helpful recipe. As a Frenchie I have had my share of good and bad lemon meringue pies, yet this one really felt like something you would order in a boulagerie or a restaurant. I also liked that the ingredients are simple. I halved the crust ingredients and made just one (in the recipe it makes 2 crusts) for convenience, it turned out perfect.
Amelia
Saubusse, France
12/5/2020
This was the most delicious pie I have ever made. Not too sweet, and the meringue had the texture and weight of whipped cream. We could not stop eating it! The only change I made was to only use 6 egg whites (instead of 8 for two pies). This was what made that meringue so delicious & thick. I will make this a thousand times over.
Roberta Munroe
Los Angeles California
11/21/2020
I've made this on thanksgiving and it was wonderful, made it again yesterday because it's a favorite. I think that because my AC isn't working, a couple things went wrong. When making the pie dough the butter melted too quickly and was too sticky, so I had to add more flour and then couldn't mold it in the dish like I could last time. The filling also didn't set as completely, and the meringue didn't hold up as well. I think all the factors are partly due to the temperature so you may need to work more quickly/ whip meringue more/ boil filling more to get it thicker and set in the fridge easy. Still delicious!
cuisinefeen
NY
7/30/2020
This was my first time making lemon meringue pie (a personal favourite of mine) or any pie for that matter, and I am very pleased with the result. The pie crust turned out nice and crisp. The lemon filling set well and tasted a lot like some others I've had and loved in the past. The only problem was the meringue, but that was my own fault. It tasted divine but I probably could have whipped it a bit more. I've now frozen the extra pie dough and can't wait to use it to make another of these in the future and improve on my previous mistakes.
lallination
Australia
4/25/2020
Loved this recipe! Filling tasted exactly like my great grandmothers recipe... just do not put the pies directly under the broiler, we had some flamage on Easter. I suggest putting the pies on the lowest rack
Anonymous
NYC
4/12/2020
"Too much butter" are not words I usually say but... the crust has too much butter for my preference. It baked up greasy and there was a literal lake of melted butter that covered the entire sheet tray when I took it out of the oven - what a waste! The filling tasted fantastic and was super easy. after reading the other reviews about it not setting up, I cut the water in the filling from 1.5 to 1 cup. It set up beautifully. I will definitely be making this pie again, but next time I'll also cut down the butter in the crust.
Anonymous
AB, Canada
3/16/2020
Awesome recipe! Was very successful for today's lupper (dinner but served a little after lunch time). The filling set up perfectly within an hour in the fridge. It was tart and sweet and worked perfectly with the meringue. I was nervous about the pie crust because it tasted weird right out of the oven. I had to cook it much longer after the blind bake and got concerned. However, it ended up tasting great.
elvindmt
Rhode Island
1/5/2020
This was my first lemon meringue and it was a New Year's Eve showstopper! It came together fairly easily (probably because I used premade crust). The lemon custard set up within an hour without issue, and the meringue was glossy perfection. Next time I'll suck it up and make my own crust, too. Winner!
Anonymous
Alameda, CA
1/4/2020
The recipe was very easy to follow, and the pie is delicious. Very lemony, but the meringue balances it nicely. However, the second day the pie was very watery — I’m not sure if it was the filling or the meringue, but there was water in the pie plate. Still was delicious, just with a soggy crust, but would appreciate advice on how to avoid this if anyone knows how!
Anonymous
Boston
12/1/2019