Replacing Eggs.
If you are new to veganism and have never baked a cake or made pancakes without eggs, do not panic, you can still eat the same amount of desserts you used to indulge in!
When you start cooking vegan meals, you will quickly find out that there is no need for eggs to make delicious recipes.
Eggs are generally used for 3 purposes: binding, moisturising and thickening and many vegan ingredients easily fill these requirements.
Most basic baking recipes do not call for egg replacement, but some recipes will use vinegar, ground flax seeds, pureed fruit, or silken tofu to add more moisture to the mixture.
See below for tips on how you can prepare meals without eggs.
In this article:
- Making biscuits and cookies
- Making scones, muffins, cakes
- Making pies, cheesecakes or flan fillings
- Making pancakes
- Making sauces and creams
- Eggless recipes
Making biscuits and cookies
No egg substitute is required. The basic ingredients are:
- Flour,
- Sugar,
- Baking powder,
- Vegan margarine.
Making scones, muffins, cakes
To bake these desserts, you do not have to bother about egg substitute, although sometimes recipes will use ground flaxseed, mashed bananas, vinegar to add extra moisture or lighten the cake.
The basic ingredients are:
- Flour,
- Sugar,
- Baking powder,
- Margarine/oil,
- Plant-based milk,
Making pies, cheesecakes or flan fillings
You can use agar flakes, arrowroot and cornflower as a thickener.
- Arrowroot and cornflour can be used as a thickener for sauces and creams. Most can be bought at any supermarket, although cornflour is more popular than arrowroot.
- Tofu makes a great filling for pies and flans. Simply blend tofu with a bit of water and add to your fruit/vegetable mixture.
Making pancakes
No egg replacement is needed, although sometimes gram flour (also known as chickpea flour) is used to give consistency to the batter for veggie fritters.
The basic ingredients are:
- Flour,
- Baking powder,
- Oil,
- Plant-based milk.
Making sauces and creams
No egg replacement is needed to make:
- Custard: use cornflour to thicken the cream.
- White sauce: use flour and plant-based milk.
- Cake topping: use sugar, plant-based milk, margarine and flavour of your choice.
- Mayonnaise.
Eggless recipes
Some non-vegan recipes use eggs, not for binding ingredients together but as the main ingredient. For example, scrambled eggs, omelettes, egg sandwiches, etc.
It is possible to veganise these recipes:
- Scramble tofu: Use mashed tofu and vegetables.
- Eggless sandwich: Use mashed tofu, mustard and mayonnaise.
- Omelette: use tofu and chickpea flour.
- Next: Protein from plants.
- Previous: Replacing dairy products.