Southern Lemon Chess Pie
The South's pantry pie: eggs, sugar, butter, lemon and a spoonful of cornmeal baked in a par-baked crust until the top turns into a thin, crackly sugar crust over a soft, tart custard.
Edited by JP Lambiase
Change the estimate
Swaps change the price only: cook any meat to its own safe temperature. Where these numbers come from
Nobody agrees on why it is called chess pie. Wikipedia lists three theories, none settled: that it comes from the English "chess-cake" (cheesecake), that it comes from the pie chest where pies were kept, with "chest" worn down to "chess", or that it is a Southern way of saying "it's just pie", "it's jes' pie", because any cook with eggs, butter and sugar could make one (citing Marion Flexner's 1938 articles in The American Home and later newspaper and magazine pieces). The pie itself is older than the name. Food historian Michael Krondl traces it to the British "transparent pudding", a sugar and egg custard baked in pastry that was "renamed Chess Pie in the United States", and Jean Anderson wrote in Gourmet that the 1825 edition of Mary Randolph's "The Virginia House-Wife" has a transparent pudding that is "for all intents and purposes chess pie" (both via Wikipedia). The earliest recipe called chess pie that Wikipedia cites ran in The American Agriculturalist in October 1866. It is still a holiday favorite: Southern Living reported in 2024 that chess pie is the South's most searched-for Thanksgiving pie (via Wikipedia). Lemon chess is one of its classic flavors, and the same base turns up again in a famous New York bakery pie (our Gooey Butter Pie with Oat Cookie Crust recipe).
🇺🇸 This one is American
The South's pantry pie: eggs, sugar, butter, lemon and a spoonful of cornmeal baked in a par-baked crust until the top turns into a thin, crackly sugar crust over a soft, tart custard.
🇬🇧 The original
The British original is the mince pie: a small, sealed pastry of dried fruit, suet and spice that once held real minced meat. See the British Mince Pies recipe.
📖 Origin story: Who Invented Pecan Pie? → 📖 Origin story: Why Is It Called Chess Pie? →
Why it works the kitchen science
Cornmeal instead of flour
ATK found flour tasted raw in such a simple filling, so a little extra cornmeal thickens it and helps form the thin, crackly top.
Whisk, don't blend
Mixing by hand keeps air out; ATK found a food processor made the baked filling foamy.
🧰 You'll need 5 items
Everything the steps call for. Tick off what you have before you start.
Appliances
Pans and pots
Tools
Step by step
- Step 1
Make the crust dough (see the crust baseline), chill it 30 minutes, roll it to 12 inches and fit it into a 9-inch pie plate. Tuck and crimp the edge and prick the bottom all over with a fork.
- Step 2
Mix the filling first so the cornmeal can soften: whisk the eggs until smooth, then slowly whisk in the 1 3/4 cups sugar, the lemon zest and juice, cornmeal and salt. Whisk in the melted butter. Set aside.
- Step 3
Refrigerate the lined plate 40 minutes, then freeze it 20 minutes. Meanwhile set a rack in the upper-middle position and heat the oven to 450°F.
- Step 4
Bake the empty shell about 8 minutes, until small bubbles appear and the surface looks dry. Take it out and lower the oven to 325°F.
- Step 5
Whisk the filling briefly, pour it into the shell (a still-warm shell bakes a little faster) and bake at 325°F for 35 to 40 minutes, until the surface is light brown and the center jiggles slightly when you shake the plate.
✓ What it should look like - Step 6
Sprinkle the remaining 1 tsp sugar over the top. Cool completely on a rack, about 4 hours, then slice. Refrigerate leftovers, covered, up to 2 days.
Southern Lemon Chess Pie
Serves 8 · one 9-inch pie · 1 hr 20 min total
Crust (King Arthur's Classic Single Pie Crust)
- 1 1/2 cups (180 g) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp table salt
- 4 tbsp (46 g) vegetable shortening
- 5 tbsp (71 g) cold unsalted butter
- 3 to 5 tbsp ice water
Filling
- 5 large eggs
- 1 3/4 cups (347 g) sugar, plus 1 tsp for the top
- 1 tbsp grated lemon zest
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp yellow cornmeal (regular, not stone-ground)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 8 tbsp (113 g) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
Equipment: Oven, 9-inch pie plate, Chef's knife and cutting board, Measuring cups and spoons, Whisk
Method
- Make the crust dough (see the crust baseline), chill it 30 minutes, roll it to 12 inches and fit it into a 9-inch pie plate. Tuck and crimp the edge and prick the bottom all over with a fork.
- Mix the filling first so the cornmeal can soften: whisk the eggs until smooth, then slowly whisk in the 1 3/4 cups sugar, the lemon zest and juice, cornmeal and salt. Whisk in the melted butter. Set aside.
- Refrigerate the lined plate 40 minutes, then freeze it 20 minutes. Meanwhile set a rack in the upper-middle position and heat the oven to 450°F.
- Bake the empty shell about 8 minutes, until small bubbles appear and the surface looks dry. Take it out and lower the oven to 325°F.
- Whisk the filling briefly, pour it into the shell (a still-warm shell bakes a little faster) and bake at 325°F for 35 to 40 minutes, until the surface is light brown and the center jiggles slightly when you shake the plate.
- Sprinkle the remaining 1 tsp sugar over the top. Cool completely on a rack, about 4 hours, then slice. Refrigerate leftovers, covered, up to 2 days.
Adapted from America's Test Kitchen, "Lemon Chess Pie" (April 25, 2013), one 9-inch pie, serves 8. Filling amounts, the 450°F then 325°F bake, the 8-minute par-bake and the 4-hour cool are ATK's. ATK calls for your favorite 9-inch pie dough; we write out King Arthur's Classic Single Pie Crust (see the crust baseline). History from Wikipedia's chess pie article, linked in the Story. America's Test Kitchen. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (2)
Tips
- Use regular yellow cornmeal; stone-ground stays gritty (ATK).
- Zest the lemon before you juice it.
- Want the plain Southern chess pie? Leave out the lemon and add a teaspoon of vinegar and a teaspoon of vanilla; that is our variation, not ATK's.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- The name comes from "it's just pie". Disputed: one of three theories; the others are the English chess-cake (cheesecake) and the pie chest (Wikipedia, citing Flexner 1938 and later articles).
- Chess pie is British. Disputed wording: Krondl traces it to the British transparent pudding, renamed in the US (via Wikipedia); the name "chess pie" itself is American.
- Martha Washington made chess cakes. Disputed: a 1965 First Ladies cookbook says so, but Linda Stradley notes the recipe is for "cheesecakes without cheese curd" with currants (via Wikipedia).
- Chess pie needs cornmeal. Folklore: many Southern recipes use it and some don't; Wikipedia says cornmeal is used "sometimes" as a thickener.
- It is the South's top Thanksgiving pie. Documented as a search trend: Southern Living (2024) found chess pie the South's most searched-for Thanksgiving pie (via Wikipedia).
Every other holiday pie
Classic Southern Pecan Pie
The corn syrup pecan pie: eggs, light and dark corn syrup, butter and toasted pecans in a flaky par-baked crust, baked until puffed and just set and crowned with pecan halves.
Old-Fashioned Pecan Pie Without Corn Syrup
Pecan pie the way it was made before corn syrup took over: a smooth custard of brown sugar, milk, eggs, butter and a splash of vinegar, with toasted diced pecans inside and halves roasting on top.
Southern Buttermilk Pie
A tangy Southern custard pie: plenty of buttermilk, eggs and yolks, a little cream, butter and vinegar, baked low to 180°F in a fully baked crust, then flashed in a hot oven for a golden top.
Kentucky Chocolate Walnut Pie with Bourbon
Kentucky's chocolate and walnut pie: a layer of melted bittersweet chocolate in a blind-baked crust under a brown butter, bourbon and brown sugar filling packed with toasted walnuts.
Apple Cranberry Lattice Pie
A Thanksgiving fruit pie in two layers: cinnamon apples on a bed of pecans, topped with cranberries cooked down with sugar, orange juice and zest, under a golden lattice.
Indiana Sugar Cream Pie (Hoosier Pie)
Indiana's eggless pie: sugar, heavy cream, butter and vanilla cooked into a thick custard on the stove, poured into a fully baked crust, chilled until sliceable and dusted with nutmeg.
Pennsylvania Dutch Shoofly Pie
The Pennsylvania Dutch breakfast pie: a wet-bottom molasses filling lightened with baking soda and boiling water, under a spiced brown sugar crumb top, in a flaky sour cream crust.
Easy Pecan Pie Bars
Pecan pie for a crowd with no rolling pin: a press-in brown sugar shortbread crust topped with chopped pecans in a quick honey, butter and brown sugar caramel, baked in one 9 by 13-inch pan.
Gooey Butter Pie with Oat Cookie Crust
A dense, gooey butter and brown sugar filling thickened with egg yolks and milk powder, in a crust of crumbled homemade oat cookie, baked briefly and frozen until it slices like soft caramel. Inspired by Milk Bar's Milk Bar Pie; not official.
British Mince Pies
Britain's Christmas pies: small sweet shortcrust tarts filled with a week-old mincemeat of beef suet, raisins, currants, peel, grated apple, citrus, spice, brandy, rum, port and sherry, with sugared star or round lids.
Canadian Butter Tarts
Canada's own tart: flaky little pastry cups in a muffin pan, filled with a runny, just-set mix of brown sugar, maple syrup, butter, eggs and a dash of vinegar, with raisins or without.
Quebec Tarte au Sucre (Brown Sugar Pie)
The French Canadian sugar pie: a thick, custardy filling of brown sugar, cream, butter, flour, egg and vanilla in a deep-dish crust, topped with braided or woven pastry strips and baked until the center barely jiggles.
English Treacle Tart
Britain's golden syrup tart: soft white breadcrumbs soaked in golden syrup, brightened with orange, stem ginger and a spoonful of black treacle, baked in a blind-baked wholemeal pastry case.
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