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, watermelon sugar 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.
Print
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
Hi Sally. Wondering if I can use icing sugar instead of confectioners sugar?
Hi Taylor, the two names are interchangeable, so yes! That will work here.
I used this recipe and instructions for my first time using royal icing during Christmas this past year and it was awesome! Planning to use it again soon, and it tastes great and is the perfect consistency. I highly recommend!
Hi! Love this recipe and love the quick setting time. Out of curiosity, would this royal icing set with pineapple juice instead of water? I had wanted to flavor my royal icing but I haven’t been able to find any pineapple extract anywhere.
Thanks so much!
Hi Katie, We have never tested this icing with pineapple juice before. However, we have replaced part of the water with lemon juice, so can’t see why pineapple wouldn’t work. Let us know if you give it a try!
Thanks so much!! I’ll give it a try 🙂
Can I use cream instead of water for the royal icing mix
Hi Yvette, we recommend sticking with water for this royal icing.
I am so excited to try this recipe soon for my baby’s first birthday. I made the sugar cookies already and they are now sitting in the freezer. Can I decorate with your royal icing recipe and freeze the decorated cookies ahead of time (one week ahead)? If so, how do we store it? Would this method work for this recipe – wait until the icing on the cookie is dry completely, stack it on parchment paper, and put in a freezer ziplok bag to put in freezer. Then when it is thawing time, do we take the cookies out at room temperature from the ziplok bag or wait for it to thaw in the bag instead? Thank you!
Hi Ali, that method you mentioned would work perfectly. Wait for the icing to fully dry and harden, stack with a layer of parchment between each cookie, and freeze for up to three months (an air tight ziplock bag will work great). Then you can thaw them overnight in the refrigerator or at room temperature — either inside or outside the bag. Hope they’re a hit!
Hi! I am struggling with this icing, because it seems to come out rock hard on my cookies. How can I make it softer?
Hi Livy, this royal icing is meant to set hard. Perhaps you would prefer a buttercream on your cookies for a softer frosting!
Thank you! So it is normal for it to be very hard? I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t doing it wrong! I also just realized that I measure the powdered sugar before sifting, then 4 cups after sifting as well. Is this right? Or do I just measure once, either before for after sifting?
I bought food coloring marking pens, do i need the royal icing? Or can i have the kids just color with the pens? Wondering if it needs the icing for the markers to work.
thanks
Hi! I absolutely love this recipe and the sugar cookie!! But how do I get my thick outline frosting to match the flood frosting after I thin it out?
Hi Kimberly! So glad you love this recipe. If you use enough flooding icing, it should come right up next to the outline frosting for a seamless finish.
I was able to make the icing with no problem except that it was a bit runny and I added about another cup of confectioners sugar and consistency seemed great, I piped some round cookies to test it out. Cookies dried in a matter of 15-20 min but I pressed on the icing to check how firm and it cracked into wet sugar underneath the icing if that makes sense. So it wasnt firm after all and i checked it again after 4 hours it was the same. Any suggestions in what i might of done wrong
Hi Judy! We’re happy to help troubleshoot. Was the confectioners’ sugar completely incorporated into the icing? Next time, you can try mixing it for a bit longer just to make sure everything is nice and smooth. If the icing is thicker, it can take a while for it to fully set and dry, so that was likely contributing here as well. Hope these tips are helpful for next time!
Can’t tell if this was written in the comments- but I never remember to buy the Meringue Powder, is it possible to make the meringue (not the powder version because that can take some hours) and then fold into the icing??? Needing the frosting to harden on the sugar cookies.
BTW LOVE LOVE LOVE a splash of Almond Extract in all the sugar cookie recipes. Huge fan and compliments every time!
THANKS!
That could absolutely work, but I haven’t tested it in this exact recipe so I can’t give exact instructions. Let us know if you try anything! I love those sugar cookies too, especially the touch of almond extract!
When I’ve made the icing and transferred it to a piping bag how long do I have before it begins to harden and separate?
Hi Komal, Royal icing will last for several days at room temperature (as long as you are using meringue powder like in this recipe) in an airtight container. However, it will start to separate after a few hours and need to be stirred again before using, so it’s best not to store it in icing bags until you are ready to use it.
This recipe was easy to make. Is this supposed to taste “unsweet” more of a cornstarch/meringue taste? I used meringue powder. Never made Royal Icing before so not sure what to expect.
Hi Bonnie, royal icing is usually tastes sweet – it tastes like the sugar you use! You can certainly try a different brand of sugar or meringue powder and you can also add flavoring. Feel free to add a very small amount of vanilla, almond or any other extract you wish for different flavors (just be sure they are oil free). Thank you for giving this recipe a try!
I’ve tried this twice already and it’s been a success. This time I’m making 3 batches of cookies, cam I just multiply the amounts?
Yes – enjoy!
Can you use milk instead of water? I use milk in my glaze icing and tastes much better than water?
Hi Amy, The royal icing will not set with milk, so we don’t suggest it.
I made this icing for the first time and it had a very metallic taste to it. Do you know how this could have happened? Also I tinted the icing and it came out dull looking. I know when you tint butter cream you can microwave the frosting after coloring it to get that deep color but, do you have any suggestions on how to do that with the royal icing?
Hi Sue, we use and love gel food coloring. You don’t need to add a lot for vibrant colors.
Have not tried it but I read somewhere to prevent metallic taste use organic powder sugar?
If freezing decorated cookies, do you find that colors bleed into each other after defrosting?
Hi Samantha, If you are decorating simple sugar cookies or pastel colors they don’t really bleed. If you are making very dark colors (bright red, black, etc.) against lighter colors then they can bleed as they thaw. The best way to thaw them is slowly in the refrigerator overnight so that condensation doesn’t form on them and cause the colors to run.
I am diabetic. Can the royal icing be made with a natural zero calorie sweetener such as erythritol? It is a 1 to 1 replacement for cane sugar when baking.
Thank you,
Hi Sean, We have not tested this recipe with any sugar replacements so we are unsure what would work best. If you do decide to try it you would need a powdered sugar substitute, but again we have not tested it.
The first time I made your royal icing, it came out great but the last two batches have “run”. I was using the star tip and it looked good but then immediately started to run. I’ve added additional confectioner’s sugar – to no avail. I’ll have to look for another recipe! Other than that, I love your recipes.
Help! I love this recipe but I need to make a royal icing without meringue powder. Is there a substitute that I can use? I read maybe xanthan gum? Thank you, in advance!
Hi
Can we make this royal icing a day ahead?
See blog post above for make-ahead and freezing instructions!
great recipe!
My cookies turned out perfect! I rotated the pan halfway through and 10 minutes worked for me. The royal icing was perfect consistency. Will definitely be making these again!
I used this recipe for the first time and it worked perfectly, I’m practising cookies for my daughter’s wedding.
Wish I could attach a photo.
I love this recipe and have used it to decorate the Soft Cut-Out Cookies from your website. Yesterday the humidity was very low, 35%, and when I added 10 teaspoons of water it was still too thick. I kept adding water, 1 teaspoon at a time, and beating 1-2 minutes after each addition. I finally lost count of how many teaspoons! Maybe 15 t? The icing continued to stay thick and it was so hard to thin it. I finally stopped adding water and began to pipe and decorate the cookies. I piped the outline, then decided it was STILL too thick and then added more water. Then I flooded the cookies. The icing turned out tasting terrible, almost like a marshmallow consistency and didn’t dry after 3 hours.
What a mess! I’m starting over again today trying to see where I went so wrong.
Thank you for any advice. I absolutely love and appreciate your baking recipes and videos,.
Thank you so much!
Pam
Hi Pam! If over-whipped, the icing will thicken. (Due to the meringue powder.) Beating for 1-2 minutes between each addition is more than needed – just mix until evenly incorporated if you add more water.
Ck to be sure you are using a tablespoon vs teaspoon.
I having been wanting to try this recipe, it turned out great. Thank you for making baking a delight!
I make my own icing for cookies with just confectioners sugar, clear Karo, and milk; however, I have a job coming up that I have to decorate the cookies intricately with leaves and the baby’s name for a Baby in Bloom Bay Shower, so I thought I’d try your recipe; however, I cannot take off work to decorate the cookies two to three days before and would like to decorate them a week to a week and a half ahead of time but wondering how this icing would hold up that long? I usually just store my cookies in airtight containers and they last for a month and still taste great!
Thanks!
Janet,
Hi Janet! We find that plain or decorated cookies stay soft for about 5 days when covered tightly at room temperature. For longer storage, we recommend you cover and refrigerate for up to about 10 days. After that, it’s best to freeze. But let us know what you try!
Sally-I was always told never to refrigerate Royal iced cookies as the temperature of the fridge will ruin them. Freezing I know can be okay but I have not come across this advice anywhere on cookie decorators I follow.
Be careful with how much liquid you put because it can easily become too watery. If done right, this recipe is perfect for cookie decorating!
Sally, do you sift the powdered sugar? Thank you!
Hi Betty, Yes, you’ll want to sift after measuring. Enjoy!
My first try at the piped edge flooding technique. It turned out great!
I can’t wait to try this recipe! Should I store my decorated cookies in an airtight container overnight on the counter or do they need to be refrigerated then brought to room temperature before eating? If I store them at room temperature, how many days can they be left out would you say?
Hi Catherine, either option works. Cookies stored at room temperature last for about 5 days and refrigerated cookies last about 10 days.
If I would like to ice them and then write names on them how should I alter the icing for the letters so it doesn’t run, but isn’t too thick?
Hi Michelle! You can add powdered sugar until the icing reaches your desired consistency. You can read more about writing on cookies in our cute Conversation Heart Cookies recipe 🙂
Hi how long does the meringue icing last in the fridge
Hi Julie, 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.
Honestly I’d purchase an edible marker!