Keto lemon meringue pie is the perfect sugar-free pie with layers of keto lemon curd topped off with the most incredibly soft and fluffy meringue.
In this keto lemon pie recipe, I'll show you how to make an almond flour crust AND a coconut flour pie crust. Only 3 g net carbs.
This keto meringue pie can be eaten hot or cold and is freezer-friendly too.
When it's lemon season and you have extra lemons to use, making low-carb lemon meringue pie is a delicious treat for a keto dessert.
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What is lemon meringue pie?
A lemon meringue pie is a 3 layered baked dessert. There is a sweet pie crust baked and covered with lemon curd. Egg whites are whipped until stiff peaks form and placed into a mound on top of the lemon filling. Then, the entire pie is baked again until it is golden brown.
Delicious, right?
Low-carb lemon meringue pie is simple to make, and it tastes like the real thing (only sugar-free and gluten-free).
Is lemon meringue pie keto?
No, traditional lemon meringue pie is full of added sugar and wheat flour. It is high in unnecessary carbs.
To make a keto version of the sweet lemon pie, we use almond flour and sweetener as a quick sugar replacement.
This sugar-free lemon meringue pie has only 3 grams of net carbs and will help keep blood sugar stable.
Ingredients
All quantities, ingredients, prep time, and instructions are in the recipe card below.
There are 3 main parts to this pie: the almond flour pie base (crust), the keto lemon curd, and the keto meringue. Here's what you need for each piece:
Almond flour pie crust
- Butter - use salted butter or unsalted butter with a pinch of salt
- Sweetener of choice - I highly recommend you go with a granulated sweetener.
- Egg - fresh eggs work best in most low-carb recipes
- Almond flour - ground almonds and almond meal can swap interchangeably with almond flour. I much prefer the smooth texture of the flour.
Keto lemon curd
- Egg yolks - separate the egg yolks and keep the egg whites as you'll use them in the meringue below!
- Eggs
- Sweetener of choice - again, go with granulated.
- Lemon zest - fresh lemon zest is preferred. You can freeze lemon zest if you have too much.
- Lemon juice - fresh lemon juice is best but you can use bottled lemon juice if you need to.
- Heavy whipping cream - double cream, heavy whipping cream, and full-fat whipping cream all work beautifully.
Sugar-free meringue
- Egg whites - fresh egg whites are best but you can use bottled egg whites or egg whites from a carton.
- Granulated sweetener
- Vanilla extract - or vanilla essence.
The most popular sugar-free sweeteners that don't raise your blood sugar and taste amazing in healthy recipes are erythritol, allulose, monk fruit, xylitol, and stevia.
TOP TIP: As with ALL recipes here, ALWAYS taste your batter BEFORE cooking to ensure you have added enough sweetener to suit YOUR tastebuds. Read the Ultimate Guide To Low-Carb Sweeteners.
If this is day 1 of sugar-free living for you, you may require twice the amount of sweetener as someone who has been living sugar-free for years. So don't be afraid to add more sweeteners. The longer you live sugar-free, the less sweetener in time you will require.
How to make a sugar-free pie crust
The recipe uses almond flour because almond flour is low-carb flour and is naturally gluten-free. However, if you have a nut allergy you may wish to make a coconut flour pie crust instead. Either of these keto pie crusts is perfect for your keto lemon pie.
You can either add the hot lemon mixture on top of a coconut flour pie crust or place the pie filling on an almond flour pie crust. Both of those crusts are the perfect base for keto lemon meringue pies or other keto recipes like pot pies or quiches.
STEP 1:
Melt the butter then mix in the almond flour and sweetener. Add the egg and mix again to make soft and sweet keto dough.
STEP 2:
Line the bottom of your pie dish with baking parchment paper, or grease with butter.
Roll the almond flour pie crust between two sheets of baking paper or using the back of your hands or a cup. Press into your prepared pie dish. Poke holes all over the pie crust using a fork.
STEP 3:
Bake in a preheated oven at 180C/350F for 10 minutes. It may look pale but don't worry, it will bake again with the lemon curd and meringue topping.
How to make sugar-free lemon curd
Making the lemon custard filling is the perfect way to use up lemons when you have too many from your lemon tree.
Lemon curd is a wonderfully smooth and creamy sweet dessert tart sauce that can be cooked until very thick custard-like consistency and will set solid.
Or lemon curd can be made pourable if you cook it for a little less or reheat it when you are about to serve.
Then, save some lemons and use lemon zest on top for extra aroma and taste.
To make this filling, heat the heavy cream in a saucepan on a medium heat. You don't want it to get all the way to boiling, but close. Then take it off the stove.
In a different bowl, whisk egg yolks together with the whole eggs and sweetener. It should be a pale, fluffy mixture. Then add in your lemon juice and zest, and stir again.
Now, grab that saucepan of warm heavy cream, and very slowly whisk it into the lemon mixture. If you pour too quickly, you may curdle the eggs, which is not what we are going for!
Slowly add a little of the warmed cream to the egg mixture, constantly whisking all the time to stop the eggs from curdling or cooking. Keep adding the cream slowly until they're all mixed through.
Stirring constantly, pour the filling (keto lemon curd) back into the medium saucepan and heat gently until the lemon curd is thickened.
Once the keto lemon curd is as thick as custard, pour it onto the cooked pie crust and bake at 180C/350F for 10 minutes.
How to make the meringue topping
Grab a large mixing bowl and wipe it with kitchen paper. This will ensure there's no excess grease, which can stop the egg whites from forming stiff peaks.
Add the egg whites, sweetener, and vanilla to the large mixing bowl. I recommend using an electric mixer, food processor, or stand mixer to beat egg whites.
Whisk until soft peaks form. Then, place the meringue topping on top of the lemon curd within the pie, and bake until the meringue is golden.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180C/350F for another 10 - 15 minutes to allow the meringue to cook and go golden.
Variations
You can turn this pie into keto lemon meringue pie bars. Instead of a pie plate, place the crust and meringue pie filling into a loaf pan and make dessert bars.
Another way to change the flavor is to add a little more vanilla extract or top the pies with whipped cream.
Storage
This pie tastes the best when it is fresh out of the oven. The sugar-free lemon meringue mixture will get softer the longer you leave it in the refrigerator.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for no longer than three days.
Always allow the pie crust to cool completely before storing in the fridge or freezer.
FAQs
If you don’t see your question in this list, please leave it in the comments.
When you are making easy keto recipes, you need to use low-carb ingredients. Add a little bit of xanthan gum to prevent it from getting soggy.
If you don't like the eggy taste, I suggest adding ½ a teaspoon of lemon juice for every egg white. Do this before you beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.
Coconut cream has a tendency to split sometimes, but give it a go and let me know if it worked out. You may need less, and you would have to make sure it was a high enough fat 25% or above, to have a chance of working. It would also affect the final taste.
You can use a square baking dish, a rectangle baking dish, or any baking pan that you have on hand. See my baking pan conversion charts.
Make sure you are stirring constantly when heating and thickneing your lemon filling. If you find it difficult to thicken, you can sprinkle surface with add ½ teaspoon of xanthan gum or guar gum.
Yes, this lemon meringue pie recipe has only 3g net carbs per serving.
Each slice has 3 grams of net carbs, (full nutrition serving information is in the recipe card below).
More keto lemon desserts
For other keto recipes that use lemon, these easy healthy desserts are all low carb, sugar-free and gluten-free.
- How to make sugar-free pavlova (family-friendly).
- Sugar-free meringue roulade.
- Low-carb lemon meringue pies (mini single-servings).
- Lemon low-carb coconut cake (sugar-free and gluten-free)
- No-bake sugar-free lemon cheesecake.
- Almond flour lemon scones.
📖 Recipe
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Keto Lemon Meringue Pie Recipe (Sugar-Free Pie)
Calculate ingredients
Ingredients
Almond Flour Pie Crust
- 55 g (½ stick) butter
- 150 g (1 ½ cups) almond meal/flour
- 1 tablespoon granulated sweetener of choice or more, to taste
- 1 eggs - medium
Keto Lemon Curd (Pie Filling)
- 250 ml (1 cup) heavy whipping cream
- 3 eggs - medium
- 3 egg yolks
- 2 tablespoon granulated sweetener of choice or more, to taste
- lemon zest
- 1 ½ tablespoon lemon juice
Sugar-Free Meringue
- 3 egg whites
- 1 tablespoon granulated sweetener of choice or more, to taste
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Almond Flour Pie Crust
- Melt the butter then mix in the almond flour and sweetener. Add the egg and mix again.
- Line the bottom of your pie dish with baking parchment paper, or grease with butter.
- Roll the almond flour pie crust between two sheets of baking paper or using the back of your hands or a cup. Press into your prepared pie dish. Make little holes all over the pie crust using a fork.
- Bake at 180C/350F for 10 minutes, until just golden.
Keto Lemon Curd (Pie Filling)
- Heat the cream in a saucepan until just below boiling. Do not allow it to bubble. Remove from the heat.
- In another bowl, whisk the eggs, egg yolks, and sweetener together until pale and fluffy. Add the lemon zest and lemon juice. Stir through.
- Slowly add a little of the warmed cream to the egg mixture, constantly whisking all the time to stop the eggs from curdling or cooking. Keep adding the cream slowly until they're all mixed through. Pour the filling (keto lemon curd) back into the saucepan and heat gently until the lemon curd is thickened.
- Once the keto lemon curd is as thick as custard, pour it onto the cooked pie crust and bake at 180C/350F for 10 minutes.
Sugar-Free Meringue
- Wipe around a large mixing bowl with kitchen paper to ensure it is free from any grease (which will stop the eggs whites from forming strong peaks).
- Add the egg whites, sweetener, and vanilla and whisk until soft peaks form. Place on top of the pie base and lemon curd.
- Bake at 180C/350F for another 10 - 15 minutes to allow the meringue to cook and go golden.
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Approximate nutrition information is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. For the most accurate nutritional data, use the actual ingredients and brands you used in your preferred nutrition calculator.
Steve in Denver
Thanks for this great recipe.
I like to use full fat plain Greek yogurt instead of heavy cream. More TANG!
I prepare single-serving size instead of a pie.
I bake the base and curd, then let it cool until lukewarm, then I top with meringue and bake.
Betty M.
Hello Libby. I made this today as a traditional pie all in one dish. Delicious! I'm so pleased to have found your site in recent weeks. I've been low-carb for about a year now, slowly expanding my LC cooking repertoire. You have such a delightful variety of appealing recipes with accessible ingredients and techniques. I'll be trying many of your recipes to liven up my table. Thanks also for the educational pages, very informative.
Betty M.
p.s. Oops, I actually made your other lemon meringue pies recipe, LOL - had them both open in my browser to decide which to make. I'm sure this one is wonderful too. 🙂
Elizabeth
Just made this using coconut milk and 2oz of butter. Only problem I added extra 3 eggs and put too much milk in the custard. Managed to reduce a little tastes great won't use full can next time lol one other point found 50G of butter too much in Base will use less thanks for the ideas Iam gluten free and on very lowcarb diet.
Patriciahardy
Anybody tried this recipe
Allyn
Surprisingly, a pleasant guilt free desert. I love how it's not too sweet. I did some tweaking to the crust. I substituted the egg for 1 tbsp freshly ground flax seed and 3 tbsp of water. I used only 1 cup of freshly ground almond flour plus 1 tbsp of ground flaxseed. I used 1/2 cup table cream with 1/2 cup HC for the filling. I used erythritol in my pie; 2 tbsp for the meringue and 4 tbsp for the filling. Thank you, I can now enjoy my favorite desert without the guilt.
Claire
I used more lemon zest and a tad more juice. If I make it again, I will definitely kick up the lemon. Overall, a good recipe.
sol
This pie is amazing! I added a block of room temp cream cheese to make a cheesecake. And it was just as good. Creamy and tart. Just like it should be!
Hkwdesign
I love Lemon Meringue Pie! I'm lactose intolerant, can I sub coconut cream for the heavy cream?
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Coconut cream has a tendency to split sometimes, but give it a go and let us know if it worked out. You may need less, and you would have to make sure it was a high enough fat 25% or above, to have a chance of working. It would also affect the final taste.
Phoenix (@Phoenix73182)
Do you have nutrition information for this recipe?
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Hi Phoenix, I am slowly working my way through my old recipes and adding the nutritional information. I've made a note to do this one next. Thanks for stopping by. Libby.
A Blush
I have such a sweet tooth, this looks the perfect "guiltless" treat. Thanks for sharing!