This Rhubarb Meringue Dessert Recipe is a rhubarb lover’s dream. With a buttery graham cracker crust followed by a creamy rhubarb custard and topped with pillowy meringue, what is not to love?
You can freeze rhubarb to last up to a year to make delicious recipes. Come and learn how to freeze rhubarb to save those bumper crops. Also, try our new recipes, Rustic Rhubarb Cake or Rhubarb Upside Down Cake another great use of rhubarb.
Helpful Items for This Recipe
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8 x 8-Inch Baking Pan with lid, Set of 2
OXO Good Grips 3-Piece Mixing Set
Stainless Steel Measuring Cups and Spoons Set – Stackable Set with Spout
Meringue desserts are excellent for spring and summer with their light-as-air topping. Try our perfect Lemon Meringue Pie too.
What Goes Into Making a Rhubarb Meringue?
Simple, easy-to-find ingredients to be added to that garden-fresh rhubarb. If you have an abundance, share it with family and friends along with this recipe so they can love it too!
Ingredients
Crust Layer
Graham cracker crumb
Finely ground almond
Butter, melted
Rhubarb Filling
Egg yolks (reserve the whites for the meringue)
Sugar
AP flour
Salt
Milk (2% or 3% is what I use)
Rhubarb (fresh or frozen), diced
Meringue Layer
Egg whites
Cream of tartar
Sugar
How To Make a Rhubarb Meringue
This is not a hard recipe to accomplish, except maybe the meringue topping, but I have included a whole section on how to make the best meringue every time. Easy rules to live by, and you will have a successful dessert for everyone to love.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Mix the graham cracker crumbs and ground almond together. Pour in the melted butter and stir to combine.
Press into an ungreased 8 x 8-inch baking dish using the bottom of a measuring cup to help compact if you like and bake for 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from the oven.
Custard Rhubarb Filling
Increase the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
While the crust is baking, stir together the egg yolks, sugar, flour, salt, milk, and rhubarb in a large bowl.
When the crust is finished baking, pour the rhubarb mixture over the hot crust and bake for 50 – 60 minutes. The center of the pan, when baked, should be slightly firm and bubbling oh so slightly. It won’t be completely solid as it is more like a custard filling. It will take longer to bake using frozen rhubarb.
Just before the rhubarb is finished baking, using a stand mixer and a clean bowl, beat the egg whites on low speed until foamy.
Now continue to beat on medium speed while you add the sugar one tablespoon at a time, then add the cream of tartar. Beat now on high until the meringue is stiff and glossy and stiff peaks form.
Meringue Topping
Spread the meringue over the hot rhubarb mixture and return to the oven. Make little soft peaks that will brown easier in the oven.
Bake for 5 – 10 minutes longer, or until the meringue is golden brown in spots. DO NOT OVERCOOK as your meringue will weep after cooling.
Allow to cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes before slicing.
Tips to Making The Best Meringue
Meringue can be a difficult monster to tackle, but if you know these few tips, it will help you make the best meringue every time. It seems like a long, daunting list, but when you understand egg whites and working with them, it all makes sense.
- Use fresh eggs, not packaged egg whites, as the pasteurizing process may not let your egg whites fluff.
- Let your eggs come to room temperature before using.
- Don’t let any egg yolks get into the whites; if some does, start again.
- Don’t overwork your egg whites by overbeating them. When overbeaten they will look dry and lumpy. Always start on low speed and work your way up to high as the eggs start to get foamy and then thicker. If this is done too quickly you will not get the correct volume to your whites.
- Cream of tartar is your friend, and just a small amount can be used at the beginning to help stabilize the meringue. Vinegar is used in a similar fashion, but I have not tried that.
- Use stainless steel, ceramic, or glass bowls. Don’t use plastic bowls, as they can have a film of grease from previous uses. Fat deflates meringue, so you want to use a completely clean, dry bowl. This happens if you let egg yolks into your meringue also. The end result will be a cracked meringue.
- Meringue doesn’t like over humidity, so refrain from making it if your day is unusually humid. It will end up being sticky and chewy.
Baking Meringue
- If you are making meringue for pavlova or meringue cookies, bake at a low temperature for a long period of time. Meringue burns easily.
- Leaving your meringues in the oven to cool slowly will prevent them from cracking.
- Don’t put plastic wrap or foil directly on the meringue as it will stick to it. The best way to store a meringue dessert is with a dome.
- If baking meringue for a pie or dessert topping, don’t overbake it as this will cause it to weep.
Some information was gathered from Domino Sugar.
Does Rhubarb Meringue Need to be Refrigerated?
Refrigeration can also play a part in your meringue weeping, but if it is properly cooled, this will be less likely to happen.
After about 2 hours, you need to store your dessert in the refrigerator.
You can insert toothpicks into the dessert and then cover with plastic wrap, but a dome is your best option.
More Rhubarb to Love!
- Rhubarb Dream Bars
- Rhubarb Raspberry Clafoutis
- Old Fashioned Rhubarb Loaf
- Super Easy Rhubarb Tarts
- Blueberry Rhubarb Jam
- Rhubarb Strawberry Cobbler
- Rhubarb Strawberry Crisp
- No Churn Rhubarb Ice Cream Recipe
- Rhubarb Strawberry Sour Cream Pie
Pin it HERE!!
Pin it HERE!!
Rhubarb Meringue Dessert Recipe
Ingredients
Crust Layer
- 1 cup graham cracker crumb
- ½ cup finely ground almond
- 6 Tbsp butter melted
Rhubarb Filling
- 3 egg yolks reserve the whites for the meringue
- 1 cup sugar
- ¼ cup AP flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ cup milk
- 3 cups rhubarb fresh or frozen, diced
Meringue Layer
- 3 egg whites
- ¼ tsp cream of tartar
- 6 Tbsp sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
- Mix the graham cracker crumbs and ground almond together. Pour in the melted butter and stir to combine.
- Press into an ungreased 8 x 8-inch baking dish using the bottom of a measuring cup to help compact if you like and bake for 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from the oven.
- Increase the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
- While the crust is baking, stir together the egg yolks, sugar, flour, salt, milk, and rhubarb in a large bowl.
- When the crust is finished baking, pour the rhubarb mixture over the hot crust and bake for 50 – 60 minutes. The center of the pan, when baked, should be slightly firm and bubbling oh so slightly. It won’t be completely solid as it is more like a custard filling. It will take longer to bake using frozen rhubarb.
- Just before the rhubarb is finished baking, make the meringue*, using a stand mixer and a clean bowl, beat the egg whites on low speed until foamy.
- Now continue to beat on medium speed while you add the sugar one tablespoon at a time, then add the cream of tartar. Beat on high until the meringue is stiff and glossy and stiff peaks form.
- Spread the meringue over the hot rhubarb mixture and return to the oven. Make little peaks that will brown easier in the oven.
- Bake for 5 – 10 minutes longer, or until the meringue is lightly browned. DO NOT OVERCOOK as your meringue will weep after cooling.
- Allow to cool for 30 minutes before slicing.
Comments & Reviews
Cole says
Made this last weekend and it was a big hit! Making it again today. I didn’t do the meringue part because I don’t have cream of tartar but I don’t think that took away from the final product. Thank you for this recipe!
Tara Noland says
So glad you are enjoying it and making it again!! We love rhubarb!!