These sugar-free & low-carb lemon meringue pies are the perfect way to portion-controlled dessert.
And at only 3.3g net carbs, they will keep you on track while not being deprived at all.
Mini sugar-free lemon meringue pies
These little deconstructed sugar-free lemon meringue pies are the perfect way to portion control your dessert servings.
You can make the 3 layers ahead of time, then put the desserts together when you need to serve.
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Which lemons are best for lemon curd?
Simply choose your favourite variety of lemon, I personally like Meyer lemons. But each lemon tree and each lemon will vary considerably in its sweetness or sharp taste.
To ensure your lemon curd turns out beautifully, please continue to taste and add more sweetener until you find the perfect balance between sweet and sharp taste.
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.
How to assemble mini lemon meringe pies
Let me show you exactly how to make deconstructed mini lemon meringue pies.
If you make the crumble, lemon custard/curd, and meringue separately, you can assemble them ahead of time and keep them in the fridge until you are ready to serve.
Step 1: Mix all the ingredients together for the crumble topping and place on a baking sheet and bake until golden. Stir occasionally t ensure it doesn’t;t burn and to make sure all the biscuit crumbs are crunchy.
If you are making this ahead of time, allow to cool completely before placing in an airtight jar or container to keep the crunchy topping crispy.
Step 2: Make the sugar-free lemon curd (lemon cutard).
You can even make lemon curd a day ahead and store it in an airtight container in the fridge.
Step 3: Make beautiful, fluffy sugar-free meringues.
Whip egg whites until stiff peaks form, continually adding 1 tablespoon of sweetener at a time. Place large spoons on a baking tray lined with baking parchment paper.
How to make a family sized lemon meringe pie
Another option is to make one large family-friendly low-carb and sugar-free healthy lemon meringue pie.
I generally pop this in the oven once dinner is being served, and it will be baked ready to eat after you have finished the main meal.
It can also be made ahead of time, and cooled so you can enjoy it cold (my preference).
Large Lemon Meringue Pie Recipe.
Low-Carb Lemon Meringue Pies Recipe
Ingredients
Crumble base
- 75 g almond meal/flour
- 1 tbsp granulated sweetener of choice or more, to your taste
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 55 g butter melted
- 3 tbsp water
Lemon custard (curd)
- 6 egg yolks
- 1 eggs – medium
- 2 tbsp granulated sweetener of choice or more, to your taste
- 2 lemon zest and juice
- 110 g butter
Meringue
- 6 egg whites
- 2 tbsp granulated sweetener of choice or more, to your taste
Instructions
Crumble base
- Mix all the ingredients together until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs or biscuit crumbs.
- Spread the crumble mixture over a baking tray lined with baking parchment.
- Bake at 180C/350F for 10-15 minutes until golden. Turn once or twice in this time so the crumbs brown all over and cook until crispy.
- Remove from the oven.
Lemon custard (curd)
- While the crumble is baking, whisk together the egg yolks, whole egg, sweetener and lemon juice/zest in a saucepan.
- Heat over a very gentle heat (whisking continuously) until it is a smooth custard consistency.
- Add the butter and mix again while melting. Stir until thickened again.
- Remove from the heat.
Meringue
- Whisk the egg whites and sweetener until stiff peaks form.
- Place 6 circles of meringue on a baking tray lined with baking parchment.
- Bake at 180C/350F for 10 – 15 minutes, or until golden.
To assemble.
- Divide the crumble mixture between the 6 glasses or mason jars.
- Divide the lemon custard/curd on each of the bases.
- Place a baked meringue on top of each to complete the sugar-free & low-carb lemon meringue pies.
- Serve immediately or chill in the fridge until ready to serve.
Notes
Nutrition
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That custard looks amazing!–Terri
This looks fabulous! Might even get my high carb hubby to eat this! 🙂
Go for it. They are amazing.
This is the second time I have tried to make meringue and both times they have turned out rubbery. Any suggestions as to what I might be doing wrong?
Hmm, maybe not cooked long enough to go firm? They won’t go as crispy as high sugar meringues but definitely shouldn’t be rubbery.
My meringues also turned out rubbery, but I think the eggs weren’t close enough to room temp, that can lead to a rubbery meringue. I needed to add a lot more sweetener to the custard than noted. The crust portion did not need the extra liquid of water added. This recipe worked in theory but not as written for me.
Can’t wait to make but wanted to note that I have found really getting the whites to room temp does help considerately.
This was DELICIOUS!!! Couldn’t tell the difference between the old school high carb one I used to love making. So good!!!
Could i cook this as one pie in a pie dish?
Sure, that would be easy to do. Enjoy.
Thank you =)
Can I ask which sugar alternative you use? I’ve tried xylitol which gives me a sore tummy and stevia which I actually find has a very bitter aftertaste. Would love to get us all away from sugar and carbs however finding an alternative sweetener has been tricky. Thanks do much, Lily
Hi Lily, I have just written my ultimate guide to low carb sweeteners. Take a look. I show you what I use and what I avoid.
If xylitol upsets your stomach, there’s a good likelihood that any of the sweeteners ending in -ol will, too, so that includes granulated stevia, which is always (I’ve never seen it not,) mixed with erithritol. For liquid stevia, I started with Sweet Leaf brand Sweet Drops because if was easily available on my supermarket shelf, and found it very difficult to use without introducing off-flavours. However, I finally ordered NuNaturals brand Vanilla flavoured NuStevia, and it is quite a bit better. I can use much more of it before I begin to notice off-flavours.
My crumble doesn’t look like biscuit crumbs just like like batter is more almond flour needed? I used the amounts you said 55g butter 3/4 cup of flour and 3 tablespoon of water
You may not have needed the water. Almond flour/meal can take a little to get used to as how much moisture it contains varies with it’s age, storage, humidity etc. So each batch you may need to be careful how much liquid you add. Not so important in cakes, but vital in this recipe. A long medium heat may allow it to dry out, then crumble it as it cooks.
Recipe says 1/2 cup of butter not 3/4,
Let me see a recipe for a lemon pie
I do not get the meringue part. I baked it at 180°C for 7 minutes, and it tasted and smelled completely like eggs. I added 3 tbsp xylitol but it just tasted like eggs and the consistancy was rubbery.
Any suggestions about the taste and smell?
Add vanilla and sweetener, it shouldn’t taste eggy at all.
I would love to try this recipe, but I wanted to ask if you would please give the weight as well as the volume for the ingredients?
In Australia, a cup measure is 250 ml. I believe it’s around 240 ml in the US (although I’ve also seen 237 ml in some conversion tables). A tablespoon here is 15 ml (I believe that’s the same as the US), but in South Africa a tablespoon is 20 ml. So, these kinds of differences may well explain the difference in results that some people obtain.
The other issue with volume, when measuring dry ingredients, is that if your ingredients are compacted you can fit substantially more in a cup than otherwise, which could throw the recipe out quite a bit! Having the weight in addition to (or instead of) volume for the relevant ingredients would resolve those issues.
Oh my word, you would not believe how many comments I get for/against weights/volume. OK, for the record, I love cooking by weight, there is ZERO room for error. I only put cups (volume) to help my American readers who for some reason have an aversion to cooking by weight. I also use cups when the measurements are not so important such as granola. Generally for the majority of recipes here on my website I have been going through and adding grams/ounces and cups to help everyone and their favourite way of cooking. There is not a huge difference between 237ml, 240ml or 250ml cups but there is a massive difference when people are loosely or firmly packing their cups with ingredients. That makes a massive error margin.
Could you make the crumb with coconut flour rather than almond flour? I’m allergic to almonds ?
Yes you could but it would have to be a different ratio and use far less coconut flour. it would need quite some trial an error. I’ll see if I can develop a coconut flour crust recipe.
Thanks for the recipe, I like the base and the lemon bit but I found the meringue very disappointing. Doesn’t taste like meringue at all and it’s all rubbery instead of being nice and crispy?
So did mine. Next time I won’t use a sugar substitute – I’d rather have nice meringue than yuk low sugar meringue!
Hi, i would like to use a premade pie crust, use your curd and top with whip cream. In preparing the curd, is that all the cooking it needs or more baking time, thanks, marie
This curd is sooooooo good. The best thing? It doesn’t need baking once you have made the curd. It’s ready to go!
Are you using salted butter for the crumble base and lemon custard?
Yes, I LOVE salted butter.
You made a big error in the base. If you add 3 tablespoons of water you end up with a bowl of slop! I had to add more almond flour and ginger to bulk it out and it was still not very brilliant. So made another batch a few days later and didn’t add the water and it came out pretty good.