These meringue chicks are made with only 5 ingredients and are the perfect Spring treat! They’re light, airy, and perfectly crunchy on the outside with chewy centers.

How to Make These Chick Meringues: Step-by-Step Process

While the recipe below is quite detailed, I find visual cues to be super helpful! Below are some photos of the process to help guide you through this recipe.

I’ve also shared a list of tools I used to make these! If you don’t have them on hand, feel free to work with what you’ve got!

• Stand Mixer or Electric Mixer
• Large, flat baking sheet
• Silpat Mat (or parchment paper)
• 1 Large Piping Bag (18-inch)
• 1 Small Piping Bag (12-inch)
• Small Round Piping Tip – Like a Wilton 10)
• Leaf Piping Tip – like a Wilton 66)
• Black round sprinkles
• Yellow and orange gel food coloring

Note: Humidity affects meringue success. On humid days, meringues can absorb moisture from the air, making them sticky or preventing them from drying properly. If possible, make these on a dry day with low humidity. If you must make them when it’s humid, you may need to extend the baking time by 15-30 minutes and be extra careful to store them in an airtight container immediately after they’ve cooled completely.

Step 1: Preheat the Oven & Make the Meringue

Preheat the oven to 200F / 93C and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon mat. Set aside.

Before you whip up the meringue, make sure there are no traces of grease on the whisk attachment or in your bowl.

Grease can prevent the meringue from whipping up properly. If you see or feel any grease, moisten a paper towel with vinegar and wipe the inside of the bowl and the whisk attachment to remove any grease.

Then add 4, large egg whites into the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment and mix on medium speed until the surface of the egg whites is covered in small bubbles.

Add 1/2 tsp cream of tartar and continue to mix until it reaches the soft peak stage and leaves visible tracks.

Gradually mix 1 cup of granulated sugar into the egg whites over a few minutes while mixing on a medium-low speed.

When the meringue gets close to reaching stiff peaks, add 1/2 tsp of vanilla or almond extract and a generous squirt of yellow gel food coloring.

Keep mixing until stiff, glossy peaks form. Scrape around the sides of the bowl to make sure all the meringue is evenly colored.

Step 2: Pipe the Meringue Chicks

Fit a large piping bag with a small round tip that’s about 1/2 cm or 1/4 inch in diameter (like a Wilton 10).

Then, scoop most of the yellow meringue into a large piping bag, leaving about 1/2 cup of meringue in the bowl.

Seal the top of the bag with a rubber band or clip. Add a small squirt of orange gel food coloring to the remaining meringue and gently mix until it’s evenly colored.

Scoop the orange meringue into a small piping bag fitted with a v-shaped leaf piping tip like a Wilton 66.

Use the yellow meringue to pipe the body of the chick. It should look tear-drop shaped, and the little point is the chick’s tail. Then pipe the chick’s head on top of the body, followed by little wings on both sides.

Use the orange meringue to pipe on the chick’s beak, and use little black sprinkles to make the chick’s eyes.

These don’t spread as they bake, so they can be piped about 1 inch apart.

Note: If you don’t have sprinkles, you can wait until the chicks are baked, then either paint them on with a mixture of clear alcohol or extract mixed with black gel food coloring, or use an edible black marker to draw them on.

Step 3: Bake & Gradually Cool the Meringues

Bake the tray on the middle rack of your oven for 90 minutes, then turn the oven off and let the chicks sit in the oven for another hour without opening the door.

Letting them gradually cool helps prevent them from cracking. At this point, the chicks should be fully cooked and look and feel dry to the touch. If they still seem wet or moist, leave them in the oven for another half hour.

Let the meringues cool fully to room temperature, then enjoy!

They should have a crunchy exterior and a soft, chewy center.

These can be stored at room temperature for up to two weeks but will soften over time.

How Many Meringue Chicks Does This Recipe Make?

The yield can vary a lot based on how large you pipe the chicks and what piping tip you use. I like to pipe them pretty big and usually make about 30 when I use a Wilton 10 tip.

Tips for Making the Best Meringue Chicks

• Note that with the total bake and cool time, these need to be in the oven for at least 2.5 hours, if not overnight. I like to make these at the end of the day, so it doesn’t get in the way of any other baking/cooking I need the oven for.
• Separate your eggs while they’re still cold! While we want the egg whites to be room temperature when we whip them up, it’s easiest to separate them when they’re still cold.
• Use gel food coloring to color the meringue. If you try to use liquid food coloring, it can throw off the consistency and cause the meringue to be less stable.
• Beat the meringue on a medium-high speed instead of the highest speed. This will help you create a more stable meringue with smaller air bubbles that will be easier to pipe.
• Bake time can vary based on how large you pipe the chicks and what piping tip you use. After they’ve baked and cooled in the oven, test them for doneness by gently trying to peel one off the baking mat or parchment paper. It should peel off cleanly.

Let Me Know What You Think!

If you try this recipe for meringue chicks, I’d love to hear what you think! Please leave a rating and comment below.

Tag me @chelsweets and use #chelsweets on social media so that I can see your amazing creations!

Other Recipes You Might Like: