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Lemon meringue pie recipe

Lemon meringue pie recipe

454 ratings

Created by The Tesco Real Food team

This classic lemon meringue pie recipe will never fail to impress your guests. With crisp pastry, tart lemon curd and towering fluffy meringue, this is the ultimate dinner party dessert. See method

  • Serves 8
  • Takes 1 hr 20 mins, plus cooling
  • 543 calories / serving

Ingredients

  • plain flour, for rolling out
  • 1 x 320g pack ready rolled sweet pastry
  • 50g cornflour
  • 175g golden caster sugar
  • 3 lemons, zested and juiced (you will need 100ml juice)
  • 275ml milk
  • 80g unsalted butter, diced
  • 3 large egg yolks
  • 1 large egg

For the meringue

  • 3 large egg whites
  • 150g golden caster sugar
  • 1 tsp cornflour

Each serving contains

  • Energy

    2280kj
    543kcal     27%

  • Fat

    25g 36%

  • Saturates

    11g 57%

  • Sugars

    59g 54%

  • Salt

    0.4g 6%

of the reference intake
Carbohydrate 73.5g Protein 8.2g Fibre 1.2g

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to gas 6, 200°C, fan 180°C. 
  2. Line a 20cm loose-bottomed tart tin with the pastry, trimming and patching it where needed. Prick the base with a fork. Chill for 20 mins until firm. Put the tin onto a baking sheet, line the pastry with nonstick baking paper and baking beans, then bake for 15 mins. Remove the beans and paper then bake for a further 15 mins or until golden. 
  3. For the filling, combine the cornflour, sugar, lemon zest and juice in a saucepan and whisk until smooth. Add the milk, gently bring to the boil then cook over a low heat for 6-7 mins, whisking all the time, until you have a thick, glossy, bubbling paste. (It may look lumpy at first but keep whisking and it will come together.) Remove from the heat, then whisk in the butter until melted. Allow the mix to cool for 5 mins then whisk in the yolks and the whole egg until smooth and well combined. Set aside. 
  4. For the meringue, put the egg whites into a large, clean bowl and mix with an electric hand whisk until stiff peaks form. Add the sugar a tablespoon at a time, bringing back to stiff peaks after each addition, until thick and shiny. Whisk in the cornflour until combined. 
  5. Bring the lemon filling back to the boil and stir until thickened, then pour it into the pastry case and level the surface. Spoon on the meringue, starting at the edge and working it into the middle. Use a palette knife to make a smooth join with the pastry edge, then swirl the top. 
  6. Bake for 20 mins until golden. Allow to cool in the tin for at least 1 hour, then turn out and serve warm or cold.

Tip: To avoid soggy pastry, we’ve baked the base completely before adding the filling. The meringue will prevent the edges burning during final baking.

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