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…
This fluff is absolutely AMAZING. I made it using Stevia. Took it with Katie’s sweet potato casserole recipe and the healthy pumpkin pie recipe to Thanksgiving dinner. I did need to whip the fluff up again about 2 hours after I first made it but it whipped back up beautifully. No one could believe what the ingredients were! Thanks for your blog. I only just discovered it. I recently lost 81 pounds and was so happy to have a really good option for sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie ( instead of obstaining from foods I always loved).
Aquafaba mayonnaise is amazing.
Much easier than making regular mayonnaise –
Just put all the ingredients in a container and blend.
It becomes mayonnaise in less than 30 seconds!
Tastes wonderful.
Could you use this recipe to make rice krispy treats?
Thanks for sharing this recipe. Just FYI I had stiff peaks in about 5 minutes using a stick blender and Lakanto granulated sweetener. (And a pinch of cream of tartar)
Ok, this link shows a reference to two men who came up with the aquafaba-turned-whipped delish delight. (I’ve been reading comments trying to see if anyone posted that using arrowroot or cream of tartar really stabilized it). I know the snarky fb group that attcked you for being a human with a popular vegan recipe blog was a few years back, but want to share in case you never have come across any references to who came up with this to begin with. https://theveglife.com/vegan-marshmallow-fluff-2/
PLEASE throw your promise to not make meringue recipes from aquafaba out the window. You shouldn’t have felt pressured to acquiesce to passive aggressive and openly aggressive internet trolls in the first place.
You ARE GENIUS❗️
Question: can you use this recipe as a replacement for Marshmallow fluff in making vegan ice cream? It’s either this or melting vegan marshmallows with a little maple syrup which seems really sweet.
I’m trying to vegan out a heavy cream, sweetened condensed milk, fluff recipe…
Do you know if I can torch it to get that caramelized touch to it for a pie or sweet potatoes – free the Turkey day is coming up.
Hmm sorry we have never tried it!
I totally have… Did it a few years ago when I made my first vegan lemon meringue pie. Just cook the liquid down a bit first and it’s PERFECT.
I just made it and it tastes disgusting. Any ideas on getting it to not taste like beans? I wanted to fill chocolates with it but this isn’t going to work! With all the positive reviews I’m wondering if I did something wrong.
Hi what brand of beans did you use, and what sweetener/amount? Could be a brand issue, or it could just not be something your tastebuds don’t like. We know not every recipe will be for everyone!
You can add more sure until it fits to your liking and also you can add the end some vanilla it will take that bean taste away
I have a question! Are the nutrition facts for white sugar, maple syrup, or stevia/truvia/monk fruit (or any 0 calorie sweetener?) thank you!