Homemade Chocolate Meringue Pie is a rich, chilled dessert with a buttery crust, chocolate filling, and fluffy meringue topping.
This is the perfect Dessert Recipe for any chocolate lover. For more decadent chocolate pie recipes, try Chocolate Cream Pie, Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie, and Chocolate Pecan Pie.
Table of Contents
- Sabrina’s Chocolate Meringue Pie Recipe
- Ingredients
- Kitchen Tools & Equipment
- How to Make Chocolate Meringue Pie
- “Can I Make Chocolate Meringue Pie ahead of time?”
- Nutritional Facts
- Recipe Tips & Tricks
- How to Store
- Ideas to Serve Chocolate Meringue Pie
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Recipe Card
- Variations
- Related Recipes
Sabrina’s Chocolate Meringue Pie Recipe
This dreamy chocolate pie is made from three distinct layers, each with its own amazing flavor and texture. First, there’s the traditional Pie Crust made with layers of flaky and buttery pastry. Then you’ll fill the crust with rich chocolate custard. After baking until the filling is set and moist, you’ll add the whipped, fluffy meringue topping to finish the delicious dessert recipe. Every mouthful of this pie gives you flaky pastry, gooey chocolate, and light meringue, and the combination is absolutely unbeatable.
The fluffy meringue topping looks and tastes amazing over this classic dessert. It’s the same airy meringue that you’d add to Lemon Meringue Pie, and it pairs just as wonderfully with chocolate as it does with fruity flavors. After toasting the meringue so it’s lightly browned over the top, you’ll have a show stopping dessert that’s sure to impress your family and any guests enjoying this treat with you.
Ingredients
- Flour: Use 1 ¼ cups flour for the classic pie crust recipe. You don’t want a chewy mixture like you’d get from high-protein flour, so all-purpose flour or pastry flour is ideal for homemade pie crust.
- Butter: You’ll need ½ cup unsalted butter for the pie crust and ⅓ cup butter for the chocolate filling. Divide the butter before starting the recipe and freeze the butter for the pie crust. It’s essential to use cold butter in crust because it creates the flaky layers throughout the pie shell. Melt the butter for the oil ingredient only in the chocolate filling.
- Ice Water: As you blend the flour and butter to make the pie crust, slowly add ¼ cup water. It’s essential to use ice water, as this will help ensure that the butter stays cold.
- Evaporated Milk: Instead of regular whole milk, you’ll use ¾ cup evaporated milk in the chocolate filling. Evaporated milk is made by removing most of the water from milk to create a thicker mixture. The evaporated milk creates a rich, thick chocolate filling for this recipe.
- Eggs: Use 2 large eggs for pie filling. For these eggs, you’ll use both egg whites and egg yolks to add liquid, structure, and flavor to the mix. You need an additional 4 eggs for the meringue mixture, but it’s essential to remove the egg yolks and only use the egg whites for the light meringue.
- Cocoa Powder: ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder will flavor the pie filling. Although this may not seem like much, cocoa powder has such a strong flavor that it creates the perfect, chocolatey taste for the center of the pie.
- Espresso Powder: The bitter coffee flavor from instant espresso powder highlights the chocolate flavor and ultimately makes the recipe taste sweeter.
Kitchen Tools & Equipment
- Food Processor: The best tool to make your pie crust is a food processor. It will pulse all of the cold ingredients together and allow you to add the cold water nice and slow.
- Plastic Wrap: You’ll wrap your pie crust dough in plastic wrap so you can seal it tightly and let it chill in the refrigerator without drying out.
- Rolling Pin: Grab your trusty rolling pin to roll out dough into a circle ⅛ inch think. Work carefully but quickly before your dough becomes warm.
- Pie Dish: Use your favorite pie plate to press your pie crust into, then you can work on the filling.
- Large Mixing Bowl and Whisk: For the filling, you’ll need a large mixing bowl big enough to whisk your ingredients without them spilling out.
- Stand Mixer with Whisk Attachment: A stand mixer is the best choice to make meringue as it will come together with little effort. You’ll only need to watch it as it whisks so as not to over-mix.
- Measuring Cup and Spoons: Of course, you’ll need a measuring cup and spoon set to accurately measure out all of your ingredients.
How to Make Chocolate Meringue Pie
Time needed: 4 hours and 10 minutes.
- Pie Dry Ingredients
Add the flour, kosher salt, and frozen butter to your food processor.
- Mix Pie Dough
Pulse the mixture while slowly adding ice-cold water through the food processor chute. Add the water a tablespoon at a time until the dough forms into small crumbs. Stop before it forms one large dough ball.
- Refrigerate
Empty the crumbly mixture onto a sheet of plastic wrap, and use your hands to press it into a dough ball. Make sure to work quickly so that the heat from your hands doesn’t melt the butter. Wrap the dough ball and place it in the fridge for 1 hour.
- Form Pie Crust
Take the dough ball from the fridge and use a floured rolling pin to roll it out until it’s ⅛ inch thick. Place the dough in a pie plate and press the edge of crust into a fluted pattern.
- Prepare Chocolate Pie Filling
Add granulated sugar, melted butter, evaporated milk, eggs, vanilla extract, unsweetened cocoa powder, and instant espresso powder to a large mixing bowl. Then whisk the chocolate ingredients into a smooth mixture.
- Baking Time
Pour the chocolate filling into the prepared pie crust. Then bake for 45 minutes in the preheated oven.
- Prepare Meringue Topping
Add egg whites to a stand mixer and turn it to high speed. Wait for the egg whites to become foamy. Then add powdered sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Add the meringue to the top of the cooled pie and cook for 10 minutes to toast the top of the meringue.
- Serve
Let the Chocolate Meringue Pie completely cool, then slice and serve.
“Can I Make Chocolate Meringue Pie ahead of time?”
Meringue doesn’t last long. However, if you want to prepare this pie recipe ahead of time, you can make the pie crust and filling in advance. To do this, follow the original instructions for crust and chocolate filling. Pour the chocolate mixture into the pie crust. Then carefully cover the unbaked pie in a layer of plastic wrap and foil. You can store the pie in the freezer for up to 3 months.
On the day you plan to serve the dessert, take the pie out of the freezer and bake it. Then prep fresh meringue, add it to the top, and bake until golden brown on top.
Nutritional Facts
Recipe Tips & Tricks
Get every layer of this Meringue Pie just right by following these helpful tips.
- Avoid Under Baking
- If you notice the crust browning too quickly, tent the edges gently in foil and continue baking until set in the center.
- Room Temperature, Fresh Egg Whites
- For the best results with sometimes-tricky meringue, use room temperature and fresh egg whites. Don’t ever use packaged or cartoned egg white products for making meringue.
How to Store
- Serve: Don’t leave the pie sitting out at room temperature for more than 2 hours.
- Store: If you made the recipe ahead of time or have leftovers, you can cover the Chocolate Meringue Pie in plastic wrap or foil. Be careful to cover gently so that the plastic wrap doesn’t stick to the meringue. Kept covered, the pie can stay good in the fridge for 2-3 days.
- Freeze: Unfortunately, the meringue mixture of sugar and egg whites doesn’t hold up well in the freezer. So, it’s better not to freeze this dish.
Ideas to Serve Chocolate Meringue Pie
This pie is delicious served all on its own on your favorite dessert plates with forks for your guests. However, you could dress up the pie slices a little bit by serving each slice with a drizzle of chocolate sauce over the top. Dress up the plate by serving a few berries next to your slice of cake and a couple leaves of mint would make a nice, colorful, fresh addition to the plate. The berries and mint will add wonderful aroma and tart flavor to balance the rich pie.
Frequently Asked Questions
If the filling is turning out runny, it’s likely just because you haven’t baked the pie long enough. It’s common to take the pie out too early if you see the crust browning. To prevent this, tent the edges in foil so that the crust doesn’t burn while the filling bakes.
It should take about 45 minutes to bake the pie crust and chocolate filling. You may need to adjust the cooking time by a few minutes depending on how fast the filling bakes. You’ll know the chocolate pie is done baking when the crust is golden brown, and the chocolate center is starting to thicken.
Meringue is a French confection made with whipped egg whites and sugar. By beating the sugar into the egg whites, air bubbles get added, and soft peaks form. For the meringue pie, you’ll add the fluffy mixture to the top of the pie and pop it in the oven to set and toast the top.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
Pie Crust:
- 1 1/4 cups flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter , frozen and diced
- 1/4 cup ice water
Chocolate Filling:
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter , melted
- 3/4 cup evaporated milk
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
Meringue Pie Topping:
- 4 large egg whites , room temperature
- 1/3 cup sugar
Instructions
Pie Crust:
- Add the flour, salt, and butter to a food processor and pulse, adding the water through the chute one tablespoon at a time (you can spoon the water directly out of the cup of ice water directly into the food processor to make sure it is still ice cold) until the dough begins to form tiny crumbles (don't let it become a ball).
- Empty it into a sheet of plastic wrap and press it quickly into a ball (you don't want the heat of your hands to melt the butter) and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before rolling it out to use.
- Line the pie plate with your pie crust rolled ⅛ inch thick ,and press the edges into a fluted pattern using two knuckles.
Chocolate Pie Filling:
- In a large bowl whisk together sugar, melted butter, evaporated milk, eggs, vanilla extract, unsweetened cocoa powder, and instant espresso powder.
- Pour into pie crust and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. If it browns too quickly tent the edges with foil.
- Let cool completely.
Meringue Pie Topping:
- Add egg whites to a stand mixer on high speed until foamy, then add in the ⅓ cup sugar and keep beating until eggs reach stiff peaks.
- Top your cooled chocolate pie with egg white meringue.
- Cook for 10 minutes, remove and let cool to room temperature.
Nutrition
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Variations
- Chocolate Chunks: If you want to add extra chocolate flavor to the rich chocolate filling, try folding in semisweet chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, or milk chocolate for a sweeter chocolate taste. You could also sprinkle shaved chocolate over the meringue topping after giving it a chance to cool.
- Chocolate Crust: Another way to add an extra layer of chocolate flavor to this delicious chocolatey dessert is by swapping the classic pie crust for an Oreo crust. To make the amazing crust, add 26 Oreos to your food processor and pulse into crumbs. Then add 4 tablespoons of melted butter. Pulse until the unsalted butter is evenly distributed throughout the Oreo crumbs. Then press the mixture into a pie pan.
- Vanilla Meringue: To make an airy Vanilla Meringue topping, add a few drops of vanilla extract or aromatic vanilla bean paste to your meringue paste. You could do the same thing with almond extract, coconut extract, or hazelnut extract.
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what temp to bake pie , please?
Oh my Julie. I’m so glad you asked. That was an oversight and the recipe card has been updated to read 375 degrees.