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This old-fashioned coconut pie has a Creamy coconut filling and a soft, golden meringue topping. You’re going to love the familiar sweetness and chewy coconut in every slice. It’s a simple, comforting dessert that feels special without being fussy.
Why You’ll Love It
- Creamy coconut filling — rich and comforting, with chewy shredded coconut throughout.
- Golden meringue topping — soft, pillowy, and lightly browned in the oven.
- Simple pantry ingredients — made with milk, eggs, sugar, coconut, and a baked pie shell.
- Generous slices — makes six satisfying servings.
Ingredient Notes
Use regular sweetened shredded coconut here. That’s what gives the filling its familiar texture and sweetness, and it’s also what you’ll scatter over the meringue before baking. I wouldn’t use the big flaky coconut chips—they’re pretty, but they don’t belong in this particular pie. They act like they own the place.
Cake flour makes the filling especially soft and smooth. This will smell like a familiar kitchen before you even take a bite. I usually use Swans Down if I have it, because it’s what I find easily. Nothing fancy.
The pie shell needs to be baked before you start. Homemade is wonderful, naturally, but a store-bought baked shell is perfectly fine. I’m not handing out medals for rolling pastry. I used to make every crust from scratch, mostly because I had more energy and less sense. Now I do what I can.
And please separate your eggs carefully. You need three yolks for the filling and two whites for the meringue. Since the eggs are divided, I usually crack each one into a small bowl before adding it to anything. One broken yolk in the whites can make meringue a real pain in the neck.
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 5 tablespoons Cake flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups milk
- 3 large egg yolks, slightly beaten
- 1 1/2 cups shredded coconut, divided — 1 cup goes into the filling, and use a small amount of the rest over the meringue
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 baked pie shell
- 2 large egg whites
- 4 tablespoons granulated sugar, for the meringue
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Have your baked pie shell ready and sitting nearby, because once the filling is done, you don’t want to be digging through cabinets looking for it. Ask me how I know. Actually, don’t—it involved a pie plate behind a stack of casserole dishes and some language that would not have been appreciated.
Set up a double boiler over rapidly boiling water. In the top portion, combine the 4 tablespoons of sugar, Cake flour, and salt. Stir those dry ingredients together first so the flour doesn’t decide to form little stubborn lumps later.
Add the milk and the slightly beaten egg yolks, then mix everything well. Put the double boiler over the rapidly boiling water and cook for 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Constantly means constantly. This is not the time to fold laundry, check your phone, or stand at the window watching the neighbor back his truck into his driveway for the third attempt. Keep stirring so the filling stays smooth and doesn’t scorch around the edges.
After 10 minutes, remove the filling from over the boiling water. Stir in 1 cup of the shredded coconut and the vanilla extract. It should smell warm and sweet by now, like a kitchen where somebody knows what they’re doing—even if you’re wearing mismatched socks and there’s a grocery list stuck to your elbow.
Let the filling cool slightly, then pour it into the baked pie shell. Don’t wait forever for it to cool; “slightly” is the word here. Just give it a few minutes so you’re not pouring bubbling-hot filling into the shell.
In a clean bowl, beat the 2 egg whites until they’re foamy. Then add the 4 tablespoons of sugar 2 tablespoons at a time, beating after each addition. Keep beating until the egg whites stand in peaks. You want that soft, glossy meringue that looks like it belongs on a pie from an old recipe box—not dry, grainy foam. If it looks dull or wet, keep beating a little longer.
Spoon the meringue over the coconut filling and spread it all the way to the edges of the crust. This part matters because sealing the meringue to the crust helps keep it from shrinking back. Use the back of a spoon, a knife, or a spatula to make little peaks across the top. No need to make them perfect. Perfect meringue peaks are for people who don’t have a drawer full of orphaned measuring spoons.
Sprinkle a small amount of the remaining shredded coconut over the top. You don’t need to use every last bit; just enough for a little toasted coconut finish. Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes, until the meringue is browned. Keep an eye on it toward the end. Mine has a habit of looking pale forever and then suddenly getting too dark while I’m refilling iced tea.
Take the pie out and let it cool completely. Then refrigerate it before slicing and serving. I know it’s hard to wait—I’m not claiming I always do—but the filling needs that chill time to settle nicely.
Variations
Serve with a little extra coconut sprinkled on each slice, which is fine if you believe “more coconut” is a complete culinary philosophy. I tend to like it as written, with just that light scattering on top. The creamy filling is the point.
One time I tried to get clever and add a little something extra to the filling—because apparently I cannot leave a perfectly good old recipe alone—and it just muddied everything up. Not terrible, but not this pie anymore either. This is one of those recipes where the plain version is the right version. A baked crust, the coconut custard filling, meringue, toasted coconut. Leave it be.
If you prefer a more deeply browned top, you can let it go a touch longer, but watch it like a hawk. Meringue is dramatic. It can go from beautiful to bitter-looking in the time it takes to find your reading glasses.
Storage & Reheating
Keep the pie covered in the refrigerator after it has cooled completely. It’s best within a couple of days, though we’ve eaten it on day three and lived to tell about it. The meringue may weep a little after it sits—that’s normal, and frankly, old-fashioned meringue pies have been doing that since the beginning of time. It still tastes good.
I don’t reheat this pie. It’s meant to be cold, or at least cool. A cold slice with coffee the next morning is awfully nice. Cover leftovers loosely so you don’t smash the meringue peaks. Not that the peaks matter much after the first night, but still.
Final Notes
Every time I make this pie, I think about how recipes outlast so many ordinary details. You forget the wallpaper, the exact shape of the kitchen table—I can picture it, sort of, but maybe I’m borrowing that from another house. Yet you remember the taste. Coconut, vanilla, warm custard, that little crackle of browned meringue on top.
It’s funny what stays with you.
Make this when you want something old-fashioned and sweet, when people are coming by, or when nobody is coming by at all. Make it because coconut pie deserves better than being treated like the dessert nobody picked at the diner. And if your meringue leans a little to one side or your slices aren’t neat—well. That sounds like a real kitchen to me.
Coconut Pie
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 5 tablespoons cake flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups milk
- 3 large egg yolks slightly beaten
- 1 1/2 cups shredded coconut divided; use 1 cup in the filling and a small amount of the remaining coconut over the meringue
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 baked pie shell
- 2 large egg whites
- 4 tablespoons granulated sugar for the meringue
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and have the baked pie shell ready nearby.
- Set up a double boiler over rapidly boiling water, then combine the 4 tablespoons granulated sugar, cake flour, and salt in the top portion and stir together.
- Add the milk and slightly beaten egg yolks, mix well, then place over the rapidly boiling water and cook for 10 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Remove the filling from over the boiling water and stir in 1 cup of the shredded coconut and the vanilla extract.
- Let the filling cool slightly for a few minutes, then pour it into the baked pie shell.
- In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy, then add the 4 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons at a time, beating after each addition until the egg whites stand in soft, glossy peaks.
- Spoon the meringue over the coconut filling and spread it all the way to the edges of the crust to seal, then make small peaks with the back of a spoon, knife, or spatula.
- Sprinkle a small amount of the remaining shredded coconut over the meringue and bake at 350°F for 10 minutes, until the meringue is browned.
- Let the pie cool completely, then refrigerate it before slicing and serving.