You’ll Never Guess the Secret Ingredient in These Vegan Rainbow Meringues

At first glance, these appear to be normal — albeit technicolor — egg white-based meringue cookies. They look like meringues, they taste like meringues, and they have the same melt-in-your-mouth texture as meringues. But (surprise!) these meringues contain no egg whites.

Instead, they’re made with aquafaba, AKA chickpea water (you know, the stuff you pour down the drain when making hummus). Yep, seriously. When whipped, aquafaba behaves just like egg whites, creating the perfect base for vegan-friendly meringues.

And, since the world is going crazy for rainbow everything right now, I added some food coloring to create beautiful meringues that are just begging to be ‘grammed.

Vegan Rainbow Meringues

• Prep Time:15
• Cook Time:1 1/2 hours
• Total Time:1 hour, 45 minutes
• Servings:About 40 small meringues
• Medium

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup aquafaba (reserved from 1 can chickpeas)
• 6 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
• Salt
• Gel food coloring

• Step 1

  Preheat your oven to 200°F.

• Step 2

  Add the aquafaba, vanilla, a pinch of salt, and cream of tartar to a large bowl.

  

• Step 3

  Beat with a hand mixer (or in a stand mixer) until foamy, then add in half the sugar.

  

• Step 4

  Continue beating until soft peaks form. Then, add in the rest of the sugar.

  

• Step 5

  Continue beating until stiff peaks form, then set aside.

  #SpoonTip: When you can lift up the beaters and the peaks stay in place, you’ve got stiff peaks. 

  

• Step 6

  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

  #SpoonTip: Add dots of meringue to the corners of your cookie sheet to help the parchment stay in place.

  

• Step 7

  Place one corner of a gallon size Ziploc bag into a tall cup. Gather your food coloring and a tool that will help you spread it into the bag. (I used popsicle sticks, but wooden skewers or a butter knife would also work.)

  

• Step 8

  Add a stripe of food coloring to your tool of choice.

  

• Step 9

  Spread the food coloring in a line on the inside of the bag, making sure to get it down into the corner.

  

• Step 10

  Repeat for all remaining colors.

  #SpoonTip: Don’t worry about it being perfect! It’ll all be swirled together in the end. 

  

• Step 11

  Fill the bag with the meringue.

  

• Step 12

  Remove the bag from the cup, twist to remove excess air, then snip off a small corner piece.

  

• Step 13

  Pipe meringues onto parchment paper-lined trays, leaving a little space between them

  

• Step 14

  Bake for 1 1/2 hours, or until meringues are firm to the touch. Let cool completely before serving.