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.
Steph says
AMAZING. I’m not vegan but use chickpeas multiple times a week. I’ve always hated wasting the juice. My only problem is that I can even eat these unbaked by the spoonful and it cuts into my meringues! Delicious recipe.
Alison Andrews says
Hi Steph, yes it’s the perfect way to use up the chickpea water! So glad you enjoy the recipe, thanks for the awesome review!
Christen Mestre says
Hi, I tried making these today for the first time, I used your recipe but since a can of chickpeas yields twice as much aquafaba (12 TBSP) I doubled the cream of tartar and kept the sugar the same and added 3 TBSP of cocoa, and they came out flat as heck, super sweet and chocolatey. They were whipped up really nicely before I added the sugar and cocoa, and mostly held their form when piped but instantly melted into a pool and ended up as wafers that were all crisp and no chewy. What did I likely do wrong? Not whip them enough or over whip them after the cocoa and sugar were slowly added? Or did matching the cream of tartare to the amount of aquafaba have something to do with it maybe?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Christen, the amount of sugar is really crucial to maintaining the structure, so if you are increasing the recipe you need to increase the sugar as well.
Julie says
Hi made these last week turned out perfect I was totally amazed they were crispy on outside and chewy on inside my bf ate most of them that evening lol but was wondering how long would I leave in and what temperature for fan oven to make a pavlova
Alison Andrews says
Hi Julie, so glad they worked out great! I haven’t tried a pavlova yet so I can’t advise on that yet, but all the best if you try it! 🙂
Alexandra says
worked like a charm; delicious; and I licked the beaters too. Added just a bit of salt.
Liz says
Your recipes are just amazing! This is the latest one I’ve tried and the meringues are delicious, light and airy. Thank you so much!!
Alison Andrews says
So glad they worked out well! Thanks for sharing Liz!
Richa says
I accidentally made the aquafaba fluff and searched for some recipe and chanced upon your recipe. This recipe looks so simple yet classy. Can you provide a vegan macaroon recipe using aquafaba.
Alison Andrews says
I have that on my list of things to make soon. Thanks for the suggestion Richa.
Caitlyn says
Hi Alison
Amazing recipe. I just made these and they turned out so well. Do you know how long these stay fresh for?
Thanks!
Alison Andrews says
Hi Caitlyn, so glad they came out well! They will keep for at least 5 days in the fridge in an airtight container.
Le-Anne says
Turned out great! First time making meringue with aquafaba. My daughter is allergic to egg, so I was excited to try it & it was a hit! My husband says he likes it better than regular meringue. Glad it only uses half a can of liquid though, bc I messed up my first batch. I added orange zest & put it in before the sugar. It made the whole thing collapse! Learned my lesson there. Made it again & folded zest in at the end and worked perfectly. Yum!
Alison Andrews says
So glad it worked out! Thanks for sharing!
Kate says
Hi there, I just made them and they turned out perfectly first time! I will never again throw away chickpea water. However, instead of using all the sugar, do you think you could use sweetener instead like granulated canderel?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Kate, the sugar is very important to the structure of the meringue so I don’t think so at all. You could possibly try reducing it a little and see how it goes, but if they collapse that will be why.
Jodi Kelly says
Maybe you can help me understand what I did wrong because they fell/melted/turned to liquid. I used 1 cup of the liquid from the garbanzo beans and added 1/4t cream of tartar plus 3T sugar. I also added unsweetened chocolate powder and once it was whipped for about 6 minutes, I folded in a handful of chocolate nibs. It looked perfect. I scooped 12 spoonfuls onto the parchment, but by the time I got it into the oven (1 minutes later), it had lost all the air and turned into 12 puddles. What did I do wrong? Thanks for any advice you can give me. BTW – it tasted great :0)
Alison Andrews says
Hi Jodi, I have never made this with add-on’s like chocolate chips and chocolate powder. Others have done it, but to me that sounds like the most clear answer as to why it didn’t work out. I would master the recipe plain first and then try variations from there.
April says
You probably didn’t use enough sugar.
Yasmin says
I made these and topped them off with pistachios and they turned out beyond perfectly still, they look and taste amazing.
Alison Andrews says
Wonderful! Thanks for sharing Yasmin!
Kate says
It took just under 10mins of whipping to get the right texture. They turned out amazingly even though I wasn’t able to leave them in the oven for the full hour (as I was cooking other things) First time using aquafaba and I am very impressed.
Alison Andrews says
Wonderful! Thanks for sharing Kate!
Thi Vu says
Awesome recipe! Everything came out perfect and delicious! I doubled the recipe bc I wanted to use all of the aquafaba from the can. I HIGHLY recommend putting the aquafaba in the fridge until it’s chilled because it makes the whipping process a lot quicker!
Jodie says
I made the vegan meringues and they turned out perfectly 🙂 I couldn’t be happier with the result 10/10. Thank you so much! I’m so excited to serve them Christmas day with berries and coconut yoghurt.
Alison Andrews says
That’s awesome Jodie! Thanks so much for sharing!
Patricia says
My daughter missed the Forgotten Cookies I Make at Christmas. Made your recipe and added 1 cup of vegan chocolate chips. Perfect!
Alison Andrews says
Wonderful! Thanks Patricia!