RECIPE EXPERIMENTS: Aquafaba Meringues

Above: The meringues are ready to bake.

RECIPE EXPERIMENTS: Aquafaba Meringues

Recently KQ host Mitch Hightower decided to see if aquafaba can really be whipped to make meringues. In case you don't know, aquafaba is the brine from beans, also known as "bean water". In this recipe, Mitch used aquafaba from chickpeas, (aka garbanzo beans).

Mitch reports that the aquafaba did indeed whip up beautifully into stiff peaks very similar to egg whites. Never satisfied with anything plain, Mitch dressed up the meringues by painting gel food coloring inside the piping bag to obtain a stripe effect. So far, so good.

After baking, the meringues were light and very crispy, like what you would expect if eggs had been used. Unfortunately, once the meringues cooled to room temperature, they became sticky and lost their shape. The aqaufaba meringues went from nearly perfect to an epic fail in no time.

Mitch says, "Clearly I have some work to do to get this recipe right. I may consider baking them longer next time".

Below: The aquafaba from a can of chickpeas. 

Above: The aquafaba whipped to stiff peaks.