29 Recipes With Meringue That Are Airy, Sweet Perfection

In its simplest form, meringue is a combination of egg whites and sugar, whipped to an airy fluff. The following meringue recipes take things a step further. While the base recipe’s ingredient list is short, learning how to make properly whipped meringue takes time and patience. And once perfected, oh, the places you’ll go. From the shatteringly crisp lands of striped and dipped meringue cookies to the undulating swoops of meringue buttercream to the airy plateaus of meringue-lifted lemon chiffon. Best of all, you can make many of these desserts with meringue in advance.

A quick guide to the terms you’ll see here: French meringue consists of room-temperature egg whites whipped with sugar. This style is quick, easy, and very light but less stable than others. Swiss meringue is made by stirring the egg whites and sugar over a double boiler until the sugar dissolves, then whipping the mixture until cool. To make Italian meringue, you’ll make a sugar syrup, then slowly drizzle the piping hot mixture into a bowl of whipping egg whites until they’ve reached your desired stiffness and volume. There are other styles, but these are the three most common; any of them may contain cream of tartar (an acidic powder that helps stabilize the foam and is sometimes replaced with lemon juice or a few drops of vinegar) and salt or vanilla for flavor.

You can also turn any meringue into frosting for cakes, cookies, and more. (Find our recipes for Swiss Meringue Buttercream and Italian Meringue Buttercream here.) Many professional bakers consider Italian meringue the most stable of the three. Meanwhile, cooks praise the Swiss variation for its glossy finish. Since making Swiss and Italian meringue requires heating them to a particular temperature, they’re safe to eat out of the bowl. French meringue, however, must be cooked before consuming.