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…
I love the whipped topping for pies. However, I tried the baked meringue and it didn’t work out. It just melted – looked like I had a pan of melted butter.
Looks great!
Hi Katie!
I’m just wondering if I make this marshmallow fluff could I use it as a base for marshmallow fondant? So I would add icing sugar to the fluff and knead until the right consistency. I think this would be a yes but wanted to see if you know!?
Thanks in advance,
Katie (great name by the way!!)
Would this hold up mixed into homemade ice cream? I’m going to attempt “s’mores” ice cream and want to try to keep it as sugar-free as possible. Thanks! Also, just bought your book and can’t wait to try some of the recipes!
Sounds like a fun experiment. Be sure to report back if you try!
Katie, thank you so much for this recipe. Is it possible to make these using a Vitamix? I don’t own an electric mixer.
I would think not, but definitely be sure to report back if you try!
Hey Katie, I tried the recipe, but it didn’t thicken no matter how long I whisked it. What can be done?
Would this work for fudge? Has anyone tried that yet?
Anyone tried hand-mixing? I’m currently hand-mixing a batch and it’s not getting thick enough, even after putting it in the fridge. It’s been about 20 mins already.
Hi I tried making miranges today. I was patient and used a blade mixer to mix my aquafaba. I did it on low for about 20 minutes and high about 10. At that point the aquafaba was white and had peaks on it while the blade turned.
In terms of sweeteners I only added 1 teaspoon of honey and 5 drops of stevia liquid. (I wonder if the stevia liquid was the cause of my problem…)
So my only ingredient were: the liquid from the salted can of chickpeas (with the ingredient: chickpeas, salt, and water) and 1 teaspoon of honey and 5 drops liquid stevia (they are tiny from a puppet).
Then I put them in the oven. They quickly melted when I checked back on them in 5 minutes. I actually was not surprised because I could not imagine it becoming a solid but I guess it should according to many mirangue recipes.
So what do you think I did wrong? The mirangue turned to clear liquid with no volume…I am so sad because I can’t have egg and was excited to try this out.
Here are my ideas: Do you think I need more sweetener? If so how much honey or stevia should I add since these are the only ones I can use ? Do you think it is because I did not use cream of tartar? And if so, how much baking powder would you use since I read it can be a replacement for cream of tartar since I don’t have it at home? Another thing I may have done wrong is I blended the liquid till it turned white and some peaks were forming but they looked more like reefs than peaks (they did not stick up very high when I took the blade out, and only seemed to appear when the blade was being spun).
I will also ask: http://aquafaba.com/faq.html
Thanks,
Marianna
Could I use maple syrup?
Sure, I think so!