Who doesn’t love an awesome Lemon Meringue Pie? I mean…it’s tart, it’s just perfectly sweet, it has a flaky crust, it has mile-high meringue! Here you go, folks – my recipe for The Best Lemon Meringue Pie!

Ingredients

• 1 9″ Pie Crust (If you’d like my no-fail, always-works-great fav recipe, let me know & I can provide!)
• 5 egg yolks
• 1-1/3 c water
• 1 c sugar
• 1/3 c cornstarch
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/2 c fresh lemon juice with the pulp (including the pulp is key to getting just the right tartness)
• 1 T lemon zest
• 2 T unsalted butter, softened to room temp

Meringue

• 5 egg whites
• 1/2 t cream of tartar
• 1/2 c sugar

Prepare (measure, chop, cut) all filling & meringue ingredients. The filling is time-sensitive & you want to make sure everything is ready.

Partially bake pie crust. Preheat over to 375 deg w/ oven rack at lowest position. Put parchment paper into crust & add pie weights (or dried beans) & bake about 15 min. Remove pie weights, prick bottom of crust all over with a fork, & bake about 8 min more or until edges of crust are just starting to brown. Reduce oven temp to 350 deg.

Make the meringue. With a handheld mixture or a stand mixer with whisk attachment, beat room temp egg whites (see NOTES #1 & #2) & cream of tartar together on medium speed for about 1 min. Then, increase to high speed & beat until soft peaks form, about 2-4 min more. With mixture running, slowly stream in sugar & continue beating on high speed until glossy stiff peaks form, about 2 more minutes. Watch your egg whites carefully because they can get to stiff peaks quite quickly!

Make the filling. Whisk egg yolks together in a medium bowl. Set aside. Whisk the water, sugar, cornstarch, salt, lemon juice & zest together in a medium saucepan over medium heat. The mixture will start thin & cloudy. After about 6 min it will bubble & thicken. Take off heat & whisk in butter.

Temper the egg yolks by whisking in 1 large spoonful of the hot lemon mixture into the beaten egg yolks. Repeat this same process 1 spoonful by 1 spoonful until you’ve incorporated about 1/3 of the hot lemon mixture into the egg yolks. Then, whisking the entire time, VERY slowly pour the egg yolk mixture back into the remaining hot lemon mixture. Turn heat back on to medium. Cook, whisking constantly, until mixture is thick & big bubbles begin to burst at the surface. Spread filling into partially baked crust (see NOTES #3 below).

Spread meringue on top of warm filling making sure to spread meringue all the way to the edges so that it touches the crust (see NOTES #4).

Bake pie on the lowest rack for 25-30 min. When pie is done, remove from oven & place on wire rack. Let it cool at room temp for 1 hour. Then place in fridge & chill for 4 hours. Slice & serve!

Notes:

1. Separate your eggs first & leave whites out on counter while you prepare everything else. Meringue whips up best with room temperature egg whites.
2. Make sure there is NO FAT in your egg whites. Separate your eggs carefully so no yolk accidentally gets into the whites. Make sure your bowl is clean & dry. If there is any fat in the whites, your meringue will not work.
3. You want your filling to still be warm when you spread your meringue on top. If the filling is too cold the meringue will separate from the filling & fall off (this is called “weeping”) when you cut it.
4. Make sure that meringue comes in contact with the crust all the way around – you don’t want any holes between meringue & crust. This also helps prevent the meringue from weeping.

Adapted from this recipe.