Molecular sieves are prepared by forming a reaction mixture slurry, spray drying the reaction mixture slurry to form particles, and heating the spray dried reaction mixture at a temperature and pressure sufficient to cause crystallization of the molecular sieve. The reaction mixture contains an organic templating agent capable of forming the molecular sieve. The template may be added to the reaction mixture either by adding all of the template prior to spray drying, or by adding a portion of the template prior to spray drying with the remainder being added after spray drying.