Three reasons you should make lemon whey pie:
1. It is a mouth-watering way to use up extra whey- a very common problem if you make a lot of cheese or own dairy goats or cows.
2. It’s delightfully old-fashioned and just happens to come from the 1965 edition of the Farm Journal’s Complete Pie Cookbook which belonged to my grandmother.
3. It’s really, reeealllllly good. Really.
It has officially earned a spot in my recipe collection. Now I just need to update my popular 16 Ways to Use Whey post and change the number to 17!
Is it the most super ultra-nourishing pie you’ll ever find? Er, probably not. Yes, it’s made with real food, but it does include a generous amount of sugar, and the whey is cooked, not raw….
That being said, to me, dessert is, well, dessert, and I don’t feel bad about splurging every once and a while. Especially on a vintage pie like this one.
(Like usual, some of the links below are affiliate links, which means I may or may not get a small commission if you purchase something after clicking on the link. It doesn’t cost you any more, but any commission I receive helps to support the work I do here on the blog, so thank you!)
Lemon Whey Pie Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 pre-baked 9″ pie pastry shell (Get my super-simple recipe that uses healthy fats here.)
Filling:
- 1 1/2 cups whey (it must be fresh whey, any sort of powdered whey stuff will not work. Here’s my post that explains more about real whey.)
- 1 cup organic sugar (or if you must, regular white sugar will work in a pinch)
- 3 1/2 Tablespoons arrowroot powder or organic cornstarch
- 3 egg yolks (save the whites for the meringue topping below)
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons butter, melted
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (I use this one)
- 1/4 cup lemon juice (I like the 100% real organic stuff like this kind)
Meringue Topping:
- 3 egg whites
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon real vanilla extract
- 6 Tablespoons organic sugar
Filling Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Bring 1 cup of whey to a boil in a medium saucepan. In a separate bowl, whisk the sugar, arrowroot powder, and the remaining 1/2 cup of cold whey until it forms a smooth paste.
Add the paste mixture into the hot whey, stirring constantly until it thickens.
In another small bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks and combine with the butter, salt, and lemon juice.
Pour a small amount of the hot mixture into the egg yolk mixture and stir. This is called “tempering” and it ensures that you don’t end up with bits of scrambled eggs in your lovely lemon whey. (Trust me, that’s less than charming…)
Add the tempered mixture back into the saucepan, and cook the entire concoction for an additional two minutes, stirring constantly.
Pour the filling into the prebaked pie shell, and set aside while you prepare the meringue.
Meringue Instructions:
Use an electric mixer (I use my Kitchenaid) to beat the egg whites, cream of tartar, salt, and vanilla extract in a bowl until the entire mixture is foamy, but not yet starting to thicken.
Begin to add the sugar, one tablespoon at a time. Beat thoroughly after each addition. You are looking for the sugar to dissolve completely. (Otherwise, your meringue will “weep,” which produces the tiny droplets that you can see in my photos. Thankfully, weepy meringue still tastes just as yummy as non-weepy meringue.)
Once all of the sugar is added, continue to beat the mixture at medium-high speed until it forms stiff, sharp peaks when you lift the mixer from the bowl.
Once you reach that stage, it’s ready for your pie.
Place large spoonfuls of the meringue around the edges of the pie and use the back of your spoon to gently “seal” it to the crust. This will help keep it from shrinking. Once you have a ring of meringue around the outside, dump the remaining meringue in a mound in the center and smooth out evenly.
You can use the back of your spoon to make the little spikes you see in my photos.
Carefully place the pie in your preheated oven and bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Allow it to cool on the counter before serving.
Old-Fashioned Lemon Whey Pie
Ingredients
- 1 pre-baked 9″ pie pastry shell
- Filling:
- 1 1/2 cups fresh whey (not powdered)
- 1 cup organic sugar (like this)
- 3 1/2 Tablespoons arrowroot powder (like this) or organic cornstarch (like this)
- 3 egg yolks (save whites for meringue topping)
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons butter, melted
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (I use this one)
- 1/4 cup lemon juice (like this)
- Meringue Topping:
- 3 egg whites
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar (like this)
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt (I use this one)
- 1/2 teaspoon real vanilla extract
- 6 Tablespoons organic sugar (like this)
Instructions
- Filling Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Bring 1 cup whey to boil in medium saucepan
- In separate bowl, whisk sugar, arrowroot powder, and remaining 1/2 cup cold whey until it forms a smooth paste
- Add paste mixture into the hot whey, stirring constantly until it thickens
- In another small bowl, lightly beat egg yolks and combine with butter, salt, and lemon juice
- Temper by pouring a small amount of the hot mixture into egg yolk mixture and stirring, to ensure you don’t end up with bits of scrambled eggs
- Add tempered mixture back into saucepan, cook entire concoction an additional two minutes, stirring constantly
- Pour filling into prebaked pie shell
- Set aside and prepare meringue
- Prepare Meringue:
- Use electric mixer to beat egg whites, cream of tartar, salt, and vanilla extract in a bowl until entire mixture is foamy, but not yet starting to thicken
- Begin to add sugar, one tablespoon at a time
- Beat thoroughly after each addition
- Dissolve sugar completely to prevent “weeping” droplets from forming on your meringue
- Once all sugar is added, continue to beat mixture at medium-high speed until it forms stiff, sharp peaks when you lift mixer from bowl
- Place large spoonfuls of meringue around the edges of pie and use back of spoon to gently “seal” it to crust to help keep it from shrinking
- Once you have a ring of meringue around the outside, dump remaining meringue in a mound in center and smooth out evenly
- Use back of spoon to make little spikes like you see in my photos
- Carefully place pie in preheated oven and bake at 350 degrees 12-15 minutes
- Allow to cool on counter before serving
Kitchen Notes:
- I haven’t tried this recipe with any sort of alternative sweeteners. I’m pretty sure that Stevia wouldn’t work very well, and I’m worried that Sucanat would give it too much of a molasses-taste. If you decide to experiment, come back and let me know how it worked!
- If I know we aren’t going to eat this pie right away, I stick it in the fridge.
- My book says one teaspoon of lemon juice can be substituted for the cream of tarter in the meringue. I haven’t tried that substitution yet, but it sounds like it would work.
- Don’t want to make meringue? Try baking the curd, and then serving it with a generous dollop of sweetened whipped cream instead.
- As written, the meringue on this pie isn’t very tall. If you are looking for a sky-high pile of meringue, increase the recipe to 5 egg whites and 10 Tablespoons of sugar.
According to the Complete Pie Cookbook, farm wives commonly used leftover whey in their pies to help stretch the more expensive lemon juice. And you’d never know the difference- it tastes exactly like “pure” lemon meringue pie to my taste buds. 🙂
It’s the ultimate, old-fashioned end to a summer BBQ on the homestead.
Looks yummy!
This is awesome! Can’t wait to try it soon. My hubbie loves lemon meringue pie, and I need to use up whey, so this is a match made in heaven…..:)
Let me know how he likes it! 🙂
My daughter and I made this and it is fabulous- I’m pretty sure I could down the whole pie alone.
Sometime lemon meringue can be pretty tart and almost too sweet at the same time- weird but true.
This pie was neither, it had just the right balance of everything. Maybe it was the magical whey ?.
This is a winner and going on the dessert rotation at my house!
So glad to hear you enjoyed the pie! 🙂
I had to laugh when I read about the “weeping” because after reading and trying dozens of online tips on how to prevent it, my holiday pie still had beautiful golden droplets–which my grandchildren oohed and aahed over and asked me how I made those awesome decorations! lol
Ha- I love it! I say let those pies weep if they want to! 🙂
Oh this looks delicious!! Just like my mother made too. My mother added the lemon juice instead of cream of tartar to her merangue and it worked great. I’m going to make your recipe this week! YUM!
Could I use whey from homemade kefir and yogurt?
Yes! 🙂
I’ve never cooked with whey before. I don’t have goats. Can you buy it in the stores? How could you make it from yogurt? And, what is kafur??
Recipe sounds wonderful and I really want to try it.
Whey is the part of the milk that is left after the curds have coagulated. You can collect whey from yogurt by straining it through a cheesecloth. Unfortunately, you can’t buy liquid whey in stores.
Can this be made into lemon bars?
I personally haven’t tried it, but I’m sure it could be! The sizing of the bars might be off (might not fully fill up a 9×13) but if you try it, make sure to come back and let us know how it came out! 🙂
I just made this and the yellow/lemon flavor came out so watery… what did I do wrong? Did I not thicken it enough when boiling?
Hmmmm…. I’ve made it several times, but have never had that happen. It might not have gotten thick enough during the boiling process like you said. 🙁
I’ll try again soon! We’re still eating it because the flavor is awesome! 🙂 Thanks for the recipe! Oh, what sort of thickness should it be?
Well good! Glad it still tasted good! 🙂 When you go to spread the mixture on the crust, it should feel nice and thick. And mine starts to “gel up” somewhat, even before I bake it. Hope that makes sense. It’s hard to try and describe it! 😉
Try cornstarch instead of arrow root and it might do a bit better.
I also made it last night, only change was adding some lemon zest to the filling for extra zing. But the pie looked beautiful but completely watery in the inside.
Changed my review, after cooking and waiting til pie was cool, it “was” runny. I covered the meringue, cooked it for additional half hour and it turned out perfect. My stove is new, so not sure why, but thank you, it was yummy
That happened to me and I forgot 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. oops.
I just made a batch of chevre and used the whey to make just the lemon custard part of this recipe – it was so good! I’m going to try the entire recipe next, and then I think the filling would make a great lemon bar too!
Oh yeah…. I’m liking the lemon bar idea!
What is chevre?
A soft, delicious cheese.
Could you use the curd as you would lemon curd made with butter, and fridge it after setting, in jars?
I haven’t tried that, but I don’t see why that wouldn’t work. 🙂
I have made this recipe now many times and we LOVE it! Thank you! Now my husband is requesting a chocolate whey pie. Anyone know how to adapt this recipe for chocolate instead of lemon. Or does anyone have a recipe for chocolate whey pie?
Hmmm… I’ve never heard of one–but you never know!
I made one. It was pretty good. I used this recipe:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Moms-Chocolate-Meringue-Pie/?prop31=1
I just used whey in place of milk.
Awesome! Thanks for the link!
I’m going to try this!!
Can this be used as a lemon bar recipe?
Could you use cottage cheese straining/draining the liquid through cheesecloth?
That probably wouldn’t work in this application. I believe the liquid in store-bought cottage cheese is a milk/cream mixture, so it wouldn’t have the same results. 😉
Looks absolutely delicious! I will have to try this recipe for my next party.
Hi! I can’t wait to try this recipe! I’m a little confused about one thing though. The recipe calls for a pre baked pie shell, but you’ve linked to your recipe, which isn’t pre baked? So does the crust need to be pre baked or not? I’d really appreciate you clearing this up for me! I want to make this for my mom for mother’s day this weekend! 🙂
There is a link with pre-baking instructions in the pie crust recipe post. 🙂
I just want the custard part. I cooked it for an extra minute or so after it boiled through for 2 minutes so I know the egg is cooked. It is beyond deliciod. Would I still need to bake it or is that sufficient?
What did you end up doing? I have the same question. I’d just like the custard part without the pie crust.
Yes! It is lemon pudding! Excellent!
You can’t use artificial sugar in the meringue…it won’t set up. But I see no reason Stevia couldn’t substitute for the sugar in the lemon curd. I’m going to try it and get back to you.
Let me know how it goes!
I used monk fruit sweetener in my meringue and set it up fine.
This is a great recipe. I like my lemon desserts to be more tart than most, so I adjusted the amounts of some ingredients as follows:
1 1/4 cups whey
1/2 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
Because I reduced the amount of sugar, I used 4 TBS cornstarch so the filling would set nicely.
It turned out great. I may try only 2/3 cup sugar next time as it was still a bit sweet for my taste.
Thank you for sharing the recipe!
Hi
I just made this pie. But it didn’t set inside at all. Is it sure 3 1/2 Table spoon Cornstarch ? During I making, pretty much right set, so I was kind a worry. Then when I cut and going to eat , that is totally runny…………
At Betty Crocker site , they have also Classic Lemon Meringue pie recipe. It says about Cornstarch amount was 1/3 cup.
Do you think that’s why ?
Can I use acid whey left over from making ricotta in this recipe?
I went ahead and made this pie with the acid whey I had left over from making ricotta, and it came out perfect! Thanks so much for the recipe and the great instructions.
THANK YOU for making this simple post. I have acid whey and have been scrolling and searching online to find out if it can be used to make this pie. Here I go….! 🙂
Love this pie. I’ve made it 4 xs in the last 3 weeks!! Have you ever tried any other pies or desserts using the whey. I was wondering about using it in a chocolate meringue pie? Thanks for sharing I have so much whey and hate to toss it out. I suspect the active culture dies when you heat it
Thank you for this recipe! I just made this pie this evening. It is sooooo good. I am so happy to have another use for my whey after making yogurt. I used clear Gel instead of cornstarch just because I had it on hand and it worked beautifully! I really appreciate all the information you provide. I love reading your blogs. Thank you for sharing your life and advice.
Made as per directions but used Stevia for both filling and mirangue. I increased the cornstarch for the filling by another tbsp and 1/2 maybe. Cut perfectly, mirangue set up nice peaks and dry. Nice flaky crust, definitely will repeat!
Did you cut the measurement for the Stevia at all (since it’s sweeter than sugar)?
Oh my! This is so good!
I used your exact proportions…
Only my method was like regular lemon puddings.
Mix sugar and cornstarch and salt in pan. Add the whey and mix well with whisk…be sure to get all dry powder mixed.
Then turn on heat medium. Let cook until it starts to bubble.
Break up egg Yolks… gradually add about 1/2 c hot mixture. Then mix the egg into the pan…let come to boil 2 minutes stirring well…remove from heat and add butter and lemon juice. Mix wellto incorporate.
Sooooo goood! Finally something to make with whey other than bread!
I made it this weekend and the filling never set. The meringue came out beautifully but the filling ran. Any ideas?
I left out some cornstarch on my second attempt, just because I got distracted.
I made this recipe substituting Monk Fruit Sweetener for sugar. Monk fruit sweetener has erythritol in it, and I don’t find it as sweet as sugar which I prefer. I’ve made this pie twice with sugar and the second time I reduced the sugar in the meringue and the pie because I wanted more lemon tang. The Monk fruit sweetener I used is a brand called Lakanto and it is their Golden monk fruit, which darkened my filling a bit. I also only used 3 tbsp in the meringue and eliminated the vanilla (I found it too much like vanilla pudding and it didn’t taste like a lemon pie to me).
So how did the monk fruit work?
Omg. It was FINE! IT fooled the masses! Aside from the darker appearance, the taste was great!
Try to find the Krisda brand or a non golden version and I think you can make a zero-sugar pie!
Swerve worked beautifully in all parts instead of sugar.
This recipe was a hit with my family – even with my husband who can be a bit picky with lemons and things that are on the sour side! Everyone just loved it. I was a little intimidated by making a meringue, as I have never made one before, but it turned out really nice. That was actually the easiest part. The only troubles I ran into with this recipe were 1.) that the mixture with the cornstarch did not resemble a “smooth paste” as the recipe noted, even though I measured everything exactly. It was much thinner than that so I added a little extra cornstarch (~1 tbsp) and sugar (~2 tbsp). I also had to add a cornstarch slurry (maybe 1 tbsp cornstarch) to the boiling mix when I combined everything. I’m not sure if it would have been thick enough without, but the consistency was perfect in the end. 2.) I followed the linked recipe for the homemade pie crust, but unfortunately there were no directions on that recipe for how to pre-bake the crust on its own. I used some other website and I think the times or temps were off because it took much longer than expected.
Anyway, I’m not complaining. I just wanted to note these things. This recipe was delicious and I’m so glad I found a use for some of the whey I get from making yogurt. 🙂