Can I use the liquid from a tin of chickpeas?

Aquafaba is the one kitchen discovery of the last decade that turned out to be genuinely as useful as claimed. It is not a marginal substitute; a well-made aquafaba meringue is very hard to distinguish from an egg-white one.

Step by step

1. Use the liquid from unsalted or low-salt tinned chickpeas.Chickpeas give the most reliable results; other beans work but vary. Drain the tin through a sieve and keep the liquid. A 400 g tin yields roughly 100–120 ml. Salted brine still whips but you will taste it in a sweet application.
2. Reduce it if it is thin.It should be the consistency of raw egg white — slightly viscous, not watery. If it runs like water, simmer it in a pan to reduce it by a quarter or so and cool it fully before using. This is the main reason aquafaba fails to whip.
3. Whip it long, in a spotlessly clean bowl.Electric beaters or a stand mixer, and considerably longer than egg white — five to fifteen minutes to reach stiff peaks. Any trace of fat or oil in the bowl will prevent it whipping, exactly as with egg white. A pinch of cream of tartar stabilises it.
4. Add sugar slowly for meringue.Once it holds soft peaks, add caster sugar a spoonful at a time with the beaters running, roughly equal weight to the aquafaba or a little more. Keep whipping until it is glossy and holds a firm peak. Bake low and slow — around 100°C for two hours or more — and let it cool in the oven.
5. Use the right quantity for the job.Roughly 3 tablespoons (about 45 ml) for one egg white, 2 tablespoons for one egg yolk, and 3 tablespoons for one whole egg in cakes and batters. Measure rather than eyeball; the ratios matter.
6. Know where it does not work.Aquafaba foams and emulsifies. It does not coagulate into a solid the way egg protein does when heated. So it cannot make a custard set, cannot bind a quiche, and cannot be scrambled. Anything relying on an egg going from liquid to solid needs a different approach.
7. Store it properly.Up to about five days in the fridge in a covered jar, or freeze it in an ice cube tray — about one tablespoon per cube — and thaw what you need. It whips perfectly well after freezing.

Tips

• For mayonnaise, blend aquafaba with mustard and lemon and drizzle oil in exactly as you would for an egg mayonnaise. It emulsifies well and keeps a week in the fridge.
• Aquafaba meringues absorb humidity faster than egg-white ones. Cool them completely and store airtight, and do not make them on a steamy day.
• It also works as a foam in cocktails in place of egg white, and it does not carry a raw-egg risk.
• The chickpeas themselves are the useful part of the tin. Making aquafaba is a way of not wasting the rest, not a reason to buy chickpeas.

Alternatives

• Aquafaba from home-cooked chickpeas: The cooking water from dried chickpeas works and is often better, but it is usually too thin. Reduce it until it has the body of egg white.
• Aquafaba from other tinned pulses: White beans and butter beans work reasonably; the liquid from kidney beans is too coloured and strongly flavoured for sweet uses.
• Commercial aquafaba powder: Dried and standardised, mixed with water to a consistent strength. Useful if you want reliability without a tin of chickpeas to use up.

Questions people ask