Vegan Meringue
Make fluffy vegan meringue and add it to your favorite pies, brownies, cookies, and even more desserts! Discover 3 different ways to make it!
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Vegans have essentially gone from feeling like meringue was extinct to a bountiful supply overnight. Yes, that means vegan meringue pie is now a possibility!
Mostly this is thanks to a can of chickpeas. I know, I know. Who’d have thunk it! But, interestingly enough, you can do a lot with a can of chickpeas.
I’ve done everything from making Vegan Cheesecake with chickpeas to Blondie Bites to, of course, hummus. But those recipes call for working with the beans from the can. Today we’ll be using something else that comes from that can of chickpeas.
Reader Reviews
★★★★★
Karen
Awesome meringue for our lemon meringue pie. We were pleasantly surprised by the fluffiness and the flavor.
How to Make Vegan Meringue Without Eggs
Today I’m sharing three ways to make vegan meringues. Let’s start with that can of chickpeas, except we’re not going to be using the beans themselves.
Ingredients & Substitutions
You can find the full printable recipe, including ingredient quantities, below. But first, here are some explanations of ingredients and steps to help you make this recipe perfect every time.
- Can of Chickpeas — You’ll need about ¾ cup of bean brine liquid from one can of chickpeas
- Cream of tartar
- Granulated sugar
- Vanilla
- Egg Replacer — If you’re going with version two of this recipe, you’ll need to use an egg replacer. See the notes in the recipe for how to make this yourself.
- Xantham gum — This is an optional ingredient, but I’ve found it helps create a stable meringue that stays firm even after baking.
Version 1: Vegan Meringue with Chickpea Water (Aquafaba Meringue)
- Pour the liquid from a can of chickpeas (salted or unsalted) into a mixing bowl, along with the cream of tartar.
- Mix on medium speed for 1 to 2 minutes until it begins to froth.
- Make fine sugar by placing it in a food processor and pulsing for up to a minute.
- Beat in fine sugar, one tablespoon at a time.
- Continue mixing on medium-high speed until soft peaks form, and then add the vanilla.
- Continue mixing until stiff peaks form.
- Add the xanthan gum (if using) to help the meringue form and maintain stiff peaks.
- Spoon the meringue over a pie, making sure to create a seal with the pie crust.
- Create decorative peaks that will brown as they bake.
I don’t know how the name AquaFaba came into being, but I mostly refer to the liquid from a can of beans as chickpea brine.
Vegan Aquafaba meringues are interesting because they get big and fluffy just like an egg-based meringue. That’s because chickpea water basically resembles the structure and consistency of egg whites.
Here are more detailed step-by-step instructions:
So, how to make chickpea meringue? Drain the liquid from one can of chickpeas (you can also use great northern beans, but chickpeas are my favorite choice). Add half of a teaspoon of cream of tartar and mix it for a minute or so to get a nice frothy mixture.
Next, let’s talk about how to whip aquafaba.
While the aquafaba recipe and the cream of tartar are mixing, place the sugar in a food processor and pulse for up to a minute to make finer sugar. If you want to skip this step, you can always purchase caster sugar at the store.
Once the sugar is ready, add it one tablespoon at a time into the chickpea brine mixture. Continue beating.
Once all the sugar is added, continue beating on medium speed. Here’s what the garbanzo bean liquid meringue looks like after two minutes of beating.
Here’s what the chickpea meringue recipe looks like after 5 minutes of beating. Not too exciting…yet!
Here’s what it looks like after 7 minutes of beating. You can’t see it from this angle, but there are some peaks forming below that mixer!
I like to rub a little of the meringue between my fingers. Do I feel any grit? If so, I’ll beat for another minute or so to get a nice, smooth consistency.
This vegan meringue is ready for a pie! Spread this over your favorite pie, making sure to create a seal with each edge of the crust, and bake at 350°F/175°C for about 20 minutes.
If you don’t have browned meringue peaks, then turn the heat up to 375°F/190°C and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on a rack for about an hour, and then refrigerate.
Make sure you give your family about 3 billion guesses what you used instead of egg whites!
Also, this version of meringue may result in liquid forming at the bottom of the pie after you cut it. I drained that liquid, and everything was just fine. The meringue will come out of the oven nice and high, but will most likely settle after being refrigerated. Don’t worry, it will still taste great!
Version #2: How to Make Vegan Meringue with Egg Replacer
If you can’t bring yourself to work with garbanzo bean water meringue, I understand. You need another option. And you’re in luck because I’ve got one for you.
This version of how to make Vegan Meringue uses Ener-G’s Egg Replacer (paid link) product. I use this product in some of my baking, and it turns out it makes a decent meringue too.
Using these ingredients and the recipe below, you can make a beautiful vegan meringue. That’s why this recipe for How to Make Vegan Meringue is so helpful!
Here’s the Egg Replacer Meringue on top of our Lemon Pie. It’s pretty amazing stuff! Personally, I prefer the bean brine version of meringue, but this one has a more subtle flavor. You know, if subtle is your thing.
Version 3: Either of the Above with Xanthan Gum
I experimented with the recipes above and found that both were improved with the addition of some Xanthan Gum. You only need half a teaspoon, and it adds structure to your vegan meringue.
The aquafaba meringue is my favorite, and it performed quite well, looking amazing right out of the oven; however, it tended to deflate overnight in the fridge. Adding just a bit of xanthan gum caused the meringue to form nice, stiff peaks that held their form for days.
Some people dislike using Xanthan Gum because it is a manufactured product. I get that. If you’re interested in learning more about xanthan gum and the technical jargon that accompanies it, click the link above to access the wiki page and make your own decision.
Is Cream of Tartar Vegan?
Cream of tartar is made from the residue left on barrels of wine. It’s an acid and is used as leavening to create a chemical reaction in food, for example when it’s combined with baking soda. There is no dairy in cream of tartar so it’s perfectly fine for vegans to consume.
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What Can I Make with Aquafaba Meringue?
There’s a variety of recipes you can use this vegan aquafaba meringue on, including the following:
- You can also make Vegan Meringue Cookies
- A Vegan Pavlova would be fun to make too!
Vegan Meringue
Ingredients
Chickpea Brine (Aquafaba Meringue)
- ¾ cup bean brine liquid from one can of chickpeas
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- Optional: ½ teaspoon xantham gum
Egg Replacer Meringue
- ½ cup Ener-G Egg Replacer (see notes)
- ⅔ cup water
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon xanthan gum (optional)
Instructions
For the Chickpea Brine (Aquafaba Meringue)
- Pour the liquid from one can of chickpeas (salted or unsalted) into a mixing bowl, along with the cream of tartar. Mix for a minute or two until the mixture begins to become frothy.
- In the meantime place the sugar in a food processor and pulse for up to a minute to create a more fine sugar (you can always purchase caster sugar if you want to skip this step).
- While you are mixing the chickpea brine, add one tablespoon of the processed sugar at a time. Once it's all added, continue to mix on medium to medium-high speed until soft peaks form. Add the vanilla and continue mixing until stiff peaks form.
- Optional: Add the xanthan gum to help the meringue form and maintain stiff peaks.
- Spoon the finished meringue over the pie of your choice, making sure to create a seal with the pie crust and creating a peak of meringue in the middle. The more edges you have in the meringue, the more that will brown, creating a beautiful pie.
For the Egg Replacer Meringue
- Combine the egg replacer and water in a mixing bowl and mix on medium speed.
- In the meantime, place your sugar in a food processor and pulse up to a minute (or you can use fine caster sugar).
- Pour the refined sugar one tablespoon at a time into the egg replacer mixture. Continue beating, pausing to wipe down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Once soft peaks have formed, add the vanilla. Mix until stiff peaks form.
- Optional: Add xanthan gum to create a more stable meringue that will hold stiff peaks after baking.
- Spoon the meringue over a pie, being sure to seal the meringue up to the edges of the pie crust. Create decorative tips that will turn golden upon baking.
- Place in a preheated 350°F/175°C oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Turn heat up to 375°F/190°C and bake for an additional 10 minutes or so until peaks turn golden brown.
Recommended Equipment
(The products above contain sponsored links to products we use and recommend)
Notes
The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
This post was originally published in 2015 and was updated to include new photos, new text, and an updated recipe in 2020.
About the Author
Hi! I’m Marly McMillen. I’m the founding editor, author, recipe developer, vegan home chef, and food stylist behind Namely Marly. I’m so grateful to you and every member of my audience for your support and dedication. More about Namely Marly ›
37 Responses to Vegan Meringue
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Hi! I was recently diagnosed with egg allergies and legume allergies do run in the family. I was very intrigued by the egg replacer method listed, but couldn’t any description on how many eggs the recipe is equivalent to? How many eggs does this replacer equal?
How can i make vegan meringue without using acquafaba. Can i just use milk, sugar, lemon and cornstarch only?
Hi Maria, Thanks for your question. Scroll up on the page and you’ll see I shared 3 ways to make vegan meringue, one of which is made with powdered egg replacer. It’s not as full as the kind made with aquafaba, but it works!
Hi, it states on the the ener-g package it cannot be whipped. So, what are you doing to whip it into meringue? I’m confused
Hi Leigh, they may be trying to discourage people from relying on it to make things like angel food cake, etc. But you can see from the pictures in the post that it can be whipped. It doesn’t whip as fluffy as aquafaba, but I found it worked fine.
Could I make this using erythritol or lakanto?
Hi Jane. I haven’t tried lakanto, but I think the erythritol should work, especially if you use something like Swerve’s powdered sugar.
I loved how the bean liquid whipped. Up per your great instruction. However I baked them at 400 degress and when opened the oven for to check….there nothing! Except a film on the parchment paper. It was good for a belly laugh. Not for our bellies though. So follow heating instructions too!
Can you get aquafaba from boiling chickpeas and using the reserved water?
Yes, you the resulting liquid from boiling dried chickpeas will create aquafaba. I recommend boiling the liquid a few minutes to condense it and then refrigerating it before using it to make meringue.
Awesome meringue for our lemon meringue pie. We were pleasantly surprised by the fluffiness and the flavor.
Thanks, Karen! So glad you liked the vegan meringue for the lemon pie. I agree with you — the fullness of the meringue is so surprising…and tasty too!
Can I use egg replacer meringue in cake recipes?
Hi Tamanna. Yes, you can use this as a replacement for eggs in a cake recipe. I love this article by The Kitchn with instructions on using aquafaba as an egg replacer. That said, I highly recommend adding a little bit of cream of tartar to the egg replacer to help give it structure.
I just made the AquaFaba version and I worked perfectly!
I made a vegan Lemon pie and I burnt the merengue with a torch, It looks really nice.
Thanks for the recipe ❤️
Thanks, Erica! I’m so glad you liked this recipe. The aquafaba version is my favorite too! ❤️
Thank you so much for this post! last year I made a chocolate mousse using aquafaba and it was amazing so I can only imagine how good these vegan megingues must be !
The name AquaFaba came about because it is not just chickpea water, it is water of any legume (and yes, all can be whipped!! I used whipped split pea water as an egg substitute in homemade pasta) and legumes belong to the family FABACEAE (because they are so FABulous 😉 )
Hi Emma. Thanks for your perspective on this! I believe we share a love of the whipped bean juice! I haven’t seen other legume waters being referred to as aquafaba but have myself used them to make whipped meringues. I have used this America’s Test Kitchen article on Aquafaba as a resource. Also, I think I want to make Fabaceae my new favorite word! Love it! ❤️
I have boiled 500g dried chickpeas in a LOT of water. After they were a bit overdone, I removed the chickpeas and let the water simmer for a few minutes more. After the aqua faba cooled down, I poured it into ice cube trays (my favorite silicone hexagonal ones) and when the ice cubes were frozen solid, I transferred them into a freezer bag. Now I have home made aqua faba whenever I want. In the exact quantity needed.
Hi there! have you tried with the ORGRAN egg replacer?? its the only replacer I can find in my city!
Hi Catalina. We don’t have Orgran here, but I looked at the ingredients. It looks very similar to Ener-g so I think it would make a very similar meringue to that. Try following my instructions for the Ener-g meringue. Let me know how it goes!
Tryed it loved it !! Super yummy awesome recipe
Hey Lilly! Thanks so much for the feedback. So glad you loved this recipe! It’s kinda fun having meringue every now and then! ❤️
Do you think it would still be good if I substitute the sugar for stevia?
Hi Maggie! I’ve actually used Truvia when making this recipe and it worked just fine! I think there’s enough similarities between stevia and Truvia that it should work. Let me know how it goes!
I used the bean brine, it works amazing, maybe you have to use the specific egg replacer mentioned (brand). Regardless, skip it, it’s frustrating and tastes gross, use the bean bribe, it’s amazing.
So glad this worked for you. I love the bean brine meringue. And so many fun options to use it with!
The meramgue won’t get fluffy with the egg replacer. Followed the directions precisely.
Hi Mark. You raise a good point. When I first published this recipe, Ener-G was about the only egg replacer we had available. And that’s what I used for this recipe. Now there are many other egg replacer products available. I will edit the recipe to make note of this. Thanks!
Hi Marly, can you freeze any of your desserts? Trying to get ready for the festive season.
This sounds so delicious !!! Have you ever tried to use the water from cooking your own chick peas ?
Hi Aleen! I haven’t tried using water from my home-cooked chickpeas yet. However, if I were to do that, I would definitely cook the liquid down until it was nice and thick. In other words, if you start with a cup or a cup and a half of water left over from cooking your chickpeas, I would simmer that until it was down to around 3/4 of a cup. If you try it, let me know how it turns out!
Back in my non-vegan days I used to love meringue, and I’ve seen these aqua faba recipes around the internet and am very intrigued! Next time I do up a lemon pie I’m trying this. 🙂
Stay tuned Allysia, because I have some more vegan meringue pies coming right up! My favorite has been the chocolate. No wait. I really loved the coconut. Oh, I guess I love ’em all! I hope you try it too. Send me a pic with #veganpieweek – I’d love to see how it turns out for you!
Thanks for the very thorough explanations and process pictures. I might just try for the first time today b/c of you! 🙂
Please let me know how it goes! I was a little timid the first time I tried it and after working with it awhile now, am loving it. I CANNOT wait to bring a vegan meringue pie to my family dinner. I don’t plan to tell anyone how I made the meringue until AFTER they’ve tried it. Is that bad? It probably is, but I can’t help myself! 🙂