How to Bake With Aquafaba: Easy Chickpea Aquafaba Recipe

Aquafaba is nothing more than the water that comes from a can of garbanzo beans; in Latin, "aqua" means water and "faba" means bean, so it's literally bean water. When whipped, chickpea cooking liquid forms foamy, soft peaks, just like egg whites. But how? Like an egg white, chickpea water is mostly water with a little bit of protein. (Egg whites contain about 10 percent protein, while chickpea water is about one percent protein.) Chickpea water also contains starch, which provides stability, and saponins, natural foaming agents.

Making homemade aquafaba as an egg replacement is as easy as saving the liquid from a can of chickpeas next time you make hummus. You can use other types of beans to make aquafaba, but most vegan bakers find chickpeas make a better egg replacer than white beans, black beans, or lentils. If you prefer dried chickpeas to the canned kind, a few tips:

1. 1. Spare the salt. Avoid salting the cooking water unless you're only using the aquafaba in savory recipes.
2. 2. Cook chickpeas for longer than usual. The longer you cook the chickpeas, the more protein, starch, and saponins the aquafaba will contain. Aim for about 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours. (A pressure cooker can speed up this process.)
3. 3. Refrigerate chickpeas and aquafaba together. Allowing the chickpeas to remain in the cooking liquid in an airtight container overnight makes for a more concentrated aquafaba. If you don't have time to let the chickpeas and aquafaba cool together, you can drain off the aquafaba and reduce on the stovetop to about one-quarter of its original volume.
4. 4. Whip the aquafaba. In a large bowl or stand mixer. Combine half a cup of chickpea cooking liquid with an eight of a teaspoon cream of tartar. Whisk the liquid until stiff peaks form.

Aquafaba is most common as a vegan egg substitute in baking. You can substitute three tablespoons of un-whipped aquafaba for one whole egg, two tablespoons for one egg white, or one tablespoon for an egg yolk. You can also sweeten aquafaba and add it to desserts in lieu of whipped cream. Use aquafaba in preparations like:

1. 1. Vegan chocolate mousse
2. 2. Vegan meringue desserts, such as pavlovas
3. 3. Vegan brownies
4. 4. Vegan macarons
5. 5. Vegan muffins
6. 6. Vegan waffles and pancakes
7. 7. Vegan marshmallow meringue frosting
8. 8. Vegan mayonnaise
9. 9. Vegan ice cream
10. 10. Cocktails, such as Ryan Chetiyawardana’s Morning Glory Fizz