How To Whip Egg Whites & Make Meringue: The Video

Making meringue? Not sure if you can distinguish between soft peak, firm peak, and stiff peak stages of beaten egg whites? Here's a video showing the process of whipping egg whites and sugar into meringue. We give it to you more or less in real time, so you can see how the egg whites look from beginning to end.

OK, we did clip out a minute here and there so you weren't looking straight into a spinning bowl of egg whites for 10 minutes straight! But this is covers the whole process from beginning to end — raw egg whites to magically fluffy and creamy meringue.

For more photos of this process see this post:

• Whipping Cream or Egg Whites: Soft, Firm, and Stiff Peaks - A Visual Guide

What You Need

Ingredients
2 or more egg whites
Pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons white sugar for each egg white

Equipment
Stand mixer OR large bowl and hand mixer

Instructions

1. Put the egg whites, salt, cream of tartar, and vanilla into the bowl of a stand mixer. Start the mixe on low speed.

2. As the whites turn opaque start adding the sugar in small increments — just a little shake at a time.

3. Continue adding the sugar, and gradually increase the speed of the mixer. You will see the egg whites turn into an opaque foam, and then a "soft plop" stage where a drizzle of the foam holds its shape on the surface of the egg whites.

4. After this, the egg whites will get to the soft peak stage, where they hold soft peaks on a spoon. They are still quite soft, and easily slump over.

5. The next stage is firm peak, where the egg whites are much glossier, with a tight surface. They hold peaks on a spoon or in the bowl, but their very tips flop over.

6. The final stage is stiff peak, where the meringue will hold almost any shape. It will form sharp, distinct points in the bowl, and it is quite stiff and glossy. It should feel smooth and silky, with no sugar grains.

Additional Notes:
• This proportion of sugar makes a soft meringue, pillowy inside — as opposed to hard and crunchy. You would need to double the sugar (4 tablespoons, or 1/4 cup, per egg white) to make a very firm cookie-style meringue. See a recipe for firm, crispy meringue cookies here:

• How To Make Meringue Stars, Kisses & Cookies

Want more smart tutorials for getting things done around the home?
See more How To posts
We're looking for great examples of your own household intelligence too!
Submit your own tutorials or ideas here!

(Images: Faith Durand)

Comments (10)

That was a great video! I think I have always stopped just short of where I needed to be with my egg whites because I felt like surely I was over whipping them! I didn't realize that they really did need that much time. I use a hand mixer, so would it take even longer than ten minutes to get to the stiff peak stage?

thanks for the video, its always great to see intimidating things in action. I wish this was posted before valentines day, i attempted a classic french mousse, im pretty sure my peaks were not stiff enough after seeing yours! I dont have a big mixer and was using just an immersion blender with a mixxing attachment so it was taking ages, im pretty sure i was there for 15-20 minutes. I wonder if it just didnt have enough power?

i made meringue not too long ago and obviously i didn't whip my eggs enough! i probably only got to soft peaks and stopped because i didn't know you couldn't overwhip them! thank you for the great video!

how would you go about coloring and further flavoring the meringue?

Another question...did you guys start out with your egg whites at room temp?? I see that a lot in recipes, but I notice that you didn't make a point of that in the video

@Christirei - It's been a while since I whipped meringue with a handmixer, but yes, I think it would take slightly longer b/c the motor is less powerful.

@adamwa - I've never tried using an immersion blender! I, too, wonder if it wouldn't have quite enough power or "whipping" action - you really need something that balloons air into the egg whites so they foam up. I wonder if the blender would actually cut them and inhibit formation? Anyone else have insight on this one?

@likethunder - Try different extracts from vanilla, like lemon or almond. Add any food color at the very end of whipping.

@Christirei (again!) - Our eggs were cold, but both cold or room temp eggs work just fine. Cold eggs tend to have a tighter foam (no big bubbles) and they'll stay stiff longer before collapsing (which gives you more time to work!). Check out this post on the science behind it: http://bit.ly/fZC1hB

@adamwa - I just saw that you used a whipping attachment on your immersion blender. In that case...hmm...Yeah, I wonder if it didn't have enough power?

One more thought! If you're using a hand mixer (or theoretically, an immersion blender), you need to move the beaters around in the bowl while you whip. Not sure if that's obvious or not, but it's something I remembered from back when I used to only have a hand mixer!

Thanks for the tips. Was doing all that (circular motion, whisk attchment etc).

I guess i was making mousse not meringue, I wonder if the sugar makes a big difference. In the mousse it was just egg whites and salt then its folded in with everything else. Or maybe i beat it (since there was no sugar?)

Still very helpful to see it in action! ill know exactly what to look for next time.

over beat it* sorry, since you mentioned the sugar is in its impossible, im guessing with no sugar it is possible to over beat?

You can make meringue that's too stiff if you continue to beat it. It won't separate the way an egg does when it's overbeat but stiff meringue can be bad depending on what you're making.