Best Ever Lemon Meringue Pie – an easy homemade lemon pie topped with a simple homemade meringue. The pie is ready for the oven in about 10 minutes! Sugar, cornstarch, egg yolks, milk, lemon juice, butter, lemon zest, pie shell, egg whites, cream of tartar, and vanilla. This is seriously the BEST lemon meringue pie we’ve ever eaten! Super easy to make and has a wonderful lemon flavor. Perfect dessert for the holidays, potlucks, parties, and summer cookouts!
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Pin This RecipeClassic Lemon Meringue Pie
Lemon Pie is one of Chicken Legs’ favorites. So, when I ran across this recipe in one of my cookbooks and had to give it a try. With a name like “Best Ever Lemon Meringue Pie” how could I not?! The creamy lemon filling is delicious, but the fluffy meringue topping puts this pie over the top! SO good! The hardest part about making this pie is waiting on it to chill! Pure torture!
So, the verdict? Is this the Best Ever Lemon Meringue Pie? We think it is! We both couldn’t stop eating this! SO yummy! Give this a try for Mother’s Day dessert! You can make this a day in advance and keep it refrigerated until you are ready to serve. I promise Mom will thank you!
How to Make Lemon Meringue Pie
This dessert is easy to make with only a few simple ingredients. Place a frozen pie crust on a baking sheet. Place a piece of parchment paper or aluminum foil on top of the crust. Add pie weights to the bottom of the crust and bake crust according to package instructions for a blind bake. Remove from oven and cool.
In a medium saucepan, whisk together sugar, corn starch, salt, egg yolks, milk, and lemon juice. Bring to a boil over medium heat, and continue whisking constantly for one minute, or until the egg yolk mixture starts to thicken and coats the back of a spoon. Remove the pan from the heat. Whisk in butter and lemon zest. Pour the hot filling into the cooked pie crust.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites and cream of tartar at medium-high speed until foamy. Gradually add sugar, a tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Add vanilla extract, and beat well. Spread meringue over the top of the filling and bake until meringue is golden brown. Remove from oven and cool. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Helpful Tips & Frequently Asked Questions
- I used a frozen pie crust. Feel free to make your own homemade pie dough.
- If using a homemade pie crust, make sure to use a deep-dish pie plate.
- You can substitute a graham cracker crust if you prefer.
- Can use fresh lemon juice or bottled lemon juice.
- For best results, the egg whites should be at room temperature to make the meringue.
- Use a rubber spatula to make decorative peaks in the meringue before baking.
- Any leftover pie should be stored in the refrigerator covered in plastic wrap.
- The pie will keep up to 3 days in the refrigerator.
Easy Dessert for a Crowd
This is one of the best pies we’ve ever eaten. It has a wonderful lemon flavor and the perfect meringue topping. This is a great recipe for holiday dinners, parties, potlucks, and cookouts. I never have any leftovers! I really think that this is the perfect lemon meringue pie recipe. Give it a try and let me know if you agree.
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Best Ever Lemon Meringue Pie
Equipment:
Ingredients:
Pie
- 1½ cups sugar
- ⅓ cup cornstarch
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 4 egg yolks
- 1¾ cups milk
- ½ cup lemon juice
- 3 Tbsp butter
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 1 (9-inch) deep-dish pie shell, cooked and cooled
Meringue
- 6 egg whites
- ½ tsp cream of tartar
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
Instructions:
Pie
- Preheat oven to 325ºF.
- In a medium saucepan, whisk together sugar, cornstarch, salt, egg yolks, milk and lemon juice. Bring to a boil over medium heat, continue whisking constantly for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Whisk in butter and lemon zest. Pour into cooked pie crust.
Meringue
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy. Gradually add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating util stiff peaks form (about 4 minutes). Add vanilla, beat well. Spread meringue over pie filling.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until meringue is lightly browned. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack for an hour. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Steph
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Pie came together easily. I learned to separate each egg in a little bowl when I had to throw away 3 egg whites I got some yolk in. Forgot the vanilla in the whipped egg whites but it tasted fine. Used a bit less sugar but it was still on the sweet side. A keeper recipe.
This one was a huge hit! My first lemon meringue, but won’t be my last! I would recommend this everyone! Only thing I would say to make note of is to turn the mixer on high to get the meringue where you want it!
This pie was simple to make yet delicious! I was able to use the egg whites from the 4 eggs for the egg white topping. I think 6 egg whites would have been too much. I will definitely make it again a
Glad you enjoyed it, Sarah
Ha! I just made this pie in February and it was gone in the blink of an eye! This pie is good for anytime of year!
Is this a tart lemon recipe? I prefer things a bit tart and it doesn’t seem like lot of lemon juice so I was just curious.
can i use almond milk?
Did you try it with almond milk? I am hoping to make it for Easter.
Pie turned out looking gorgeous!
This was my FIRST meringue pie EVER and it turned out AMAZING! The recipe was so easy and delicious 😋
Do you recommend whole milk or can I use 2%?
Stephanie, I made your lemon pie recipe last week and it was amazing in taste and appearance. Yesterday was my husband’s birthday, he only asked for another lemon pie!!! It truly is the easiest lemon pie I have ever made and delicious. I have my mother’s wonderful lemon pie of over 50 years and I rarely look at a lemon pie recipe, but your description caught my eye…when I saw boil 1 minute, that was all I needed! I saved my Meyer’s lemon juice and zest from my tree, used those and it was just perfect. The first time we tasted the pie, we even contemplated eating a second slice, but we managed to refrain from doing that! Thanks for this easy, delicious, wonderful pie. Thankfully, mother is no longer with me to know that I no longer use her recipe!
I will be our little secret. So glad you enjoyed the pie!
Looks wonderful! Other recipes I've seen use water where yours uses milk. How does the milk change the final product? Thank you.
Not sure. I’ve never used water in lemon pie filling.
Hi Steph. What would be better for an Easter dessert than Lemon Meringue Pie! My grandma (known to us as Nanie) used to make them every Easter. She is long passed, so I am carrying on the tradition this year. Your pictures are great and they led me to this recipe. It couldn't have turned out better! Thank you for posting this. Geri B
So glad the pie turned out!! Honored to be part of your holiday tradition this year
I love lemon pie. And that meringue. I am jealous of that meringue! Looks absolutely wonderful! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
I want to make this tonight and serve midday tomorrow…do you think the meringue would get weepy or gross? 🙂
My meringue didn't get gross or weepy one day after making it.
I just woke up so I probably should wait till the morning sun hits me in the eye and wakes me up but…where is the recipe??? I see a slice of pie that is to die for but my befuddled brain does not see how to make it. have pity on an over extended and overtaxed mom and help. *yawning widely* thanks so much (and please don't laugh at me too hard, just a little)
The recipe is below the second picture and above your comment.
I had to refresh the page to find the recipe, so I'm going with it magically appeared over night 🙂