This post may contain references to products from one or more of our advertisers. Oh Sweet Basil may receive compensation when you click on links to such products.

Jump to RecipeJump to Video

Royal icing is the magic behind beautifully decorated sugar cookies—smooth, shiny, and crisp once it dries. This royal icing recipe works for every season and skill level. It mixes up in minutes, pipes like a dream, and dries with that perfect bakery-style finish.

If you’ve ever struggled with icing that’s too runny, too thick, or won’t hold its shape, this no-fail recipe is about to change everything.

Christmas Sugar cookies with royal icing. There is a snowman with a green scarf, a tree with green icing and white accents like snow, and a white star with red designs.
Want to save this recipe?
Just enter your email and get it sent to your inbox! Plus, you’ll get new recipes from us every week!

Table of Contents

We also have the best sugar cookies recipe. The cookies hold their shape really well when they bake so they are perfect for decorating with royal icing. You’ll want to head over to our sugar cookies post for that soft but stable cookie recipe, this post is all about the decorating.

Aren’t you dead about how cute these Christmas cookies are?!? The mittens are hands-down my absolute favorite, dang, or the trees, ok it’s the snowman. Isn’t that little nose the best?

What is Royal Icing?

Royal icing is a thick icing that dries completely smooth and is easy to dye whatever color you want and the best backdrop for all decorating needs, from sprinkles to piping.

Royal icing is made from a combination of egg whites, powdered sugar, cream of tartar and water.

Many recipes call for meringue powder but I’ve had trouble finding it occasionally so we eventually ditched it for the actual egg white.

A plate with Christmas sugar cookies decorated with royal icing. There is a snowman with a green scarf, a white mitten with red trim, a green tree with white snow accents, and a white star with red accents. A red ribbon is draped over the edge of the plate.

Royal Icing Ingredients

I’m pretty sure this royal icing was long ago shared on All Recipes, but it’s been adapted enough over the years I’ll never really know.

  • Egg Whites: Whip into a stable, glossy base that helps the icing hold its shape and dry hard.
  • Cream of Tartar: Stabilizes egg whites so the icing whips up smoother and stays consistent.
  • Powdered Sugar: Sweetens and thickens the icing, giving it body and a firm finish as it dries.
  • Vanilla and Almond Extract: Adds flavor and warmth to enhance an otherwise plain-tasting icing.
  • Salt: Balances the sweetness and boosts the flavor of the extracts.
Christmas sugar cookies with royal icing. There are two snow flakes, one has white accents and one has red accents.

How To Make Royal Icing

Royal icing is a cinch to make, but you’ll want to separate it into bowls so that you can make at least two different consistencies. I’ll explain more about consistencies down below.

  1. Whip the Egg Whites: Place the egg whites in a standing mixer and whisk until frothing.
  2. Combine: Add only half of the powdered sugar to avoid sugar explosion. Add the extracts and remaining powdered sugar and beat until thick, but if it’s looking like cement add a little water. We are looking for a thick toothpaste consistency.
  3. Separate into Bowls: Use several bowls to separate the royal icing depending on how many colors and consistencies you need. Keep reading for all the details…
Christmas sugar cookies decorated with royal icing. There is a thin red ribbon on the table next to a white snowflake cookie with white accents, a white mitten with red trim and a green tree with white snow accents.

Royal Icing Consistencies Explained

Once the royal icing is mixed together and divided into different bowls, you can start creating the consistencies that you need by adding water. I’ve seen a lot of professional royal icing decorators using spray bottles to add the water, which I’m sure works extremely well. I’ve always just used a 1/2 teaspoon to add water a little at a time.

Stiff: This is the consistency you get straight from the mixer. It is very stiff and is used for embellishments that need crisp detail like leaves, flowers or ruffles. I also use it if I need to pipe very detailed lettering. Depending on your designs, you probably won’t need much, if any, of this consistency.

Note: In these photos, I didn’t use stiff consistency for any of the piping.

Piping: This is the consistency you will want to do your outlining, line details and simple lettering. Add a 1/2 tablespoon or two and mix it thoroughly. You want it to be the consistency of toothpaste. You can also do the knife test…run a butter knife straight through the middle of your bowl of icing and the slice should take 25+ seconds to disappear. Add more water if needed.

Note: This is the consistency I used for outlining all the cookies in the photos, and to do all of the piping on the snowflakes, mittens and the arms for the snowmen.

Medium: Add a little more water to the icing that you did to the piping consistency and mix thoroughly. Do the knife test and the list should disappear in about 15 seconds. You can use this consistency for outlining and for flooding. This is the best consistency if you’re in a hurry and aren’t doing anything too detailed. It will save you time to only have to create one consistency for each color.

Note: I did not use this consistency in these Christmas cookies since I needed piping consistency for all the colors.

Flood: Add more water to get this consistency. Do the knife test and the slice should disappear in 8-10 seconds. You will use this for all of your flooding and any wet on wet designs you do. This will be the consistency that you will need the most of. It takes quite a bit to get that big pillowy looking icing.

Note: I used the flooding consistency on every single cookie to create the base of the decorating.

Christmas sugar cookies. White snowflake with white accents, and a green tree with white snow.

How to Flavor and Color Royal Icing

Flavor

If you aren’t an almond extract fan, you can omit it or swap it for other extract flavors. Some great ideas would be coconut extract, peppermint extract, butter extract, etc. The flavoring gets added in step 2 of the instructions.

Color

If I am making several different colors of icing, I will divide my icing into different bowls for each of the different colors I need. For these cookies, I had 5 different bowls (white, red, green, black and brown). For the black and the brown, I knew I wouldn’t need much icing, so I only had a small amount in each of those bowls.

I add the coloring to each bowl when it is in the stiff consistency. You don’t need to add much food gel (and yes, I HIGHLY recommend food gel over food coloring dye). Start with just a little dab and mix it in. The color will deepen and darken as it sits.

Once I have the color the shade I want, I scoop out what I need of the stiff consistency into a piping bag. Then I add the water to get to the piping consistency, scoop out what I need for piping into a piping bag. Then add more water to get to the medium or flood consistency. By using this method, you keep the color the same across all the different consistencies.

Christmas sugar cookies decorated with royal icing. There is a snowman with a green scarf, a red mitten, a snowflake with red accents, a green tree with white snow.

Troubleshooting Royal Icing

  • Grainy texture – If your icing is grainy, it means the powdered sugar hasn’t dissolved completely. Either your water was too cold when you added it or it hasn’t mixed long enough. Let it mix in the mixer longer.
  • Too runny – If your icing is too runny, you have added too much water. If it’s running, it won’t pillow up and stay contained within the outline piping. Add more powdered sugar to thicken it.
  • Bleeding colors – If your colors are bleeding into each other, then your icing is too runny.
  • Craters – This can happen for several reasons. I am a huge fan of the Graceful Baker when it comes to royal icing sugar cookies and she has a great post on how to prevent cratering. In fact, she has another excellent post on all royal icing troubleshooting.
Christmas sugar cookies decorated with royal icing. There are white snowflakes, red mittens, white mittens with red trim, and a green tree with white snow.

Egg Free Royal Icing

I actually have two royal icing recipes I’ve been using because I have a friend with a kiddo that can’t have eggs and it’s just a quick egg free royal icing recipe. However, when I’m really trying to impress, I stick with this recipe that has been hanging around in my old cooking world for forever.

Why Cream of Tartar in Royal Icing

Cream of tartar acts as a barrier, or an interfering agent against the crystallization of the sugar.

Royal Icing Tips

  1. Fill cookies so that the flood icing is pillowy and comes above the outline icing. Most people have a tendency to under-fill, which makes the cookie look flat. An under-iced cookie can sometimes show more imperfections as well. We aren’t filling evenly with the edge of the piped edges, but ABOVE it.
  2. Dry royal icing cookies in front of a heater fan for at least 1 hour so that the icing is beautiful and shiny. Cookies that are just air dried will be dull and matte on the surface.
  3. Do not do any detail work on top of the royal icing until the royal icing has dried for 2 hours. Otherwise, there may be some weak spots in the icing that might dimple under the pressure of the detail work.
  4. Use a lazy susan so that you can spin the cookie as you work. This allows you to turn the cookie without accidentally smudging it.

How Long Royal Icing Keeps

Storage: Unused royal icing should be stored in an airtight container. It really needs to be airtight or it will quickly dry out. I try to get it into piping bags as soon as I can. It can be safely stored at room temperature or you can be stored in the fridge.

Note: Once the royal icing has been applied to the cookies, DO NOT store in an airtight container. They need to sit out to dry for at least 8 hours in order for the icing to fully dry.

Re-mixing: As royal icing sits in the piping bags, it will separate. Before piping, massage the piping bags to re-mix the royal icing to reincorporate the water back into the icing.

Freezing: Royal icing can be frozen in airtight piping bags with as much of the air removed as possible. Let it thaw and then gently massage the icing bag until it’s fully incorporated.

Sugar cookies with royal icing can also be frozen. It’s crucial that the royal icing is dried completely. Then separate layers of cookies with parchment. They can be frozen for up to 3 months.

Christmas sugar cookies decorated with royal icing. There is a snowman with a green scarf, a green tree with white snow, a red mitten and a white mitten.

Tools for Making the Best Royal Icing Sugar Cookies

In addition to the heater fan and lazy susan that I previously mentioned, here are a few other tools you will want to have to decorate the most amazing sugar cookies with royal icing:

Shhhhh…don’t tell anyone, but I’ve already bought everything for myself. I think I’ll wrap them up for myself for Christmas. Ha! Any other moms out there do that? Just me?

A plate of Christmas sugar cookies decorated with royal icing. There is a snowman with green scarf, a snowflake with red accents, a green tree with white snow, a white mitten with red trim, and white snowflakes

No matter what season you’re baking for, this royal icing recipe will help you create cookies that look as good as they taste. With just a few simple ingredients and a bit of practice, you’ll be whipping up smooth, beautifully decorated designs for every holiday and celebration. Once you see how easy it is, you’ll never go back to store-bought icing again!

More Christmas Cookie Recipes

Watch How This Recipe is Made…

4.34 from 12 votes

Royal Icing Recipe

By Carrian Cheney
Prep15 minutes
Total15 minutes
Servings24
Pin Print
This easy Royal Icing recipe mixes up in minutes and dries with a smooth, glossy finish—perfect for outlining, flooding, and detailed cookie decorating.
Want to save this recipe?
Get this sent to your inbox, plus get new recipes from us every week!

Ingredients 

US Customary – Metric

Instructions 

  • In the bowl of an electric mixer with a whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites until foaming.
    3 Large Egg Whites
  • Turn the mixer off and add half of the powdered sugar. Whisk on low then turn off and add remaining powdered sugar, cream of tartar extracts and salt. Turn the mixer on and once incorporated, turn up to high and beat until the mixture is thick.
    3 ¾ Cups Powdered Sugar, ½ teaspoon Cream of Tartar, 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract, ¼ teaspoon Almond Extract, 1 Pinch Salt
  • Divide the coloring into small, plastic bowls. You'll want the thick icing (like toothpaste) for the outer edge and slightly more runny for the flooding of the center of the cookie.
    Food Gel Coloring
  • Using a very small tipped bag, (check out this reel on how to fill a bag the most incredible way ever) carefully draw around the cookie by touching the tip to the cookie, lifting up into the air and gently laying down in a straight line on the other end of the cookie, stopping to touch down at corners.
  • In another bowl, add a little water to thin the icing out a little and mixed to combine. Once the icing has reached the desired consistency, put it in a piping bag and flood the inside of the cookie, being sure it's taller than the outer edge you just created, yes, that's a lot, do it though!
    Water
  • Place the cookies aside to set completely if you want to add piped decorations, otherwise add sprinkles etc now. Also, if you're going to drag through and create a swirled design you'll also do it now while it's still wet.

Recipe Notes

  • Royal icing can be refrigerated for 5-7 days, however make sure it is stored in an airtight container or it will quickly dry out. 
  • To use stored icing: Using a standing mixer with the whisk attachment, whip the icing until it’s back to its original state. I like to set mine out for 10 minutes before doing this. 
  • Always use gel food coloring as the liquid does not work the same nor give off vibrant colors.
TOOLS:

Nutrition

Serving: 1g, Calories: 76kcal, Carbohydrates: 19g, Protein: 1g, Fat: 1g, Sodium: 9mg, Potassium: 17mg, Sugar: 18g, Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Like this? Leave a comment below!
Snowman and snowflake sugar cookies with royal icing

About The Author

Carrian Cheney

Carrian Cheney is the creative force behind ‘Oh, Sweet Basil,’ a food blog she co-authors with her husband, Cade. She creates fresh, family-friendly recipes that encourage togetherness in the kitchen.

More About Me

More Ideas

4.34 from 12 votes (12 ratings without comment)

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




4 Comments

  1. Cindy Hawks says:

    Raw egg in cookie icing is a potential health hazard and can cause severe illness. Raw egg can contain bacteria such as salmonella or campylobacter.

    Reply
    1. Sweet Basil says:

      With pasteurized eggs you’re extra safe because it’s the egg YOLKS that can occasionally have salmonella not the whites. Also, beating the heck out of them can help to kill any bacteria.

      We have another royal icing recipe in our sugar cookie post that doesn’t use egg if you want to avoid raw egg whites. https://ohsweetbasil.com/sugar-cookies/

      Reply
      1. Kay C says:

        Hi there,
        I see you have cream of tartar listed as one of the ingredients but it is not mentioned at all in the steps section. Is it part of the recipe? If so. When is it added? Before the 1st batch of powdered sugar is added or with the 1st batch??

      2. Sweet Basil says:

        Hi Kay! It is listed in the middle of step 2 when you add the second half of powdered sugar. Enjoy and happy holidays!