This lime meringue pie is a new take on the lemon classic. It’s a classic buttery, flaky pie crust filled with tangy lime curd and a big pillowy pile of fluffy meringue. And you only need 7 ingredients for this showstopper!
While my lemon meringue pie uses a cookie base, this lime pie has an all-butter pastry pie crust. Still citrusy and sweet but with the unmistakable flavour of limes.
Try this lime curd too.
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Ingredients and substitutions
Would you believe you only need 7 ingredients to make lime meringue pie! Amazing. It looks like more in the recipe card but they’re all just broken up into the 3 layers.
Jump to the recipe card for full ingredient quantities and instructions.
- Limes: Of course, you must have limes. I was lucky enough to score mine from my SIL who has a Tahitian lime tree in her backyard. The amount of juice you’ll get from a single lime varies greatly but 6-7 limes should be enough. You can use key limes as well (the sort used in key lime pie).
- Sugar: You can use white granulated sugar but I prefer to use caster sugar (superfine sugar) especially for the meringue so that it can dissolve quickly.
- Butter: Just unsalted butter.
- Eggs: You’ll need 6 eggs all up, 5 separated.
- Cornflour: Known in the US as cornstarch, it’s a fine white flour used for thickening sauces.
- Vanilla extract: Just a little vanilla extract is added to the meringue.
How to make lime meringue pie
This sky-high or mile-high lime meringue pie is fairly simple to make though you will need to plan ahead for chilling / setting time. The pastry needs to rest for a minimum of 2 hours (though it can sit in the fridge for up to 3 days) and the pie, once baked, will need 3-4 hours cooling and setting time.
Jump to the recipe card for full ingredient quantities and instructions.
1. Make the pastry
The all-butter pie crust is so easy, buttery and beautifully flaky (providing you don’t overwork it). Start by blitzing flour, sugar and butter together in a food processor until the butter is about the size of peas.
Now, add the egg and process until it looks a little like wet sand. Finally, while pulsing the food processor, drizzle in the water until the dough starts forming large clumps in the processor bowl.
2. Shape the pastry
Tip the dough out onto a clean work surface, then gently pull it together with your hands. Try not to overwork it or it won’t turn out flaky. Dust the work surface lightly with flour, then dust the top of the dough and roll it out to about 11 inches wide.
Transfer the dough to a 9 inch pie dish (or a fluted tart pan) and press the sides downwards into the corners (not from the middle out). Trim the edge of the pastry away by running a sharp knife around the edge of the dish, then crimp the edge all the way round.
3. Chill the pastry
Chill the pastry for a minimum of 2 hours. You can chill it up to 3 days so feel free to get ahead with this tart and make the pie crust early.
4. Bake the pie crust
Dock the base of the pastry with the tines of a fork (this just means to prick holes all over the base). Line the pastry shell with baking paper, then fill with pie weights/baking beans or rice. I’ve been reusing this same batch of rice for years for blind baking. Bake the crust for 20 minutes, then remove the paper and rice and bake a further 15 minutes.
5. The lime curd filling
The filling for this lime meringue pie is a lime curd with cornflour added to help it hold it’s shape when slicing. Combine sugar, cornflour and salt in a saucepan with a whisk, then add water and lime juice. Whisk until smooth.
Heat over medium heat until you have a thick gel with bubbles popping all over.
Take the lime gel off the heat and stir in butter and lime zest.
Finally, whisk in the egg yolks (whisk immediately after adding the yolks, so they don’t cook in the heat of the gel). Return the mixture to medium heat and cook for another minute or two.
Pour the lime curd into the baked pie crust and set aside while you make the meringue.
6. The sky-high meringue
This is a French meringue (as opposed to Italian meringue or Swiss meringue). This just means the sugar is beaten into raw egg yolks, then the meringue is cooked in the oven. You can use a Swiss meringue or Italian meringue if you prefer though French is easiest to make. The latter two are cooked as they’re being made so don’t require baking later but they are more dense than French.
Start by beating egg whites until frothy, then sift over cornflour and beat it in.
Now, start adding the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, counting to 20 between each addition. Once all the sugar is added beat it on high until it’s white, glossy and has reached stiff peaks. Test a little of the meringue between your thumb and forefinger and it should no longer feel gritty. If it does, keep beating.
Add the vanilla and beat it in.
7. Add the meringue to the pie
Add the meringue to the top of the lime curd filling and gently push it out so that it touches the sides all the way round, with a nice pile in the middle.
Bake the pie for 15-20 minutes until pale golden. You can use a kitchen blowtorch if you want to get that classic toasty look on the outside. Now chill your lime meringue pie for 3-4 hours to set.
Tips & tricks
- Zest before juice: Always zest your citrus before juicing them. It’s much harder to do so once they’ve been juiced. Use a microplane for best results and only grate the coloured part of the skin, not the white. Even if you aren’t using the zest in the same recipe, it’s always a great idea to zest citrus. You can freeze the zest and just a little added to cookies and cakes can add a lovely zing of flavour.
- Have the limes at room temperature before zesting and juicing and give them a good firm roll on the kitchen bench before juicing. You’ll get more juice this way.
Meringue pie weeping?
A few things can be the cause of a weepy meringue pie (where liquid pools between the meringue and curd layers).
- Sugar not fully dissolved into the meringue, causing it to dissolve from the moisture in the curd and meringue later turning to liquid.
- Air between the meringue and curd layers. Make sure the meringue is flat to the top of the curd and touching the pie crust sides all the way round.
- The curd is cold before adding the meringue. Make sure the curd is still warm when you add the meringue as it can begin cooking the meringue where they meet and doesn’t need to reheat in the oven before beginning to cook it.
- The meringue is not cooked through. It should be quite golden on top before you take it out of the oven to ensure the meringue is cooked through.
Storage
This pie is best served the day it’s made but leftovers will keep in the refrigerator in an airtight container or covered tightly with plastic wrap for up to 3 days. The meringue may weep the longer it’s stored.
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Ingredients
FOR THE BASE
- 225 g plain flour (all purpose flour) (1 ¾ cups / 8oz)
- 50 g caster sugar (superfine sugar) (50g/~1 ¾ oz)
- 100 g unsalted butter , cold and cubed (7 tablespoons / 3 ½oz)
- 1 large egg , cold
- 1 ½ tablespoons cold water
FOR THE FILLING
- 6-8 limes
- ¾ cup caster sugar (superfine sugar) (150g/ ~5¼oz)
- ¼ cup cornflour (US cornstarch) (35g /1¼oz)
- ¾ cup water (180ml)
- 42 g unsalted butter , chopped (3 tablespoons / 1 ½oz)
- 4 egg yolks save the whites for the meringue
FOR THE MERINGUE
- 5 egg whites room temp
- 1 tablespoon cornflour US cornstarch (notes 1)
- 1 ¼ cups caster sugar (superfine sugar) (250g / ~9oz)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Equipment
- pie dish or 9 inch fluted tart tin with removable base
- heavy base saucepan
- stand mixer or electric hand mixer
Instructions
- FOR THE PASTRY:In the bowl of a food processor, add the flour, sugar, the cold butter and a pinch of salt. See notes if you don't have a food processor.
- Process until the pieces of butter are about pea sized.Add the egg and pulse on low until it resembles bread crumbs. Be careful not to overprocess.
- Finally, with the processor on low, dribble in the cold water and let it continue blending until it start to form clumps.
- Turn the pastry dough out onto a clean surface and pull it together with your hands, kneading it just enough to make it mostly smooth. Dust the surface and the top of the dough with a little flour, then roll out to about 11 inches round.
- Transfer the dough to a 9 inch pie dish, by first folding it over the rolling the pin then lifting and laying it out over the dish.
- Press the pastry dough down into the corners all the way round. Trim the sides with a sharp knife, then crimp the edges all the way round. Transfer to the fridge to chill for a minimum of 2 hours or overnight.
- PAR BAKE THE PIE CRUST:Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan) / 350F.
- Use a fork to prick the pastry base all over. Line the pie crust with baking paper, then fil with pie weights (or rice). Fill it quite full.
- Bake for 20 minutes then carefully remove the paper and pie weights and bake a further 15 minutes.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before going onto the filling.
- FOR THE FILLING: Zest the limes until you have at least 1 tablespoon (4tsp, notes 1). You can freeze any extra for other recipes. Juice the limes until you have ¾ of a cup (180ml). If you don't quite have enough you can top it up with lemon juice or water but try to get as much from them as possible.
- Combine sugar, cornflour and a pinch of salt in a saucepan, then pour in the ¾ cup lime juice and water. Whisk well to combine. Place over medium heat. Cook, whisking regularly so you don't get lumps, until you have a thick gel with big bubbles popping all over the surface.
- Take it off the heat and add butter and zest, mix until melted and fully combined. While whisking vigorously, tip in the yolks and whisk well until fully combined – this is important so the yolks don’t scramble in the hot gel.
- Place the saucepan back over the heat and cook for a further minute or until the temperature reaches 71C / 160F on a digital or instant read thermometer.
- Pour lime filling into base then let it cool at room temperature for 30 minutes to set up a bit. This will make it easier to spread the meringue. Keep in mind, the filling should still be warm when you add the meringue so get straight onto making that.
- FOR THE MERINGUE: I find a stand mixer with whisk attachment easiest for making meringue.
- Whisk egg whites in clean glass bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer on medium-high speed, until soft peaks.
- Sift over the cornflour and mix on low to combine. Turn the mixer up to medium and add the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, counting to 20 seconds after each addition.
- Once all the sugar is in, give the bowl a scrape down the sides with a spatula to get any sugar crystals that may be stuck there. Now beat on high until the meringue is glossy with stiff peaks and rubbing a little between your fingers, you can’t feel any sugar grains.
- Beat in the vanilla until just incorporated.
- Scoop the meringue out onto the filling and gently press out a little towards the sides, keeping a hill in the middle. Make sure to go all the way to the sides though, touching the crust. Create peaks or a swirly pattern with your spatula.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes until light golden on top. If you want that nice toasted look, you can use a kitchen blow torch once the meringue has cooled, to add some toasty effect.
- Let it cool for 2 hours at room temperature, then place in the fridge uncovered to cool completely (3-4 hours) before you slice it. As long as your meringue is all the way to the edges, it will be fine in the fridge overnight like this.
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- Tablespoons: I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (equal to 4 teaspoons). Check yours before measuring.
- If you don’t have a food processor, grate cold butter into the bowl with the flour and sugar and cut the butter in using a knife, your fingertips or a pastry blender.
- Nutrition details are approximate only – scroll below the recipe to find the full nutritional information.
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2 Comments on “Sky-High Lime Meringue Pie”
Lemon, meringue what else could you want!
Easy recipe to read, even easier to eat.
Thanks so much, Kylie. I’m so, so happy you love it.