Serve up nostalgia with this vintage Chocolate Meringue Pie recipe, featuring a rich chocolate pudding base and a crown of fluffy meringue baked to golden perfection.
Granny’s Chocolate Meringue Pie
Chocolate meringue pie was my dad’s favorite pie according to Granny. It was often on dessert rotation at our house, and I can remember standing at the stove stirring the chocolate mixture many times. It wasn’t just dad’s favorite, we all loved it too.
Making this pie was a labor of love, but so worth it! The pie filling required constant watching and stirring the chocolate liquid for at least 15 minutes. I remember stirring and wondering if it would ever turn into pudding. It always does, but not until you’ve about given up hope, but trust me, it will work and it will be worth all that stirring!
Then after the pie filling is done, there is the meringue to make. Making meringue is fairly straight forward. You beat egg whites until they are white and hold stiff peaks.
After “frosting” the filling with the meringue, you put the pie back in the oven for about 10 minutes. Then you wait a few more hours until it is all set and ready to eat.
All that is to say, give yourself enough time to make this pie recipe. There is something so special about homemade foods. My family loves it when I make anything homemade, especially if it is from Granny’s recipes.
When I make this pie, it reminds me of my mom, my dad, the house where we lived, and memories of the celebrations we had. And chocolate pie also tastes amazing!
–Sara
Ingredients
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- 2 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
- 3/4 cup sugar, divided + 3 Tablespoons for meringue
- 1/3 cup water
- 6 Tablespoons flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups milk
- 1 pie crust
- 3 large eggs, separated (or 4 medium eggs)
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Helpful Kitchen Tools
- Stand Mixer or Handheld Electric Mixer
- Large Saucepan
Instructions
To Prep: Bake a 9-inch pie crust as directed. If it gives you a range of time to bake, go for the lower one, since you’ll be putting it back in the oven with the filling and meringue.
To Make the Chocolate Filling
- Separate the three eggs. The yolks will go in the pudding and the whites will be used for the meringue. Set aside the whites in a small bowl.
- In a large sauce pan, combine the chocolate, ¼ cup sugar, and water and cook for a few minutes over low to medium heat. Do not boil. Add the flour, an additional ½ cup sugar, salt, and milk and whisk until combined. It will look like chocolate milk with dark chocolate flecks for a while. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, for about 12 to 15 minutes.
- Once the chocolate mixture has turned a solid brown, it’s time to add the egg yolks, but first you must temper them.
- To temper the yolks, first the whisk egg yolks until combined. Add a ladle of the hot chocolate mixture and stir into the egg yolks until combined. Add a second ladle of chocolate mixture and stir into the egg yolks until combined. Now add the egg yolks to the pot with the chocolate mixture and stir to combine.
- Add the vanilla and butter and continue stirring until combined and thick. Pour into the prepared pie crust
To Make the Meringue
- Beat the egg whites in a stand mixer with whisk attachment, until they become bubbly.
- Add ½ teaspoon of cream of tartar and continue mixing.
- Add 3 TB of sugar, one tablespoon at a time.
- Continue beating egg whites until they are white, fluffy, and hold soft peaks.
- Gently spread the meringue on top of chocolate custard mixture, all the way to the crust. Spread the meringue so that it goes over the crust a little and seals the chocolate mixture in.
- Bake for about 10 minutes at the temperature specified on the pie crust packaging (or 375°F), until the meringue is light brown on top.
- Remove from oven and cool on the counter. Once the pie is room temperature, put it in the refrigerator to firm up.
Prep Tips
- Making the Chocolate Custard – When cooking the chocolate mixture on the stovetop, the mixture will not look at all like chocolate pudding until the very end of cooking. It will look like a pasty chocolate milk for much of the cooking time.
- Eggs – The recipe calls for 3 large eggs, however, I used four eggs since mine were small.
- Crust – I’ll admit here that I always use a frozen pre-made pie crust. Granny told me years ago, that frozen pie crusts were just fine and that was good enough for me! As an added bonus, they are already shaped and in a pie pan.
- Layering – I put the meringue on top of the chocolate mixture while still hot.
- Serving – To cut the pie, I ran the knife under hot water then dried it. This helped with cleaning cutting through the meringue. Even if the pie doesn’t look “perfect,” it will taste great!
- Storage – Leftovers can be kept in the fridge for 2-3 days. Do not cover with plastic wrap, as this can cause condensation that will affect the meringue texture. Instead, form a tent with aluminum foil over the pie to protect it.
More of Our Favorite Chocolate Recipes
- Chocolate Delight
- Chocolate Cherry Cake
- Flourless Chocolate Torte
- Chocolate Depression Cake
- Southern Chocolate Gravy
Chocolate Meringue Pie Recipe (Printable Recipe Card)
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Chocolate Meringue Pie
Equipment
- hand or stand mixer
- Large saucepan
Ingredients
- 1 pie crust
- 2 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
- 3/4 cup sugar divided + 3 Tablespoons for meringue
- 1/3 cup water
- 6 Tablespoons flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups milk
- 3 large eggs separated (or 4 medium eggs)
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Chocolate Filling
- Bake a pie crust as directed. If it gives you a range of time to bake, go for the lower one, since you’ll be putting it back in the oven with the filling and meringue.
- Separate the three eggs. The yolks will go in the pudding and the whites will be used for the meringue.
- In a large sauce pan, combine the chocolate, ¼ cup sugar, and water and cook for a few minutes.
- Add the flour, an additional ½ cup of sugar, salt, and milk and whisk until combined. It will look like chocolate milk with dark chocolate flecks for a while. Continue to cook stirring constantly, about 12 to 15 minutes.
- Once the mixture has turned a solid brown, it’s time to add the egg yolks, but first you must temper them.
- To temper the yolks, whisk the egg yolks until combined. Add a ladle of the hot chocolate mixture and stir into the egg yolks until combined. Add a second ladle of chocolate mixture and stir into the egg yolks until combined. Now, pour the the egg yolk mixture into the saucepan of chocolate mixture and stir to combine.
- Add the vanilla and butter and continue stirring until combined and thick.
- Pour into the prepared pie crust.
Meringue Topping
- Beat the egg whites until they become bubbly.
- Add ½ teaspoon of cream of tartar and continue mixing.
- Add 3 TB of sugar, one tablespoon at a time.
- Continue beating egg whites until they are white, fluffy, and hold soft peaks.
- Gently spread the meringue over the chocolate mixture all the way to the crust. Spread the meringue so that it goes over the crust a little and seals the chocolate mixture in.
- Bake for about 10 minutes until the meringue is light brown on top. Bake at the temperature specified on the pie crust packaging, or 375°F.
- Remove from oven and cool on the counter. When the pie is room temperature, move to the refrigerator for a few hours to firm up.
Notes
Nutrition
Pin our Chocolate Pie Recipe on Pinterest:
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Copycat Shoney’s Strawberry Pie Recipe
The chocolate meringue pie recipe is very similar to my mom’s from around the mid-1920’s. However, I have adapted it to the microwave to cook the pudding. And it is soooo much quicker & easier. Mom always used unsweetened chocolate & not cocoa.
I’ve never tried cooking pudding in the microwave; thanks for the tip. Sara