What Is Aquafaba? How To Use It As An Egg Substitute

If you’re on a diet that restricts you from eating eggs, you probably don’t need a reminder of how challenging it can be to find a suitable replacement.

It might depend on where you live… cities are more likely to have a wider array of less-than-typical foods. It might also depend on price, too. Newfangled foods, just like newfangled gadgetry, tend to be cost-prohibitive at the beginning. Yes, back in the day even the humble Gardenburger commanded a premium that might shock you.

On top of that, sometimes these substitutions just don’t do a great job of substituting. Your food ends up too dry, runny, or bland. When things like this are new, they do take a while to perfect. So your newfangled egg substitute is cost-prohibitive and not as good as it could be. And that’s if it’s even at your local market.

But there’s good news in all of this. The perfect egg substitute has been right under our noses the whole time: bean water!

Stay with me.

What Is Aquafaba?

When you open a can of garbanzo beans, it’s a likely bet that you pour the beans into a colander and let the liquid drain into the sink. Lots of us do, because we don’t have an immediate use for it. But as it turns out, this liquid known as aquafaba has a wonderful use: it is the perfect egg substitute.

Aquafaba is Latin and literally translates to “bean water”. The way it becomes that cloudy, viscous liquid is through a process of reverse osmosis. When beans are soaked and cooked, they absorb the liquid they are cooked in. During packing and processing, the beans are placed into cans with more water. As the beans spend time sitting in the can, they begin to express some of that liquid they absorbed during cooking. The liquid that comes out is starchy from being inside the bean, and that’s how we get this pliable, viscous liquid that whips and foams up so nicely.

In terms of nutrition, there’s not much to speak of. That goes double for taste. Aquafaba is about as neutral as substances come, and that’s perfect when we’re talking about the delicate balance often found in recipes… particularly baked goods. It’s great for pancakes, waffles, brownies, and cookies too. It doesn’t function as an actual egg, however, so it would not be good for quiche, which relies upon the egg yolks to come together as a cohesive dish.