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…
Wow!! This is one of the coolest things I’ve seen on your blog. I can’t wait to try it! I usually cook my chickpeas from scratch, but this look worth buying a can for.
Dear Katie;
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I recently discovered that I am allergic to eggs, and the only difficult part was not being able to make meringue. Sounds silly, but I have a layered hazelnut meringue torte that I was hoping to re-work to a healthier state soon, and some coconut macaroons I love to make. This really does help me work with recipes so well. I’m off to give it a try! Many hugs for your posting today.
Deb
You are the coolest person Katie! 🙂 Can’t wait to try this!
OMG! This is crazy awesome! I am so excited to make this!
Katie, would this recipe work as marshmallow fluff in Rice Krispie treats or would it seperate like you said it may in the fridge?
Thanks!!!
I tried using this to make rice krispy treats last night and unfortunately it did not work. It turned the cereal soggy and never hardened it all together. As soon as I tried to cut it into bars, it completely crumbled and fell apart. I’m thinking it’s because this fluff isn’t as sticky and thick as normal marshmallow fluff.
Melted marshmallows start out as a solid at room temperature and will revert upon cooling back to their solid state.
Since this fluff is liquid at room temperature to begin with, it will remain that way. Though freezing or partially freezing might work if you don’t mind ice cold rice krispy treats.
Another commenter said she didn’t have success with it, but I haven’t personally tried it.
Head over to the vegan meringue hits and misses group on Facebook, you will find actual marshmallow recipes there which you could use in non-baked treats.
OH MY GOODNESS – I just had to try this…and I mean immediately! My husband reminded me that we had strawberries – nuff said! This is so good and so much fun! Summer frozen lemon meringue pie? Cocoa meringue cookies? Where to start? I’m curious, though, why this works…
Wow! That’s so neat, I wonder who originally thought of the idea. Anyway, I can’t wait to try this version of Marshmallow Fluff.
See http://www.revolutionvegetale.com for the earliest meringue related experiments that I have seen: Joël was experimenting with bean water last year, but there have been similar earlier successes using things like soya lecithin to create foams, though perhaps not to the extent of creating pavlovas and so on! People have also previously made meringue etc with things like flaxseed emulsion, but maybe not as impressive as the bean juice version: forum.theppk.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=25665
Wow this is incredible! I love the creativity. On another note, can you please make a recipe index!! I want to be able to see all your recipes at once!
Good news! She does have a recipe index 🙂
https://lett-trim.today/recipes/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
How many calories are in a can of the chickpea liquid?? I can’t find the answer anywhere!
I can’t either, Vanessa. I even called Eden Foods and they said the nutritional info on the label is for beans AND liquid, but it doesn’t seem to differ from entries on tracking websites for drained… which doesn’t make sense because the weight of the water would come into play. If you find anything, please share!
For those of us looking for nutritional info on the aquafaba/bean liquid… I did find this for kidney bean liquid, so I assume garbanzos and others might be similar. http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/8489?fgcd=&manu=&lfacet=&format=&count=&max=35&offset=&sort=&qlookup=bean+liquid
I wonder if it would work for Rice Krispie treats…
Probably the reader who wrote to you was inspired by the discussion going on over at this group on Facebook. A few people are credited with its rediscovery, and lots of work has been happening in the last few months to see what works and what doesn’t. You might want to check it out before duplicating a lot of the efforts.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/VeganMeringue/
You would save so much hassle if you linked to the original creators facebook page. The wonderful community (almost 8,000 now) have been experimenting and had many successes, which they have choosen to share, with most of the things I see your readers asking about.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/VeganMeringue/?fref=nf
Hi Christine,
Please see my reply to Goose earlier in this comment thread. I’m not trying to take credit for this idea at all, and I’m really (really) sorry for any drama it caused.
I havent tried this yet but I definitely will. I just have a comment tho. I was going to check out the fb page listed but after hearing about the ruckus I changed my mind. Since this has been used as an egg replacer since 1968, how can they be sure they are the original developer of this recipe? Its ridiculous, we should all be working together to improve on all the processed crap. I never understood people keeping family recipes secret from even other family members. Just plain dumb. Your not making money off this. Thanks for the post!
What?? This is crazy! Delicious and crazy 🙂
This is so awesome!
I like chickpeas in hummus and on salads, but when I use things like chickpea flour, I find the taste overpowering. Is the garbanzo bean flavor present at all in this?
Thanks!
Answered my own question. Made it with white beans. It smells slightly beany, but does not taste so. I can’t believe how great it worked. Turned it into meringues, which are in the oven now.
wow!
Tried this today, and it worked great! I refrigerated my aquafaba, because I know meringue works better if you chill the eggs first (and chill your bowl and beaters too!) I just used regular table sugar, not superfine. Added a bit of vanilla. I see some sites are recommending adding cream of tartar, vinegar, or lemon juice for a stabilizer, or guar gum/xanthan gum for extra thickening, but I didn’t use any of those. With my Kitchenaid on high (with a plastic wrap shield to control spray!) it was looking like meringue within three minutes, and at seven minutes was forming stiff peaks.
Off to look for a lemon pudding recipe…
I’ve made this a few times since it was first posted.
The last time I made it, my fridge was acting up, and had frozen the bean juice that I set aside to make meringue. I decided that the action of the beaters would thaw it quickly enough, rather than risking getting it too warm using the microwave. So I just smashed it up and dumped the frozen bean slush into my mixing bowl.
As soon as I started beating it, I could see white froth forming, and it was thick meringue within a minute or two. The fastest I’ve ever seen it form. So the colder the better, even if you freeze it!
What a cool idea! 🙂
I’ve seen recipes that have caused me to think, “OMG I need to make that!”, but this one stood out above all of those, and I made this today! Mine whipped up into white, glossy perfection in just 6 minutes (I left the mixer running for 13 minutes total). I frosted a chickpea blondie with it and then baked the rest into meringues. This is so fascinating and this gives me so many ideas and inspiration. Thank you so much for sharing!