Healthy Homemade Marshmallows
This recipe for fluffy Healthy Homemade Marshmallows is SUPER quick and easy with just 5 simple ingredients (and no high fructose corn syrup in sight)!
Knowing how utterly obsessed I was with sugar as a child, it’s a given that I adored those jet puffed marshmallows from the grocery store. Seriously, they are pure sugar. Prooobably the main reason I liked them so much…
Every time I walk by a bag of marshmallows, I remember sitting on the couch with my friends at a sleepover, popping those white orbs of fluffy clouds into my mouth. While normal people would eat popcorn or chips during a movie, I’d be over there with my big bag of mallows. For some reason, I liked that I could down an entire bag without feeling a tad bit full. I sure did get quite the sugar rush (and crash), though… tsk tsk, good ol’ Jessica, tsk tsk.
I have been seriously craving marshmallows lately, so I satisfied that craving with these Healthy Homemade Marshmallows. They’re made without the refined white sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, and artificial food dyes too!
Don’t let the word “healthy” turn you off. These marshmallows are just as soft, fluffy, airy, and delicious as the storebought kinds. And just as sweet, of course!
Healthy Homemade Marshmallows
Ingredients
- 3 tbs (30g) Unflavored Gelatin
- 6 tbs Cold Water
- 336g (1 cup) Agave Nectar
- 1 tsp Vanilla Paste
- ⅛ tsp Salt
- ⅓ cup Arrowroot Starch
Instructions
- Spray an 8x11″ rectangle pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper one way for easy removal later.
- In a large stand mixer bowl with whisk attachment, add the gelatin and water.
- Place the agave nectar in a small saucepan (I used a 2-quart pan). Add a candy thermometer to the pan and place over medium heat. Bring it to a boil. Remove from the heat when the temperature reaches 230°F.
- Turn the stand mixer on low speed and carefully pour in the hot syrup. Cover the stand mixer with a kitchen towel to avoid any splatters on your counter, and increase the mixer speed to high. Beat for 8 minutes, or until very thick, shiny and voluminous.
- Add the vanilla paste and salt and beat for 1 more minute.
- Working quickly, scoop the mixture into the prepared pan and spread it out using an offset spatula. Let sit for 5+ hours, or overnight.
- Dust your countertop with the arrowroot starch. Gently flip the marshmallows onto the counter and slice the marshmallows. Toss the marshmallows around in the starch. Serve and enjoy!
I never cave into buying a bunch of junk food at the store anymore, even when I walk by Hershey bars or big bags of marshmallows, because I know how terrible quality the ingredients are. I feel like if a company uses crap ingredients, they think of their customers as crap (actually, they probably don’t think about their customers at all…).
My “rule” is that if I’m going to eat sugar, I gotta make it myself and from scratch using the best quality ingredients available to me! While these Healthy Homemade Marshmallows may not be those most nutritionally balanced snack you can find, I think the main point is that it’s a much better option than anything you can buy from the store. We aren’t ingesting any genetically modified high-fructose corn syrup, artificial food dyes, bleached sugars, or preservatives.
These were so good, I know I’m going to make them again soon! I might want to try a peppermint-swirled variation or incorporate chocolate somehow. Mmmmm.
Enjoy the recipe!
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With love and good eats,
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– Jess
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PS: Love marshmallows but don’t want any of the sugar? Check out my Healthy Sugar-Free Marshmallows!
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Indulge − no strings attached!
Have you ever seen the marshmallow experiment? It’s basically a test of self-control for children. You might relate! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EjJsPylEOY 🙂
Oh. My. God. I cannot WAIT to try this! I’ve given up marshmallows long ago based on the fact they’re pure chemical & sugar. But this might bring me back 🙂
I’ve made a few of your recipes before, and because they’ve always turned out!
Ooooh you made marshmallows healthy!!!! These look just like the perfect thing I’ve ever seen!
I have been dying to make homemade marshmallows for ever now! These look so so good! Have you tried baking with them yet? I bet they are divine in the hot cocoa! 🙂 Can’t wait to try these, thanks!
I haven’t tried baking with these marshmallows yet, but I made a successful batch of krispy treats with them! 🙂
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IS the arrowroot starch really necessary?
No, you can use all powdered erythritol instead, you will just need a little bit more 🙂
Would stevia powder work the same?
Stevia powder will not work in this recipe, but I do have a sugar-free marshmallow recipe you can check out! 🙂
These look great! I have yet to find a vegetarian version, though . . . sigh. Maybe someday!
Hi Carly. If you feel like experimenting, you can try using agar agar powder instead of the gelatin, but you need to dissolve that on the stove instead of the microwave. Now I’m curious and might try that out… 😉
Erm… Gelatin is absolutely not vegetarian?!! It’s not made BY animals it’s made OF animals so it’s not even close. Thai recipe is listed as a vegan recipe on Pinterest and it even says within the post that this recipe is vegan- think you need to revisit some things!
Oops! My bad, must’ve been tired writing that comment! You’re correct, gelatin isn’t vegan or vegetarian. However, thousands of people pin recipes from my site so I’m not in charge of what they write in the captions. Nowhere in this post did I state the recipe was vegan, so I’m not sure why someone pinned it as vegan?
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They look amazing!! How long will these store?
I’m not sure about the maximum time these can be stored, we finished them in about 2-3 days… all I know is that, because these don’t have preservatives and artificial ingredients, they won’t keep as long as the storebought kinds.
Hi! With your deep culinary knowledge, would you supposed I could replace the gelatin with psyllium husk powder? It makes things incredibly pudding/jelly like kind of like agar.. 🙂
Haha, I’m sorry but my culinary knowledge ends at that question! I have no idea if psyllium would work here… I know what you’re talking about though, psyllium tends to make things incredibly “jell-O-ish.”
I am 90% sure psyllium will not replace the gelatin here… however, if you are feeling up to some experimentation you can give it a shot. I mean, I’ve seen flax gel work in similar ways to gelatin, so who knows, you might be onto something!! Good luck!
-Jess
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Don’t suppose you know if vege-gel would work instead of gelatin? 🙂
Hmmm… I’ve never heard of vege-gel so I can’t be sure. If you feel up for experimentation, give it a go! I’m crossing my fingers it works 🙂
I made these marshmallows and they are so so good! I followed the recipe exactly except I used all granulated Erythritol and I needed another tbs. I don’t have a stand mixer so I had to use I hand held mixer – it took 22 minutes on high speed before I deemed these white enough to be put into pans. I use two square pans – I’m guessing there both 9 by 9, my marshmallows were much thinner than yours but I think I got about 100 marshmallows so its ok. They were really sticky and off white and gooey before I coated then with the Erythritol but once they were coated they were not sticky at all and held their shape better, and were pretty close to the white I saw in your pictures. they were still a little more flimsy than I expected but I think thats because I made them so thin and I think they would have been even whiter if I had used powdered Erythritol! But they were really good, they taste a lot like store bought, my dad and I think they are even better than store bought!
These ARE heaven!!! I made them just last week 🙂
Whaaaaat! I’m making these NOW 😀
I was wondering if this can be made with rice malt syrup, instead of agave?
I’ve never used rice malt syrup before so I can’t be sure. However, usually liquid sweeteners and syrups can be exchanged pretty easily. If you try it out, I hope it works out for you! 🙂
What would you suggest 2nd to agave? Honey? Or maple syrup? Thanks in advance.. going to try these with agar agar and either honey or maple syrup (per your suggestion) and hoping they turn out for a s’mores treat in the making!
I’ve tried maple syrup and it just doesn’t work the same. You can try honey but I hate the end flavor… it’s too overpowering.
I haven’t tried agar agar before!! I hope that works for you!!
I never even imagined marshmallows could be healthy! What a treat to know you can make them like this. I’m going to try it for all the family.
I feel silly for asking this, but how much erythritol did you use? I see in the ingredients where it calls for about 1/3 cup of arrowroot starch, but in the directions, it says to dust your counter top with a mix of the arrowroot and erythritol. This recipe looks divine; I might have to sub the agave for honey instead as I don’t like agave.
Oops sorry about that! I just used starch for this recipe, but I was originally planning to coat the marshmallows in a mix of starch and erythritol. I updated the recipe instructions to omit that 🙂
As for the honey, I think that sub should work just fine, just note that your marshmallows will have a very strong honey flavor. Cooking honey to 230 degrees F intensifies the flavor.
this recipe looks similar to my marshmallow recipe. question though…could i use honey or maple syrup instead of the agave (my dr put it on my list of NO)?
I think a mix of honey and pure maple syrup should work out, however I haven’t tried it. If you try it out, just note that your marshmallows will have a slight honey flavor. If using 100% honey, you’ll have a really intense honey flavor.
Hope you like the marshmallows! 🙂
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I used to be afraid of gelatin (I didn’t really know what to do with it or how to use it) but now that I’ve discovered it I really want to make these healthy marshmallows. Wow, just amazing they can be healthy! They look great.
This are amazing and delicious 😄. Granddaughter can’t have cane sugar. Love these
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I was searching for a healthy alternative to marshmallows for camping next weekend with some friends – these look awesome and I will definitely give them a try! How many pieces did you get out of your batch? Also, I’m not sure if you’ve trying using them for s’mores, but do they cook over the fire okay if we used them for s’mores?
Thanks for this awesome recipe! 🙂
Awwww yay I’m so glad you found this recipeI
I haven’t tried cooking these over a fire… I tried making krispy treats and it didn’t work, but I’d say give s’mores a shot!
This recipe makes 35 marshmallows 🙂
Can I freeze them so I can save them for later?
I haven’t tried freezing marshmallows so I can’t be sure. Feel free to test it out though!
Hi. Can you use like any other starch (e.g. cornstarch) to replace the arrowroot starch and can I use maple syrup or any other syrup instead of agave
You can’t use maple syrup instead of agave. I tried it and it didn’t work. The boiling temperature is different and it doesn’t firm up the same as agave.
But you definitely can use corn starch instead of arrowroot! 🙂
Why do you heat the syrup? I make these with room temp agave and they come out perfect. Just curious.
You have to heat the syrup in order to dissolve the gelatin. It also helps solidify the marshmallows 🙂
I’m a fan of healthy. We have done various diet changes here to overcome serious health issues. I love what you’re doing. These marshmallows ARE very delicious. No question about that. 5 stars on the recipe.
So close to the marshmallows we love without the unnecessary ingredients
I make these all the time and everyone loves them!
I substitute good vanilla extract in place of paste. I also make a version with peppermint extract that are fantastic in hot chocolate.
Can vanilla extract be used instead of vanilla paste?
I haven’t tried it but I’m sure it would work just fine!!
These marshmallows look so fluffy and delicious! Nothing beats the texture and fresh flavor of marshmallows you’ve made from scratch. I love that they’re simple to prepare but yield such impressive results. Homemade marshmallows would be a perfect treat for the holidays or winter time. Thank you for sharing this recipe – I’ll definitely be giving it a try soon!