A comprehensive macaron troubleshooting guide with photos, possible causes and how to avoid the most common macaron issues!
Table of Contents
Since 2012, I’ve made thousands of macarons in my home kitchen with many trials and errors, as well as picture-perfect macarons! And yes, I’ve had pretty much every problem imaginable!!
In the process, I’ve gained lots of tips and tricks to solve those frustrating issues and, most importantly, how to avoid them in the first place.
Remember, sometimes, macarons fail for no apparent reason and leave us scratching our heads.
But I encourage you to never give up on macarons. The joy of watching your macarons grow those ruffled feet and pulling out perfectly round macarons with shiny smooth tops is simply priceless.
I swear, every single time, when I see my macarons through the oven door puffing up and baking perfectly, I can’t help but do a little happy dance in my kitchen! Pure joy, I’m telling ya!
What’s a perfect macaron?
Perfect macaron is very subjective. To me, a perfect macaron has the following characteristics:
- Smooth shells
- Ruffles feet
- Full inside
Macaron Troubleshooting Video
Visual Macaron Troubleshooting Guide
Ok, let’s discuss each of the most common macaron issues, their causes and how to fix or prevent them!
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Pin ItUneven, grainy macarons with nipples
Possible causes:
- Too coarse almond flour
- Dry ingredients weren’t sifted
- Batter was under-mixed
how to fix grainy shells with nipples:
- Make sure to use fine ground almond flour.
- Don’t skip sifting the dry ingredients! Toss large almond pieces left in the sifter. You shouldn’t have more than 1/2 tablespoon of almond bits.
- Under-mixed batter also causes grainy shells with nipples. When mixed right, the nipples should melt back into the batter after tapping the piped shells on the counter.
don’t do this!
Never use wet fingers to push the nipples down. Instead, use a toothpick to encourage the batter even out.
Cracked shells
Possible causes:
- Too much air in the shell
- High humidity
- Shells weren’t rested
- Weak meringue
- High oven temperature, or hot spots in the oven
HOW TO FIX cracked macarons:
- Be sure to tap the baking sheet right after piping macaron shells. And use a toothpick to pop large air pockets visible on the surface.
- When it’s too humid, the shells don’t develop good skin, which leads to the next point.
- When the shells haven’t rested long enough to develop skin on top, steam releases from anywhere cause macarons to crack on top.
- Take your time to make nice and sturdy meringue, especially when you’re making French meringue. Watch my video on French Meringue 101 to learn all the tips to make the most stable French meringue.
- Too hot oven can also cause cracks in macaron shells. Make sure to get an oven thermometer to double check the temperature inside the oven without relying on what oven says.
Erupted shells
Possible cause:
- Touched the shells with wet finger to push down a pointy nipple
How to prevent erupted volcano macarons:
Never touch your unbaked macaron shells with wet fingers to push down pointy end. Instead tap the baking sheet well. And if the pointy end doesn’t melt into the batter, you can either baking them as is, or scrape the batter back into a bowl and mix for a little more until the batter is at correct consistency.
Too crispy interior
Possible cause:
- Shells were over-baked
How to fix too crispy shells:
If you over-baked your macaron shells and now they’re super crispy throughout, don’t fret! 2 easy fixes:
- Use wet fillings, like jams, caramel sauce, or lemon curd in the center.
- Simply brush on milk on the bottom of the shells before piping a filling of choice.
Tip
Mature filled macarons for 24 hours. The shells will absorb the moisture from filling and macarons should soften nicely.
Flat shells, spread out too much
Possible cause:
- Batter was over-mixed
Over-mixed batter is too loose and the shells don’t hold its shape well, instead it spreads out too much.
How to prevent flat, spread out macarons:
Once macaron batter is over-mixed and it’s too runny, there’s no way to salvage it. So it’s important to prevent this from happening.
Make sure to check the batter often for the correct consistency. It should slowly run off the spatula into a ribbon, and the edges should melt back into the batter within about 10 seconds.
Hollow shells
Possible cause:
- Issue with meringue
- Over-mixed batter
- Improper piping technique
- Too high oven temperature
- Under-baked macaron shells
How to fix hollow macaron shells:
Hollow macarons are so common, and I personally battled with this issue for a long time. Now, I consistently get full, meaty macarons straight from the oven.
Since it’s a complex issue, I dedicated a separate post on how to fix hollow macarons.
No feet
Potential causes:
- Batter is too wet
- Humid weather
- Weak meringue
- Batter was over-mixed
- Shells weren’t rested before baking
- Shells were rested for too long, weakening the meringue structure
- Too low oven temperature
How to prevent no feet macarons:
- When the batter is too wet, macarons don’t develop those ruffled feet. The most common causes for wet batter: excess liquids, like extracts, lemon/lime juice, liquid food coloring, too much gel food coloring, etc.
- In some cases, especially in humid climates, aging egg whites might be beneficial. During aging, egg whites loose some of its moisture.
- When the meringue isn’t whipped to stiff peaks, it doesn’t have strong enough structure to lift macarons. Watch my French Meringue 101 video for visual cues for proper meringue.
- When macaron batter is over-mixed, there’s not much air bubbles left to give the shells lift during baking. Therefore, they come out flat without feet.
- Also, if macarons weren’t rested to form a skin before baking, it could cause no feet macarons. And if the shells were rested for too long, it can also negatively affect the batter, because meringue loses its stability when sat for too long. Keep checking the shells every 15 minutes and put them in the oven as soon as they don’t stick to your fingers.
- If the oven is not hot enough, macarons won’t rise as air bubbles in the meringue need heat to expand to lift the shells, creating that pretty feet at the base.
Tip
Make sure to get an oven thermometer to double check the temperature inside the oven without relying on what oven says.
Bulging feet
Potential causes:
- Too high oven temperature
- Silicone mat
how to prevent bulging feet:
Some may find it ugly when the ruffled feet extends out of the macaron shells. I’m not a huge fan, but it’s not the worst!
- This happens when the oven is a bit too hot, causing the macarons to rise too high and then collapse slightly, making the feet bulge out.
- And another reason is silicone mat might be the culprit. I certainly happens to me with thick silicone mats, but I know some people have gorgeous macarons with silicone mats.
Soft, wrinkly shells
Possible causes:
- Too much liquid (moisture) in the batter
- Meringue is under-beaten
- Oily almond flour
How to prevent soft, wrinkly shells:
Excess moisture and/or fat is the #1 cause for soft, wrinkly shells. And there’re number of culprits for excess moisture/fat in the batter:
- Adding liquid extracts, juices or liquid food coloring
- Adding cocoa powder, freeze-dried fruits, etc.
- Under-mixed meringue also contains too much moisture
- Oily almond flour, or almond flour that has been opened for too long
Cocoa powder contains fat which could potentially cause soft, brownie-like macaron shells. And freeze-dried fruits absorb moisture from the air fast and could cause soft, wrinkly shells as well.
Tip
Store opened almond flour in an airtight container in a cool place.
Too Thick batter
Typically, when you add dry ingredients into meringue, it starts out pretty thick and that’s totally normal. As you fold the batter, it thins out and gets runnier.
In rare occasions, the batter never loosens and it stays thick.
Possible causes:
- Improper ratio of dry and wet ingredients
- Oily almond flour
- Too much cocoa powder or freeze-dried fruits
- Overbeaten meringue
how to fix and prevent thick batter issue:
- Be sure to weigh the ingredients carefully. I strongly recommend weighing all the ingredients, including egg whites, with a kitchen scale.
- Oily almond flour could cause thick batter. Make sure to use fresh almond flour and avoid processing it in a food processor.
- Too much cocoa powder or freeze-dried fruits can throw the ratio of dry and wet ingredients.
- When meringue is over-beaten, it gets dry, throwing off the ratio as well.
Blotchy shells
I don’t have a photo of this issue, but basically it looks like greasy stains on the shells.
Possible causes:
- Oily almond flour
- Batter sat out for too long before piping
how to prevent blotchy macarons:
- Use fresh almond flour that’s not oily. To test, squeeze some almond flour in your hand and see if it holds its shape. If it holds its shape like wet sand, then it’s too oily.
- Make sure to pipe the shells right away, especially with French meringue batter.
Lopsided shells
Possible causes:
- Uneven air circulation in the oven/ Hot spots
- Convection setting (fan forced) may have too strong fan
- Improper piping technique
- Shells were dried for too long
how to prevent lopsided macarons:
Main culprit for lopsided shells is poor air circulation. This could be due to uneven heat distribution and hot spots in the oven, convection settings with too strong fan. Here’re a few things you can do in this case:
- Flip the baking sheet upside down before piping macarons, so that there’s no edges around the sheet to block any heat circulation.
- Bake macarons one sheet at a time.
- Turn the baking sheet around half way through baking.
- If possible, bake on conventional setting, heat coming from top and bottom.
The next reason for lopsided macarons is improper piping technique. Pay close attention to following:
- Hold the piping bag with macaron batter straight at 90° and squeeze the batter from the top to one spot until the desired size reaches. Watch my macaron video for better illustration.
- Pipe the shells at least half an inch apart to give the shells enough room for air circulation.
And lastly, don’t dry your macarons for too long. Too thick skin may cause lopsided macarons.
Concaved (Inverted) shells or Stuck To Parchment
Possible causes:
- Low oven temp/ low heat from bottom
- Under-baked shells
- Not cooling the macarons before removing from parchment paper
How to prevent concaved, or stuck macarons:
- Make sure your oven is hot enough. Most of the time, ovens need good 30-45 minutes to preheat properly. Even if it beeps when it’s preheated, I highly recommend double checking with an oven thermometer.
- Be sure to check the macarons for doneness before taking them out. To test for doneness, gently touch the top of one macaron with your index finger and try wiggle it. If it wobbles side to side, they’re not ready. keep baking for another minute or so. The cooked shells should wiggle ever so slightly and firm to touch. When in doubt, cook a bit longer. In my opinion, it’s better to over-bake them than under-bake them.
- Make sure to cool the macarons on the baking sheet for at least 10 minutes before removing from parchment paper/silicone mat.
Whew, are you still with me? Thank you!!! I hope this macaron troubleshooting guide answers your questions and helps you to perfect your macaron skills.
And if there is anything I haven’t covered, please leave me a comment below. I’d like us, macaron-lovers, connect and discuss various problems we face baking macarons. Let’s get the discussion started.
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This post was originally published on December 21st, 2015, and last updated on February 16th, 2021.
Hi,Â
I tried making your macarons recipe. I understand where I went wrong with the macaron shell. However, the lemon filling is giving me the trouble. It’s super runny when I let it sit on the macarons. Any advise of how to keep the filling thicken, where it’s not so running?
Lena
My macarons look right but are only crispy around the top edges. The top centers are soft to the touch. Where did I go wrong?
Hi, Cheryl. Any chance they’re a slightly under-baked?
There is a very real possibility that they were underbaked. I am going to give them another try after Christmas. Thank you for responding!
I have a question I don’t thing has been asked yet. I am still trying to perfect the macaron, but I know where I have been going wrong so I will keep trying – first was under mixed , next was over mixed 🙂 – but we ate them any way as I did not want to waste the yummy raspberry curd I had made. Thats actually my question – if you are making these macarons to serve to guests when do you fill them ? I have noticed the curd makes the macarons very very wet and soft by the next day ? not bad – yummy all the same but hard to pick up and eats as they just kind of smoosh… Thoughts ?
Hi, Sheila! Very interesting situation. I usually fill the macarons right away. Filled macarons can also be frozen, as long as filling is ok with freezing. Buttercream, cream cheese and ganache fillings freeze well. Are you filling the macarons with only raspberry curd? If so that might be the cause. I remember having a similar issue when I tried filling with only jam. So I usually use a buttercream or cream cheese filling, piped in ring form, and then fill the middle hole with jam or curd. Does that make sense? That way curd/jam filling doesn’t ooze out, and macarons keep their perfect shape. Hope this helps.
My macarons look nearly perfect! Smooth top, ruffled feet, no cracks. But, they’re always hollow. What could be wrong?Â
Hi, Bella! So glad your macarons are almost perfect! I used to have the same hollow issue. If everything else is great, then it’s most likely the meringue is slightly over-beaten. Next time, beat your egg whites a little less, and keep checking it often after it had reached soft peaks, so you don’t beat too much. Hope this helps.
Hi Shinee,
Trying to make your mint macrons and the batter just will not thin out. I measured all ingredients as your recipe said but had to significantly increase the powder sugar to get to the correct weight, not sure if that caused an issue? Almond flour measurement was almost exact the weight you recommended so I adjusted slightly, any thoughts on the batter not thinning out? Thanks! Lisa
Hi, Lisa. What do you mean you had to increase powdered sugar amount significantly? Was 100gr of powdered sugar way more than 3/4 of a cup volume wise? I’ll be honest, I usually don’t measure the dry ingredients in a cup. I place my sifter on a scale and spoon the dry ingredients straight from the bag. It sounds like you may have used too much dry ingredients. Let me know how exactly you were measuring your dry ingredients. Thanks.
Hi Shinee,
I’ve been having trouble with lopsided macarons, I have been using the same recipe for a while now and for some reason they are now coming out completely lopsided but on different sides. Could I be over mixing the egg whites?
Thanks!
=
Hie,
I tried 5 times making macroons…everytime it became flat n with no feet…dried for 2 hours..n batter was also not too thick and not too runny.please help
Hi, Veepa. Without more details, it’s hard to troubleshoot. How do your macarons look? Are they cracked? Wrinkled? Or are they smooth and hard shells just without feet? If you can, please e-mail me the photo. That’ll help me too.
What brand of almond flour are you using? Thanks!Â
Hi, Yoli. I’ve used Bob’s Red Mill, Honeyville and Nature’s Eats almond flours. Happy with all of them.
Love your tips! Tried to bake them on parchment paper and didn’t work well… yesterday bake a new batch on silpat and they should be awesome, however they got stick on the silpat, not sure if they weren’t cooked, or if haven’t cooled enough before removing (even thinking they were cold).
Hi, Izzy. If the macarons are stuck to the mat, it usually indicates that they’re underbaked. Try to bake them 2-3 minutes longer, and see if that helps. Let me know.
I’ve been making macaroons the past 4 days, and today I made green tea and it was hollow. I tried it twice. Does the green tea powder added to the almond flour & powder sugar make a difference? It was only 1 tsp.Â
Hi, Gina! The hollow issue is most likely due to macaron batter is overmixed. I doubt a little bit of green tea would be the cause. When you try next time, stop mixing the batter a bit sooner than you think it’s ready.
Also, my oven tend to fluctuate while baking.. any suggestions? I’m pretty sure I’m beating my egg whites correctly and folding properly. Do you think its my oven thats also causing the hollowness?
There’s a possibility that the macarons are unbaked too. Do you have an oven thermometer? If not, I highly recommend getting one and monitor the temperature through baking and adjust oven temp accordingly without opening oven door, which causes loss of heat. Also one more thing, you do rest the macarons before baking to create a skin, right? If not, please try resting the macarons for at least 15 minutes before baking. Hope this helps. Let me know.
I’m so sorry I’m asking so many questions and thank you so much for answering all of them!! And yes I do rest them and have an oven temperature. I really dont know how to keep the temperature at 300 so when I see it go over to 310 I open the oven a little and wait for it to go back to 300. Also how come my macaroons are already browing but when I take them out they still have sticky bottom even though I let them cool. Thanks so much in advance! Just a little frustrated because I’ve made so many batches already and they all mostly turn out hollow with sticky bottom, or browned with sticky bottom, or no feet.. but when they dont have feet, they are not hollow. When they do have feet, they are hollow
I wouldn’t recommend opening the oven door at all. That might the cause for your macarons collapse during baking and creating the hollow. Instead just turn the oven down or turn it off to let the oven slowly cool down.
As for browning issue, which rack do you put your tray with macarons? I bake mine right in the middle, and if you do too, then try placing them on the bottom rack. And place another empty baking sheet on the rack above to shield the heat coming from the top.
Hope this helps, Gina. Keep me posted on your progress.
Hi, I was wondering if you can share detail process of beating the meringue at the right consistency with your recipe? How long and at what speed? I continue to have hollow Macarons over and over again. Thanks for your help.
Hi, Gabby! This’s a great idea. I’ll work on a detailed post with a video on how to whip a meringue.