Egg-Free Baking
With bird flu, egg shortages and rising prices, it seemed like a good time to do some baking without eggs. I have plenty of egg-free recipes already and I have shared many of them on this website before. I could share lists of egg replacers, but I wanted to test a number of them myself to let you know how they worked. Let’s start with some of the options.
Egg Substitutes
To replace eggs in a recipe you have a lot of options. Some are vegan, some not. To replace each egg use ¼ cup of any of these: applesauce, mashed banana, Greek yogurt, sour cream, silken tofu, buttermilk or , carbonated water.
You can also use 3 T. aquafaba (liquid from canned garbanzo beans) or 1T. flax seed meal plus 3 T. water. There are also commercial egg replacers available. Follow their package directions.
Keep in mind, other ingredients like baking powder, baking soda and cream of tartar can all help baked foods to rise without eggs. Make sure those ingredients are fresh to insure best results.
I started with a recipe for baked doughnuts. The recipe calls for one egg and makes 6 doughnuts. I made the basic recipe, then made 5 more batches, each with a different replacement for the egg. I made doughnuts with mashed banana, applesauce, carbonated water, flax seed meal and buttermilk. After they were cool, I placed the doughnuts in a bag with powdered sugar and tossed them gently to coat. I took the doughnuts to a cooking class and asked my students to try them. They gave me some excellent feedback. Bottom line is that they all worked. Some better than others but none failed.
So here is how things worked out with more details.
Baked Vanilla Doughnuts
1 c. flour
1/3 c. sugar
1 t. baking powder
½ t. salt
2 T. unsalted butter. melted
1 egg
½ c. milk or half and half
1 t. vanilla
Preheat the oven to 350. Spray a doughnut pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg, milk, butter and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir together until well combined. Spoon the batter into the doughnut pan or use a plastic bag. Cut a corner off the bottom of the bag and pipe the batter into each doughnut cavity, filling ¾ of the way full. Place the pan in the oven and bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely. Doughnuts can be rolled in powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar- or glazed and topped with sprinkles. Makes 6.
The Variations: for all the variations I used 1/4 cup of the substitute to replace one egg, except for the flax seed meal. For the flax seed meal I used 1 tablespoon mixed into 3 T. of water.
Banana : They rose fine and took an extra couple of minutes to bake. I assume because of the extra moisture. The texture was similar and they looked like the original. They did have a slight taste of banana. Which is fine, unless you don’t want a banana doughnut. One of my students said he really liked the banana flavor, which was faint.
Applesauce: I used unsweetened applesauce. Like the banana, they took and extra minute or two to bake. They rose fine, had a nice texture and there was no taste of apple.
Carbonated Water: These also took more time to bake. Not a surprise with the extra moisture. They also rose a little more than any of the other variations, including the original recipe with an egg. They had a nice texture. Different from the others. Lighter, but a little chewy. Not tough or unpleasant, just different.
Flax Seed Meal: This is the only version that looked a little different from the others. There were tiny flecks of flax in the doughnuts. The appearance was not an issue for me. They rose fine and tasted like the original recipe.
Buttermilk: I didn’t have buttermilk, so I added a teaspoon of lemon juice to the measuring cup and added milk to equal 1/4 cup. I let it sit for a few minutes before mixing the dough. One of my students said she could taste the slight tang from the buttermilk and liked the flavor.
Summary: You have options that work. If you can’t get eggs or are running low, no need to panic. You can use any number of different ingredients and should still be able to bake successfully. Even when eggs are abundant we can sometimes run out. Its nice to know there are solutions that really will work.
I recently tried out a recipe for a vegan lemon curd. It is both egg and butter free. I made it a few times before coming up with a version that I really liked. I realized that the egg free version was actually easier to make. Using almond milk, cornstarch and avocado oil, along with the sugar, lemon juice and zest was easier to cook. When made with eggs, I had to be so careful not to scramble the eggs. The egg free version just thickened up when cooked without the risk of over cooking the eggs. Of course, you could use butter instead of the oil and it will still work. Here is the link to the lemon curd recipe.
