How to make easy, light and refreshing lemon meringue pie bars that the whole family will love. This recipe makes the best ever bright, citrusy lemon filling that’s topped off with a classic sweet and fluffy lemon meringue! This unique twist on an old fashioned dessert is perfect for potlucks, parties, picnics, Easter, Memorial Day, 4th of July or any other large gathering.
I’ll be honest, both lemon icebox pie and lemon poke cake are my go-to summertime lemon desserts. But these lemon meringue pie bars are a new favorite for large events because they make it so easy to feed a crowd!
Because this recipe is baked in a cake pan, it’ll stretch and save on ingredients. Lemon meringue bars are also not so messy, so they make a great finger food dessert. Then there’s that scrumptious buttery, flaky crust with that rich, gooey lemon filling and that irresistible, old fashioned lemon meringue that will have everybody coming back for more!
Ingredients & Substitutions Notes
- All-Purpose Flour – I just use plain white all-purpose flour for the crust in this recipe. You can make gluten free lemon meringue bars by using a good cup for cup gluten free all-purpose flour instead. Everything else in this recipe should be naturally gluten free. However, always check over all your other ingredient labels just to ensure that everything is gluten free.
- Unsalted Butter – This recipe calls for unsalted butter, but you can also use salted butter in a pinch if that’s all you have. If you use salted butter, just be sure to reduce the salt in the crust by about 1/8 teaspoon to make up for the extra salt in the butter.
- Sugar – I use a combination of both light brown sugar and cane sugar for my lemon meringue pie bars.
- Eggs – You’ll need 2 total eggs for your lemon meringue bars. I recommend separating the eggs so that you can use the yolks in the crust, and then you can save the whites for the meringue topping. It’s best to use the newest and freshest egg whites possible if you want that fluffy, pillow-like meringue topping that we all know and love!
- Sweetened Condensed Milk – I always use sweetened condensed milk for the best results, but here’s a great guide on sweetened condensed milk substitutes to use in a pinch if you don’t have any on hand!
- Lemon Zest & Lemon Juice – Since you’ll need the lemon zest from fresh lemons for this recipe, I recommend just using the juice from those lemons while you’re at it. 2-3 lemons should get you enough of both the zest and the juice. If you’ve never zested a lemon before, here’s the best way to zest & juice a lemon.
How to Make Lemon Meringue Pie Bars
Before getting started, preheat your oven to 350ºF. Then line an 8×8 baking pan with parchment paper, or you can spray the pan with nonstick cooking spray.
Assemble the Crust
- Start by adding the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar to a medium mixing bowl. Whisk together before adding both the melted butter and the egg yolks, after which you’ll want to whisk everything together again ’til well combined.
- Press your crust into the 8×8 pan that you prepared in the first step, and then bake it at 350ºF for about 12-15 minutes, or until light golden brown in color. Set aside to cool while you make your filling.
Make the Lemon Meringue Pie Bars Filling
- Next, add the sweetened condensed milk, lemon zest and lemon juice to a small mixing bowl. Mix everything together until well combined. An electric hand mixer or electric stand mixer makes this step easier.
- Once cooled, go ahead and use a rubber scraper spatula to spread the lemon filling over your crust.
How to Make Lemon Bars With Meringue Topping
With a clean bowl and an electric hand mixer (or electric stand mixer) with clean beaters, it’s time to make the meringue topping…
- Add the egg whites and lemon juice to a medium bowl or to the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Beat with the mixer set on high until foaming. Then slowly add the sugar, continuing to beat the egg whites until medium peaks form. At this point, you want your peaks to be soft, but not stiff.
- Once medium peaks have formed, spread the meringue topping over your lemon filling in the baking pan. Then bake your lemon meringue pie bars at 350ºF for about 12-15 minutes, or ’til the meringue turns golden brown on top.
A word of caution is to be careful not to let your meringue get too dark. Once it starts to turn golden brown, it can burn very fast, so keep a close eye on it! When fully baked, remove your lemon bars from the oven and let cool completely at room temperature.
Then you can cut your lemon meringue pie bars and refrigerate until you’re ready to serve! It makes the most light and refreshing dessert that’s just perfect for a hot summer day!
Expert Tips and Recipe FAQ’s
Yes, you can turn this recipe into a pie by assembling everything together in a 9″ pie plate instead of the baking pan. That said, it won’t be quite the same as a traditional lemon meringue pie. Lemon meringue pie uses a lemon curd filling, which is slightly different from the no bake filling in this recipe. In short, it’ll be like lemon meringue pie bars in a round pie pan instead of a square baking dish!
So long as you baked the crust long enough, it’s most likely that your lemon meringue was either under-beaten or over-beaten, causing it to weep into your pie crust instead of setting up. Remember to use the newest and freshest eggs possible for the best meringue topping. You’ll also want to beat the egg whites until medium peaks form, not soft and not stiff. This should alleviate the issue.
A runny filling can also cause the same problem. However, this is not usually an issue when using sweetened condensed milk.
Lemon meringue bars store best in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They should last up to 2-3 days before going stale and hard.
Of course! Once cooled completely, cut and transfer your lemon meringue bars to an airtight container or freezer bag and into the freezer for up to 3 months. Let thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.
Optional Add-Ins & Variations
Here are a few ways you can change up this recipe…
- Try adding a thin layer of raspberry pie filling, blackberry pie filling, strawberry pie filling or even blueberry pie filling to the baked crust before adding your lemon filling layer on top!
- Swap out the sweetened condensed milk with sweetened condensed coconut milk to make these lemon coconut meringue pie bars! You can also add shredded coconut to the filling, and it doesn’t hurt to sprinkle a little bit on top before serving!
- You don’t have to use a regular pie crust. You can use a graham cracker crust, a pecan pie crust, a chocolate cookie crust or even my mom’s favorite shortcut no-roll pie crust, just to name a few. Be creative!
More Family-Favorite Lemon Desserts
If you like lemon meringue bars, you’ll love these other lemony desserts…
- Lemon Pound Cake (Or Gluten-Free Lemon Pound Cake)
- Lemon Texas Sheet Cake
- Lemon Blueberry Cake
- Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
- Raspberry Lemon Butter Cookies
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Lemon Meringue Pie Bars
Equipment
- Electric Hand Mixer optional
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1/4 teaspoon Sea Salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1/4 cup Unsalted Butter melted
- 1/2 cup Light Brown Sugar
- 2 Egg Yolks (save whites)
Lemon Filling
- 2/3 cup Sweetened Condensed Milk
- 2 tablespoons Lemon Zest
- 1/3 cup Lemon Juice
Lemon Meringue Topping
- 2 Egg Whites
- 1/2 teaspoon Lemon Juice
- 1/4 cup Sugar
Instructions
- Before getting started, preheat your oven to 350ºF. Then line an 8×8 baking pan with parchment paper.
Assemble the Crust
- Start by adding the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar to a medium mixing bowl and whisk together.
- Add both the melted butter and the egg yolks, whisking everything together 'til well combined.
- Press your crust into the 8×8 pan that you prepared in the first step, and then bake it at 350ºF for about 12-15 minutes, or until light golden brown in color. Set aside to cool while you make your filling.
Make the Lemon Meringue Pie Bars Filling
- Next, add the sweetened condensed milk, lemon zest and lemon juice to a small mixing bowl, mixing everything together until well combined.
- Once it has somewhat cooled, go ahead and use a rubber scraper spatula to spread the lemon filling over your crust.
How to Make Lemon Bars With Meringue Topping
- Add the egg whites and lemon juice to a medium bowl and beat with the electric hand mixer set on high until foaming.
- Slowly add the sugar, continuing to beat the egg whites until medium peaks form. At this point, you want your peaks to be soft, but not stiff.
- Once medium peaks have formed, spread the meringue topping over your lemon filling in the baking pan.
- Bake your lemon meringue pie bars at 350ºF for about 12-15 minutes, or 'til the meringue turns golden brown on top.
- Once completely cooled, cut your lemon meringue pie bars, serve and enjoy!
