Egg Alternatives
Table of Contents
Introduction
There are a number of reasons to avoid eating animal products, including eggs. These include environmental reasons such as deforestation and water pollution, health reasons from heart disease to infection diseases, and ethical concerns as science continues to discover how intelligent and emotional birds including chickens actually are.
Click the Chickens button to learn about the impacts and issues surrounding both backyard chickens and industrial chicken farms.
Seasonings
I like to mix and match all of these for a robust flavor, but you can mix and match any combination for some pretty decent faux eggs.
Flavor
These suggestions are all for savory egg dishes, though salt is a good addition to all the chocolate eggs we've made. For chocolate, Easter eggs, we've used vanilla and/or Bavarian Cream extract/flavoring.
Kala Namak or Black Salt offers an eggy flavor with it's sulfurous and salty flavor. This stuff is strong and if you eat a lot every day you will start to smell like kala namak. Add this flavor in small amounts until you reach a desired flavor, because it can be easy to use a little too much.
Garlic Salt Can enhance the flavor further or can be substituted for the kala namak if you or others don't like the flavor or smell.
Salt Iodized salt will help you get your daily dose of animal-free iodine, but you shouldn't rely on it as your only source, as this will encourage you to consume unhealthy amounts of salt.
If you need a low-salt diet or want to boost your potassium intake, try to use about 60% iodized salt, and 40% low-salt or lo-salt product to avoid the flavor of the second overwhelming the regular salt.Garlic
Pepper
Colour
These can be used for savory or sweet egg recipes, but turmeric can have the biggest/negative impact on flavor, while food colouring generally does not.
Turmeric This has a strong flavor that has nothing to do with eggs, but many people use the spice for it's egg-like colour.
Plant-Based Food Colouring These can also have an odd flavor in large amounts, but orange, yellow, or a mix of the two can give a dish a much more vibrant look without the unpleasant flavor or turmeric.
Baking Binders vs "Eggs"
If you need eggs for baking, there are many alternatives. Some can do dual duty as an egg substitute in a meal AND as a binding ingredient in cakes or cookies, but others are only suited to one job or another. If you try to make scrambled eggs on toast with nothing buy one of these binding products, then you will assume vegan eggs are terrible (and people have done this!), but if you can match the right replacement to the right job, you might wonder why you didn't go egg-free sooner.
Baking Binders
Powdered
These are generally powders that need to be mixed with water, and allowed to sit for about 5 minutes before you add them to the rest of the recipe.
Some examples include:
Agar Agar
Arrowroot Starch
Baking Powder
Chickpea Flour ( also Gram Flour or Besan)
Corn Starch
neat Egg Mix "The neat egg can be used in recipes where the egg is a binder and is not meant to be used as a stand alone egg, as in scrambled eggs. With the neat egg, it’s easy to make your favorite recipes 100% plant-based and egg-free. Replace eggs with the neat egg in all your favorite baking recipes such as cakes, brownies, cookies, muffins and so much more!"
Xanthan Gum
Seed Meals
These are best used for baking bread, cakes, cookies, pancakes, etc. They are NOT appropriate for "meat" dishes. Any time we have tried these with meaty dishes such as kofta, the resulting "meat" always seems to come out with an undercooked, soft/wet feel.
Chia Seeds or Chia Meal - This usually comes as whole seeds, because storing them ground up looses some of the nutrition. However, if these go through your system without being physically broken down, then you'll miss out on the protein, Omega Fatty Acids, and other nutrients these are rich in. You can just soak these for a few minutes before use, but for maximum nutrition, you should grind them up in a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle before soaking.
Flax Meal These often come pre-milled, but can be found in whole form. The same information applies to these and chia seeds, though both have different amounts of protein, omega fatty acids, etc.
Fruits & Other Random Ingredients
You probably already have at least one of these sitting around in your fridge, cabinet, or even on your kitchen counter. The sweet options are usually best reserved for sweet recipes like cakes, muffins, cupcakes, pancakes, and cookies, but if you are making substitutions for regular/non-sugary eggs, then consider subtracting some sugar or whatever other sweeteners the recipe may call for.
Apple Sauce - Best for moist recipes like cupcakes.
Aquafaba This is the juice from a can of beans. Chickpea aquafaba is the most commonly suggested, but any white or creamy bean should do for making mirangues or other pale foods. If you are baking something dark like brownies or chocolate cake, then the bean colour shouldn't matter.
Bananas Mash up some left over banana and reduce the amount of sugar if needed.
Dual Duty "Eggs"
Besan / Chickpea Flour / Gram Flour
Follow Your Heart: VeganEgg "can do it all – scramble, bake, and bind, all while positively impacting your health, the environment, and creating a more humane world. Scramble up some delicious quiches and omelets for a morning full of flavor!"
JUST Egg
Tofu
Savory "Eggs"
Besan aka Chickpea Flour
Follow Your Heart: VeganEgg "can do it all – scramble, bake, and bind, all while positively impacting your health, the environment, and creating a more humane world. Scramble up some delicious quiches and omelets for a morning full of flavor!"
Mung Beans
Tofu
Egg Mayo
(Salad or Sandwich Filling)
This was one of my favorite foods while growing up, and something I was particularly afraid I'd miss by going vegan.
Besan Egg Mayo
Besan or Chickpea Flour can be used the same way you would make Burmese/Chickpea Tofu. Just switch the spices such as turmeric with kala namak and garlic. Follow the same steps, stirring in the flour, water, and other flavors, until it thickens, then pour/scrape the mix into a dish to set firm.
After the "egg" has cooled to room temperature, break it up into large chunks with a fork or similar implement (you don't want to over-do it!) then add your mayo, and mix a little more. If you over-stir and break it up too much, then the besan will become a mushy paste, and will lose the chunky-egg-quality.
You can also smash up some firm or silken tofu (depending on your preferred texture) and mix it into your besan "egg" to emulate chunkier egg yolk/egg whites.
Tofu Egg Mayo
Instead of giving specific measurements, I suggest you play around by adding a little of each and taste testing as you go, so you find the right amount of mayo, salt, etc. for your tastes.
Most tofu comes with enough to make 5 servings, which usually calls for around 4-6 TBSP of mayo depending on your taste preferences.
Raw
You can make this raw by just pressing the water out of your medium, firm, or extra firm tofu (play around to find the one you like best!). Then you'll want to smash up the tofu with a fork or crumble it by hand, and mix in salt, pepper, kala namak, garlic, and finally some mayo. Eat right away, or let the flavors meld together in the fridge for 30 minutes or more. This should be good for up to a week.
Cooked
Follow the same instructions as above, but before you add the mayo, throw some vegan butter (about 1TBSP is good for a whole pack of 5 serving tofu) into a frying pan and cook the tofu and spices until the mixture smells and tastes eggy.
Take the tofu out of the frying pan and place in a non-plastic bowl (you never want to put hot food into plastic because the chemicals can transfer into your food that way). Allow the mix to cool to around room temperature, then start adding mayo.
Add a Potato for Texture!
For both options above you can smash up some potato (you can just microwave or boil one, then pull off the skin), and mix it into your tofu "egg" to emulate emulate slightly mushier egg yolk.
Deviled Eggs
Deviled eggs can be made a few ways. One common, and probably the simplest method is to boil some potatoes, cut them in half, use a baller or spoon to dig out where the yolk would be in a chicken's egg. This dug out potato flesh should be kept in a bowl, mixed with kala namak/black salt, garlic, salt, pepper, vegan mayo, and whatever other flavors you would expect in your deviled eggs. After mashing it well, you can use a spoon or an icing bag with a decorative nozzle to put the "yolk" onto the "egg white" potato bases.
Other recipes include yolk made with mung bean flour, besan, or firm tofu. The best result I've had (after asking party guests to give feedback on tofu only, potato only, and mixed potato/tofu yolks was the latter, as people found the texture the most realistic with a little potato mixes in with the tofu.
Molded Agar Egg Whites
You will need to find egg-shaped molds for this recipe.
Mayonnaise
You can make mayo at home, or buy it pre-made.
Veganaise was once the only choice in many shops, and not particularly good, but these days it and many of the other emerging egg-free mayo options are indistinguishable from the original egg-based version.
One major benefit is that since eggs are a major allergen, vegan mayo is much safer to share at your dinner parties and pot lucks!
Use just as much mayo as your recipes call for, and if you leave the potato salad out for a while, you don't have to worry about raw egg in the mayo causing food poisoning, because the vegan alternatives don't have any.
Veganaise has a growing list of mayo options from plain old soy-free to exotic flacors like chipotle, sriracha, aïoli, pesto and more!
Some DIY recipes can help you create fat-free mayo with ingredients like blended up silken tofu or aquafaba.
Omelets
Egg Foo Yung
Egg foo yung are basically omelets with a rich, thick sauce
They are amazing on a bed of white rice with some slices of vegan breakfast or brat-style sausages.
Quiche
Quiches can be made with or without crusts. If you can't find pre-made crusts and hate making your own, the Simple Tofu Quiche listed here uses sliced potatoes, prebaked in the oven before you pour your filling in for a second and final bake.
The best fillings are generally store-bought eggs like JUST or Follow Your Heart, flours like besan or mung bean flour, a block of tofu, or some combination of these.
Nutritional yeast is generally used to create a cheezy flavor, and give a nutritional boost of B12, niacin, etc.
Grants & Funding
International
Beyond Animal "Where investors and vegan businesses meet" "Using technology, for online funding, networking and business services, to accelerate the transition to an economy free of animal exploitation. Our vision: a kinder, cleaner, healthier world."
EA Animal Welfare Fund "The Animal Welfare Fund supports advocacy, research, and movement-building work aimed at improving the wellbeing of nonhuman animals, primarily farmed and wild animals. This includes corporate and policy advocacy, research, and the promotion of alternative products."