The Best Homemade Chunky Rhubarb Meringue Pie
A tart and tangy rhubarb meringue pie made with real chunks of rhubarb, a hint of ginger in the pastry and topped with a light and fluffy meringue.
RHUBARB MERINGUE PIE
When rhubarb grows, it grows big time! Because there is so much of it, we chop it up in small chunks and freeze it until we are ready to use it.
I use our frozen rhubarb in this recipe, but you can use fresh.
Rhubarb meringue pie works just as well as lemon meringue pie but without the curd. I wanted to use the actual rhubarb and not the juice.
BAKING TIPS FOR RHUBARB MERINGUE PIE
DO I NEED I NEED TO COOK RHUBARB BEFORE BAKING?
Yes, a gentle bake in the oven at 150C fan. Don’t cook it in a pan!!
When you have baked your rhubarb in the oven, it should be slightly tender and keep its shape. You will probably get a lot of juice, drain this into a bowl and save it to make rhubarb curd.
PASTRY
You may find your pastry dough quite soft when you roll it out, but don’t worry; this makes a good shortcrust pastry.
WHAT IS THE TRICK TO MAKING MERINGUE?
Whisk your egg whites until they form soft peaks but don’t overbeat and gradually add half the sugar with the cornflour, keep whisking and add the remainder of the sugar. Whisk until it is smooth and glossy. It should stick to your whisk.
Make sure your eggs are fresh, ideally organic free-range eggs! Eggs need to be at room temperature.
Don’t let any egg yolk get in.
WHAT CAN I DO WITH MY LEFTOVER EGG YOLKS?
You can use these to make a lovely curd, so you could make rhubarb curd with this recipe because you will also have juice leftover from the baked rhubarb.
what equipment do I need for rhubarb meringue pie?
You will need a 30cm Loose-bottom tin. It can either be a tart tin or a normal loose-bottomed cake tin I used in this recipe.
Tinfoil and beans to blind bake the pastry.
A large oven dish to bake your rhubarb.
Maybe a lovely cake stand to show off your pie!
INGREDIENTS
PASTRY
- 400 g Plain Flour
- 250 g Cold Butter (cubed)
- 100 g Icing Sugar
- 1 tsp Ground Ginger (heaped)
- 2 Eggs
FILLING
- 2 kg Rhubarb(uncooked fresh or frozen)
- 225 g Caster Sugar
- 1 Zest of Grapefruit or 2 Oranges
MERINGUE
- 8 Egg Whites
- 400 g Caster Sugar
- 4 tsp Corn Flour
HOW TO MAKE RHUBARB MERINGUE PIE DESSERT
Grease a 30cm round loose-bottomed tin
To make the pastry rub the butter into the flour in a large bowl until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the icing sugar and ground ginger and slowly add the beaten eggs to form a dough.
Gently knead the dough, roll out and line your greased tin. Lightly prick the base but not right through and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven at 150 C fan oven.
Cut the rhubard in 5cm chunks and place in a oven proof dish. Sprinkle the sugar and zest on top and put inthe oven uncovered for 25 minutes or 30 minutes if frozen. The rhubard should be just tender and holding its shape.
Increase oven temperature to 180C Fan and place the pastry covered with tin foil and beans (blind bake) for 15 minutes then remove the foil and beans at place back in the oven for another 8 minutes or until golden brown.
Increase oven temperature again to 190C Fan.
For the meeringue, place egg whites in a large bowl and whisk until they form soft peaks. Gradually add half the sugar then add the flour. Keep whisking then add the remaining sugar and whisk until smooth and shiny .
Fill the tart case with rhubarb and spoon the meringe on top but leave some behind to pipe the peaks.
Bake in the middle of the oven for about 30 minutes or until crispy and lightly golden. Leave to cool completely before removing from tin.
HOMEMADE CHUNKY RHUBARB MERINGUE PIE RECIPE
Ingredients
PASTRY
- 400 g Plain Flour
- 250 g Cold Butter (cubed)
- 100 g Icing Sugar
- 1 tsp Ground Ginger (heaped)
- 2 Eggs
FILLING
- 2 kg Rhubarb(uncooked fresh or frozen)
- 225 g Caster Sugar
- 1 Zest of Grapefruit or 2 Oranges
MERINGUE
- 8 Egg Whites
- 400 g Caster Sugar
- 4 tsp Corn Flour
Instructions
- Grease a 30cm round loose-bottomed tin
- To make the pastry rub the butter into the flour in a large bowl until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the icing sugar and ground ginger and slowly add the beaten eggs to form a dough.
- Gently knead the dough, roll out and line your greased tin. Lightly prick the base but not right through and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven at 150 C fan oven.
- Cut the rhubard in 5cm chunks and place in a oven proof dish. Sprinkle the sugar and zest on top and put inthe oven uncovered for 25 minutes or 30 minutes if frozen. The rhubard should be just tender and holding its shape.
- Increase oven temperature to 180C Fan and place the pastry covered with tin foil and beans (blind bake) for 15 minutes then remove the foil and beans at place back in the oven for another 8 minutes or until golden brown.
- Increase oven temperature again to 190C Fan.
- For the meeringue, place egg whites in a large bowl and whisk until they form soft peaks. Gradually add half the sugar then add the flour. Keep whisking then add the remaining sugar and whisk until smooth and shiny .
- Fill the tart case with rhubarb and spoon the meringe on top but leave some behind to pipe the peaks.
- Bake in the middle of the oven for about 30 minutes or until crispy and lightly golden. Leave to cool completely before removing from tin.
