If you love baking, knowing how to make meringue is an essential skill to have. With just a few ingredients—egg whites, sugar, and sometimes cream of tartar or lemon juice—meringue may appear deceptively simple. But because of its delicate nature, this airy foam can also be difficult to get right. Meringue can deflate while it’s still in the mixing bowl, and once baked, it’s prone to cracking, collapsing, and weeping if prepared incorrectly. But even though it may seem intimidating, a little practice and some know-how are all you need to successfully make perfect, no-fail meringue.
There are different ways of making and serving meringue, but at its most basic, meringue is the result of egg whites and sugar that have been whipped together until they reach soft, medium, or stiff peaks. This whipped egg white foam is a fundamental French pastry technique, and serves as a base for many European desserts, including macarons, soufflés, dacquoise, buttercream, and more.
Below, you’ll find the ultimate guide on how to make the best meringue, including answers to some frequently asked questions, such as: Why do egg whites get foamy when whisked? Does it matter how long you whisk your egg whites? What causes a meringue to collapse? Knowing the answers will help you achieve the best meringue and help you better determine what kind of meringue you should use for different desserts. Once you master this technique, you’ll be able to whip up pavlova, batches of meringue cookies, and other impressive confections with both ease and confidence.
Let’s start with the three types of meringues: French, Swiss, and Italian.
The French style is typically used to make hard-shelled baked meringues (think meringue cookies) and is also incorporated into the batters of light, airy cakes like angel food cake or ladyfinger biscuits. When making a French meringue, Jacquy Pfeiffer, a pastry chef and author of The Art of French Pastry, relies on a ratio of two parts sugar to one part egg white. (So if you have a half cup of egg white, one cup of sugar will suffice.)
To make a French meringue, you’ll need three egg whites, one quarter teaspoon of cream of tartar, and a half cup of sugar. Place the egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat the egg whites on medium speed until frothy, around three minutes, then start adding your sugar. (More on that below.) Whisk until your meringue is glossy and holds stiff peaks. To check for peaks, remove the whisk attachment and hold it upright—the meringue should hold its shape. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, then use a star tip (or your preferred tip) to pipe meringue kisses, or use a spoon to spread out a large dollop of meringue for pavlova layers.
Pro tip: While many pastry chefs swear by slowly streaming the whole amount of sugar into their whisking egg whites all at once, Pfeiffer gently adds his sugar in three increments. “I divide the sugar into three equal portions rather than adding all the sugar in a slow stream; the results are more consistent,” he writes. “It requires patience—but what is there in pastry that does not?” Adding too much sugar at once can turn the egg whites heavy, making it more difficult for their proteins to coagulate and air bubbles to form, resulting in a foam that takes longer than usual to whip up.
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The Swiss method begins by whisking together the egg whites and sugar in a bowl, then heating it above a double boiler. Because the egg whites and sugar get mixed together at the beginning, Swiss meringue takes longer to whip up and must be heated to 140ºF, which is the temperature at which egg whites begin to coagulate and stabilize. Swiss meringues are great for making buttercreams and mousses and topping tarts and pies, such as lemon meringue pie.
Swiss Meringue Buttercream
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To make a Swiss meringue, you’ll need a candy thermometer. Place three room-temperature egg whites and a half cup of sugar in a heatproof bowl. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water, then whisk by hand. When the mixture reaches 140ºF (or, as a former pastry chef told me, when it’s just too warm to touch), transfer the egg whites to the bowl of a stand mixer and start whipping on medium speed until stiff peaks form. If you don’t have a stand mixer, a hand mixer will work too.
Pro tip: Some pastry chefs will take the temperature of their egg white-sugar mixture all the way to 170ºF or 175ºF, which results in a more voluminous, glossy, and stable meringue. If you go this route, stir constantly and keep a watchful eye on your egg whites.
