Vegan Aquafaba Mayonnaise

  

We use a lot of chickpeas in our house, in everything from hummus to salads.   Up until a couple of years ago, it never occurred to me to use the leftover chickpea brine for anything, let alone as an egg substitute in both savoury recipes and desserts.   It turns out aquafaba, which is latin for “water bean”, aka bean water, makes a great replacement for recipes that call for egg whites. This past summer I tried a lemon meringue pie with aquafaba meringue, and delicate aquafaba macarons – the quality was so close to recipes made with egg whites it was hard to tell the difference.

When a vegan friend came over for dinner recently, I made coleslaw, and wanted a substitute that would resemble mayonnaise.   This recipe turned out to be the perfect consistency the first time I made it, but I had to experiment with oils until I found the right one.  Grape seed oil has a nice light taste to it, making it ideal for mayonnaise.

Because the consistency of this mayonnaise is so on par with the texture of regular mayonnaise, you can use it exactly like it’s egg counterpart.  It goes great in salads, like coleslaw and potato, makes a decent base for aioli, and spreads beautifully on sandwiches.  

Recipe yields 1 cup

Ingredients

- ¼ cup aquafaba

(the liquid from a can of chickpeas)

- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar

- 1 tbsp lemon juice

- 1 tbsp sweetner of choice

(sugar, brown rice syrup, maple, etc.)

- ¼ tsp dry mustard

- 1/8 tsp cream of tartar

- 1/8 tsp sea salt

- 3/4 cup grape seed oil

Directions

Using an immersion blender, whip the aquafaba for 1-2 minutes until frothy.  Add the vinegar, lemon juice, sweetner, dry mustard, cream of tartar, and salt and continue to whip.  

Slowly drizzle in the grape seed oil (the drizzle process should take no fewer than 3 minutes), while continuing to whip the mixture.

Continue to blend until the mixture resembles mayonnaise.

Transfer to an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Enjoy!