Earlier this year, vegan meringue made from “Aquafaba” swept the vegan cooking blogosphere. Kicked off from a photo of vegan pavlova by Goose Wolht in the Facebook group, What Fat Vegans Eat, members broke off and formed another group where we compared notes, learned from each other, and refined our vegan meringue recipes and techniques. What is aqua faba? In short, the water left from cooking legumes such as chickpeas and white beans. Get it? Aqua means water and faba means legume. 😉 It sounds ridiculous, even gross. But don’t knock it before you try it. You will be amazed! The video below will show you how you can whip up a fluffy meringue from aqua faba.Click here for the printable recipe.
Video tutorial for making Vegan Meringue with Aquafaba
This meringue is more stable in the oven than flax-based versions and much more easy to make as well. You can use it straight out of the mixing bowl for whipped dessert toppings or bake it to create merigue cookies, meringue pie, and pavlova. If you decide to bake it, you will need to add sugar. Stevia and artificial sweeteners will not work.
Some recipes that use Aquafaba:
Aquafaba is more than just a way to get fluffy vegan meringue. You can use it in place of eggs in some kinds of baking. Try it in these Chocolate Chip Cookies from VedgedOut.com.
Start with aqua faba itself. This aquafaba is simply the water from a can of chickpeas. If you want to avoid preservatives, simply choose a brand that includes only chickpeas (or white beans), water, and salt in the ingredients. You can also make it from scratch; save the liquid from cooking dry beans in a slow cooker like in this guideline. If you don’t have a slow cooker, you can make them on the stove top like I do in this video.
Whip it with an electric mixer just as you might have done in the past with egg whites. After one minute, you will just have a frothy liquid. Some people add in cream of tartar to help achieve the stiff peaks, but I never do and the aqua faba whips up just fine.
Depending the speed of your mixer, the density of your particular aquafaba, and your own kitchen conditions, it can take anywhere from a few minutes to 20 minutes of whipping to get up to stiff peaks.
Aquafaba at Soft Peaks
Aquafaba at Stiff Peaks
When you’ve achieved stiff peaks, you can whip in powdered sugar and flavourings. The aqua faba may slide back into a soft peak situation but just keep whipping and it will get back up to stiff peaks.
Vegan meringue with sugar and vanilla incorporated.
Now you can use this as a sweet whipped dessert topping or in baking. For more guidelines on how to use this in baking (since there are some differences from the non-vegan counterpart), please visit the newly formed Facebook group called Aquafaba Everything.
Printable recipe for Vegan Meringue with Aquafaba
- 1/2 cup aquafaba (drain the water from a can of chickpeas or white beans)
- 3/4 cup granulated white sugar, ground down to a powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Using an electric mixer, whip the aquafaba to stiff peaks. This will take anywhere from 2 - 20 minutes.
- Add powdered sugar gradually while continuing to whip. Add the vanilla as well.
- The mixture may soften but keep whipping to re-create stiff peaks.
- Use as a sweet dessert topping, coffee or hot chocolate topping, or in baking. Try them in these .
- Brand to brand and even can to can, the bean brine's consistency will be thinner or thicker. It doesn't have to be super thick but it will have to have a slimy, slippery feeling similar to egg whites when you feel it between your fingers.
- If the aquafaba from your beans seems too thin to whip up, you can simmer it on the stove until the volume is reduced 30 - 50%.
- I like to chill my aqua faba before starting, but this is not essential. The aqua faba WILL whip up whether it is cold, room temperature, or even hot.
-
[…] tried a few different glazes for these and a combination of aquafaba, maple syrup, and oil seems to work the best. For a deeper colour, you could use more syrup than I […]
[…] Meringue made with Aquafaba […]
[…] can save the bean liquid as aquafaba! Aquafaba makes a fabulous egg replacer in many baked recipes. It’s even used for vegan […]
[…] What is aquafaba? In short, the water left from cooking legumes such as chickpeas and white beans. You can collect it by draining a can of beans, such as chickpeas, and saving the thick cooking liquid. Aqua means water and faba means legume. Contrary to conventional cooking beliefs, this water doesn’t seem to induce gas or cause indigestion. A chemical analysis was done on aquafaba recently and shows it’s mostly starches and proteins. Since being discovered in 2015, aquafaba has been used as an egg replacer for meringue, macaron, cakes, cookies, breads, butter, mayonnaise and more in both home and commercial settings. […]
[…] need any vegan egg replacers or special stabilizers. You might wonder why I didn’t use aquafaba in this recipe. Aquafaba makes a lovely alternative for egg white when making meringue cookies. But […]
[…] aquafaba can be made from the bean water […]
Leave a CommentThis site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Thanks for linking to my blog :). Love spreading the word about aquafaba and love your tutorial!!
You’re welcome! I LOVE your idea for making meringue ice cream sandwiches!
how many cookies were you able to make with a 1/2 cup of brine? I want to make 18 “ghost” meringues for my daughter’s class but i’m not sure if 1/2 cup will be enough…
I’ve tried this so many times, in so many variations but now matter what I do, once I put it in the oven to make meringues it melts within minutes. What I’m I doing wrong???
Tell me exactly what you’ve been doing and I might be able to tell you what you’re doing wrong.
If it melts right after you put it in the oven it could be many things, including:
– your aquafaba was too thin. Some brands of chickpeas/white beans don’t work as well. Make sure yours is thick and viscous like egg white. If it’s thin, boil it to reduce the volume.
– you didn’t add enough sugar. Sugar is essential for the structure of the meringue. Do not use sugar-free substitutes. Liquid sugars are tricky. Just follow the recipe.
– your oven is too hot. Meringues need to be dried more than baked.
– you didn’t beat the meringue to stiff peaks.
good luck!
Hi,
Since chick peas are not common in my country, i’ve been making it with various beans. Tofu water (fresh tofu) too light, and green bean won’t stiff. But I made a good stiff one with black beans & red beans even from hot aquafaba in less than 10 minutes. When I turn the bowl up side down it just stay there.so good. But there is a problem (i saw prople talk about it too)
It get soften. i move it into plastic bag. But the pan is not enough. I take another pan, prepare the paper. Some of stif peak became water again… After the baking too. i leave it on table, my meringue become soft. I only ate or 5 good merigue… Crack to the bottom. Do you know how to keep it stif and hard? i want to sell it but I can’t if the soften problem hasn’t solve. Can u help?
Does the chick peas aquafaba sticky? My red beans and black beans not sticky though. I’m still wondering about the needed thickness.
i try to give cocoa powder to stiff peak, it become water.Not soft peak like with sugar. it’s water and I wont even become harder again. any suggestion about this? Thank you
I recommend joining the facebook groups for developing aquafaba recipes and troubleshooting. Go to aquafaba.com to find the links.
what can i substitute for egg yolks a very big question.
What temp for oven would you say works best??
Low and slow. Check out this recipe for baked meringue cookies: https://youtu.be/gaXBe4Axw60
For other purposes, you should follow a recipe.
Hi Mary,
Thank you so much for showing the video, I am new to your channel and I just tried making these yesterday.
I got nice looking and tasty meringues but when I take them out of the oven it starts to become sticky and it eventually melts away leaving them at room temperature.
Do you know what is wrong and how can I fix it? I have tried baking it for a second time and leaving it in the oven overnight as some articles say but it is still the same, melts after removing them from the oven.
Hi JY,
It sounds like your environment is too humid to keep the baked meringues out. After they are baked and dried completely, store them in an airtight container so they can’t absorb the moisture from the air. Good luck!
Cheers,
Mary
Thanks Mary, I will give it another try.