Lemon Meringue Pie (British)
These instructions will make a sticky and indulgent lemon meringue pie. If you want the American gel-like centre, use the other recipe instead.
Ingredients
- 8 digestive biscuits (plain/tea biscuits)
- 2 imperial tbsp (36 ml / 2.4 US tbsp) butter
- 1 tin (300 ml) sweetened condensed milk
- 1–2 lemons, zested and juiced
- 1 egg yolk
- 3 egg whites
- 6 imperial tbsp (108 ml / 7.2 US tbsp) caster sugar
Steps
- Pound digestive biscuits into crumbs with a rolling pin.
- Add enough melted butter to make the crumbs cohesive. Mix. Press firmly into the bottom of a 10 inch (25 cm) diameter, 1 inch deep pie dish with a spoon tip.
- Combine sweetened condensed milk and egg yolk. Stir gently. Mix in lemon zest and juice to taste, not too much or texture spoils. Do not over-stir.
- Pour filling over the biscuit layer.
- Whip egg whites until foamy. Gradually beat in sugar to stiff peaks.
- Spoon meringue over the pie, sealing around the edges.
- Bake at 325 °F / 162 °C about 45 min until meringue is light golden brown. Meringue cooks fully and the centre partly.
- Cool. Refrigerate 2 hours to set.
Notes from the original
- There are 2 types of lemon meringue pie. The more common version has a lemon "gel" in the centre (which is often a luminous yellow colour), and a hard pastry base. The version above is much stickier.
- In an earlier version, the filling used 3 egg yolks. It isn't necessary.
- When making the middle, it's essential to mix in the egg before the lemon. The acidity of the lemon acts on the yolk protein to thicken it; putting in the lemon first (which is tempting if you want to "add lemon to taste" without eating raw egg yolk) will cause the yolk to go "stringy" on contact.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Lemon Meringue Pie (British)” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2025-06-20, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.






