Aquafaba meringue nests, perfect for filling with vegan cream and fresh berries. These nests can also be crushed to make Eton Mess!
Many of you will already have heard about this, but for those that haven’t… I recently discovered that you can actually make vegan meringue from chickpea brine (the water from a can of chickpeas or other legume) and sugar!!
I know, right??
After hearing about other’s experiments with this discovery online, I had to try making one of my favourite desserts ASAP – Meringue nests with strawberries and cream. I am so happy and amazed with the results!
They’re crunchy, chewy, sweet and delicious. Just like egg meringues but better for the environment!
Making these meringues are really no different than if you were to use eggs. The process is the same.
Simply whisk the chickpea water, slowly add sugar until it reaches the “stiff peaks” stage, pipe into nests, bake on a low heat for a couple of hours and cool.
You may be wondering… “Doesn’t it taste like chickpea water?” and the answer is it just tastes like sugar, in the same way egg meringues just taste like sugar. It’s all about the texture.
I can’t wait to try making Pavolvas, Eton mess (which is pretty close to what I’ve made here), angel food cake, macarons and more, now I’ve discovered this idea.
Never throwing away that canned legume water again…
You could get away with this being an Easter-themed dessert because of the whole nest aspect. But really, it’s good any time of year. Any time of day. Every day.
These meringues are:
- Vegan
- Eggless
- Dairy-free
- Gluten-free & grain-free
- Soy-free
More Aquafaba recipes
📖 Recipe
Vegan Meringue Nests
Egg-less meringue nests served with strawberries and coconut cream
Ingredients
- 400 g can of chickpeas - just the liquid from the tin, or other canned legume*
- ½ tsp cream of tartar
- 125 g icing sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract, (optional)
To serve
- Fresh strawberries
- Chilled full-fat coconut milk
- Maple syrup or agave nectar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 110c / fan 90c / 230f and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
- Add the water drained from the can of chickpeas into a large bowl and use an electric hand-held or stand mixer to whisk for approximately 5 minutes until it's more than doubled in size, white and foamy.
- Add the cream of tartar and whisk again for another minute. Slowly and gently start adding in the sugar, whisking until the mixture forms stiff, glossy peaks. Stir in some vanilla, if using.
- Transfer the meringue mixture into a icing bag with a large star-shaped nozzle and pipe into nests or cup shapes. Alternatively, just use a spoon to create mounds and use the back of the spoon to hollow out the centre.
- Bake for 2 hours. Do NOT open the oven! After 2 hours, turn the oven off and leave them to cool in the oven for at least another hour.
- To serve, add a meringue nest to a bowl and whip some chilled coconut milk with some agave nectar (to taste) to create a thick double cream consistency. Pour onto the meringue nest and serve with chopped strawberries on top. Enjoy!
- These meringues should keep for a couple of weeks in an air-tight container (I will report back if not). They can also be frozen.
Notes
*Make sure it's not the "salted water" variety - otherwise you'll end up with salty meringues!
Tiffany says
Hi Aimee,
Can you help please?
These are whipping up beautifully….then I get them in the oven and halfway through they expand and go much flatter until they fall completely flat and remain liquidy. This has happened twice…any idea of what I’m doing wrong? I know with traditional egg-base you have to be meticulous with grease etc and wipe the bowl with lemon. Is this likely true for aquafaba as well? Gutted :(
P.S
Can I just say, your blog is favourite vegan foodie one. I love how your recipes aren’t expensive or overly complex and you re-invent traditional dishes! SO many blogs these days expect you to shell out ££ on ingredients for recipes…love love it! x
P.P.S Your chocolate orange christmas pudding converted my vegetarian family last year :)
Nannabelle says
Tried this recipe twice worked really well both times although I had oven too hot first time the result was a lot like honey comb as the sugar was more caramelised. Second time perfect loved by vegans and others equally. Thank you!
Carole says
Hi Aimee. I made these yesterday and was pretty happy with them. However, they just turned out crispy and hollow in the centre, instead of nice and gooey like egg based meringues I’ve made in the past. Is this to be expected or were yours gooey in the centre? Thanks :)
Aimee says
Sorry for the late reply, Carole – just catching up after the holidays! I’m sorry to hear they were a bit hollow in the middle. This can happen sometimes. I’ve found the best way for me (although it differs with different ovens) is to wedge the door open slightly with a wooden spoon, to allow some of the air to escape. I’ve added some tips on my latest meringue recipe and will update this post with some more tips soon. Glad you enjoyed it anyway though!
Morgane says
Hey Aimee!!! oh my God you just made my day with this breaking News!!! I am going to a wedding next week and the bride is vegan so now I can actually bake Macarons !!! Have you already tried Macarons with chickpea brine? I love your blog!! Thanks a lot for all the great recipes.
Aimee says
It’s amazing, isn’t it?? I am still excited about it! Yes, I did try macarons, using another blogger’s recipe. I think I did something wrong though because they were hollow inside and I haven’t tried them again since but it’s on my list of things to try next! Let me know how you get on :-)
Morgane says
Hi Aimee! so I tried today and I think it has to do with cooking time / temperature: 10 minutes at 150 degrees is probably way too much? It is quite a shame because I scrupulously followed a macaron recipe but just replaced egg with chickpea brine. It looked wonderful until I put it in the oven… I had never baked macarons before so it was also a bit ambitious from me to start trying baking some and heading directly for the vegan way! I guess I’ll try again tomorrow but 140 degrees and just staying in front of the oven to see what goes wrong… what change did you have to make when you switched from your meringue nest to vegan meringue nests in terms of temperature?
Morgane says
after further research it definitely has to do with cooking time… here is a nice one I found !
http://theblenderist.com/vegan-macarons-aquafaba-recipe/
Aimee says
To be honest, for the meringues, it was just a case of experimenting to see what worked! I heard that for macarons, you need to reduce the liquid first. So simmer it for about 10 minutes until it’s reduced and thickened and then use that liquid instead. Macarons are notoriously tricky, let alone when you start trying to use veganize it! I think it’s one of those things where it’s sometimes about luck too. In the past when I’ve made ordinary macarons, I’ve had some batches turn out so wonderful and some so bad and I can’t find a difference between what I did between the two. Can be pretty frustrating! Anyway, please keep me posted – I’d love to know if you have macaron making success!
Tiv says
You have to let them dry out a bit, just like with regular macarons, before putting them in the oven to bake.
Jenny Delenta says
I have just tried making this. It is mind blowing! Perfect Meringues. I have missed them and now I can eat them and not feel guilty about the EGG!!
Nature provides in mysterious ways, thank you!!!
Aimee says
Woohoo! Aquafaba is amazing stuff isn’t it? I’m still so excited about the fact I can make meringues again. Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed the recipe :-)