Think meringue is too fiddly or time consuming to make from scratch? Think again! You’re just three ingredients away from making perfect meringues every time with this easy basic meringue recipe.
- Perfect proportions: This recipe can easily to doubled to make more meringues or nests – just follow the proportions carefully.
- Flexible recipe: Use as a base for a pavlova or see Tips for how to create meringue nests. It’s a blank canvas: top with whipped cream and fresh fruit, sliced bananas and toffee sauce or whatever you fancy!
- Easy variations: We’ve used vanilla extract to add flavour, but see the ideas below for easy twists on the recipe, including coconut and chocolate meringues.
Simple and foolproof, this recipe is a user favourite. Here’s what one cook had to say:
- “I’ve tried lots of meringue recipes before that haven’t worked so well, but this one works extremely well! The secret seems to be to add the sugar one tablespoon at a time, and whisking well in between. The meringues puffed up beautifully (and stayed that way), and were lovely and crisp on the outside, slightly soft in the centre.”
When you’ve mastered the basic recipe, be inspired by the ideas in our best meringue collection, including fruity pavlovas, pies and classic eton mess.
Ingredients
- 3 large, organic egg whites
- 175g white caster sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
Method
- Preheat the oven to 140°C/fan 120°C/gas 1. In a large, grease-free mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks. While continuously whisking, slowly add the caster sugar – 1 tbsp at a time – until you have a stiff, glossy meringue mixture. Whisk in the vanilla extract until combined.
- Line a baking tray with baking paper, fixing it in place with a tiny blob of meringue in each corner (see the video below). Using a metal spoon, place 6 craggy dollops of meringue on the baking paper, well spaced apart.
- Bake for 1¼ hours for mallowy centres, or 1½ hours if you prefer crisper meringues. Peel off the baking paper, then transfer the mallowy meringues to a wire rack to cool, or leave the crisp ones in the turned-off oven for at least 4 hours to cool slowly, then transfer to a wire rack.
Browse more of our best meringue recipes, including eton mess and chocolate meringue pie.
FAQs
It is best to use French meringue when the meringue will be cooked further, either on a pie or to make crisp meringues (for nests, shards etc). If not cooking further, you should use Swiss or Italian meringue.
French, Swiss, Italian (there are others but these are considered the main ones). French meringue is made with raw egg whites and sugar. Swiss meringue is made when eggs and sugar are cooked together before being whipped to cool (this type or meringue is the most dense and more stable than French meringue). Italian meringue is made with a hot sugar syrup being added to whipped egg whites. This cooks the eggs and creates the most stable of all three meringue types.
No, but it can help to stabilise the egg whites.
Meringue is crisp and might have a chewy centre (depending on how long it’s cooked for) while pavlova has the addition of cornflour and vinegar, resulting in a thinner crust and a soft mallow middle.
Cook for less time. The less cooking, the more chewy it will be in the centre.
It makes a stable foam so that the meringue better holds its shape (same as creme of tartar and lemon juice aka acid).
About 60g of sugar to 1 egg white; this recipe uses 175g for 3 large egg whites.
Bake this recipe for 1¼ hours for mallowy centres, or 1½ hours if you prefer crisper meringues.
Beat the eggs white until the hold soft peaks (that flop over when you hold up the whisk) before beginning to add sugar.
Nutrition
- 121kcals Calories
- trace (trace saturated) Fat
- 1.6g Protein
- 30.6g (30.6g sugars) Carbs
- 0.1g Salt
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Reviews
Tried meringue before and not had a lot of success, but this was spot on first time.
My first time making meringue and this recipe worked perfectly, thank u!
Very good app will thought out app More recipies please
I’ve tried lots of meringue recipes before, that haven’t worked so well, but this one works extremely well! The secret seems to be to add the sugar one tablespoon at a time, and whisk well inbetween. The meringues puffed up beautifully (and stayed that way), and were lovely and crisp on the outside, slightly soft in the centre. I left some in the oven (switched off after cooking) overnight, and they came out completely crisp, all the way through.
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