The Best Royal Icing Recipe for Gingerbread Houses! (2024)

4.50 from 2 votes

By: Melissa Griffiths

Prep: 15 minutes mins

Total: 15 minutes mins

Servings: 1 (About 4 cups, enough for 1 small to medium gingerbread house)

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For the royal icing using meringue powder:

• ▢ 4 cups powdered sugar, confectioner’s sugar (1 pound)
• ▢ 3 tablespoons meringue powder
• ▢ 10-15 tablespoons water

For the royal icing using egg whites:

• ▢ 4 cups powdered sugar, confectioner’s sugar (1 pound)
• ▢ 3 egg whites
• ▢ 5-10 tablespoons water

To make royal icing with meringue powder:

• Add your powdered sugar and meringue powder to a large mixing bowl. Add 10 tablespoons of water to the bowl.

• Use a stand mixer or a hand mixer to beat until well incorporated. If the icing is very crumbly, add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time until it creates a thick but smooth icing. I normally end up adding 4 more tablespoons of water and sometimes the full 5, it’ll depend on how you measured your powdered sugar though.

• Beat until the icing is shiny, about 6-8 minutes with a stand mixer and 8-10 minutes with with a hand mixture.

• The icing should be thick but not so thick you can’t stir it with a spoon. Adjust the constancy as needed.

• When you aren’t working with your royal icing place a clean wet dish towel over the top of the icing so that it doesn’t start to harden. You can also press a piece of plastic wrap against the top of the icing.

To make royal icing with egg whites:

• Add your egg whites and powdered sugar to a large mixing bowl. Add 5 tablespoons of water to the bowl.

• Use a stand mixer or a hand mixer to beat until well incorporated. If the icing is very crumbly, add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time until it creates a thick but smooth icing. I normally end up adding 4 more tablespoons of water and sometimes the full 5, it’ll depend on how you measured your powdered sugar though.

• Beat until the icing is shiny, about 6-8 minutes with a stand mixer and 8-10 minutes with with a hand mixture.

• The icing should be thick but not so thick you can’t stir it with a spoon. Adjust the constancy as needed.

• When you aren’t working with your royal icing place a clean wet dish towel over the top of the icing so that it doesn’t start to harden. You can also press a piece of plastic wrap against the top of the icing.

• You can have NO LEFTOVER GREASE in your bowls, on your spoons, or in your icing bags. I keep separate icing bags just for royal icing because buttercream is so hard to clean off the plastic. You can also have NO TRACE OF EGG YOLK if you are using egg whites in your icing. That little bit of fat, either from the yolk or leftover on your bowls will ruin the batch of icing and keep it from setting up properly. You’ll only make this mistake once!
• The goal for the icing is for it to be thick but not so thick that you can’t get it to pipe out of your bag. If it’s too thick you can’t work with it, and if it’s too thin it doesn’t work either. I go for an icing that I can stir relatively easy with a metal teaspoon but the spoon will also stand up in the icing in the bowl.
• When you are ready to put your house together, put about 2 cups of your royal icing in a piping bag or a good quality freezer zipper-topped plastic bag. Use a frosting tip that is about ½ inch wide circle or cut about ½ inch off the tip of one corner of your baggie. If the hole is too small it’s really hard to get the icing to come out. I do this bigger tip for assembling the house and move to a smaller tip when I’m ready to add decorations and candy.
• You can use raw egg whites or pasteurized eggs whites depending on what you are comfortable with.
• Get my gingerbread house recipe here (with 2 free house templates you can just print out!)
• Need candy ideas for decorating your house? Here’s the best candies for gingerbread houses.