The beloved classic lemon meringue pie gets a low carb, grain-free makeover. The lemon filling is both tart and sweet, and the meringue is crisp on the outside, tender in the middle.
I sincerely love making over the classics to be low carb and gluten-free. The funny part is that many of these classic dishes and desserts are not things I would have bothered with back in my sugar and flour days. Some of them I simply wasn’t interested in and some of them were just a little too daunting. For others, I would have had to follow the recipe to the letter and goodness knows how I hate doing that. I can hardly make my own recipes the same way twice. But now the challenge of recreating the classics in a healthy format I can enjoy holds great appeal. Can I take an iconic dish, something that stands out in people’s minds as the food or dessert they remember from childhood, that their grandmother made every time they came over, and can I remake it without sugar or flour or grains? Can I make it more than simply palatable, more than a mere approximation of the classic they love so much? Can I not only make it, but make it really, REALLY good?
Yep, I sure can. At least in this case, I believe I conquered that challenge and conquered it admirably. Now if only I could conquer crusty Italian or French bread. Then I would be the master of the low carb universe.
Lemon meringue is honestly not one that was very significant in my childhood. Ever the chocoholic, I would forego the citrus-based desserts in favour of something darker, creamier and denser. I know I had lemon meringue pie on a number of occasions, and it was even pretty good a few times. Other times, it was an overly-sweet, soggy mess. But such is the way with any classic dessert, there are good ones and there are awful ones.
Since I already have a low carb pastry recipe that I love, my challenge with this classic lay in both the filling and in the meringue. Lemon meringue fillings are made with plenty of cornstarch to help them set properly and we know that isn’t a gonna fly for low carb. And meringue without sugar can be tricky, as it can either be overly hard and crunchy, or it can lack structure and deflate during baking. I wanted the filling to be slightly gooey but not liquid, so I decided to tackle that in two ways. First, with xanthan gum to help thicken it a little, and secondly, with a little gelatin to help it set properly. I was more worried about the meringue, thinking it might disintegrate when I tried to spread it over the warm filling. But it held up nicely and even better, it baked to that perfect soft crispness. It was crisp on the very outside but sweet and tender on the inside, and I think it was the mix of both granulated and powdered sweetener that helped.
One word to the wise: be patient. Let it chill the full 3 hours. Don’t do as I did and cut in too soon or the un-set lemon filling starts oozing out everywhere. Patience is a virtue that I don’t have enough of!
Keto Lemon Meringue Pie
Ingredients
Crust
Filling
- 1 cup plus 2 tbsp water, divided
- 1 cup granulated Swerve Sweetener
- 2 tsp lemon zest
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1/3 cup lemon juice
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
- 1 tbsp grassfed gelatin, (can use 1 envelope Knox gelatin)
Meringue Topping
- 4 large egg whites, at room temperature
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- Pinch salt
- 1/4 cup powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 1/4 cup granulated Swerve Sweetener
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Crust
- Preheat the oven to 325ºF and lightly grease a 9-inch glass or ceramic pie plate.
- Prepare the crust according to the directions and press into the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Bake 12 minutes, then remove and let cool completely before filling.
Lemon Filling:
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine 1 cup of the water, sweetener, lemon zest and salt. Bring to just a boil, whisking frequently, until sweetener dissolves.
- In a medium bowl, whisk egg yolks until smooth. Slowly add about 1/2 cup of the water to the egg yolks, whisking constantly. Then gradually whisk the egg yolks back into the pan and lower the heat to low. Cook for 1 minute more, stirring continuously.
- Stir in lemon juice and butter and whisk until smooth. Sprinkle surface with xanthan gum and whisk vigorously to combine.
- In a small bowl, stir together the remaining two tablespoons of water and the gelatin. Let sit 2 minutes until gelled, then stir into hot lemon mixture, whisking until well combined. Cover and set aside while making the meringue.
Meringue Topping:
- In a large bowl, beat egg whites with cream of tartar and salt until frothy. With beaters going, slowly add sweeteners and vanilla extract and continue to beat until stiff peaks form.
To assemble:
- Preheat oven to 300F.
- Pour warm filling into crust. Dollop with meringue and spread right to the edges so that the meringue meets the crust. Swirl the top with the back of a spoon.
- Bake 20 minutes or until meringue topping is golden and just barely firm to the touch. Remove and let pie cool 20 minutes, then refrigerate at least 3 hours to set.
Notes
Total fat: 17.51g
Calories from fat: 157
Cholesterol: 98mg
Carbohydrate: 7.22g
Total dietary fiber: 2.12g
Protein: 6.45g
Sodium: 174mg
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.
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I really love that you remade this even though it wasn’t a childhood favorite for you. It was for me. My mother knew how to cook and back. I didn’t know as a child or appreciate what she was teaching me , but as a 57 year old that knows basic skills like cooking and sewing, I am shocked at the level of ignorance of most people today. How can they live? I just learned one of our men in church in his 30’s ate pixie stix for his dinner. Well, that boy is going to die if he doesn’t change that habit.
Anyway, I do remember my mother making the most perfect and beautiful lemon meringue pie, and I will be thrilled to try this. Thank you. And yes I love chocolate but I love fruit and especially lemon too. I can always taste the artificial flavors and hate the chemical taste. That’s why chocolate is an easy choice. Usually it’s cheaper and easier to use the real thing. I hate fake strawberry but love real strawberry. It’s too obvious to me. And of course lemon is easy to get. I even use lemon juice on my hair as a rinse.
Can I use cornstarch instead of arrowroot? Also are both types of sweetener necessary?
Yes, both sweeteners are necessary. I don’t use cornstarch so I can’t really guide you there.
I have been instructed by my husband that I absolutely MUST post about this recipe – he says it is possibly the best low carb he has ever tasted!
Wow, that’s so lovely! Thank him for me. And thank you too.
Hi Carolyn, thanks for your recipes, I have purchased 3 of your cookbooks! In your Everyday Ketogenic Kitchen, your crustless lemon meringue recipe is different from this one! When I made it, it didn’t turn out! But I see the ingredients are different now in this recipe???? Love Lemon pudding, don’t even need pie part of it!! Hope to try this soon!
What didn’t turn out about it?
Can this be made ahead and froze??
Could I put this in an 8×8 cake pan instead of pie pan for bars? Or would it need to be in a 13×9 pan?
Is there anything I can use in place of Coconut Flour? For someone allergic to coconut?
Use this pie crust instead. No coconut flour, easier and fewer carbs! https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/easy-low-carb-press-in-pie-crust/
Thanks!
Can tapioca flour/starch be used to sub for arrowroot starch?
Sure.
This pie looks delicious. I am wanting to make one that is dairy free, do you think I could substitute the butter for coconut oil?
Thank you for your inspirational work, it’s people like you who make a ketogenic lifestyle a lot more enjoyable AND acceptable to our friends and families
I think so but because I haven’t tried it, I can’t say for sure. I know it will be fine in the crust.
I made this today and boy was it good. I too experienced a gritty meringue wondering if the mixing was too short. Pressing in the crust worked best as it stuck to the parchment paper and wouldn’t let go. Thank you for these gifts to the world of low carb.
Makes a tasty lemon meringue soup!
Not sure why it didn’t set— I put in TWO geletain packs as it was exceptionally liquid-y upon pouring into the crust. Gave it five hours in the fridge and it was a sad, runny mess.
At least it tasted okay!
If you put in regular gelatin and you didn’t let it bloom first, that might be the issue.
OMG, I am NOT a fan of lemon meringue in the least but needed something different for Easter that would somewhat please everyone and THIS pie was AMAZING!!! I am awful at pie crust, this was so simple and came together on it’s own (thank the heavens!). The rest of it went so smooth! I made it the night before, and I read all the comments so I was prepared for it to look scary when it was “finished” from the oven. Only ONE slice was left after dinner that consisted of people from 7-80 years old, from Keto to pretty much vegan. All LOVED it!! I seriously can’t say enough about this pie, and this was a very picky hard to please crowd. THANK YOU!!
Just made this pie! It’s seems like it’s going to be yummy! The delicious lemon filling has not thickened and it’s very cool,now!
How can imthicken the filling?
Did you chill it for the required amount of time?
In your meringue, you use both powdered & granulated sweetner. Why both? In my “old days”, I used bakers granulated sugar which is a fine granulated instead of grocery shelf sugar.
Luv luv your recipes. Thanks for all your hard work.
Bonny, you nailed it. That’s exactly why…a combo of the granular and powdered is more consistent with the fine granular sugar (or Caster Sugar, as they say in the UK). It seems to give it the best consistency, whipping in the air bubbles but not making it gritty.
I don’t buy powdered sweetener (I use splenda). I just toss it into my food processor & buzz away to make powdered. I would be worried that standard granular sweetener wouldn’t dissolve as well as my old bakers fine sugar. But, I get your point, consistency. It just hit me, I bet I can make fine granulated/nearly powdered in my processor! Doh!
Thanks for the terrific reciepes.
Made this yesterday, holy YUM!!! I used Meyer lemons so the lemon curd wasn’t as tart, but still super yummy! Thanks so much for this amazing recipe!
Dear Caroline,
I’m from the netherlands And I really, REALLY want to make this recipe. But I can’t figure out the exact ingredients because everything is in “cups” and we don’t have that here.. we only have grams. Maybe you can translate the recipe in grams for me if it’s not to much work? I just can’t really figure out how cups work to translate (like a cup of water is different to a cup of flour?) I would like to make the merengue pie and share it with our dutch low carb facebookgroup (500.000 members already..) I hope to hear from you! Regards, Demi
Hi Demi…It is actually a lot of work to translate it all for my recipes. However, here’s what I can tell you. There are lots of translating sites for basic ingredients like butter, water, etc. Water is easy because it should be in ml. Anything liquid would be equivalent to water. Eggs are eggs, of course, although they do vary in size
For more unusual low carb ingredients like almond flour and coconut flour, I measured them for my cookbook so that there is more standardization. 1 cup almond flour = about 100g. 1 cup of coconut flour is 110g. I don’t know what sweetener your are planning on using but Swerve, which I use, measure like sugar. So just like sugar, 1 tablespoon is 15g.
For your further information… 1 cup is equal to 16 tablespoons. 1 tablespoon is 3 teaspoons.
Hope that helps!
Thank you for the reply! I found more info on internet about the measurements. We don’t have swerve here but we do have “sukrin” and thats also 1:1 so that will work. Still haven’t made the pie but I will soon.