Grapefruit Meringue Pie Bars

A sweet and citrusy meringue pie served up slab style! These Grapefruit Meringue Pie Bars are built on an easy shortbread crust and feature a creamy, custardy, grapefruit-forward filling that you will want to sink your sweet teeth into as soon as they come out of the oven. With a simple, cloud-like meringue piled to high heaven on top, these bars are as beautiful as they are tasty.

Read on to learn more about these Grapefruit Meringue Pie Bars – tips for home baking success, how to nail a meringue, and other flavor alternatives. Or, simply jump ahead to the recipe to get your bake on.

All About these Grapefruit Meringue Pie Bars

These bars have such a homey feel to them, while also managing to look very impressive. Leave it to a big heaping pile of freshly whipped meringue to stop the show, you know? I’m a sucker for that, every single time. Meringue might be one of those things that carries a bit of an intimidation factor with it, but I assure you it’s as easy as, well … pie.

I’ll share a few tricks below to demystify some of the aspects of great meringue cookery. Trust me – I’ll bet you’ll find it’s much easier to whip up a cumulonimbus-esque pile of meringue than you might think. In fact, it’s as easy as whipping up a simple American Buttercream (like my favorite easy milk chocolate frosting).

The First Layer: Shortbread Crust

The crust for these easy slab pie bars comes together quickly and just consists of a few basic ingredients: flour, sugar, butter, cornstarch, and a pinch of salt. Just throw them into your food processor and give them a blitz until they come together in a well-moistened ball. I’d say the only real trick to nailing this step in the three-layer process is to be sure you really work the dough into the corners of the pan.

Crust Tricks

You can absolutely just use your fingers (moistening them sometimes can help) to press and push the shortbread dough evenly across the bottom of your pan. But another really great way to do this is to use the bottom of a glass. The larger, flat surface area really helps get things nice and smooth and is a very effective trick for flattening out layers in many different bakes.

Interested in more shortbread-type baking? You might love my Danish Wedding Cookie recipe.

Second Layer: Grapefruit Custard

The middle layer of our bars today contains fresh grapefruit juice AND lemon juice, sugar, vanilla, and lots of eggs. Egg yolks are a key component of custards, and that’s essentially what we’re making today. The yolks add body and richness to the filling, helping to stabilize it, and we’ll put the egg whites to very good use when we get to layer three, of course. Also, for what it’s worth, I find the flavor combination of grapefruit and vanilla to be so, so incredible. They just go together very well.

A little bit of lemon

Okay. It might seem strange that I’ve asked you to include lemon juice and zest in the filling for a grapefruit meringue pie, but after multiple tests, it became apparent that the pie just wouldn’t be great without it. Grapefruit is a gorgeously flavored member of the citrus family, no doubt. It manages to walk the lines between sweet and bitter and tart so beautifully, and I find that I enjoy using it in recipes of all makes and models, more and more.

That said, it tends to really shine more when paired with another citrus flavor – something to really give it a boost. Lime would probably work well, too. And if you opt for that, be sure to let me know! You can always drop me a line via my contact page, or over on Instagram.

Slab Meringue Pie Layer Three: Meringue!

As I mentioned above, meringue making isn’t nearly as big of a deal as it may look or seem. It’s literally just whipped egg whites, a pinch of cream of tartar, and some sugar to sweeten things right up. The sugar helps things get crunchy and beautifully brown under the broiler and helps to counter-balance the tang of the filling. Here are some tips for magical meringue making – all easy, all highly doable.

Meringue Tips and Tricks

1. Keep things cold. While egg whites will absolutely whip up in a room temperature bowl, things tend to work out best when they’re nice and cold. Sometimes I’ll throw my mixing bowl into the fridge for a few minutes before I get to my whipping, and this makes the whites pretty happy, it seems.
2. Why Cream of Tartar? Cream of tartar tends to be a jar that’s found in any home baker’s drawer, but have you ever wondered what, exactly, it’s used for? Even though the amounts we use/call for in baking recipes are very minimal, the little pinch of cream of tartar really does make a world of difference. “{It} prevents sugar from crystallizing and acts as a leavening agent for baked goods. If you’re halfway through a recipe and find that you don’t have any cream of tartar on hand, there are plenty of suitable replacements.} Click here to read more of Healthline’s suggested substitutions for cream of tartar. Substitutions include lemon juice, vinegar, xantham gum, baking powder, buttermilk, and yogurt.
3. Broil! Broil! You could absolutely get a kitchen torch and brown your meringue that way. But it’s really easy to just throw the whole pie under the broiler for a minute or two and let that take care of the browning for you. It works beautifully, but the key is just to make sure you keep an eye on it. Once egg whites + sugar start to do their thing – they’ll get very brown, very fast. So, just be mindful of that and you’ll be all set.

If you’re interested in getting into more meringue making, you might also enjoy my Lemon Chess Meringue Pie.

Fellow home bakers! If you’re in need of some fresh confectionary inspiration, I’ve got you covered with these easy yet super satisfying recipes.

Apple Slump with Vanilla Cayenne Caramel

Butter Nut Pear Cake with Streusel

Berry Crumble Picnic Cake

Brown Butter Any Fruit Pandowdy

What You’ll Need to Make these Grapefruit Bars

These bars come in three wonderful layers, each made up of just a handful of simple, common baking characters. Butter. Sugar. Lots of citrusy sunshine. The lemon serves to boost and brighten the flavor of the grapefruit – it allows the grapefruit to really shine. There’s nothing not to like about these beautiful bars, and here’s the breakdown:

INGREDIENTS

1.5 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature 

2 cups all-purpose flour

Two cups granulated sugar

2.5 TBSP cornstarch

½ tsp salt

4 eggs + 2 egg yolks (such as Eggland’s Best)

Zest of 1 fresh grapefruit

¾ cup plus 2 TBSP fresh grapefruit juice

Zest of one lemon

2 TBSP fresh lemon juice

3 tsp pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

For the meringue

5 large egg whites (for a really great video tutorial on how to whip egg whites, go here)

½ cup granulated sugar

½ tsp cream of tartar

Want to change up the flavors?

Try adding lime zest and juice instead of lemon, or you could do an all-lime or all-lemon filling as well. Sneaking a little bit of almond extract into the shortbread crust is also really nice, instead of vanilla. Or, you could use both. Because more is more.

How to make this Slab Meringue Pie recipe

Adjust the rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 13-by-9-inch baking dish with parchment or foil, being sure to leave a few inches of overhang (these are the “handles” that you’ll use to help remove the pie when it’s done). Generously grease the foil and pan with butter.

To make the shortbread crust, pulse 1.5 cups of the flour, ⅓ cup sugar, the butter, cornstarch, and salt together in a food processor until a dough comes together; takes about a minute. Press this evenly into the bottom of the pan, working until it evenly covers the bottom (I use a glass to help press it down).

Bake until the crust is golden; about 30 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees F when it’s done. 

Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Whisk together the 4 eggs and 2 extra egg yolks, the remaining 1 ½ cups sugar, and the remaining ½ cup flour until smooth. Whisk in the grapefruit and lemon juice, and the zests of both. Pour this filling into the warm crust and bake until set; about 30 minutes. Allow the pie to cool completely (about 30 minutes) before piling the meringue on top. 

Meanwhile, to make the meringue, in a mixing bowl with a hand-held mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the 5 egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form; about 2 minutes. Add the cream of tartar and sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form; about 2 to 3 minutes more. 

When the pie is cool, pile the meringue on top in a big fluffy later. Preheat the broiler and broil the pie just until things start to toast and brown on top – only takes 30 seconds or so. Keep an eye on it! Once it starts to brown, it goes very fast.

Allow it to cool, remove from the pan using the handy handles you created with the excess foil/parchment and then slice into bars. Serve. 

If you like the looks of these Grapefruit Meringue Pie Bars, you might also enjoy:

Lemon Meringue Chess Pie

Bourbon Pumpkin Pie with Whipped White Chocolate Ganache

Gooey Almond Chocolate Chess Pie

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