Basic meringue

Name: Basic meringue
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 h 15 min
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: British recipes

Think meringue is too fiddly or time consuming to make from scratch for a pavlova or roulade? Think again!

Make perfect meringues every time, with this easy basic meringue recipe.

Then as soon as you’re feeling like a pro, be inspired by the recipes in our marvellous meringue collection – over 30 to browse.

Ingredients

Preheat the oven to 140°C/fan120°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 (we have a short video showing this technique). 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.

Preheat the oven to 140°C/fan120°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 (we have a short video showing this technique). 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.

To make these meringues into nests, make the recipe up until the end of step 2 (dolloping the meringues onto the lined baking sheet). Using the back of a metal spoon, press the centre of each meringue down, making a shallow hollow and creating a ‘nest effect’. Continue with step 3.

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Reviews

Read what others say...

jnout@orcon.net.nz says:

5th Aug 2020 at 5:38 am

Tried meringue before and not had a lot of success, but this was spot on first time.

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Anny Sudz says:

28th Apr 2020 at 4:18 pm

My first time making meringue and this recipe worked perfectly, thank u!

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Peter Duggan says:

14th Jun 2018 at 3:38 pm

Very good app will thought out app
More recipies please

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Ruth Farajian says:

27th Nov 2017 at 2:12 pm

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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Paula Casamento says:

19th Jun 2015 at 2:09 pm

I love this recipe because I had never mastered meringue until I tried this!

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