So, this post was inspired by a common question I get. "What can I use instead if I don't want to use eggs?" Whether you're allergic to eggs or vegan, I get it. Sometimes we need substitutes for common ingredients in a recipe.
So, let's get into it.
First of all, it's important to know why your recipe contains eggs. What is the main reason? Because eggs are used for several different reasons.
First, binding. Eggs help your cake or other recipe to stay together and not fall apart.
Second, moisture. Eggs help your recipe to retain moisture so it isn't so dry.
Third, leavening. Eggs can be whipped up and bring a lift to your recipe. But even not-whipped eggs bring a bit of leavening action.
Most egg substitutes only help with one or two of these four qualities of eggs. Which is why people like to use eggs in baking in the first place. But that means that substituting for eggs can be a bit tricky. Probably why so many people have questions about it.
Also, this is not meant to be an exhaustive list. If you find something that works for you not on the list, leave me a comment. I'm interested.
First, and my personal go-to: mashed or pureed fruit. You can replace one egg with 1/4 cup or 65g of mashed banana or applesauce or mashed avocado or pureed pumpkin. This helps with moisture and binding. However, it's not helpful with leavening, so it can leave your recipe feeling a bit heavy and/or dense. So it is best if used in a recipe that is already heavy or dense like brownies or cookies. A small caution, though. Fruit has a flavor of its own, so it can change the flavor of your recipe. But it would work great in some recipes.
Here's another personal favorite: peanut butter (or other nut butter). You can replace one egg with 3 tablespoons or 60g of nut butter. This helps with binding and a little with moisture. Also leaves recipes slightly dense and has its own flavor, so would only work with relatively dense recipes that either already have a nutty flavor or where a nutty flavor would fit in, like cookies or pancakes.
This one might surprise some people. No, it's not the chickpeas. It's the water run-off from the can of chickpeas. This also works with beans or other legumes. This run-off is called aquafaba and is the best replacement for egg whites. Why? Because the protein from the legumes whip up like egg whites do. Shocking! But amazing. This helps with the leavening aspect of eggs and is absolutely THE best replacement for egg whites in meringues or other recipes that contain large amounts of egg whites. One egg can be replaced with 3 tablespoons or 45g of aquafaba.
This one surprised me as I was researching for this article. Carbonated water. This helps with moisture and leavening. Although, admittedly the carbonation doesn't help with much leavening. Just a bit. One egg can be replaced with 1/4 cup or 60g of carbonated water. The advantage here is that no other flavor is in the water, so it doesn't add flavor to your recipe if you have one that is more sensitive to added flavors. Works great for cakes and cupcakes.
This one may be obvious, but you can replace an egg with a tablespoon of vinegar mixed with a teaspoon of baking soda. This replaces the leavening aspect of eggs. Don't forget that the vinegar will add a certain acidity to your recipe. So, use with caution.
This one is fairly well-known among the vegan community. Ground chia seeds or flax seeds. Mix one tablespoon of ground chia or flax seeds with 3 tablespoons of water and allow it to sit for a few minutes until it becomes thicker. This helps with binding and moisture and the texture of the ground seeds is quite similar to eggs. It can, however, leave a slightly nutty flavor behind, so cookies and pancakes is where this substitute is most at home.
This one, obviously, won't work for vegans. Unflavored gelatin. Add one tablespoon of gelatin to a tablespoon of water and allow it to bloom for five minutes or so and then add two tablespoons of hot water to dissolve the gelatin. Gelatin is made from animal biproducts, so it is NOT vegan. This could work, however, for someone who is allergic to eggs. It would work best for cool recipes such as cheesecake to help with binding. Gelatin is even a more efficient binder than eggs, so your recipe could be more firm than planned.
*A vegan alternative to gelatin is agar agar. Add one tablespoon of powdered agar agar to one tablespoon of water and allow it sit for a few minutes.
Here's one that most people have in their kitchen already. Plain yoghurt. Replace one egg with 1/4 cup or 60g of plain yoghurt. Helps with moisture mostly and a bit of binding. This is a great replacement instead of the pureed fruit, because it doesn't have a strong flavor itself. Does leave your recipes fairly dense.
So, what can you use instead of eggs? There are so many options! It's just important to know your recipe before you try to replace the eggs. Why are there eggs in your recipe? binding? moisture? leavening? There's something for every purpose.
Watch us talk about these substitutions on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/oqg_qnwe1IU
Schaut zu wie wir über diese Ersätze auf YouTube reden hier: https://youtu.be/LeGLsHN5ABo
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