Aquafaba is the viscous water in which beans have been cooked. It has the functional properties of egg whites, making vegan meringue possible. Trust me, you need this recipe in your life! So here it is, the recipe for vegan meringue using aquafaba.
vegan Meringue recipe
Ingredients:
- • 1/2 cup chickpea liquid
- • 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- • 1/2 cup (108 grams) organic cane sugar
- • 1 tsp vanilla extract
- • 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Instructions:
- Pour the bean juice into a saucepan, heat on medium high to bring to a boil. Boil until the liquid has been reduced by about one third.
- Refrigerate the reduced liquid until cool.
- Pour the reduced and chilled bean liquid and cream of tartar into a bowl. If you have a standing electric mixer, use the whisk attachment. I have a hand-held mixer, so I use a mixing bowl placed on a wet paper towel to keep the bowl from moving around.
- Start off on a low speed to beat the mixture until the cream of tartar is fully combined.
- Increase the speed to high and beat for an additional minute or until opaque and frothy.
- Next, you are going to start adding the sugar in small amounts. Add about a tablespoon at a time. After each tablespoon of sugar added, beat on low for a few seconds then increase the speed to high for a minute. Continue this process until you’ve used up all the sugar.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice, as needed to keep all of the aquafaba in the mix.
- Once all the sugar has been added, beat on high speed for an additional 10 minutes. Again, scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- When the meringue is stiff, white, and glossy, add the vanilla and lemon juice and beat for an additional 3 minutes. The meringue should look like marshmallow fluff.
- At this point, you can put the meringue into a piping bag and use to top any dessert – ice cream, cake, cupcakes, graham crackers with melted chocolate for s’mores, etc. You can make these into meringue cookies by baking at 225 degrees Fahrenheit for about 1 hour or until they have dried out completely.
- For that burnt roasted marshmallow taste and mouth feel, sprinkle a little sugar on top of your meringue topping and use a culinary kitchen torch to toast.
NOTES:
There are some factors (like power of your mixer, the bean liquid itself, and how much the bean liquid was reduced) that may have an impact on the time it takes to achieve a stiff meringue. Be patient, it will all be worth it in the end.
Other bean liquids will work but chickpea bean liquid is the most common.
A typical can of chickpeas yields 3/4 cup chickpea water.
It’s best to grind organic cane sugar in a high-speed blender or spice grinder so it is super fine in this recipe. Regular refined sugar is not always vegan which is one of the reasons organic cane sugar is the way to go. However, organic cane sugar is not as fine as non-organic cane sugar so grinding it makes difference in the outcome of your desserts.
You cannot over mix the meringue. If you keep it in the refrigerator before using or if it becomes less stiff, you can always beat again to get to that perfect stiff form.
What can you make with vegan meringue?
One of my FAVORITE desserts to make with vegan meringue is Baked Alaska! If you are looking for a WOW dessert, this is one of the best. It’s simply layers of cake, ice cream, a sauce or glaze if you want, and meringue.
To make this WOW dessert, check out this Vegan Baked Alaska Recipe!
