Lemon Meringue Pie
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With a graham cracker crust and sweetened condensed milk filling, this lemon meringue pie is foolproof and easy.
This lemon meringue pie recipe comes from Myra Santoro, the mom of one of my oldest and dearest friends. Originally from Snow Hill, North Carolina, Myra is a fabulous Southern cook with a huge heart. As a kid, I practically lived at her house and, with so many good smells coming from the kitchen, I was always trying to finagle a way to stay for dinner.
Unlike most lemon meringue pie recipes, which can be rife with issues — a soggy crust, a soupy filling, or a meringue that weeps — Myra’s recipe is foolproof. It’s delicious too: I once made it and left it on the counter with a note for my husband and kids to try it. I came home to find the pie butchered with forks and almost entirely gone; they had not even bothered to slice it!
What You’ll Need To Make Myra’s Lemon Meringue Pie
How To Make Lemon Meringue Pie
Step 1: Make the Crust
Start with the crust. In a medium bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs and sugar. Add the melted butter.
Stir with a fork first, and then your hands until the mixture is well combined.
Using your fingers and the bottom of a clean drinking glass or measuring cup, press the crumbs firmly into the bottom and up the sides of a deep dish pie pan. The crust should be about 1/4-in thick. Bake for about 10 minutes, until just slightly browned. Let the crust sit on a wire rack while you prepared the rest of the pie, and lower the oven temperature to 325°F.
Step 2: Make the Filling
Combine the egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a medium bowl.
Whisk to combine and set aside.
Step 3: Make the Meringue
Bring about 1/2 inch of water to a simmer in a pot that’s large enough to hold the bowl of a stand mixer without letting it touch the water. Reduce the heat to low.
Put the egg whites and sugar in the bowl off the heat and whisk until frothy. Put the bowl over the pot and whisk gently but constantly until the whites are very warm to the touch, or about 115°F and the sugar is completely dissolved, 2 to 4 minutes. (Heating the egg whites and sugar before beating them helps stabilize the meringue so it doesn’t weep once cooked.)
Remove the bowl from the heat and transfer it to the stand mixer fit with the whisk attachment. Add the cream of tartar.
Beat over medium-high speed until the egg whites form thick, glossy medium-firm peaks, 3 to 5 minutes total.
When you lift the whisk out of the bowl, the whites should hold their shape but curl at their tips.
Step 4: Assemble the Pie
Pour the lemon filling into the baked crust.
Mound the meringue onto the wet lemon filling.
Using a soup spoon, gently spread the meringue over the entire surface of the filling, making sure to go all the way to the crust’s edge (it is essential that the edge of the meringue be anchored to the rim of the crust; otherwise it will shrink). Make decorative peaks and swirls in the meringue with the back of the spoon.
Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the meringue is lightly browned.
Let the pie cool completely on a rack before serving, about 3 hours.
Photo by Our Salty Kitchen
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Easy Lemon Meringue Pie
Ingredients
For the Crust
- 1½ cups graham cracker crumbs, from about 12 whole crackers
- ⅓ cup cup sugar
- ¼ cup (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
For the Filling
- 4 large egg yolks (reserve the whites for the meringue)
- 1 (14-oz) can Eagle sweetened condensed milk (see note)
- 1 teaspoon packed finely grated lemon zest, from 1 lemon
- ½ cup fresh lemon juice, from about 3 lemons
For the Meringue
- 4 large egg whites
- 6 tablespoons sugar
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
Instructions
For the Crust:
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C) and set an oven rack in the middle position.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the graham cracker crumbs and sugar. Add the melted butter; stir with a fork first, and then your hands until the mixture is well combined. Using your fingers and the bottom of a clean drinking glass or measuring cup, press the crumbs firmly into the bottom and up the sides of a 9 x 1.5-in (23 x 4-cm) pie pan. The crust should be about ¼ in (6 mm) thick.
- Bake for about 10 minutes, until just slightly browned. Let the crust sit on a wire rack while you prepared the rest of the pie. Lower the oven temperature to 325°F (165°C).
For the Filling:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Pour into the warm crust.
For the Meringue:
- Bring about ½ in (13 mm) of water to a simmer in a pot that's large enough to hold the bowl of a stand mixer without letting it touch the water. Reduce the heat to low. Put the egg whites and sugar in the bowl off the heat and whisk until frothy. Put the bowl over the pot and whisk gently but constantly until the whites are very warm to the touch, or about 115°F (the temperature does not need to be exact; the mixture should feel hot, but not so hot that you can't leave your finger in there) and the sugar is completely dissolved, 2 to 4 minutes.
- Remove the bowl from the heat and transfer it to the stand mixer fit with the whisk attachment. Add the cream of tartar. Beat over medium high speed until the egg whites form thick, glossy medium-firm peaks (they should hold their shape but curl at their tips), 3 to 5 minutes total.
- Mound the meringue onto the wet lemon filling. Using a soup spoon, gently spread the meringue over the entire surface of the filling, making sure to go all the way to the crust’s edge (it is essential that the edge of the meringue be anchored to the rim of the crust; otherwise it will shrink). Make decorative peaks and swirls in the meringue with the back of the spoon.
- (Be sure you've reduced the oven temperature to 325°F/165°C.) Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the meringue is lightly browned. Let the pie cool completely on a rack before serving, about 3 hours.
- Lemon meringue pie is best eaten the day it’s made, but leftovers will keep, loosely tented with aluminum foil and refrigerated, for 2 days. Just keep in mind that meringue gets quite sticky in the fridge. Do not freeze.
Notes
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Just wondering if it might work to use Biscoff cookies in place of graham crackers, or would they perhaps be too dense? Thanks for so many wonderful recipes.
Hi Margo, I think you can use Biscoff cookies without any issues. Hope you enjoy!
This was a great pie. My only concern was the amount of sugar. It did taste a bit too sweet. Would I be able to modify the sweetness by mixing sweetened condensed milk evaporated milk 50/50?
Hi LeAnn, I don’t recommend it – sorry!