Making a recipe with chickpeas? Don't throw the water away - use it to make these delicious vegan aquafaba recipes instead! Find out more about aquafaba and how to use this miracle ingredient here.
What is aquafaba?
Aquafaba, the brine found in cans of beans and legumes like chickpeas, has caught the world’s attention. Aquafaba’s combination of proteins, soluble plant solids and starches can be used for a variety of cooking processes including thickening, binding, gelatinising and emulsifying.
Because aquafaba is very close in consistency to egg whites and contains similar proteins and starches to the ones found in eggs, it’s the perfect egg replacement for vegans.
How do I make aquafaba?
The simplest way to make aquafaba way is to use the brine directly from your tin of legumes, but you can also slowly cook dried beans in water until you get the aquafaba.
If the bean juice is too watery, just continue to heat it until it is the same consistency as egg whites.
If your recipe calls for a small amount of aquafaba, you can fill an ice cube tray with the rest and freeze to use at a later date.
In order to share our excitement about this key ingredient with you, we’ve compiled a list of sweet and savoury vegan aquafaba recipes, made vegan through the power of this clever vegan egg substitute.
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1. Vegan Summer Fruits Pimm’s Pavlova
One of the most interesting aquafaba recipes to make when you first discover it is meringue. It feels a bit like a science experiment and you’ll be amazed at how it can be used to make crunchy, crumbly vegan meringue.
Once you’ve mastered making aquafaba meringue, you can recreate the classic summer pavlova dessert. We’ve topped ours with with pastry cream, boozy Pimm’s sauce, and a sprinkling of summer berries to make it extra special.
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2. Vegan Custard Doughnuts
These deep-fried vegan doughnuts are filled with dairy-free custard that oozes out when you take a bite. Aquafaba helps give the dough that classic airy texture you’d expect from a good doughnut.
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3. Vegan Lemon Mille-Feuille
This vegan mille-feuille recipe features layers of flaky pastry, a fluffy aquafaba cream filling, zesty lemon curd and a sprinkling of fresh berries.
Aquafaba is used in both the cream to make it light and fluffy and to give the lemon curd it’s signature smoothness.
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4. Vegan Sticky Toffee Pudding with Caramel Sauce
Made with dark brown soft sugar and a spoonful of treacle, these gorgeous sticky puddings are a British classic. Serve with lashings of caramel sauce and dairy-free cream for a comforting plant-based treat.
5. Vegan Lemon Meringue Pie
With a crisp pastry base topped with zesty lemon curd and fluffy meringue made from aquafaba, it’s no wonder this pie has been popular for over 200 years!
6. No-Bake Chocolate Tart with Vegan Meringue
This rich and indulgent chocolate tart is delicious enough as it is, but the addition of sweet aquafaba meringue contrasted with tart raspberries makes this aquafaba recipe extra special.
7. Vegan Chocolate Gateau Recipe
Few cakes are quite as spectacular as a chocolate gateau! This vegan version is made up of layer upon layer of moist chocolate cake sandwiched with fluffy vegan aquafaba buttercream.
8. Vegan Aquafaba Candy Floss Macarons
Although one of the main ingredients macarons are egg whites, it’s simple to make vegan macarons using aquafaba.
With just a bit of whisking and baking, aquafaba whips up to make delicious vegan macaron that can be filled as you please.
9. Vegan Chocolate Mousse
This vegan chocolate mousse gets its airy texture from whipped aquafaba which helps make it light and fluffy.
We think it’s best served cold and garnished with berries to add a bit of tartness to compliment the chocolate flavour.
10. Vegan Brioche
If you’re looking for something lighter than traditional bread, the feathery texture of vegan brioche bread is ideal. It’s delicious on it’s own with a little vegan butter, or great for making desserts with too.
11. Vegan Mocha Semifreddo
If you like your desserts full of rich flavours, this mocha semifreddo made with aquafaba is for you. This frozen dessert is definitely one for grown ups as it’s made with coffee and dark chocolate for a richly indulgent vegan dessert.
12. Vegan Lebanese Buddha Bowl with Tahini Drizzle
Aquafaba recipes don’t have to be sweet – you can even use this clever ingredient to make savoury dishes like falafel. Aquafaba acts like an egg to bind the ingredients together so your falafel hold their shape well when cooked.
These falafel made with aquafaba make a tasty addition to Budda bowls for a healthy weeknight dinner.
13. Vegan Guinness Cupcakes
One of the easiest aquafaba recipes to make is vegan cupcakes. It gives them a light and fluffy texture just like eggs do, minus the animals!
They’re even more tender than typically cupcakes too thanks to the stout because the carbonation of the drink helps make the batter airy.
14. Baked Vegan Cheesecake with Berry Coulis
Baked or no-baked, we can’t resists vegan cheesecakes! But there’s something just a little bit special about baked cheesecakes with their crumbly biscuit bases and creamy baked fillings.
This baked vegan cheesecake uses aquafaba to bind the ingredients together to help the tofu filling hold its shape while it bakes.
15. Vegan Jaffa Cakes
We always loved finding Jaffa cakes in our lunchbox, and now we can enjoy this simple pleasure once again with this vegan Jaffa cakes recipe! You might think this is one of the trickier aquafaba recipes featured here, but you actually need just 5 ingredients to make them.
16. Three Tier Chocolate and Hazelnut Cake
When you’re looking to impress, this show-stopping three-tiered chocolate cake is guaranteed to wow. With layer upon layer of moist chocolate cake and toasted hazelnuts, it tastes as good as it looks, and thanks to the aquafaba, there’s not an egg in sight.
17. Buffalo Cauliflower Wings and Ranch Mayonnaise
In need of some crowd-pleasing finger food? You can’t go wrong with buffalo cauliflower wings! These fiery cauliflower bites are coated in aquafaba batter which makes them wonderfully crispy.
To keep things cool, serve them up with a refreshing ranch mayo made from (you guessed it!)… aquafaba!
18. Apricot & Almond Frangipane Tart
When it comes to vegan pie fillings, the combination of tangy apricots and sweet almonds makes this one of the most delicious ones you’ll ever eat.
You’ll use aquafaba in both the base and the frangipane so it’s a great one to try if you’re new to vegan baking.
19. Tropical Vegan Pavlova with Lime & Coconut Whip
Making sure you reserve your chickpea water is well worth it when you have incredible vegan pavlova recipes like this you could make with it.
This recipe has got a tropical twist with coconut cream, lime and passionfruit adding some zesty flavours to balance out the sweetness of the vegan meringue.
20. Chocolate Orange Battenberg Cake
Battenberg is a classic cake that’s normally dyed with distinctive pink and yellow-coloured sections. For this vegan battenberg recipe, we’ve put a twist on the traditional version by making it chocolate orange flavour, and it’s even more delicious!
21. Tiramisu
If you like your desserts creamy and full of coffee flavour then this vegan tiramisu should be on your list to make. It has an airy chocolate mousse made with aquafaba a and rich chocolate ganache that makes it so irresistible.
22. Beanie Banger Sarnie with Vegan Aquafaba Mayonnaise
Whisked aquafaba can be used in savoury dishes as well as sweet. This recipe for aquafaba vegan mayonnaise is flavoured with a little garlic and mustard and is the ideal accompaniment to a number of dishes like these banging sausage sandwiches.
23. Raspberry, Lime & Dark Chocolate Sable Biscuits
These French shortbread cookies are the perfect little snack to nibble on when you’re feeling peckish. They’re crumbly, buttery and dipped in dark chocolate to make them even more delicious.
24. Broccoli & Chive Puff Pots
These mini vegan broccoli and chive soufflés are crunchy on the top, light, fluffy and bursting with flavours inside, this is our version of a soufflé.
Aquafaba helps give them their light, soft texture that you’d expect from a good soufflé.
25. Spaghetti Carbonara with Mushroom ‘Bacon’
When you want an easy dinner, vegan pasta dishes are on hand to save the day. Although a carbonara might seem like a difficult recipe to make vegan, marinated mushrooms make a great vegan bacon alternative.
26. Vegan Queen of Puddings with Rhubarb & Ginger
If the thought of the tart flavour of rhubarb makes your mouth water than you must try this vegan take on the classic British dessert. Stewed rhubarb is flavoured with zesty ginger and topped fluffy meringue to make a dessert that’s both sweet, tart and a little bit fiery all at the same time.
27. Vegan Eton Mess
Eton mess is a classic British dessert made up of three main elements – crushed meringue, cream and berries. In this vegan version, we’ve used aquafaba in place of egg whites to make the meringue and paired it with sweet Chantilly cream and strawberry sauce. It’s summer in a dessert form!
28. Vegan Cauliflower and Chickpea Patties
Aquafaba is the not-so secret ingredient that helps bind the ingredients of these chickpea patties together so they hold together when cooked. These mouth-watering morsels are bursting with the flavours of garlic, turmeric, and garam masala and are perfect for a healthy snack or light lunch.
29. Easy Vegan Falafel
Fed up with crumbly falafel that falls apart when baked? Try adding aquafaba to the mix to help them keep their shape.
30. Vegan Apricot and Frangipane Puff Pastry Tarts
These delightful tarts are such a wonderful way to use up any extra aquafaba you have. The crispy, puff pastry tarts are filled with a soft and nutty frangipane filling and a burst of apricot flavour.
Serve them with a big dollop of vegan custard for a truly scrumptious vegan dessert.
Now you’ve had a go at making these vegan aquafaba recipes, try these vegan seitan recipes.
