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With a buttery graham cracker crust, bright lemon filling, and billowy toasted meringue, this lemon meringue pie has all the appeal of the classic. It’s easier to make, though, with no pastry dough to roll out or lemon filling to cook on the stovetop.
This lemon meringue pie recipe comes from my best friend’s mom, Myra Santoro. Originally from Snow Hill, North Carolina, Myra is a fabulous Southern cook. 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.
Myra’s lemon meringue pie has a buttery graham cracker crust and an easy filling made with sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks, and fresh lemon juice. It’s simple and delicious. 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 it butchered with forks and almost entirely gone; they hadn’t even bothered to slice it!
“Phenomenal. Easiest lemon meringue I’ve ever made and the taste was fantastic.”
What You’ll Need To Make Lemon Meringue Pie
- Graham Crackers, Sugar & Butter: Make the simple press-in crust—no rolling or pie dough required. You can use store-bought graham cracker crumbs or crush whole crackers yourself.
- Eggs: The yolks go into the lemon filling and the whites are used for the meringue, so you’ll use all four eggs. Separate them while they’re cold, when it’s easier to keep the yolks from breaking.
- Sweetened Condensed Milk: Gives the filling its creamy texture and helps it set. I recommend Eagle Brand here; I’ve found that some other brands can result in a runnier filling. Be sure you’re buying sweetened condensed milk, not evaporated milk.
- Fresh Lemons: You’ll use both the zest and juice, so zest the lemon before squeezing it. Freshly squeezed juice is important here; bottled lemon juice won’t give the filling the same bright flavor.
- Cream of Tartar: Stabilizes the egg whites so the meringue holds its shape and is less prone to collapsing.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
How To Make Lemon Meringue Pie
Make the graham cracker crust: Mix the crust ingredients until the crumbs are evenly moistened; the mixture should resemble wet sand and hold together when squeezed. Press it firmly and evenly into the pan, then bake until just lightly browned and fragrant.
Make the lemon filling: Whisk the filling ingredients until completely smooth. As the lemon juice is incorporated, you’ll notice the mixture begin to thicken.
Make the meringue: Gently whisk the egg whites and sugar over simmering water until the mixture is very warm and the sugar is completely dissolved. Rub a little between your fingers—it should feel smooth, not gritty. Dissolving the sugar completely helps create a stable meringue that’s less prone to weeping.
Add the cream of tartar and whip until the meringue is thick and glossy with medium-firm peaks; when you lift the whisk, the peaks should hold their shape but curl at the tips.
Assemble and bake: Pour the lemon filling into the warm crust, then mound the meringue on top. Spread it all the way to the crust, making sure the meringue touches the edge all the way around—this anchors it and helps prevent shrinking.
Make decorative swirls and peaks with the back of a spoon, then bake until lightly golden, with the peaks a shade darker. Let the pie cool completely before slicing so the filling has time to set.
For another refreshing pie with a sweet-tart flavor, try my key lime pie, which combines fresh lime, sweetened condensed milk, and a graham cracker crust.
More Lemon Desserts You’ll Love
Lemon Meringue Pie (Easy)
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 sweetened condensed milk (preferably Eagle brand)
- 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 deep-dish (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 prepare 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 fitted 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 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.
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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I’m trying to follow the instructions, but I cant figure out what the ingredents are 🙁
Hi Xavier, It sounds like you are just looking at the portion of the page that has the pictures with some instructions above. If you scroll down a bit to under the pictures, you’ll find the full recipe. Alternatively, at the very top of the page, to the right of the recipe name, you’ll see an orange/red button that says Jump to Recipe – if you click on that, it will take you directly to the recipe. Hope that clarifies!
Hi Jenn!
I made this pie following your exact instructions and it was a big hit. Personally, I found the crust and filling to be too sweet, but my husband was obsessed. If you have any suggestions on how to cut down the sugar, I would love to hear them (I was going to try omitting sugar from the crust to start, but perhaps you have already been down this road!). I’ll keep making your original recipe for him, but would prefer to tweak it for myself in the future.
Thank you!
Melissa
Glad it was a hit! While you can omit the sugar in the crust, unfortunately there’s really no way to make the filling less sweet — sorry!
Super delicious and way easier than ones where you have to prepare a custard on the stove. I did not use Eagle brand because I had a can of Magnolia in my pantry. It firmed up fine but it did seem to sink a bit as it sat. Is this normal? I also cheated and bought a store prepared cracker crust. I so prefer this over the one without sweetened condensed milk, but it is super sweet and rich. If that isn’t what you want don’t make this. And BTW Jenn mentions numerous times throughout the recipe to use Eagle Brand.
Hi Belinda glad you liked it but sorry to hear that it sunk a bit. That’s not normal so the only thing I can think may have had an impact is the brand of sweetened condensed milk. Next time you make this, I’d suggest using Eagle brand to see if you have better luck.
Way too sweet and hardly any lemon flavour.
Really really tasty! I made it for my mom and dad as a surprise for when they came home from work, followed the recipe and took my time since I’ve never made pie on my own, it turned out lovely except for a few issues.
The pie crust was way too dry and didn’t hold when I sliced it out for serving so either I didn’t pack it in hard enough or it lacks in moisture, though I think it’s a mix of both(some parts did hold but I’m talking majority here).
And the lemon juice somehow separated and forced the meringue to separate the two layers while also making it quite runny (mind you this comment is written 10 minutes after the pie was taken out of the oven).
Super tasty, dad gave a thumbs up, really easy to make even for a 16 year old, and not many issues!! Thank you for this recipe 🙂
Can this be made with traditional pie crust? If so I would prick the bottom of the crust and bake prior to adding the lemon filling correct? I made this exactly as recipe says for Christmas, came out beautiful and was a huge hit!
Sure, just make sure to par-bake it first. So glad to hear this was a hit when you made it for Christmas!
I made this recipe and followed it exactly and it came out perfect. It is so delicious and easy to make. I always thought lemon meringue was something hard to make, but I was wrong. Thank you once again Jenn!
Pie does not set unless you use eagle I guess… I think there needs to be a better setting agent in this recipe
Terrible! Easy to make, but that’s it. Wife and I split one piece and threw rest away. Crust does not work as well as normal pie crust. Almost no lemon flavor.
I have been making Borden’s Eagle Brand “Magic Lemon Meringue Pie” recipe since the 1950’s (7th grade for me). Quite a few years back I started having trouble with it being too runny so I had to freeze it to get it solid. (BTW It’s really yummy frozen!). Fought with it and froze it for decades. Then a few years ago I couldn’t find the recipe so looked it up on the internet. The old recipe called for 2 eggs but the new one I found called for 3 eggs. Much better but still didn’t get solid like the old days. Then I found my old recipe where it called for 1 can of BEBSCondensed Milk (15.5oz). AHA, they made the cans smaller. How mean. Anyway, today is my birthday and like every year I’m making myself 2 pies so I was researching the recipe and found yours. This time I will try with the 4 eggs. I think this will solve my runny problems. So, it’s not just the can size but also the # of eggs! Voila’ Only took me 7 decades. It’s never too late to learn. Thank for posting this recipe.
I made this recipe for my book club that has a gluten free member. I thought it was very easy, and everyone enjoyed it!