Spoiler alert! It’s not flax!
The most asked question I get, and that I see on all the groups I belong to in social media is: “Help! What egg replacer should I use!”
The most common answer I see in response to that question is “use flax meal!”
Or Worse yet~ “Use a BANANA!” (or applesauce!!)
Nooooooo! I cringe when i see that because that is not the one size fits all answer!
But I get it.
The “what egg replacer do I use” question was the same question I also had when I first transitioned to vegan baking.
And of course my first experience with egg replacers as I tested my recipes to make them vegan was indeed FLAX!
Perhaps why my initial experiences with vegan baking was so horrific!
I’ll say it again, there is not a one sized fits all answer when it comes to egg replacers!
But knowing what I know now about egg replacers from flax, chia, proprietary blends like EnerG Egg Replacer and Bob’s Red Mill I have a much better understanding of how each one is different from the next and why there is not just one straight up simple answer for all recipes when it comes to replacing eggs.
After all, eggs are the most important part of baking successful recipes since they lend so much to the recipe itself.
In order to determine how to replace such a key ingredient, we need to first look at what that ingredient is doing in the recipe in the first place.
The Almighty Egg- What makes the egg so important in baking?
In baking we are familiar with the whole egg, the white and then the yolk.
Each part of the egg lends different properties and when applied in different ways (ie: mix methods and heat) they aid differently in the final result of the baked product.
Whether it is binding the recipe, leavening it, lightening it, adding fat (flavor) and body; all of these properties are typical of the chicken egg.
So in order to mimic those same qualities in a vegan recipe, it is there that we must start when deciding which egg replacer is best for that specific recipe.
- Binding: The first thing most think about when asked what the egg is really doing in the recipe is binding. Meaning it is the “glue” that holds all the ingredients together. Through mixing and heating, eggs will coagulate and bind ingredients together while also adding flavor, body and leavening action.
- Leavening: Because eggs are made up of proteins that when agitated create a strong matrix that trap air which turns to steam in the oven, recipes made with eggs not only bind but they also aid in rising the baked good.
- Flavor/Fat & Body: Eggs have a high amount of fat in them per each whole egg. As we know fat = flavor and why cakes and pastries are not listed on the diet menu! So in order to recreate the properties of the egg in our recipes we also have to consider the fat and moisture contents we are going to be missing by taking them out of the equation.
With those three main topics in our focus we can now start to understand what the egg was doing in our recipe in the first place.
So when you set out to replace the eggs in your recipe you must first ask yourself “How is the egg working in my original recipe and which (of my new plant based options) is best suited to replace it?”
In my course at Vegan Baking Mastery my focus is all around egg replacers.
I took eight of the most popular natural (flax, chia and aquafaba) as well as some proprietary blends on the market (including some homemade options for those who cannot get those commercial blends).
I dissect each egg replacer to it’s specific ingredients and show you visually how each one works in a controlled recipe experiment.
You will quickly see that not all egg replacers are created equally and not all recipes will call for the same egg replacer every time.
Now back to the cringeworthy responses I see when folks ask ‘What egg replacer can I use in my cake recipe!?”
Flax is a high fat replacement that does a good job of binding, however it can produce a heavy outcome since it is added fat and lots of moisture.
Applesauce & Banana I typically DO NOT use as egg replacements, but rather as a partial oil substitute in recipes. I find that in certain recipes (those with an already high moisture content) these “substitutes” produce a heavy, gummy final result when used as an egg replacement without adjusting the fat content to compensate. Not to mention the banana will indeed make your recipe taste like banana!
Proprietary Blends (for me) are my go-to for most CAKE recipes, with the Plant Based Egg by Freely Vegan my #1 choice. The different blends (like Bob’s Red Mill, Orgran and Neat Egg for example) are also not created equally, and why I like the PBE the best. It gives me the most consistent results in 90% of my recipes and you do not have to reconstitute it before adding it to your recipe. My cakes come out light and fluffy, not heavy & gummy and my cookies are perfectly binded.
EnerG egg replacer is the oldest replacement on the market and is mainly starch and leavener, so keep that in mind when substituting with it. It has a tendency to raise your baked goods more than you may want, if you do not adjust the other ingredients in your recipe. It can also dry them slightly (which may be a good thing since sometimes vegan cakes especially have a tendency to be on the extreme side of moist, bordering on gummy.)
Aquafaba I stay away from in cakes, since for me I find it to produce a gummier texture, I prefer AF for cold preparation mousses and such. Whipped AF is very touchy in cakes since it is so heat sensitive, it tricks you into thinking it is rising beautifully in the oven only to sink to a heavy mess after cooling. Not to mention it is straight liquid which for a recipe that is already heavy in liquid ingredients, can produce a heavy, gummy texture.
Again all recipes are not created equally, so the egg replacer for your specific recipe takes some thought.
I cannot stress enough that there is not a one sized fits all answer when it comes to replacing the eggs in cake recipes especially!
Use the guide I outlined above to ask yourself some questions, and determine which egg replacer is best for your particular recipe and think it out before deciding.
Do you need mainly binding? In which case AF, Flax, Chia or any of the store bought blends would probably work great.
Do you need added leavener? EnerG or my homemade cornstarch blend (recipe below) is a good way to go.
Take a look at the ingredients in the proprietary blends and ask yourself how they will play into your recipe.
Many of them are starches, pectins and flax/chia blends. It is worth trying them to see which you like best for most of your recipes.
I have used pretty much every blend on the market before deciding that The Plant Based Egg is by far my favorite, but I do use some of the others from time to time, for example Vegan Egg by Follow Your Heart was GREAT in my Opera cake recipe or any recipe where I specifically have to replace JUST egg YOLKS.
So before you listen to everyone in a Facebook Group saying “Just use applesauce!!” Please dig a little deeper at WHY & HOW you are replacing the eggs in your recipe.
- Cornstarch 2 Tbs + 4 tsp oil + 1 tsp baking powder + 2 Tbs water
- Mix all ingredients together and add to the recipe in place of 2 eggs
- 2½ cups potato starch
- ½ cup arrowroot starch
- 1 cup tapioca starch
- ⅔ cup corn-free baking powder
- ⅓ cup baking soda
- Mix everything together well, then re-whisk before each use
- To substitute for 1 egg, use ½ Tbs egg replacer powder and 3 Tbs warm water
**Note: Some of you may know that for the last 3 years I have been working on developing the plant Based Egg, a vegan egg replacement that my friend Deborah at VeganKitchenMagick.com pioneered.
I am thrilled to announce it has finally gone to market and Amazon has it for sale NOW! as well as on the website at Freely Vegan.com
If you or anyone you know is into Vegan Baking, (but even more than that- VEGAN + GLUTEN FREE baking), THIS is a MUST have product!
Deborah has done amazing things with gluten free/vegan baking and I helped to develop this product to work in vegan baking with wheat!
This is by far my favorite egg replacement to use (of course I am a bit biased LOL)
Spread the word please and consider purchasing to help a small business venture!! THANKS!
Hi there.
I’ve just received your “modern vegan baking” cookbook which is full of fantastic recipes. You are a genius.
I was hoping it would reference the Freely Vegan plant based egg that I’ve also ordered.
Were you considering releasing an update of sorts that would incorporate the plant based egg? Or even just mentioning the recipes I could substitute it in.
Thanks a lot,
Lea Raymond
[email protected]
Hi Lea thank you! The cookbook was published before the PBE was ready for market, so it wouldn’t have made sense to reference an ingredient that was not available to the public (and at that time we were not even sure what the timeline would look like for it to be available.)
You can count on lots of support at Freely Vegan .com for any help you need going forward! THANKS!!
I also have a compilation of recipes here using ONLY PBE for the egg replacer CLICK HERE
Thanks for your prompt reply! I confess after I wrote that I did a little more searching and found those recipes. Thanks again for reaching out.
Hi! I’m trying to join the vegan baking mastery course, but the website is broken. How should I proceed?
Hey there, thanks for the interest, I am actually no longer offering the course, I’m sorry about that.
I’m so gutted, just clicked the link and got so stoked! Would’ve loved to join that course. Thank you so much for sharing all your knowledge. It’s so great to learn from a trained baker. Looking to get your book soon cause I’d like to support you sharing all those incredible tips with us. Thank you Gretchen!
Hi Larissa! Thank you so much! I’m sorry about the course, it got to be too much financially to support all this.
Hello Gretchen!
I have just purchased your cookbook and I have also taken your advice to buy the Freely Vegan PBE. Now can I sub PBE for the EnerG Egg replacer in your cookbooks recipes?
Your Fudgey Chocolate frosting is sooo good!
Thanks,
Nancy
Hi Nancy! Thank you! Yes you can use the PBE as an egg replacer for sure!
Dear Gretchen, thank you soooooooooooooooooooooo much.
I have been doing this kind of research for years with little success.
Everytime I attempt I have roller coaster experiences and usually tend to almost give up. and then I dont… I try something else. and it goes on…. I have not yet found a sure foolproof substitute that would help make a simple sponge cake.
I hope cornstarch or enerG recipes above will work.
I wonder why you use all 3 starches – but I will give it a try. The fewer the ingredients the better/easier it will be.
Also I added to my amazon cart the PBE before I got to the end of the article, so I am happy I am serving another good purpose.
Thanks!
Lux (Lakshmi)
YAY!! Thank you!
Hi Gretchen,
I was shopping for the EnerG Egg Replacer ingredients. I try to make most of my own plant based foods at home and figured it would be more convenient for me to purchased all the ingredients to have in my pantry. However, while shopping for the starches, I noticed there were also some flour versions. Is there a difference between these (potato, arrowroot and tapioca) starches and flours? Can they be used interchangeably?
Thank you,
Judith
Hi Judith, Im so sorry for the late response. While Tapioca starch & flour are one and the same, Potato flour is made from whole peeled potatoes, cooked, dried, and ground into a fine, beige-colored powder. Potato starch is “washed” out of crushed potatoes, then dried to a fine, bright-white powder.
Sometimes arrowroot powder is known as arrowroot flour or arrowroot starch and they’re all the same thing.
Great info….after reading the article realised how much I need to learn abt these leavening, binding etc etc..
Thanks again gretchen
Hello, thank you very much for sharing these egg replacement recipes.
I know that you say to use baking powder that doesn’t have any sodium in it, but if that is all I have, should I just omit the added salt from the recipe?
Thank you very much if you can help
I know you aren’t offering your class anymore, and this post is a little older, but I’m hoping you might be able to answer some questions, because the resources for amateur but dedicated vegan bakers are very limited!
So – your post here doesn’t mention my most frequent baked good: cookies. What about a cookie recipe that just has a single egg? What role is the egg playing there? It’s often spread out over a few dozen cookies. I’ve found that 3-4 Tbsp of aquafaba often seems to function perfectly as a substitute. Have you tried this? Is the commercial substitute better? And in some cookie recipes (particularly biscotti) I’ve tried 3 Tbsp of chickpea flour with 3 Tbsp water, which also seems to make an excellent substitute in certain circumstances.
You also didn’t mention lecithin, which as an emulsifier I’d have thought would be an excellent substitute for an egg in certain cases? I know some of the commercial egg substitutes contain it, but what about using it on its own?
And what about situations like a tart crust, that call for just an egg yolk? The yolk’s function there is to…add fat? Tenderize? What would be a good substitute for just a yolk in that case, or in a cookie recipe that calls for 1 egg + 1 yolk?
(Also, am I understanding correctly address that you have a commercial interest in the egg replacer you are most highly recommending? If so, this is something I think you should disclose more clearly when you specifically recommend it in your recipes. )
Thanks!
Hi! I agree with everything you are saying here, so it’s hard for me to believe you are self proclaimed “amateur” LOL
But yes I do like AF for cookies more than any other recipes. I find it works great there.
I don’t often work with chickpea flour as a sub (not for any reason, probably because I just don’t often have it around) but I like that idea! It is indeed a pretty strong binder.
I bet- with a few tweaks- it would be a good alternative to the Vegan Egg by Follow Your Heart that I often use(d) to sub for just yolks in a recipe (to answer your next question)
CLICK HERE for my formula for hazelnut Jaconde sponge cake that was one of my more difficult recipes to mimic due to the original calling for yolks, eggs & whites all separately! LOL
Last, yes I did do some product development for The Plant Based Egg by Freely Vegan but I have not (and sadly have resigned myself to believe that I probably won’t ever) receive monetary compensation for all my work I’ve done for them. *sigh….
That said I still do highly recommend the product nonetheless…
But yes you are correct, I probably should advertise that more clearly. I definitely did in the beginning when it first went to market.
I guess because I am so removed from it at this point, when I recommend it in my newer recipes it is the same as recommending any other product that I really don’t gain a penny from… but I understand how it would look that way, since I am still listed on Freely Vegan website as a collaborator.