Learn How To Make Vegan Royal Icing! An easy to make royal icing recipe without eggs, and dairy. It is perfectly smooth and whipped together in minutes. The icing is suitable to decorate sugar cookies with, hold together a gingerbread house or decorate a cake. It is easily colored, flavored, and manipulated to suit your needs.
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💡 The recipe in a nutshell
- Vegan (eggless and dairy free)
- Easy to make
- Beautiful, shiny, and versatile
- Ready in just minutes
- Easy instructions on how to make vegan royal icing
Using Aquafaba instead of egg whites
Aquafaba is a combination of the words “aqua” and “faba” which are Latin for “water” and “bean” respectively. Its name describes perfectly what it is: bean water! When you cook beans, the cooking water absorbs some of the proteins and allows the liquid to imitate qualities of egg whites.
The most common place to find and use aquafaba is inside a can of chickpeas! However, the liquid inside many other canned beans like black beans, cannellini beans, or soybeans is also considered aquafaba.
Tom from Projectveganbaking wrote an excellent and detailed article on the science behind aquafaba, which I totally recommend you to read if you want to learn more!
Why use Aquafaba?
Chickpeas have become the default aquafaba legume for a few reasons. One is that the liquid from cooked chickpeas is clear with a yellow tinge making it look very similar to egg whites. Another reason is that chickpea aquafaba turns white when whipped. Many other beans have murky or a more deeply colored bean liquid.
The potency of aquafaba varies a lot between the different types (and different brands) of cans. You’re looking for a liquid that is mildly viscous and not super watery. Chickpea liquid tends to be relatively reliable in thickness, and often produces the best results when whipped.
Lastly, chickpeas are a popular food in a vegan kitchen, and most of us always have some cans on hand.
Serving ideas
Use this royal icing to decorate your Christmas cookies or gingerbread cookies. Or, make seasonal sugar cookies like egg shapes, color your royal icing and create easter cookies. If you are looking for a gluten-free cookie recipe to decorate, try these coconut flour shortbread cookies!
🥣 Storage
Store in an airtight container with a lid in the fridge for up to 10 days. Let come to room temperature before adding water to thin icing for cookie decorating as desired.
📖 Recipe
How To Make Vegan Royal Icing
Equipment
- Electric mixer with whisk attachment, mixing bowl
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoon aquafaba (chickpea brine) (45 ml)
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 2 cups organic powdered sugar (340g)
- ¼ teaspoon lemon extract, or juice
- vegan food gel colors (like chefmaster) for coloring
Instructions
- In a clean bowl with an electric mixer (fitted with the whisk attachment), whisk aquafaba and cream of tartar until foamy in consistency.
- Sift powdered sugar cup by cup into the aquafaba foam. Once all powdered sugar is added, whisk on high speed for 5 minutes scraping down the sides of the bowl if needed.
- Add the lemon extract (or juice) and mix for another minute.
- Transfer to a piping back, start coloring, or store in an airtight container in the fridge. It keeps fresh for 1 week in the fridge and up to 3 months in the freezer. Adjust the consistency of the icing as needed, by adding a few drops of water, lemon juice, or food gel color at a time.
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I love how easy this is to make and it's perfect for sugar cookies!
Thank you so much Holly!
This vegan icing is perfect for my gingerbread house. Thanks for sharing. I can’t wait to try this.
Yay! I'm sure it will be the most beautiful gingerbread house. Thank you for your feedback.
I looooove sugar cookies! This vegan royal icing is perfect and I love how simple it is to make.
Me too! Sugar cookies are so tasty and so much fun to make, right? Thank you for your feedback!
This vegan royal icing is perfection! So easy to make! Thank you for the easy step-by-step instructions on how to make homemade vegan icing.
I am so happy to hear, thank you Marinela!
This icing is the absolute best! So so good!
Yay, that makes me so happy to hear! Thank you, Andrea.