This is one of the best ways to use chickpea cooking liquid instead of throwing it away: vegan mayonnaise made with aquafaba, lemon, mustard and oil.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup thick chickpea cooking liquid or canned chickpea liquid. Either can work; if using canned liquid, check the salt and ingredients on the label
- 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tbsp white vinegar
- 1 tsp grape molasses or agave syrup, as a sugar alternative
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil, with more if needed
- 1 tbsp mustard
Method
- Put the aquafaba, lemon juice, white vinegar, mustard, salt and grape molasses in a food processor or blender.
- Blend for 1 minute.
- Begin adding the oil in a very thin stream while blending until the mixture thickens.
- You may need more than 1/2 cup oil.
- Once thick, stop blending and transfer the mayonnaise to a jar in the refrigerator.
Enjoy 🙂
Why aquafaba works so well in vegan mayonnaise
The strongest point is not a claim that it “cleans toxins from the blood.” It is that chickpea cooking liquid works as a plant-based emulsifier and performs a job for which mayonnaise traditionally uses egg.
A systematic review found that aquafaba contains small and variable amounts of protein and carbohydrate, while its foaming and emulsifying properties are what make it useful in cooking. We should not transfer every benefit of whole chickpeas to their cooking liquid as if they were nutritionally identical. Review.
Experimental studies also confirm that aquafaba can form stable foams and emulsions, which is why it works as an egg substitute in mayonnaise, meringue and baking. Source.
And there is a practical bonus: instead of throwing away chickpea water and using an egg to make mayonnaise, we turn a by-product into a useful ingredient. Less kitchen waste and no animal exploitation. 🌱
Use them for hummus with tahini or vegan hummus fatteh. For soy-milk mayonnaise, see our vegan mayonnaise.
