Vegan meringue made from chickpea brine is fast, easy, and still fairly healthy! Sweetened with powered sugar and whipped up in less than 15 minutes.
This post will either amaze you or freak you out, it kind of depends on how you feel about vegan meringue! I personally heard about it and thought it sounded crazy (if you don’t know about this chickpea / aquafaba meringue deal, read more about it), but it’s actually really stinking amazing that juice from a can of chickpeas can be turned into a dreamy, creamy versatile vegan meringue.
I held off on trying it for such a long time, partly because my inner desire for real vegan baking just couldn’t fathom that bean juice (I promise I won’t ever use that phrase again) could be whipped into clouds of pillowy marshmallow fluff-like clouds. But a couple of weekends ago I decided to go for it and I’m pretty much hooked. Let’s look deeper into this vegan meringue and figure out how we can use it, shall we?
Honestly, I don’t know who figured out that whipping up chickpea juice would result in the easiest vegan meringue around, but I’m so glad they did. For a long time, I missed baking a few of my favorite pre-vegan fancy desserts, mainly anything that involved whipped egg whites or needed fluffy marshmallows folded in. I never thought I would be able to replicate high rising souffles, perfect macaroons, or even make easy homemade marshmallows vegan (I’m attempting all of the above now that I know the wonders of this stuff, so stay tuned!).
How to make meringue vegan
I was extremely pleased when I saw firsthand how easy it is to make vegan meringue and how many ways I thought up to use it right away. Basically, you take the juice from a can of chickpeas, add in some xantham gum or guar gum, vanilla, and powdered sugar. After it’s whipped for a while in stand mixer, voila! Light, fluffy peaks of vegan meringue goodness are ready to be used.
If you want to make it a bit less solid, like I did, add in a half cup of maple syrup and it becomes super easy to use as more of a spread, rather than stiff vegan meringue. The nice part about this meringue is that it keeps for quite some time and is super easy to whip back up if it starts to fall while it’s being stored in the fridge.
Is this aquafaba meringue creeping your out? It shouldn’t! I honestly thought it was going to be WAY harder to make vegan meringue than it really was, but it’s all about keeping an eye on it and having faith that it will turn out. You might not want to tell non-vegans that you made it from chickpea juice (I certainly didn’t tell my fiance, because he would be all WHAT and never go near it), but really, they don’t need to know if they are just going to be creeped out.
Tell me, have you tried aquafaba meringue and what have you made?! I have a million and one ideas running through my head and constantly being scribbled in my notebook to use it in, so I’m already dreaming up a whole month’s worth of recipes. I would love any tips, tricks or questions you might have about it!
P.S. No, it doesn’t taste like beans, promise.
Previous vegan desserts on Heart of a Baker:
- Chocolate Bourbon Vegan Cheesecake Bars
- Vegan Nutella-Filled DoughnutsÂ
- Chocolate Covered Vegan Shortbread Cookies
- Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Vegan GingersnapsÂ
- Easy Vegan Pound Cake
Vegan Meringue
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 4 -6 cups 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Whipped
- Cuisine: American
Description
Vegan meringue made from chickpea brine is fast, easy, and still fairly healthy! Sweetened with powered sugar and whipped up in less than 15 minutes.
Ingredients
- 1 cup chickpea brine (1 can’s worth)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons xantham gum
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 1/4 cups powered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whisk together the chickpea brine, xantham gum, and lemon juice on the highest setting until mixture is thick and foamy.
- Add the powdered sugar and vanilla extract and continue to beat for another 3-4 minutes, until mixture is thick and creamy. Use in parfaits, smore’s, to top oatmeal or put in between two cookies!
Notes
Resources for this recipe: Olives for Dinner and Keepin it Kind
Keywords: vegan meringue, aquafaba meringue
Wendy@TheNomadicVegan says
Hi Abby,
I love the beautiful photos of all the things you’ve done with meringue! I’ve been curious about this for some time but have yet to try it. I don’t own a stand mixer though; could I use a handheld electric mixer? If I try it I’ll probably replace the sugar with xylitol (run through the food processor to make it powdery) to make it even healthier. Looking forward to your recipe for homemade marshmallows!
The Frosted Vegan says
Yes, you can totally do both of those things! Actually, in the recipe I linked to at the bottom from Keepin It Kind, she does those exact same things! 🙂
whiskandshout says
Oooh I’m slightly scared but it looks so fluffy I’ve gotta try! Pinning 🙂
The Frosted Vegan says
You shouldn’t be, it’s so good and so so easy!! xo
Sarah | Broma Bakery says
So I just did baking lessons with a Kosher family and they were looking for a vegan cream cheese frosting. Seeing as this one looks amazing, I wondered if you’d know anything about a good recipe!
The Frosted Vegan says
Hi Sarah girl! I would say the best ones I’ve found are a combo of cashews/firm tofu. I’m glad you brought that up because I need to do a post on it 🙂 I’ll shoot you an e-mail!
Karen k says
I wondered if it will brown when placed in the oven? Like on top of a pie? This is amazing!
The Frosted Vegan says
Hi Karen! It might, but I haven’t personally tried it yet! That is my plan in the next week or so 🙂
Barb@ThatWasVegan says
I’ve been reading about this phenomenon but haven’t tried it yet… but now I’m fully ready to! 🙂
The Frosted Vegan says
Yes yes you should!
Sarah Sonnamaker says
This is so unexpected, I love it!!!
The Frosted Vegan says
It is, right? It’s so great though!
Julia says
This is so amazing to me! I read an article on chickpea meringue (or they may have called it whipped cream…can’t remember) on The Kitchn or Food52 or one of those sites, and it blew my effing mind! Seriously, I don’t know who was clever enough to whip up the chickpea juice either, but I’m definitely going to be trying this out next time I open a can of beans! P.S. I want all those vegan treats in your photos!
The Frosted Vegan says
Isn’t it amazing?! I kept reading about it and didn’t try it, but when I finally did I was like WHAT this is amazing. Who would have thunk? I’ll share all those treats with you, just bring wine!
Karishma says
I was actually just telling my mom about this yesterday! It literally looks perfectly like meringue, that’s crazy! A good use for all that chickpea juice we put down the drain.
The Frosted Vegan says
Exactly! Who knew it was so valuable 🙂
Heartbeet Kitchen (@amanda_paa) says
this is seriously fascinating! food is so cool isn’t it? your tutorial is excellent, and i’m sure there are so many incredible things you are waiting to top with this meringue. once i’ve reintroduced beans i’ll definitely be trying it. xo
The Frosted Vegan says
Isn’t it crazy?! Like how did someone figure it out?? Thanks for stopping by dear xo
Hannah says
Ok, yes, this IS freaking me out. LIKE WHAT THE HEEZY!? I cannot process this.
Bravo though! Whatever you have served the meringue on top of looks pretty darned delicious too!
The Frosted Vegan says
Thank you! It’s kinda weird but kind of awesome, right?!
thespeckledpalate says
All right. So it’s kind of freaking me out, but I like to think I’m pretty open-minded, so I’d give this a go just to say I did. That being said, it looks freakin’ gorgeous, and now I want to make a Vegan Chocolate Meringue Pie. Because that’s do-able with this recipe!
So creative. Great job, lady. And as always, gorgeous photos!
The Frosted Vegan says
Yes to pie! I know it’s weird, but totally easy!! Thanks for the kind words dear 🙂
Kate says
You’re kidding! Starch works miracles, doesn’t it? Thanks for sharing, Abby!
The Frosted Vegan says
I know, right?! It’s crazy what food can do 🙂
Alicia says
Hi Abby I was wondering if there was a sub for xanthum gum?
The Frosted Vegan says
Hi Alicia! I haven’t tried it myself, but sometimes you can sub in agar agar flakes for the gum. I know there are other similar things out there, but I haven’t experimented with them or read anything about it, so I’m not sure how well it would work!
SofĂa says
Ok this is perfect. I haven’t found a good recipe for meringue until this one. I’m putting as frosting on all sweets.
Never the less iI have two questions. First, is thing healthy? I’m thinking about the big amount of salt chickpeas juice has, should I keep an eye on that?
And well second question, is there any substitution for guar gum? Like cream tartar? Or tapioca flour? Idk haha.
Thanks!
The Frosted Vegan says
Hi Sofia! I’m so happy this has helped you out! As far as salt goes, I’m actually not sure the nutritional content on the juice from the chickpea can. It most likely depends on the type of canned chickpeas you are purchasing. I did some searching around the internet to answer your question and I couldn’t come up with any information, so I’m sorry about that! It looks like it’s hard to determine based on the variations of the canned varieties and what exactly you put into it.
For your second question, I have seen agar agar powder subbed in for guar gum, as well as psyllium fiber. Do keep in mind that these might affect the flavor of the meringue, so you may have to increase the sweetener. I hope this helps!