Cranberry Lemon Meringue Pie Recipe (2024)

If you're worried about this, I would make an Italian meringue instead. The sugar is a hot syrup when you add it to the egg whites, cooking them so you don't have to worry about baking the meringue. It also has a nice marshmallow-y taste!

If you're worried about raw egg in the meringue, you can use egg whites from a carton (NOT the kind that are yellow, just actual pure egg whites). They whip up into a fine meringue, and they've been pasteurized, so they are safe to eat raw.

Peggy V - I always cook egg whites before using them in meringue. The American Egg Board recommends cooking the egg whites in a double boiler by stirring together at least 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon water per white. Cook over very low heat, beating constantly, to a temperature of 160F. Remove from heat, add the rest of the sugar, cream of tartar, flavorings and use as specified in the recipe. You can find full instructions here: https://www.recipelink.com/msgbrd/board_0/2003/JUN/660

Rather than messing with straining, I just used an immersion blender right in the pot to puree the skins and seeds into the mixture. Worked great! The pie set well and was smooth and lovely, and so much less time and mess and waste.

I was expecting this pie to be tart, but had no idea it would be this tart. Perhaps it was the cranberries, but would never make this again. Plus trying to strain out the seeds took almost 2 hours. A labor of love and didn’t even come close to tasting when I had hoped.

I like the adjustment to recipe this year - I made the original, with orange instead of lemon, for years every Thanksgiving. Nice adjustment to flavor. The meringue will not be joining the holiday tradition, however. It didn't just weep - it bawled all over the pie. Pretty but messy (we'll call this the Kardashian version).

I've been using Italian meringue for pies. I figure the hot syrup cooks the whites AND it's more stable and doesn't "vanish" as regular meringue can.

I am concerned about unbaked meringue. What are your thoughts on this and how long this pie can be kept leftover?

My pie is cooling/chilling now and I think I managed to avoid some of the issues detailed in these (scary) comments, so thank you to those that came before me and learned the hard way. I used a bag and a half of cranberries, 5 egg yolks and a smidge more cornstarch to ensure enough filling. Like other savvy cooks below, I used the immersion blender and it made straining waaay easier (TWO HOURS for one poor soul - how awful!) Also, I added some agave syrup to my lemon juice so not too tart.

I made this as written, and my pie set just fine. I think the key is to really be sure to cook the cranberry custard enough. A hard boil for several minutes. Also, I did not find it to be too tart at all. My biggest problem was that there wasn't enough filling, it was just a thin 1/2 inch layer like some lemon bars.

I would think you could..maybe make just the base pie and freeze it and then make merengue fresh when you thaw it.

I don't know if the spoon technique was used here but you can see how to decorate the crust with a spoon in this YouTube video. The actual technique starts at about 1:13 in. Curious to try and and make this pie! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gwq3Yqe2q-Y

If you have a very fine disc for the food mill it would accomplish the same thing as a sieve. It would need to be fine enough to capture the cranberry seeds.

Just a thought on the whole "raw egg" thing in notes below - the recipe involves either a blow torch or throwing the pie back in with the meringue fixed on top @ 375 for 10 minutes. lean into the process <3

I made this mostly as written except that I didn’t mess with trying to get the cranberries through a sieve. Instead, I put the cooked mixture in my blender and puréed there. I ran the purée through a sieve, and very little was caught there. Worked very well!

I skipped the meringue and topped with whipped cream flavored with a bit of sugar and vanilla. Everyone liked it. One hitch: I ended up with 1 1/2 cups of cranberry liquid instead of two. Next time, I'll try the immersion blended method, mentioned in a previous review, instead of straining, to see if that makes up the 1/2 cup difference.

I used nine cups of cranberries; thus, I tripled all the ingredients for the filling. As the other reviews, the one filling was not enough. Likewise, I ended up puréing the filling as the cornstarch-water-egg combo would’ve resulted in a less smoother texture.

So good! Perfectly tart and sweet---the only cake that was completely eaten for Thanksgiving.

Probably the first NYT recipe I was disappointed with. As another commenter mentioned, the meringue did more than weep! It leaked all over the pie with not much hope of cleaning it up. The flavor was all one-note sour; lacked any sweetness. I may try again with a little more sugar and a sweetened whipped cream instead- it certainly was beautiful.

I followed this recipe as written and found it to be so tart as to be nearly inedible. One family member described it as sour, although another liked it so well he had two pieces. It was not a hit and will be tossed, a huge disappointment considering the labor involved. I was also short on the 2 cups filling the recipe said I'd have, so the amount in the pie was skimpy. I don't understand other commenters concern about "raw" egg whites, as it gets put in 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.

I made with C4C Gluten Free Pie crust recipe and it came out great. Filling/Curd for this pie is just as advertised: sliceable, but still very tender.

I think I didn't let the cranberry filling thicken enough, so the pie didn't completely set. Also, the meringue sort of melted down onto the pie and made a syrupy layer on top. The pie looked amazing before I cut into it and the taste was lovely and tart--but after cutting it looked a mess on plates. Again, might be user error, but I'm not sure I'd try this one again.

I have attempted this recipe twice now with diminishing luck. The first time my curd only partially set and I blamed this on being in a rush to serve after the merengue stage. The pie was delicious and beautiful, so I attempted again on Thanksgiving. This time, I started early in the morning to make sure the curd had time to set and ended up with a soupy mess. Even letting the curd at overnight did nothing. Wish me luck on my ill-advised third attempt!

Thanks to the ample notes provided by other cooks, this turned out to be sensational. I did not strain the cranberry--just immersion-blended it until no skins remained, and it filled the crust entirely. I added 1/4 C sugar to the filling, and 1/3 cup lemon juice, and the tartness was just right. I added a yolk, and the curd set up beautifully. I opted to substitute spiced sweetened real whipped cream for the meringue, and it was the perfect complement. Beautiful! Next time: graham-cracker crust.

Made this pie for Thanksgiving. Thought it was fine; not sure I’d make it again. Other guest reviews: “It’s a little bitter”; “I would like it more if the filling were more chunky.” Followed the immersion blender route, as did other bakers (per comments), and thought that worked really well. No sieve needed and no reason to pick out the seeds. Used whipped cream instead of meringue for the topping. I think I just kept wanting it to be a key lime pie, and it’s not.

If you’re struggling to get the curly tops on the meringue with a spoon, you can use a frosting sleeve and wide tip to push them out into dollops on top of the pie. (Then use the leftover meringue, add some almond or vanilla flavoring, and make meringue cookies.)

Honestly, I’m so confused. I made the recipe exactly as written, and everything unfolded exactly as predicted (thick boil, two cups of filling, etc)… until the very end. I poured the mixture into the crust, and even after a few hours in the refrigerator, it never set. It was like thick soup, in a pie crust. Very tasty though! If anyone had this experience or has any wisdom, please share?! Thanks

I bet you could make this using a can of jellied cranberry sauce in place of the fresh cranberries - omit the sugar. Would be much easier to make the filling and save cleaning a sieve.

I loved the idea of this play on my traditional lemon meringue pie that I make every thanksgiving. But the flavor and the color did not meet my expectations. Also didn’t make enough pie filling.

My effort was not very pretty, because I’ve never made a pie. I also grated the dough instead of using a rolling pin which did make the crust crunchy. Otherwise, it was magically delicious and I will most assuredly be using this recipe again. Soon.