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…
Thanks for posting this recipe! I tried it as listed (using the powdered sugar and vanilla extract) – it had a bit of a weird aftertaste to me so I added about a teaspoon of cocoa powder once it was already whipped up, whipped for another 2 minutes and it’s pretty great- tastes like a very airy chocolate mousse! Its in the freezer now so we’ll see how the rest of the experiment goes! thanks again!!!!
could this work for a rice crispy treat recipe?
You can experiment, sounds like fun. If you do try it, be sure to report back on the results.
Does anyone know if this will work the same and/or taste as good with maple syrup instead of agave?
Try it, as long as you’re OK if the result isn’t what you expected. And let us know how it works, if you do experiment.
My sister turned me on to this site.. I am glad she did because I really like the recipes so far.
Keep them coming! I will also pass this site on to others.
Hi Katie! What would you use this fluff for? Does it work to bake into anything?
Never tried baking with it! Try it and let us know. It’s good for topping graham crackers, ice cream, pancakes, or anything else you’d like to try.
Does it taste good?
Ok, I’m confused! Meringues & marshmallow are two different things. Marshmallow doesn’t separate…ever. meringues do.So… I guess my question is why are you calling this marshmallow or meringue? Thanks.
You mentioned it separates overnight. So, whatever this is put on, it must be eaten right away? What happens if you put it on cupcakes? Will it separate and make them soggy? Just questions that bother me.
You can refrigerate and then re-whip later.
Thank you for this marvelous recipe. I have recently been searching for healthier alternatives. You have made my day. And this is really my birthday.
I wish you could add a print button, I can’t print this.
Some of the older recipes did not have the print function, but the newer ones do. To print an older one, just hi-light the recipe itself and copy it to a new Word document. You can then print it from there.