This healthy vegan marshmallow fluff is going to rock your world…
Sweetener of choice
+
Water from a can of chickpeas
=
Homemade marshmallow fluff ????
Crazy, right?!
I can’t take credit for this brilliant “bean liquid egg whites” discovery.
The idea was sent to me in a facebook message earlier this year by a reader who discovered you could whip up the liquid from a can of garbanzo beans with sugar to form stiff peaks then pipe the mixture out and bake it into vegan meringues.
Since readers often write to tell me their own recipe ideas or experiments, I didn’t think too much about the message at first, especially since meringue and I have always been more of acquaintances than friends.
However, a few months later when I noticed some of my friends posting stunningly beautiful chickpea vegan meringues on instagram, suddenly I was intrigued.
Healthy Vegan Marshmallow Fluff
Then another reader left a comment on the blog asking if I’d tried bean meringue yet and mentioning that chickpea liquid–commonly referred to as aquafaba–has been used as an egg replacer since as early as in a 1968 cookbook (Ten Talents, by Rosalie and Frank J Hurd).
Wait… so it can be an egg replacer in other things besides meringue?!?
Like crepes?! Or baked goods??
So many ideas are swirling around in my head right now…
Christina’s message had mentioned whipping the liquid with fine sugar to form meringue, but I wanted to know if the aquafaba would also work with a liquid sweetener.
Only one way to find out! Seven minutes in, my pseudo meringue still looked like water, and I was almost ready to give up and throw the whole thing out.
But—magically at minute 9—it began to thicken… and thicken… and thicken even more!
Above – watch the video of how to make vegan marshmallow fluff
I had a baking sheet all ready to go for the meringues…
The only problem was that I just couldn’t seem to stop dipping my spoon into the airy cream.
It was just like marshmallow fluff!
Ideas for ways to use this healthy marshmallow fluff include:
Homemade s’mores, as frosting for cupcakes or my Vegan Chocolate Cake Recipe, in fluffernutter sandwiches… the possibilities go on and on!
Edit – There’s also now a version for Chocolate Marshmallow Fluff!
Vegan Marshmallow Fluff
Ingredients
- 1 can chickpeas or white beans (15oz)
- 1/3 cup sweetener of choice, such as agave, fine sugar, or xylitol for sugar-free
- optional pinch cream of tartar, for stabilization
Instructions
- Open the can of beans and drain just the watery part into a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl. (Save the actual beans for a different recipe. If you need inspiration, here are 50+ Healthy Uses For Canned Beans.) You should have about 1/2 cup chickpea liquid. Add all other ingredients, and beat with an electric mixer or in a stand mixer for 12-16 minutes. It will look thin for quite a while—and you’ll probably be cursing me—but don’t give up hope! Mine really began to thicken around minutes 10-11. Cover and refrigerate any leftovers. It separates overnight, but re-beating works perfectly. (I’ve not tried this recipe without beaters, but you are free to experiment. The sugar version can be baked into meringues; I haven’t tried baking the liquid-sweetener version.) I’ve tried this healthy marshmallow fluff with both regular and unsalted bean liquid and can’t taste a big difference, so use whatever you have on hand.View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
More Vegan Recipes:
Vegan Breakfast Recipes – 50 Vegan Recipes
And now I’m going to go work on some homemade Mallomars…
Does this work with beans you cook yourself (from dried)? Would the cooking liquid work?
It is best to only frost what you are going to use? If the fluff sits on cupcakes, will it deflate? Thanks
This is an amazing idea! But what temp. Do you set the oven on and how long do you bake to make the vegan meringues? Did I miss something?
I would like to make some quinoa crispy treats…..will this work for those?? It said it separates overnight and don’t want to waste 6cups of quinoa experimenting if someone already knows the answer! Thanks
I made this and it was amazing!!! I spread some on graham crackers and froze it, came out like an ice cream sandwich!
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/11/dining/aquafaba-vegan-egg-substitute.html?_r=0
The new vegan food revolution! I love it!
My son has some crazy dietary restrictions and I had my doubts about this one, but wow this turned out great! I used sugar as the sweetener and started the mixer (KitchenAid) at a medium speed (I could be wrong, but don’t recall seeing any info about what speed to use). I had better results once I kept it on a higher speed (8 of 10). I might have to cut back a little on the sugar next time because it was a hair too sweet for me, but this recipe is definitely a keeper! And of course my son loves it 🙂 Thanks so much for all the delicious ideas on your site!!
Can you use the liquid from cooking dried chickpeas? I often cook my own when I make hummus and the liquid becomes like gelatin when I refrigerate ir.
I’m not sure if this question has been asked yet, but how long does this last for refrigerated?
Does anybody know if this works using a food processor or blender?