Here is my classic easy royal icing made with meringue powder. It’s easy to work with, sets quickly, and won’t break your teeth when it dries. It has the most delicious taste and texture and makes decorating sugar cookies FUN and SIMPLE. Use this traditional royal icing recipe for both flooding and outlining your sugar cookies!
This is the only traditional royal icing I use. It’s my favorite because it’s easy to work with, sets quickly, and doesn’t require raw egg whites. And best of all, it doesn’t have a hard cement-like texture. It won’t break your teeth like other royal icings!
This recipe is such a fan favorite, that it deserved a spot in print! You’ll also find this recipe in my New York Times best-selling cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
Meringue Powder in Royal Icing
There are many ways to prepare royal icing and my favorite method is with meringue powder. Meringue powder takes the place of raw egg whites, which is found in traditional royal icing recipes. Both create a very sturdy and stable icing that hardens quickly on top of cookies. Meringue powder, while containing eggs, eliminates the need for raw fresh eggs, but still provides the EXACT same consistency. You can find meringue powder in some baking aisles, most craft stores with a baking section, and online. I just buy it on Amazon in the 8 ounce container. Super inexpensive and it lasts me awhile.
This royal icing is just 3 ingredients: confectioners’ sugar, meringue powder, and water. The trickiest part is landing on the perfect consistency, but I have a helpful video for you below. Sometimes I need more water, sometimes I need less water. But the wonderful thing is that you can manipulate the icing to get the proper consistency by adding more water or more confectioners’ sugar. It’s awesome.
Use This Royal Icing for Flooding and Piping
I use this one royal icing for both piping/outlining and flooding, like you see here on these Valentine’s Day cookies. The icing is thick enough to outline and thin enough to flood, which makes it super convenient.
Decorating Cookies
Here is the sugar cookies recipe you need. Soft centers, crisp edges, easy to decorate. You can also use this royal icing on chocolate sugar cookies, brown sugar cut-out cookies, lemon shortbread cookies, gingerbread cookies, or as the glue for a gingerbread house. It’s perfect for making these adorable Easter cookies, fireworks cookies, and Halloween cookies. And it can even be used to top homemade mille-feuille.
If you’re a decorating beginner, here’s my How to Decorate Sugar Cookies page and video showing 4 simple, yet beautiful decorating techniques.
For a full list of tools I use, see my top recommended cookie decorating supplies. The following is a good list to get started:
- Couplers – needed if you’re using the same icing color, but need to switch tips. Or if you have multiple colors of icing and only 1 tip, and need to move the tip to the other bags of icing.
- Disposable Piping Bags or Reusable Piping Bags – I prefer the 16 inch size for decorating.
- Gel Food Coloring – get the whole set. I love these colors for royal icing, cake batter, frosting, etc. They’re high pigmented so you don’t need as much coloring.
- Piping Tips – see below. Or use a squeeze bottle for less detailed designs, or these icing bottles from Michaels.
- Toothpick – I use a toothpick to help spread out the icing. You could also just use the piping tip, too.
And some piping tips. I always use Wilton piping tip #4 for outlining and flooding the cookie with icing. This is a wonderful basic piping tip to have in your collection. For any detail, I use a thinner round tip like Wilton piping tip #1 (super thin) and Wilton piping tip #2 (thin). For larger round tips that are easier to work with, I suggest Wilton piping tip #3, Wilton piping tip #4, or Wilton piping tip #5. The piping tip #s reflect their sizes. #1 being the thinnest and #5 being the largest of this particular bunch.
Just starting out with piping details? I suggest #1 (smallest), #3 (medium), and #5 (largest of the bunch). You can create anything basic with these three.
Royal Icing Consistency
After mixing the 3 icing ingredients together, lift the whisk attachment up. If the icing that drips off melts back into the bowl of icing within 5-10 seconds, you’re golden. If it’s too thick, add more water. If it’s super thin and watery, just keep beating it OR beat in more confectioners’ sugar.
Can I Freeze Royal Icing?
Yes, royal icing can be frozen. Many royal icing recipes, including this one, yield a lot of icing. Any leftover royal icing can be frozen for up to 2 months. Place leftover royal icing into zipped-top freezer bags. If you have more than 1 color, each color should have its own bag. Before sealing, squeeze as much air out of the bag as possible. Freeze on a flat shelf surface in your freezer. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before using again.
Sugar cookies decorated with royal icing freeze well up to 3 months. Wait for the icing to set completely before layering between sheets of parchment paper in a freezer-friendly container. To thaw, thaw in the refrigerator or at room temperature.
How Can I Make Royal Icing Ahead of Time?
You can prepare this royal icing 2-3 days ahead of time. I recommend transferring it to a smaller bowl or container and tightly sealing for up to 3 days in the refrigerator. When you’re ready to use it, let it come to room temperature, then mix it up with a whisk a few times as it may have separated. Whisking in a few drops of water is helpful if it thickened.
Royal Icing Alternative
If you’d rather skip royal icing and try something easier, here’s my easy cookie icing. This opaque “glaze” style icing doesn’t set/dry as quickly as royal icing and it’s not ideal for piping sharp detail. That being said, sometimes it’s just the more convenient option! It will dry in about 24 hours, where the royal icing recipe below dries in about 1-2 hours. Or you can use cookie decorating buttercream, which can be a great alternative for icing that stays soft.
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My Favorite Royal Icing
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 3 cups
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
Description
Here is my classic easy royal icing made with meringue powder. It’s easy to work with, sets quickly, and won’t break your teeth when it dries. It has the most delicious taste and texture and makes decorating sugar cookies fun and simple. Use this traditional royal icing recipe for both flooding and outlining your sugar cookies. This recipe is also in my New York Times best-selling cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
Ingredients
- 4 cups (480g) confectioners’ sugar, sifted, plus more as needed
- 3 Tablespoons meringue powder (not plain egg white powder)
- 9 Tablespoons room-temperature water, plus more as needed
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or 1/2 teaspoon of your favorite flavored extract, such as lemon, coconut, or peppermint (optional)
- optional for decorating: gel food coloring (I love this food coloring kit)
Instructions
- Watch the video tutorial so you get an idea of what the final consistency should be.
- In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, mix the confectioners’ sugar and meringue powder.
- Add the water and a flavoring (if using), and whip on high speed for 1.5–2 minutes. When lifting the whisk up off the icing, the icing should drizzle down and smooth out within 5–10 seconds. If it’s too thick, whip in more water, 1 Tablespoon at a time. I usually need 10 Tablespoons, but on particularly dry days, I use up to 12–14 Tablespoons. Keep in mind that the longer you whip the royal icing, the thicker it becomes. If your royal icing is too thin, just keep whipping it to introduce more air, or you can add more sifted confectioners’ sugar.
- If you’d like to tint the icing, divide it into separate bowls for each color, or tint the entire batch one color. A little gel food coloring goes a long way, so use a toothpick to dot the gel into the icing. Stir it in and then add more to deepen the color if desired. Keep in mind that the more you stir, the thicker the icing becomes. If needed, stir in a few drops of water to maintain the target consistency.
- When applied to cookies or confections in a thin layer, icing completely dries in about 2 hours at room temperature. If the icing consistency is too thin and runny, it will take longer to dry. If the icing is applied very thickly, it will also take longer to dry. If you’re layering royal icing onto cookies for specific designs and need it to set quickly, place cookies in the refrigerator to help speed up the setting. See blog post above for make-ahead and freezing instructions.
Notes
- When you’re not working directly with the royal icing (for example, you are decorating cookies but you still have some icing left in the bowl that you intend to use next), place a damp paper towel directly on the surface of the royal icing. This prevents it from hardening.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand Mixer) | Meringue Powder | Americolor Soft Gel Paste Color Kit | Disposable or Reusable Piping Bags | Couplers | Wilton Tip #1 | Wilton Tip #2 | Wilton Tip #3 | Wilton Tip #4 | Wilton Tip #5 | Squeeze Bottle or Icing Bottle
Here is my recipe for sugar cookies.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I have a question. Once I put this on the cookie, should I store the cookies in the fridge/freezer or can I keep them out on the counter in a storage container so my family can eat through out the week?
Hi Anna! Decorated cookies stay soft for about 5 days when covered tightly at room temperature. For longer storage, cover and refrigerate for up to 10 days.
Hi, on average how many cookies does this recipe cover?
A few dozen, depending on the size of the cookie.
This is the best sugar cookie recipe that I’ve ever used! I follow exactly and appreciated the tips such as rolling out the batter on parchment paper and then storing in the refrigerator until ready to cut out and bake. These cookies are great plain, iced or sprinkled with colored sugar.
Hi Sally, is this recipe worth attempting without a hand or stand mixer, whisking by hand? I unfortunately don’t have either
Thank you Sally for the great recipe I halved it and it is definitely a keeper 🙂 Have a Merry Christmas
I tried this Royal icing tonight and just couldn’t get the consistency right! It tasted great though. I’m going to try again (good thing I only made a half batch). I made your gingerbread cookies yesterday and they are amazing!!! Just have to practice getting the icing right so that I can decorate them 🙂
These came out PERFECTLY!!! Thank you so, so much for this holiday cookie recipe. 🙂 Will be trying the Royal Icing next…
Oops. Sorry, I meant to post this under the Best Sugar Cookies recipe.
This recipe was perfect including the royal icing! My daughter who is 2.5 loved them which I wasn’t sure she would with the fragrant spices. I will definitely make again! I was going to give some away to family and neighbors but they were all eaten within a couple days so I will have to make more.
Thank you for such a well written recipe. The texture is perfect, and it sets up beautifully. My question is in regards to the powdered sugar. Does it need to be measured any particular way (eg. Flour needs to be spooned and levelled)?
The flavor is similar to an artificial sweetener. A bit too sweet, and a little chemically. It’s the same taste you get if you put a bit of the powdered sugar directly on your tongue.
I’m not sure if it’s that way because of how it was measured (scooped from the container using measuring cups), or if we need to handle it differently somehow, or if we need to switch to a different brand of powdered sugar.
Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time, and wonderful recipes!
I never get a response to any of my questions on any of these blogs but will try again. I have made this several times. Works great except it doesnt harden all the way. The surface is perfectly dry put if you push on it or stack cookies it messes it up. This is after 24 hours in the fridge. I do not do my frosting thick like some. I have no idea how to fix it. Help!
Hi Tina! I see you’ve only commented one other time, but I’m unsure which recipe it was on. How can I help with your other question I may have missed?
See if you can prep this royal icing with a little less water. Less water will help guarantee the royal icing will set. Since you like a thinner icing, though, you may simply want to add 1 or 2 more teaspoons of meringue powder which can help stiffen up the icing without thickening it.
Omgosh I am just thrilled I recieved a response! Might sound silly but I truly have never had one. Not just your site but numerous other ones lol. Ok I will try that!!! I was also thinking maybe the fridge caused it because I always leave one cookie on the counter when trying a new recipe to see if the cookie maintains the softness I love without being covered and I noticed ththaththat one cookie was not soft on the icing. So I might be onto something!! I know you are busy and I love your recipes but I truly thank you for responding!!!
Can I use lemon juice in place of water? i like a little bit of citrus 🙂
Hi Rach, You can definitely add lemon juice but I don’t recommend replacing all of the water with it. Replace half or a little less than half of the water with it.
Love this recipe and the one for the cookies, too! So yummy!
Wondering what your recommendations are for storing iced cookies. I tried layering them with wax paper and it ruined the icing. 🙁
Hi Kerri, You can layer/stack the cookies as long as the icing is completely dry. Depending on how thick you layer the frosting on I sometimes let them dry in a single layer for a full 24 hours before stacking.
The proportions are good, but combination of whisk and high speed was producing very fluffy texture that didn’t resemble royal icing at all. Had to slow down mixing speed in order to get royal icing texture.
My kids (3 and 5) and I made these cookies with the royal icing. I’ve never made royal icing before because I was nervous about egg whites. I loved using meringue powder, and the cookies came out looking beautiful. And they taste great–perfectly done with a little crisp bite and still soft inside. I’ll stick with this recipe on the future. And I really appreciate all the tips on rolling and chilling, how to freeze, which meringue powder to use and how to get it. It felt like having a friend in the room. Which is nice, especially this year. Thank you!
I made these cookies a couple times. They are fabulous. The royal icing is perfect as well. My question is, can these cookies be shipped?
Naive question: Would I just make it thicker to use for making drop flowers? How would I adjust the recipe?
I usually dip cookies when I ice. Will this recipe work for that? I’m trying to find one that sets up quicker than what I have been using. Thanks.
Hi Lauren, Yes you can dip your cookies into this icing instead of piping it. Enjoy!
Hey Sally – Just wondering can you use this recipe for the tops of cakes? Is it easy to write on with edible pens? Thanks
Hi Jennifer, You can use this to write on the tops of cakes and for any smaller decorations – although I wouldn’t use it to cover the entire top of a cake.
Hi! I tried making this frosting for the first time today. It kept looking too thick according to your directions. So I kept adding water. I think I got to around 15-17 tablespoons of water and it was only seeming to stay the same or maybe even get thicker. Can you over mix it? Or was I just not being patient enough and needed to keep adding water?
When I piped it onto the cookies it was thick and didn’t even out or look smooth for me. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Brittany, if over-whipped, the icing will thicken. (Due to the meringue powder.) Was it over-beaten and therefore extra thick?
Hi Sally! I am planning on using this recipe with your roll out sugar cookies. My question is, once this icing has hardened, are you able to “paint” on it? I plan on painting my cookies with a clear vanilla extract and coloring gel mixture. I just wasn’t sure if the minimal moisture from the extract would ruin the finish once set? Thanks!
Hi Emily, Yes! I paint on this often! Just make sure that your icing is fully dry (I often give it 24 hours just to be sure) and use a thin layer of “paint.” Enjoy!
Ok I made the royal icing for my mini gingerbread houses that sit on the coffee mug and it was first two drizzly and so I mixed it more to thicken it up which helped a lot …I was getting frustrated since I have never worked with this before so it was the bag and coupler 🙁
Sally I tried this recipe to put on top of the gingerbread cookies that I made also following your recipe, and I can’t believe how well it turned out. It was delicious, easy to decorate with, and easy to follow. It was my first time making both gingerbread cookies and royal icing and I couldn’t believe how tasty it was lol I want to thank you for being so specific. Including in the instructions the speed of the mixer and minutes made a huge difference. Thank you for making these available to all of us.
Excellent for my halloween cookies thank you!
Thank you! I don’t like sugar cookies , but these cookies were delicious ! 🙂
Hi Sally!
I don’t have meringue powder ,but I heard you could replace it using a fresh egg white. I was wondering if that would work for this recipe?
Thankyou!
Hi Alexa, I recommend the meringue powder here. Using fresh egg whites would require a different recipe. Luckily there are many options if you’re going that route! Or if desired, try this easy glaze icing which does not require meringue powder or egg whites.
Hi Sally!
I tried your Royal Icing recipe, but no mater how much water I put in it was always thick.
Could it have been the Meringue Powder? My icing had the consistence of marshmallow fluff.
Need Help!
Thank you!
Hi Kristin, I wonder if you over-beat the icing. When you mix royal icing too fast/too long you will incorporate too much air and it will become fluffy. Next time try slowing down your mixer and mixing for less time, you can also try switching to the paddle attachment instead of the whisk.
Thanks Stephanie! YES this is EXACTLY what happened!
Thank you, you’re a lifesaver 🙂
Can I stack the cookies after I ice them? I accidentally put my finger on them (too much pressure I guess?) and they indented. I tried to”set” the icing in the fridge after the cookies were done but I’m afraid they’re too soft. They are for for daughter’s party this weekend and I’m afraid they will melt outside! Did I do something wrong or is it just not a hard royal icing recipe? Any advice would be appreciated! Thank you!
Hi Lisa, This recipe will dry hard enough to stack! However, how long it takes to completely harden can vary greatly depending on how much water you added, the humidity in the air, how thick you applied the icing, etc. I usually wait a full 24 hours to stack them if I’m making them for a party.
Could this recipe be used as a drip icing down a cake? Can not use the typical method of chocolate ganache due to allergy to chocolate. Thanks
Hi Erin, You can! You’ll want to play with the consistency a bit to get the drips just right, and remember that after a while it will dry hard – unlike a ganache drip.
I made the cookies as suggested with the almond extract and they taste amazing!
Can I use liquid food coloring?
You can but I prefer gel food coloring. With liquid you will need to add more to get brighter colors and that can change the consistancy of your royal icing. I suggest using liquid food coloring in place of some of your water.