Light, airy and perfect vegan meringue cookies. Cute and fun and made with chickpea aquafaba resulting in totally perfect meringue!
I was daunted by the idea of vegan meringue for a long time and now I don’t know why.
Honestly, making these was incredibly easy!
If you are new to the idea of aquafaba, let me tell you about it. A few years back some geniuses discovered that the water (brine) from a can of chickpeas acted pretty much exactly like egg whites when whipped.
Basically the proteins from the beans leaches out into the water and makes that water very similar to egg whites in how it behaves. So you can use that water for all sorts of egg-like things!
I have actually used aquafaba before, very successfully, when I made my vegan mousse.
So goodness knows why I was daunted by the idea of vegan meringue, but somehow I just was.
But these came out so beautifully. So now you know I am definitely thinking about some vegan lemon meringue and vegan pavlova.
I researched a lot of recipes and methods, and tried a few different things and this recipe is exactly what worked best for me.
I also found some good troubleshooting tips for making vegan meringue that were very helpful from the Lazy Vegan Baker.
How To Make Vegan Meringue
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
To make these you just take some of the water from a can of chickpeas, and place it in your electric mixer with some cream of tartar.
You start off slow to get it nice and foamy.
Then you speed it up and as you can see things start to get very creamy and glossy!
You add your sugar and vanilla slowly as it whips and let it go until you have nice and glossy stiff peaks.
Pipe it out onto a parchment lined tray, as you can see I had a bit of trouble with my uniformity, some are quite a bit bigger than others!
Then you bake at 250°F (121°C) for 45 minutes and then you switch OFF the oven BUT don’t open it for another hour. This is really crucial. You leave the oven closed for an hour after it finishes baking, without opening it!
Ingredient Notes
Aquafaba (chickpea water) – this recipe uses 6 tablespoons of aquafaba, the liquid left behind from a can of chickpeas. This is roughly half of what you would get from one 15-ounce (425g) can of chickpeas. You can throw the rest out or use it in other recipes requiring aquafaba.
Cream of tartar – this really works for stabilization and it’s exactly like you would use if you were whipping egg whites.
Granulated sugar – works best for this as it provides the structure for the meringues.
Does It Taste Like Proper Meringue?
The end result of this recipe is the most perfect meringues ever. Absolutely perfect! Really, the perfect texture and perfect taste.
Now this is the curious part – if you taste the meringue mix before it goes into the oven, you can taste the chickpea water, the chickpea flavor is there.
So you might be sceptical at this stage, but have faith because once baked, all traces of chickpea flavor vanishes.
All that you are left with is perfect sweet airy light crispy meringue.
How To Store Your Meringues
Store them in an airtight container in the fridge for 5 days. If it’s even vaguely hot or humid where you are, put them in the fridge pronto.
We are currently having high humidity and within a very short time (like 15 minutes) these were starting to get sticky and wanting to collapse.
We put them in the fridge and they went back to perfect in seconds. So just beware of that. Hot and humid weather leads to sticky meringue collapse. So airtight container in the fridge and they will stay perfect for snacks for around 5 days.
More Gorgeous Vegan Desserts
- Vegan Sugar Cookies
- Vegan White Chocolate
- Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
- Cashew Ice Cream
- Vegan Coconut Cookies
- Vegan Energy Balls
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Meringue
Ingredients
- 6 Tablespoons Aquafaba liquid from a can of chickpeas*
- ¼ teaspoon Cream of Tartar
- ½ cup White Granulated Sugar (100g)
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- Place the chickpea liquid (aquafaba) and cream of tartar into the bowl of your stand mixer.
- Start at slow speed and whip until foamy.
- Then gradually increase speed until white and glossy and stiff peaks start to form.
- Add the sugar in slowly while whipping at fast speed.
- Add in the vanilla.
- Keep whipping until glossy stiff peaks form.
- Preheat your oven to 250°F (121°C).
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Pipe the meringue mix into cookie shapes onto the parchment lined tray. Alternatively you can spoon it out, but I found piping to be much easier.
- Place into the oven and bake for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, switch off the oven but DON’T OPEN IT (excuse the caps, but this part is very important). Leave the oven off, but don’t open it for one hour. Time it.
- After the meringues have baked for 45 minutes and then sat in the oven for a further 60 minutes without opening the oven, remove them from the oven.
- They should be airy crispy perfection! If the weather is at all hot or humid, put them in an airtight container and store them in the fridge for the most long lasting results.
Video
Notes
- This amount of chickpea liquid is roughly half of what you’ll get from one 15 ounce (425g) can of chickpeas when drained. You can throw out the rest or use it for other egg replacement purposes or for another batch of vegan meringue.
- Keep the meringues stored in a covered container in the fridge for 5 days.
- Recipe adapted from A Little Insanity.
Alison Webb says
Worked brilliantly first time 🙂
Replaced cream of tartar with lemon juice as I couldn’t find any in the shops.
Whisked for about 20 minutes adding sugar slowly & slowly increasing whisking speed.
Husband loved it (a bit jealous cos his attempt last year dissolved into liquid!)
Will definitely be using this as my go-to recipe!
Thank you x
Alison Andrews says
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Alison!
Leslie Anderson says
Delicious! I only used 2/3rds of the sugar because that’s all I had, but they still came out perfect. Next time I might decrease the vanilla a little–it still had a bit of that alcoholy vanilla taste–but they’re still absolutely devour-able. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Alison Andrews says
So glad they worked out well Leslie! Thanks for sharing!
Penny says
Mine came out a little flattened and slightly brown underneath, which I didn’t mind as they just had a slightly caramelised flavour. I tried previously with a different recipe and they were a disaster, so definitely a vast improvement. Will be trying this recipe again. Thank you.
Rox says
First time using this recipe and worked extremely well! I substituted the cream of tartar for 3/4 tsp (ish!) of lemon juice and added no vanilla as I didn’t have any. I did the stiff peak test over my head and followed the cooking times can come out really well apart from the fact half of them have cracked at thought I left them in the over for over an hour. Really pleased for first time and will be making again, thank you for a great recipe!
Alison Andrews says
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Rox!
Oksana says
Amazing recipe, they come out great everytime thank you!
Alison Andrews says
Thanks Oksana!
AngelEyedBaker says
I have always been a massive fan of meringues. I was looking for a vegan recipe as we no longer store eggs in our house after moving. I had tried a few recipes before and they had never worked for me. Either the exterior had been sticky or the meringues had all melted into one while they were baking. My experience with this recipe though was fairly pleasant and the meringues turned out crispy and delicious. So why only 4 stars? Well firstly all was going well until I added the vanilla, I nearly had stiff peaks when I added it, once I added the vanilla my mixture immediately became more liquidy and I could never get it to stiff peaks. After much frustration, I decided to just throw them in the oven and see how they turned out, and magically they worked. In addition to this, I found the taste had a little bit of an acidic taste. I am not sure if this was from the aquafaba or from me trying to add more cream of tarter after the vanilla incident. But overall I will be making this recipe again.
Anne says
Mine turned into something resembling toasted marshmallows. Tasted lovely, but no firmness at all. I’ll give it another go though. Any suggestions of where I went wrong?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Anne, it’s the sugar that provides a lot of the structure, so if you made any substitutions there then that would explain it. Otherwise I’m not sure without more info.
Jane says
Hi, I have been wanting to try aquafaba for a while now.
Where I’m from we have a meringue recipe that also has slivered almonds and lemon zest, do you think that aquafaba has the structure to hold these as egg whites would?
Thank you
Alison Andrews says
Hi Jane! I’m not sure. As you’ll see when you make it, the aquafaba is not nearly as firm when you reach stiff peaks stage as you would get with egg whites. The sugar provides enough structure to hold it as a meringue, but even adding flavorings to it (like various extracts) can be a little tricky! I’m not sure if nuts/zest would be too much. It might be worth trying some without and then adding the nuts and lemon zest just to a few of them to see how it works out
Eva Kirsch says
Hi
This recipe came together beautifully in the bowl! I did substitute cream of tartar with the same amount of lemon juice. I have done this before. And it did work with with a different recipe. But hardly that different. Unfortunately the meringues have collapsed in the oven. Could it be that my oven wasn’t hot enough or was it the substitution? Sad, as the mix was perfectly stable in the bowl.
Thanks!
Alison Andrews says
Hi Eva, this recipe was never tested with lemon juice, so I guess it could be that. I would rather leave out the cream of tartar altogether (it will still work, just takes longer) than substitute it for lemon juice.
Kat says
First, thank you for the recipe. I’m not vegan, but I had been wanting to try to make Aquafaba. It looked intriguing. For ease and texture, i would give this recipe 5 stars. I used a KitchenAid mixer with a whisk attachment and it came together fairly quickly. It whipped up to a perfect meringue consistency.
I baked at 250 F for 45 minutes, turned the oven off, and left them in there for about an hour more. They were perfect. I would say the look and texture are better than regular meringue. Light, airy, crispy perfection. And they definitely melt in your mouth.
So why 3 stars? Honestly, the taste. For a second after they go in your mouth, they really taste great, but then it changes to a tangy, strange savory-sweet taste that I found unpleasant. Maybe they would be better mixed with other things, like ice cream, fruit, jams or cakes, etc.. My husband thought the same thing.
I do appreciate the recipe. I read a lot of them and this one was the easiest to follow.
Alison Andrews says
Hi Kat, sorry to hear the taste wasn’t that great for you. I haven’t ever had the same aftertaste. I’m not sure what the cause would have been. Thanks for sharing!
Kara says
My apartment doesn’t have an oven so I only have a toaster oven. Do you think I could make a small batch of these in a toaster oven? Do you think they would bake the same? Thanks.
Alison Andrews says
I think so! If your toaster oven is able to get to the right temperature then I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. All the best!
Megan says
The tastiest chewiest meringues ever! Only thing I found is the bottoms stuck to the greaseproof so they were a nightmare to get off and just crumbled! What am I doing wrong?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Megan, so happy they were tasty! Okay so I don’t know if this applies, but I have in the past made the mistake of using wax paper instead of parchment paper and everything sticks to that! So just make sure it’s baking paper/parchment paper and then it shouldn’t stick.
Catherine says
Great recipe. Featherlight and delicious. Took a bit more whisking than conventional meringues. Piped & baked beautifully.My only problem was they were hollow in the middle. What am I doing wrong?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Catherine, were they all hollow in the middle? I’ve had some bake like that but it’s usually not all of them.
natalie says
really delicious and melt in mouth. i found that it was too sweet though and would suggest using 1/3 cup sugar
Alison Andrews says
Hi Natalie, so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the great review. My worry in reducing the sugar would be that it may lose structure, the sugar is what creates the structure in the meringues. 🙂
Josie says
Very Pleased with the results, Mine were very sticky and chewy, but read this can be because of humidity and to put in the fridge….well they started to crisp up quickly … and after an overnight stay in the fridge they are perfectly crisp and light. Going to be dipping some in chocolate, and use some for mini Pavlovas, EPIC! Thank you!
Alison Andrews says
Sounds awesome Josie! Thanks for sharing! 🙂