Easy Meringue Recipe | Just Easy Recipes (2024)

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Below you will find all sorts of tips for making perfect meringues! I used to feature a recipe on this website that used 1 egg white but now that I have learnt more about meringue making and the science of it, I realise that the recipe used too much sugar and not enough egg whites, so I have updated the recipe so the egg white to sugar ratio is correct. The difference is jaw-droppingly incredible.

Beating Time and Overwhipping

Best Egg Whites for whipping

Stablising the whipped foam
In order to stabilise the whipped meringue mixture (which is essentially a foam) before it goes into the oven, we need to add an acid.Some recipes call for cream of tartar, lemon juice or white vinegar. The recipe used here has white vinegar added.

Clean Bowl – no fats / grease
Make sure that you use a very clean mixing bowl. Any grease of even egg yolk which contains the fats, can prevent the egg whites from foaming up to their full potential.

Shaping / Piping the Meringue
There are various ways you can shape your meringues…I used to always pipe my meringue mixture with a plain round nozzle which gives a very traditional shape. Using a star nozzle lends a more sophisticated look. Holding the nozzle quite close to the pan, squeeze out the meringue for a count of 3 and pull the nozzle away to finish it off with the wispy tail. Alternately, you can make “rustic” looking meringues as in the photos I have here where I simply dropped a few tablespoons of the mixture onto the wax paper and smoothed them with the back of a spoon. This shape suits a slighly larger meringue and the piped versions are great for smaller meringue “kisses” or if you need to pipe pavlovas.

Hard Meringues Vs Soft Meringues (Chewy vs Crispy)
Hard and crispy meringues result from longer cooking times, usually at lower temperatures and sometimes, more sugar in the recipe. Soft and chewy meringues, yes you guessed, have shorter cooking times and slightly higher baking temperatures and in some recipes the ratio of egg whites to sugar goes down to 1:1 – that results in an extremely soft meringue. So if you are not happy with the softness/hardness of your meringues, you can easily adjust the baking time to suit.

Lower Shelf
Place meringues on the lower shelf of the oven and keep the oven closed as meringues don’t like humidity. As a side note to that, it may be better to make meringues on less humid days.

Storage of Meringues

Meringues can be stored in an airtight container for a few weeks if they are well dried – perfect for making now and eating/serving later!

Types of Meringue

French Meringue– This is the one thatmost people are familiar with. The recipe is this post, is a typical French Meringue recipe. The egg whites are whipped until soft peaks are formed and then caster sugar is added slowly, in betweenmixing until stiff peaks form. It is piped into meringues kisses or cookies or shaped into a pavlova and baked.

Swiss Meringueis denser than French meringue and is often used as a meringue icing. Egg whites and sugar are mixed gently in a bowl over heat – with the bowl sitting above a pot of boiling water but not actually touching the water. Once the sugar has dissolved, the mixture is removed from the heat and whipped until stiff peaks form. This method results in a glossier and smoother meringue.

Italian Meringueoffers the most stable meringue. Egg whites are whipped until they formsoftpeaks and then hot sugar syrup (115°C) is slowly mixed into the egg whites until the meringue mixture has reached stiff peaks and is smooth, glossy, and cool to the touch. Like the Swiss Meringue, it is perfect for icing cakes because of its stability and dense texture and is also often used to lighten mousses.

Keen to make a Pavlova? Try out this easy Pavlova recipe which you will note has cornstarch in it (that is to help stabilise the larger base)

Economical Meringue Recipe

This meringue recipe is my old recipe and I call it economical because it has just one egg white where most meringue recipes use 3-4 egg whites to get the egg white to sugar ratio correct. This recipe still works well but will yield a harder meringue because of the large amount of sugar. Beat 1 egg white until soft peaks form, then add 1 tsp vinegar (to stabilise the foam) then add 1 cup of caster sugar but only add 1 tablespoon at a time and then mix. It is a slow process. Once you have reached stiff peaks, add 2 tbs boiling water and 1 tsp vanilla essence and mix through. Pipe into meringue shapes and bake at 125°C for 50 minutes and then allow to cool.

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