A traditional flip cocktail is made with egg whites, and this vegan lemon gin flip uses a secret ingredient that I bet you already have in your pantry.
Did you guess it? Aquafaba is the magic behind my vegan lemon gin flip. Aquafaba's properties make it perfect in a flip recipe, but you do need to choose your aquafaba carefully.
In a lot of baking, you can use garbanzo, black, red, or any other canned bean liquid in place of eggs, but in this flip white bean aquafaba is really what you want. In my experience, white bean liquid has the mildest flavor. It also is neutral in color - darker beans would give you a weird looking flip.
Read more about aquafaba here!
To collect the aquafaba for your lemon gin flip, just place a small bowl under a colander, and dump in a can of beans. The bowl will catch the sweet, sweet bean liquid that will whip up like an egg white, and you don't have to worry about salmonella!
You might worry that aquafaba won't foam up as nicely as an egg. Let me put your mind at ease! It just takes a few extra seconds of shaking. I used this technique, from Tales of the Cocktail to make mine.
Making Your Flip Cocktail
Instead of a cocktail shaker, I like to use a glass jar with a lid to prevent leaks, since the pre-shaking without ice can be on the messy side otherwise. The result was a perfect, creamy foam on top of this sweet-and-sour gin drink.
It takes three to four tablespoons of aquafaba to equal one egg. Since I want to keep the flavor neutral, I'm going for the low end of the spectrum here. I don't want any bean flavor competing with the bright, lemon of this recipe!
Important Note About the Sugar
Often I will say that you can leave out or reduce the sugar in my cocktail recipes. That is not an option here. The sugar is key to getting your lemon gin flip to foam properly.
Without sugar, you end up with something that's still very tasty, but it's definitely not a flip.
What you can do to mix things up is use other alcohols in this recipe. I have made this with gin, vodka, and cucumber vodka, and they're all really delicious!
Watch the recipe video below, or get the written recipe underneath the video.
Vegan Lemon Meringue Gin Flip Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons no-salt white bean aquafaba - Se above for more info on how to get the aquafaba.
- 2 ounces gin
- 1 ½ ounces lemon juice - 3 tablespoons, or approx. the juice of a fresh lemon
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ice
- lemon wedge - for garnish
Instructions
- Combine the aquafaba, gin, lemon juice, and sugar in a cocktail shaker or glass jar with a tight-fitting lid, and shake vigorously for 15 seconds.
- Add a handful of ice, and shake hard again, until the outside of the shaker is chilled. About 15 seconds more.
- Use a very long pour to strain your mix to a rocks glass (no ice). See the recipe video above for a visual; this step helps give you even more of that flip-perfect foam. Garnish with lemon, and serve!
Michelle Ruff
Hi Becky! Great recipe I'm definitely going to incorporate your technique! I've never worked with aquafaba before. I know you said sugar is a must for foam but will simple syrup do the same trick?
Becky Striepe
I haven't tested it with simple syrup but don't see why not! Let me know if you try it!
Robin Schultz
I LOVE this drink! It reminds me of a creamy Lemon Drop Martini. I rimmed my glass with coarse sugar. Thank you so much for this recipe, Becky!!
Kate
This is not a flip. It’s a sour. A flip has a full egg including the yolk. A sour is just the egg white.
Alyssa James
Is white bean aquafaba less bean-y than garbanzo juice? I really want to like aquafaba, but....haven't quite been won over yet.
Becky Striepe
Yes, it's much less beany. It's my favorite for that reason!
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