Lemon Meringue Pie - Stella Recipes

Serves: 8
Difficulty: Easy
Total Time: About 1 hour 45 minutes, plus chilling and cooling time

Why You’ll Love It

This recipe delivers everything you want in a dessert: a buttery, flaky crust, tangy lemon curd, and a cloudlike meringue top. It’s elegant enough for a dinner party yet easy enough for any home baker.

Ingredients

For the Pastry

200 g plain flour (plus extra for dusting)
25 g icing sugar
A pinch of fine salt
100 g cold butter, cut into 1 cm cubes
Approximately 4 tablespoons ice-cold water

For the Lemon Curd Filling

180 g caster sugar
75 g cornflour
5 large lemons, zest and juice
100 g butter, diced into 1 cm cubes
5 large egg yolks

For the Fluffy Meringue

5 large egg whites
250 g caster sugar
2 teaspoons cornflour

Step-by-Step Directions

1. Prepare the Pastry

Pulse the flour, icing sugar, and salt in a food processor until just combined.
Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs—don’t over-process or the crust may become tough.
Drizzle in ice-cold water, one teaspoon at a time, pulsing until the dough just holds together.
Gather dough into a ball in clingfilm, press gently (air pockets help keep it tender), and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

2. Roll & Blind Bake the Crust

Roll the chilled pastry to fit a deep 25 cm loose-bottomed flan tin (about 4 mm thick), letting a bit overhang.
Gently press it into the tin, fold overhang inward, and chill again for another 30 minutes to reduce shrinkage.
Preheat your oven to 180 °C (160 °C fan, gas 4). Trim excess pastry, prick the base, line with baking paper and baking beans, and bake for 25 minutes. Remove liners and beans, then bake at 160 °C (140 °C fan, gas 3) for about 5 minutes to dry the base. Let it cool.

3. Make the Lemon Filling

Mix 450 ml water with the caster sugar and cornflour: first stir a bit of water into the dry ingredients to form a paste, then add the rest of the water gradually to avoid lumps.
Heat the lemon zest and juice to a gentle simmer. Remove from heat and combine slowly with the cornflour mixture, whisking constantly.
Return to low heat and stir until thickened, then stir in the butter and egg yolks until smooth. Pour into the cooled pastry shell and level.

4. Whip & Top with Meringue

In a clean, grease-free bowl, beat egg whites until they form soft peaks. Gradually add the sugar in thirds, whisking thoroughly between additions. Finally, fold in the cornflour.

5. Pipe & Bake Meringue

Transfer the meringue to a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle. Pipe around the filling edge first to seal, then fill inwards, building a decorative peak in the centre. Alternatively, spoon on and shape with a clean finger.
Bake for around 35 minutes, until the meringue is a beautiful, crisp golden-brown.

6. Cool & Serve

Let the pie cool completely in the tin before serving. It’s common for syrupy juices to escape slightly when slicing if the curd was still warm when the meringue was added—but that’s perfectly normal!

Serving Tips & Extras

Temperature matters: Always add the meringue while the curd is hot—this helps seal the layers and prevents slippage.
Chilling matters too: Resting each layer (pastry chilling before rolling, filling cooling before topping) ensures structure and texture.
Storage: Once completely cooled, store in the fridge loosely covered (foil or cloche). Enjoy within a couple of days—meringue loves humidity and is best eaten fresh.