Egg Substitute in Baking and Cooking: Look Ma, No Eggs!

Since eggs serve a wide array of purposes in cooking and baking, there is no single ingredient that replaces universally in all recipes. So depending on the purpose and recipe, as well as your own taste and preferences, you’ll need to decide what to use on a case-by-case basis.

The fact is to create delicious, decadent, successful baked goods and other recipes, you don’t need animal products at all.

What you really need is:

• binding
• moisture
• richness/fat
• leavening

And all these things can be better accomplished with healthful, plant based ingredients.

As with any cuisine or technique you are trying for the first time, there’s a learning curve, but once you try using egg substitutes in baking and cooking once or twice, new habits will soon take place of the old ones, and you’ll never look back.

Also, it’s not as if you must use a replacement for every egg you eliminate from your recipe. Often, the eggs are totally superfluous and can be left out altogether, with no need for substitutions.

Baked goods don’t require dairy-based milk, dairy-based butter, or chicken’s eggs. They require binding, fat, moisture, richness, and leavening.

There are plenty of egg substitutes available for baking or preparing a dish that calls for eggs. Let’s look at some of the most popular ones.

Egg Substitutes in Baking & Cooking Recipes

There is no hard and fast rule about egg substitute — you have to experiment to see what you like and what works for you. Sometimes one works great in one recipe, but not in another.  It’s really a matter of experience, experimentation, and individual taste.

Flax Seed: The High-Fiber Egg Replacer

• When blended with water, ground flaxseeds (brown or golden) make a gelatinous mixture similar to egg white, so they make a good egg substitute in some baked goods when only an egg or two is called for. For each egg you want to replace, whisk 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseeds with 3 tablespoons of water until the mixture is thick and gooey. This can be done in a blender or food processor.
• Because flaxseeds have a nutty flavor, they work best in baked goods that are grainier and nuttier, such as waffles, pancakes, bran muffins, breads and oatmeal cookies.
• You can use store-bought ground flaxseeds or flaxseed meal egg substitute, but for better flavor and freshness, you may want to buy whole seeds and grind them yourself using a coffee grinder.
• If you want to use this, but don’t want the flecks of brown skin to show, you can strain it through a fine sieve or cheesecloth, OR use golden flaxseed.

Egg Substitute In Action:Egg Free Pancake Recipe

Egg-Free Pancake Recipe

Ripe Banana

• Ripe mashed bananas are great binding ingredients in baked goods.
• As a general rule, consider half a mashed or pureed banana as a replacement for one or two eggs. They are great in breads, muffins, cakes and pancakes.
• Banana will add some flavor to the recipe, so make sure bananas are compatible with the other flavors in the dessert.

Applesauce

• Applesauce not only acts as a binding agent but also provides a good substitute for oil in baked goods when you want to limit fat and calories in your recipes.
• Use one-fourth of a cup of unsweetened applesauce to substitute one egg.
• Applesauce will add some flavor to the recipe, so make sure apples are compatible with the other flavors in the dessert.
• Works great in muffins, brownies, cakes, and bars.

Tofu

• Tofu is great for egg substitutions in recipes that call for a lot of eggs, like quiches, custards, puddings, musses, scrambles, and even mayonnaise. To replace one egg in a recipe, purée 1/4 cup soft tofu. Even though tofu doesn’t fluff up like eggs, it does create a texture that is perfect for “eggy” dishes.
• For best results, be sure to use plain tofu, not seasoned or baked, as a replacer.
• Be sure to purée it first to avoid chunks in the finished recipe.
• Works for pies, quick breads, muffins, and cakes that are more dense.
• Tofu is also a great substitute for eggs in eggless egg salad and breakfast scrambles.

Egg Substitute in Action: Egg-Free Veggie Scramble With Tofu

Veggie Scramble with Tofu

Vinegar and Baking soda

• When combined with an acidic ingredient (such as vinegar, citrus, or cocoa), baking soda releases carbon dioxide that forms into bubbles in the food. When heated these bubbles expand and help to rise or lighten the final product.
• 1 egg = 1 teaspoon of baking soda with 1 tablespoon of vinegar; works in cakes, cupcakes, and quick breads.

Other Egg Replacement Options

• 1 egg = 2 Tbsp. potato starch
• 1 egg = 1/4 cup mashed potatoes
• 1 egg = 1/4 cup canned pumpkin or squash, for quick breads, muffins, cakes
• 1 egg = 1/4 cup puréed prunes
• 1 egg = 2 Tbsp. water + 1 Tbsp. oil + 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 egg = Plain or vanilla soy yogurt 1/4 cup for muffins, cakes, bars
• 1 egg white = 1 Tbsp. plain agar powder dissolved in 1 Tbsp. water, whipped, chilled, and whipped again
• 1 egg = Ener-G egg replacer 1 1/2 teaspoon plus 2 tablespoon water

Egg Substitute In Action: Egg Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies with Pecans (No Eggs)

Egg Replacement Tips

• Since eggs serve a wide array of purposes in cooking, there is no single ingredient that replaces universally in all recipes. So depending on the purpose and recipe, as well as your own taste and preferences, you’ll need to decide what to use on a case-by-case basis.
• If a recipe calls for three or more eggs, it is important to choose a replacer that will perform the same function (i.e., binding or leavening).
• Attempting to replicate airy baked goods that call for a lot of eggs, such as angel food cake, may be difficult, if not impossible. In such cases, it’s better to find a recipe with a similar taste but fewer eggs, which will be easier to modify.
• Powdered egg replacers cannot be used to create egg recipes such as scrambles or omelets. Tofu is the perfect substitute for eggs in these applications.
• If you want a lighter texture and you’re using fruit purées as an egg substitute, add an extra 1/2 tsp. baking powder. Fruit purées tend to make the final product denser than the original recipe.
• If you’re looking for an egg replacer that binds, try adding 2 to 3 Tbsp. of any of the following for each egg: tomato paste, potato starch, arrowroot powder, whole wheat flour, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, instant potato flakes, or 1/4 cup tofu puréed with 1 Tbsp. flour.

Source: http://www.peta.org/living/vegetarian-living/egg-replacements.aspx

Via Vegan Mainstream.

Egg Substitute In Action: Mixed-Vegetable-Potato Salad with Egg-Free Mayo

Potato & Mixed Vegetable Salad with Egg-Free Mayonnaise

Egg Substitute In Action: My first egg-less banana muffins with flaxseed!

Egg Substitute Recipes: My first egg-less banana muffins with flaxseed

Questions? Comments? Suggestions?

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I also welcome any comments, questions and suggestions. Thanks!