Royal icing is perfect for decorating sugar cookies, birthday cakes, and countless other tasty treats. Whether you’re whipping up a strawberry shortcake, icing Christmas cookies, or frosting a birthday cake, you’ll want this silky smooth concoction in your arsenal.
These easy vegan royal icing recipes include a multitude of variations that let anyone, regardless of dietary restrictions enjoy royal icing.
1. Vegan Royal Icing by Cooking on Caffeine
This recipe by Cooking on Caffeine is a great introduction to the mechanics of making vegan royal icing.
Standard royal icing requires the use of egg whites. Instead of that animal-derived product, many vegan chefs use aquafaba. Aquafaba is the water left in a can of chickpeas, also known as garbanzo beans.
2. Vegan Royal Icing by Wallflower Kitchen
Wallflower Kitchen introduces a substitute for aquafaba. Glycerin also has the perfect sticky texture to make vegan royal icing taste as good, if not better, than a standard recipe. Just remember that glycerin is a sugar alcohol, so this is definitely for the more indulgent treats in your kitchen!
3. Vegan Royal Icing by The Hidden Veggies
This recipe from The Hidden Veggies is not only vegan, but due to the nature of its components, it also does not require refrigeration.
If you’ve ever decorated sugar cookies with royal icing before, you know how much of a perk that is. Between flooding, piping different layers, and transportation, keeping everything safe and pristine is a challenge. Yet another way going vegan can be a boost!
4. Vegan Royal Icing by Green Smoothie Gourmet
Elevate this two-ingredient icing recipe by blending with fruit to give it body, color, and flavor. For a delicious vegan birthday cake, consider throwing in the birthday person’s favorite seasonal picks for a stunningly fresh flavor.
5. Egg-Free Vegan Royal Icing by Happy Food Happy Life
Happy Food Happy Life introduces a set of substitutions to stand in for the thickening agent of meringue. They suggest using xanthan gum and arrowroot powder.
Though these ingredients may sound unfamiliar, you’ve likely had them many times before. Xanthan gum is in a wide variety of foods, acting as an ingredient to make foods chewy and bouncy. Arrowroot powder is where tapioca comes from. Bubble tea, anyone?
6. Vegan Royal Icing by Plant Based Folk
This recipe by Plant Based Folk recommends trying a variety of flavors with your vegan royal icing recipe. Vanilla, almond, and citrus are common add-ins. However, have you ever considered flavoring your icing to be mint or caramel flavored? Experiment with different extracts to make your vegan royal icing your own.
7. Vegan Royal Icing by Delightful Adventures
Not only do Delightful Adventures describe how to whip up your vegan royal icing, but they also advise on how to create your homemade aquafaba should you have a disliking for the canned variety. Soaking chickpeas in water creates a delightful, home-sourced alternative for eggs!
8. Vegan Royal Icing Recipe by The Conscious Plant Kitchen
The Conscious Plant Kitchen continues to push the envelope when it comes to alternatives for eggs in vegan royal icing. They advise the use of soy cream. Soy cream contains thickeners that set it apart from plant-based kinds of milk.
9. Vegan Eggless Royal Icing by Haniela’s
Haniela’s provides an excellent step-by-step that breaks down the process of transforming aquafaba into a delicious royal icing perfect for decorating cookies.
While the original recipe does call for vanilla extract, Haniela’s mentions that any flavor extract can work for this recipe. In the summer, a lemon shortbread cookie pairs perfectly with royal icing infused with orange blossom extract. Almond extract is another popular flavor, provided that those enjoying the cookies have no nut allergies.
10. Vegan/Eggless Royal Icing by Food.com
This corn syrup-based recipe is a great alternative for those who may not want to work with aquafaba or may just happen to have more corn syrup on hand. Both corn syrup and aquafaba make for great bases for a vegan royal icing. This recipe also suggests using powdered dye to create vivid colors for your confections.
11. Vegan Royal Icing by The Banana Diaries
With just two ingredients, this recipe by The Banana Diaries is sure to be a quick undertaking.
They also include lots of tips on decorating with vegan royal icing. Whether you’re switching from animal-based to vegan icing, or have simply never worked with royal icing at all before, The Banana Diaries does a great job of breaking down the steps needed to make your bakes shine!
12. Vegan Royal Icing by Namely Marly
This innovative recipe by Namely Marly includes a vegan egg replacer that acts as a substitute for the usual meringue in a royal icing recipe. This pre-made powder expedites the process of whipping up vegan royal icing immensely.
Namely Marly also recommends using organic food dye for the best results in terms of color, while abstaining from altering the flavor of the result.
13. Vegan Royal Icing by Vegan Somehow
This recipe from Vegan Somehow is another aquafaba one, but rather than the water often used in vegan royal icing recipes, they introduce a new source of flavor. Using plant-based milk to serve as the liquid component allows for a new vector for flavor.
Almond, oat, and soy milk, flavored or plain, can all influence the final product to create a new, delicious variety of royal icing.
14. How to Make Vegan Royal Icing by The Simple Sprinkle
German-born food blogger Jacqui from The Simple Sprinkle has a simple, yet spectacular vegan royal icing recipe.
Aquafaba and cream of tartar are blended using a whisk. Electric mixers are great for this as the time needed to form stiff peaks can be extensive even with motorized aid, let alone when hand whisking.
15. Vegan Royal Icing (Egg Free) by A Saucy Kitchen
Not only does A Saucy Kitchen have a great vegan royal icing recipe, but they also take the time to try to explain why chickpea water can replicate an unfertilized chicken egg.
The predominant theory is that both substances, aquafaba and chicken eggs, have high protein and starch content. These macromolecules combine resulting in the aeration necessary for that classic fluffy meringue texture.
16. Vegan Royal Icing with Corn Syrup or Golden Syrup by Sugar Flowers Workshop
This recipe from Sugar Flowers Workshop is unique in its inclusion of golden syrup as an element in its vegan royal icing recipe. Golden syrup is not a purchasable ingredient like aquafaba or corn syrup, but rather something made in your kitchen.
Golden syrup is made using granulated sugar, water, and lemon. Sugar and water are heated together until the sugar dissolves and the concoction starts to bubble. After a period of boiling, the syrup will be ready. When the golden syrup gets removed from the stove, the bubbly concoction will quickly cool into a sticky syrup perfect for stiff peaks.
17. Easy Vegan Royal Icing by Baked by Clo
In this recipe by Baked by Clo, whipping up vegan royal icing truly could not be simpler. Aquafaba, cream of tartar, and vanilla are frothed together. Half of the confectioner’s sugar is added and gently folded in, followed by the second half. Then the entirety of the mixture is whipped together.
After that, it’s ready for gel food coloring and to be piped!
18. Vegan Royal Icing Recipe by A Beautiful Mess
Not only does A Beautiful Mess provide a vegan royal icing recipe that is easy to follow and fun to whip up, but they also provide instructions on decorating vegan sugar cookies using the icing.
19. Easy Vegan Royal Icing by This Wife Cooks
This recipe by This Wife Cooks features corn syrup and almond extract. They say that this recipe, when made as directed, creates the perfect icicle drips for the edge of the roof of a gingerbread house. This recipe is great for holiday-themed baking.
20. Perfect Two Ingredient Vegan Royal Icing by Bake Angel
Made with just two simple ingredients, this vegan royal icing recipe by Bake Angel is hard to beat. Bake Angel is a precise chef who recommends weighing ingredients rather than measuring as well as sifting all dry ingredients before combining them.
21. Vegan Royal Icing with Aquafaba by The Berry Baker
The Berry Baker truly stands apart. No corn syrup or aquafaba here; the Berry Baker uses a different substitute entirely. This recipe features Versawhip 600k, a molecular gastronomy ingredient that gives vegan royal icing and other vegan recipes a delightful body.
Versawhip 600k does not affect the flavor of the final product and it gives the texture an impossibly satiny finish.
22. Vegan Royal Icing by Yoga Journal
Xanthan gum lends a hand in this vegan royal icing recipe by Yoga Journal. This recipe is simple, if relatively unconventional. Confectioner’s sugar, cornstarch, xanthan gum, and salt are masterfully combined with trickles of water until the icing is ready for piping.
This recipe, as it is, is ideal for the construction of gingerbread houses. Even though many vegan royal icings work great for flat decorations, the stiffness of this xanthan gum recipe truly works architectural wonders.
23. Vegan Royal Icing Recipe by Tikkido
This recipe offers alternatives to the cream of tartar standard in royal icing recipes. Tikkido explains that the role of the cream of tartar is to introduce acid into the reaction that produces that ideal royal icing texture. Substitutes, then, include any palatable acid. Tikkido recommends lemon juice and white vinegar.
24. Easy Vegan Royal Icing Recipe by Juggling Act Mama
Rather than corn syrup or aquafaba, Juggling Act Mama introduces a new substitution. Agave nectar can also work as the sticky, protein-rich substance that allows for the creation of stiff peaks that make royal icing perfect for decorating. Agave nectar is a possible substitute for honey in many vegan recipes.
25. Vegan Royal Icing by Simple Vegan Blog
Simple Vegan Blog prides itself on making recipes that are not only vegan but also delicious and almost universally gluten-free. This vegan royal icing fits the bill on all accounts. They advise that for any bakers looking to use colorings besides gel food coloring, you’ll need some plant-based milk on hand to thin the icing out.
26. Eggless Royal Icing by Mommy’s Home Cooking
Mommy’s Home Cooking blends confectioner’s sugar, water, corn syrup, and lemon juice into a stiff, wonderful royal icing that makes decorating cookies a breeze. Venezuelan blogger Oriana strives to develop eggless recipes for every occasion, and this entry delivers.
27. Vegan Royal Icing by Eating With Food Allergies
Eating With Food Allergies using vegetable glycerin to achieve the satiny finish of the perfect royal icing. While glycerin is not a core component of their recipe, which uses aquafaba as the stabilizing ingredient, it provides that visual mimicry so often lacking from amateur vegan dupes.
28. Royal Icing by Seitan Beats Your Meat
Kelly of Seitan Beats Your Meat strives to make desserts delectable, and this egg-free royal icing is no exception. This simple recipe combines aquafaba, powdered sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla extract to make royal icings of any consistency. To thin out the thick icing, simply add plant-based milk to achieve the desired viscosity.
29. Vegan Royal Icing by Florida Crystals
This recipe from Florida Crystals emphasizes the inclusion of their delightfully sweet organic powdered raw cane sugar, combined with vegan meringue powder. This power couple makes for royal icing with few ingredients, little effort, and a big payoff.
30. Egg Free Royal Icing by Ann Clark Cookie Cutters
Ann Clark Cookie Cutters suggests yet another egg substitute. They use Ener-G-Egg Replacer as the protein source for their egg-free royal icing. Their food coloring, available in a vibrant range of colors, is also vegan.
With the Ann Clark recipe and gel food coloring in hand in just a handful of minutes, you’ll be ready to decorate with rich royal icings of all consistencies!
31. Eggless Royal Icing 101 by Spices N Flavors
Not only does Spices N Flavors introduce substitutions for the egg stand-ins, such as corn syrup and aquafaba, but they go a step further. Spices N Flavors also offers a substitute for the standard cream of tartarEasy Vegan Royal Icing Recipes.
Honey is also suggested as an egg substitute, though it is noted that honey is not an optimal option in terms of texture and aesthetics. Spices N Flavors also recognizes that not all plant-based people eat honey.
Easy Vegan Royal Icing Recipes, Final Thoughts
No matter your dietary restrictions or the dietary restrictions of your loved ones, there is a way to enjoy royal icing: with these easy vegan royal icing recipes! Take some time to experiment with a few of them and find the recipe that’s perfect for you.