This quick and easy vegan royal icing recipe is made with a few simple ingredients and makes beautifully decorated cookies! Traditional royal icing recipes use egg whites as the base ingredient for the icing, but this recipe simply uses water to achieve a similar effect. Decorate the most colorful holiday cookies with this simple and easy recipe!
I've tried many different methods for royal icing over the years, like using aquafaba or Ener-G egg replacer instead of the egg whites. After experimenting with many different methods, I've found that water has a similar effect and it actually makes smoother royal icing without air bubbles. I also like to keep my cookies at room temperature for a few days without worrying about anything in the icing needing refrigeration.
You can use this royal icing on my easy vegan sugar cookies, vegan shortbread cookies, or vegan gingerbread men.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Powdered Sugar - to make it sweet. You must use powdered sugar for this no other sweetener will work. (Most organic brands of powdered sugar are vegan, but they also tend to be lumpy. You will want to sift the sugar to get the clumps out before you make the icing).
- Water - to make the sugar wet and turn it into a paste. (You can also use any plant-based milk if you would like for a little more flavor).
- Corn Syrup or Agave Nectar - to make it sticky and shiny. (optional)
- Extract - for flavor. Add vanilla, almond, peppermint, or orange extract for a hit of flavor in your icing. (optional)
- Food Coloring - to make your icing different colors. Be sure to look for vegan food coloring.
Tools
- Flour Sifter or Wire Mesh Strainer - to sift the clumps out of the powdered sugar.
- Pipping Bags or Ziploc Bags - to pipe the icing onto your cookies.
How do make vegan royal icing?
- Sift the powdered sugar into a medium-sized mixing bowl.
- Add the water, corn syrup, and extract and stir with a fork until it forms a smooth paste.
- Add a few extra drops of water until you get a glue-like consistency for piping.
- Divide the white icing into smaller bowls and add 2-3 drops of food coloring to each one and stir well to get different colors.
- Put the icing into piping bags (or Ziploc bags with a tiny hole cut in the corner) and pipe onto your favorite cut out cookies.
Pro Tips
- Make the icing thick to start and use the thicker icing to pipe the outer edges of the cookies. Then add another drop or two of water to make the icing slightly thinner to use to flood the inside of the cookie with icing.
- Add a drop or two of water to thin out the icing or a few more teaspoons of powdered sugar to thicken it if you get it too thin.
- Add vegan sprinkles to the cookies immediately after piping on the royal icing so that they stick better.
- When decorating cookies with kids - I like to make up a double batch of the royal icing and fill up little snack-sized ziplock bags with the icing. I make a least 2 bags of each color so they aren't fighting over the same color. Also, be sure to cut a very small hole in the bag so they don't squeeze too much out at once.
Storing Cookies with Royal Icing
After you decorate your cookies, leave out uncovered for a few hours until they dry out a little. Once the top layer is dry, they will no longer be sticky and you can carefully stack them in a container. The royal icing will keep well at room temperature for about 3 days, in the fridge for about 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Tip - Place a piece of parchment paper between the layers of cookies to make sure they don't stick together if you are stacking them.
Note: I must be honest about royal icing... it's beautiful and it makes the prettiest cookies, but it just doesn't taste as good as frosting. If you want a beautifully decorated cut out cookie that looks like it came from a bakery, then use this vegan royal icing recipe for sure. However, if you want an amazing tasting frosting for your cookies, I highly recommend my vegan buttercream frosting. We usually do one batch with royal icing for the fun of decorating and then do another batch with buttercream, because it simply tastes better.
More Vegan Cookie Recipes
- Vegan Snickerdoodles
- Vegan Oatmeal Cookies
- Creme de Menthe Squares
- Vegan Chocolate Cookies
- Vegan Thumbprint Cookies
Subscribe to my email list to get my free eBook “The Beginner’s Guide to Homemade Vegan Staples” or if you are ready to fully dive into making your own vegan cheese and other vegan staples, check out my cookbooks.
A smooth colorful icing used to frost cutout cookies.
- 2 cups powdered sugar sifted
- 2 tablespoons corn syrup or agave nectar
- 2 tablespoons water or plant-based milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or any other flavor of choice
-
Sift the powdered sugar into a medium-sized mixing bowl.
-
Add the water, corn syrup, and extract and stir with a fork until it forms a smooth paste.
-
Add a few extra drops of water until you get a glue-like consistency for piping.
-
Divide the white icing into smaller bowls and add 2-3 drops of food coloring to each one and stir well to get different colors.
-
Put the icing into piping bags (or Ziploc bags with a tiny hole cut in the corner) and pipe onto your favorite cut out cookies.
-
Use this frosting to decorate vegan sugar cookies or vegan shortbread cookies.
- Make the icing thick to start and use the thicker icing to pipe the outer edges of the cookies. Then add another drop or two of water to make the icing slightly thinner to use to flood the inside of the cookie with icing.
- Add a drop or two of water to thin out the icing or a few more tbsp of powdered sugar to thicken it if you get it too thin.
- Add sprinkles to the cookies immediately after piping on the royal icing so that they stick better.
- When decorating cookies with kids - I like to make up a double batch of the royal icing and fill up little snack-sized ziplock bags with the icing. I make a least 2 bags of each color so they aren't fighting over the same color. Also, be sure to cut a very small hole in the bag so they don't squeeze too much out at once.
