Low-carb lemon meringue pie is the perfect family-friendly sugar-free healthy dessert recipe.
There's even an almond flour pie crust and a coconut flour pie crust.
Can be eaten hot or cold and is freezer-friendly too.
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Low carb lemon meringue pie is simple to make, and it tastes like the real thing (only sugar-free and gluten-free).
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 to stiff peaks and placed into a mound on the top of the pie and baked again.
Lemon meringue pie can be eaten hot or cold.
I tend to make it in winter when I have a roast dinner cooking and can prepare each part f the pie in between peeling vegetables then I leave the final cooking stage (baking the pie) until we are eating our meal and the oven is empty.
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.
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.
How to make sugar-free lemon curd
Making lemon curd is the perfect way to use up leftover egg yolks and 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.
More sugar-free low-carb desserts
I don't bake as often as I used to because part of the ethos of going low carb is giving up that sweet taste, but it is nice to have low carb versions of sweet treats on hand.
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
Low-Carb Lemon Meringue Pie Recipe
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Ingredients
Pie Base
- 55 g (½ stick) butter
- 1 tablespoon granulated sweetener of choice or more, to taste
- 1 eggs - medium
- 150 g (1 ½ cups) almond meal/flour
Lemon Curd
- 3 egg yolks
- 3 eggs - medium
- 2 tablespoon granulated sweetener of choice or more, to taste
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1 ½ tablespoon lemon juice
- 250 ml (1 cup) heavy whipping cream
Meringue
- 3 egg whites
- 1 tablespoon granulated sweetener of choice or more, to taste
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Pie Base.
- Melt the butter then mix in the almonds and sweetener. Add the egg and mix again.
- Line the bottom of your pie dish with baking paper, or grease with butter. Cover the dish with the pie base and spread out evenly
- Bake at 180C/350F for 10 minutes, until just golden.
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 warm cream to the egg mixture, constantly whisking all the time to stop the eggs from curdling or cooking. Keep adding the cream slowly until all mixed through. Put the filling back into the saucepan and heat gently until thickened.
- Once it looks like lemon curd, and is as thick as custard, pour onto the pie base an bake at 180C/350F for 10 minutes.
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, put back in the oven 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.
MyKabulKitchen
I have such a sweet tooth, this looks the perfect "guiltless" treat. Thanks for sharing!