Easy Homemade Royal Icing Recipe

Learn how to make icing with this easy recipe for Royal Icing. Great to use with our sugar cookie recipe. Find all the ingredients to make both in your pantry!

Do you want to learn how to make icing? Well, this homemade icing is so simple to make! You probably have all of the ingredients to make this icing in your pantry right now.

You will find that it will take you the same amount of time to make this icing as it would take to get in your car, go to the store, pay and come back home. Believe me, I know that buying icing is so easy and it is inexpensive! Sometimes the convenience of *not* having to buy something is more convenient!

Learn how to make icing with this easy recipe for Royal Icing. Great to use with our sugar cookie recipe. Find all the ingredients to make both in your pantry!

Easy Royal Icing Ingredients

Use our favorite long handle measuring spoons to measure and stir the ingredients together without much mess!

Easy Royal Icing Directions

  1. In a large mixing bowl, add your powdered sugar.
  2. Slowing add in your milk, corn syrup, and almond extract while mixing with a hand mixer on low.
  3. Once all your ingredients are mixed well you can turn up the mixer a notch.
  4. After about a minutes you should have a thick smooth icing.
  5. Separate your icing into 4 small bowls, add a drop of your food coloring to each one and mix.
  6. Carefully pour your icing into your decorating bottle or icing bags and have fun decorating!

How to Make Easy Royal Icing for Decorating Sugar Cookies

The colors are only limited by your imagination especially if you have a large pack of food coloring gels! Pick up these plastic squeeze bottles to make decorating less messy too!

This homemade icing recipe is a go-to recipe we use every single year! Use it to make icing for sugar cookies or for decorating goodies that call for icing. It's super easy because that's all I have time to do!

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Easy Homemade Royal Icing Recipe

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Learn how to make icing with this easy Royal Icing recipe. It is great to make for decorating sugar cookies!

  • Author: Savings Lifestyle: Andrea

Ingredients

Scale

Instructions

  1. In a large mixing bowl, add your powdered sugar.
  2. Slowing add in your milk, corn syrup, and almond extract while mixing with a hand mixer on low.
  3. Once all your ingredients are mixed well you can turn up the mixer a notch.
  4. After about a minutes you should have a thick smooth icing.
  5. Separate your icing into 4 small bowls, add a drop of your food coloring to each one and mix.
  6. Carefully pour your icing into your decorating bottle or icing bags and have fun decorating!

Notes

Use our favorite long handle measuring spoons to measure and stir the ingredients together without much mess!

Did you make this?

Share a photo in the comments if you made this so we can see!!

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33 Comments

  1. Hey Andrea, thanks for the recipe, just wanted to add for those who can’t use corn products or do not have any corn syrup that simple syrup works well and it is simply made with sugar. The result was still great, thank you for the tip on using plastic squirt bottles!

  2. Thanks, I will cook it for my family
    Hope they like it ;)

  3. Can you make this without the almond extract?

    1. Will this turn hard on cookies…. I am looking for one that won’t be siogt

  4. Hi. I want to ask if is royal using too stiff for russian icing tips? Thank you. I just start cupcakes and cakes business (so far I’m still working on my web site) ;)

    1. Hi Lucia, I don’t know if this would work with russian icing tips. It’s a true royal icing that has more of a liquidy texture.

  5. Do you know how long the icing keeps? I️ would like to make it a day n advance of using.
    Thanks! Sounds yummy!

  6. Does this have to be stored in the refrigerator or is it ok out? Also does it harden to be able to stack cookies???

    1. Lindsay, it’s ok to keep out for a while as we did just this past weekend. It does harden on the cookies so you will need to leave them out for a while to dry and then you can stack them just fine.

  7. Can you make the icing in advance and store in the squeeze bottles? How can you bring the icing back to life to continue icing cookies?

    1. K, yes you can make in advance and store in the squeeze bottles. If it becomes too thick, add a tablespoon of milk to it and shake up.

  8. Does this harden on cookies the way royal icing with egg yolk does?

  9. It’s it good for piping and flooding do I have to changing anything

    1. Alicia, this icing won’t be good for icing as it is runny but it hardens. You will want to either apply with a squirt bottle like is shown in the picture or use a knife and spread around.

  10. Thank You for sharing!






    1. Will this icing crust at all? For intricate decorating.

  11. Edith Puchy says:

    Can you use water instead of milk?
    Thank you.

  12. I made the icing using Wilton die. The colors bleed after a day. Do you know why it would do this? TIA

  13. Hi, can I freeze the icing and reuse?

  14. Pat Schebbuenner says:

    Thank for sharing, I tried another recipe yesterday which made of icing sugar and butter with some milk. The consistant was not settled and took many hours to get dry. So im going to try this one today.

  15. Michelle Aquilino says:

    How long does it take to harden?

  16. Can Almond milk be used instead of milk?






  17. Love this recipe. Has made icing cookies so much easier. Once they have time to dry they stack fine. My family loves it!!

  18. Could this be used for gingerbread houses?

  19. Leecia Arnett says:

    Baking cookies & looking for icing, this is the one that I use. I can’t use Almond extract, NUT ALLERGY. What else can I use?

  20. Blanca Elias says:

    I followed your recipe last night and It’s super easy to make but, I found the consistency a little bit runny… Should I add more flower next time to thicken up?






  21. hi ,thanks for the recipe but can i use honey instead of corn syrup..

  22. Debra Herring says:

    How long until dry so I can pack them??

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