How to Bake Practically Anything Using Egg Substitutes

Have you ever looked at a recipe and wondered whether it was possible to substitute the eggs? The good news is that yes, most of the time you CAN use an egg substitute. Most of them are easy to find too - either online, from a grocery store, or a health food store. Here are several, most-requested items, and some tips for using egg substitutes in them.

A good starting point: Gluten Free Breads

Think homemade bread is not possible without eggs? It IS possible and it can be delicious. Just check out our new search function on the website to search for recipes without eggs.

For gluten free breads without eggs, there are a few options… you can replace the eggs with applesauce, bananas, soy yogurt, vegetable oil, water or flax seed (see a reference for flax seed). One of the most commonly used egg substitutes is buttermilk. Half a cup of buttermilk is enough to replace one egg.

When making the dough, ensure that you check on the amount of water used. If you are not careful, it might be too watery. Another option is using pureed fruits if you are not a fan of buttermilk. Three tablespoons of pureed banana is enough to replace one egg. Unsweetened and unflavored gelatin is another popular egg substitute, when baking bread. When using gelatin, mix it with three tablespoons of lukewarm water, and add the mixture to the dough.

There are those situations where you need to use more than one egg. If that is the case, use vinegar and baking powder. One tablespoon of vinegar and one tablespoon of baking powder, mixed completely in a glass of water, can replace three eggs. You can also opt for carbonated water to substitute three eggs during baking.

Egg Substitutes for Brownies

When making brownies, you can replace the eggs with tofu, applesauce, soy yogurt, flax seeds, bananas, and commercial egg substitutes. If you are using silken tofu, you’ll need about a ¼ cup, which is the equivalent of one egg. Process the tofu in a blender, until it becomes completely creamy and smooth.

Ensure that there are no chunks or remaining solids. You can also use soy yogurt, if you are a vegan. Just stir it well, and then add it to the mix. Flax seeds can also be used, after they have been properly ground in a grinder. If you want something that can give a slightly different taste, use a mashed banana.

Cookies

There are several egg substitutes, when preparing cookies. These include things like applesauce, cornstarch, soy flour, and Ener-G Egg Replacer. Ener-G Egg Replacer is one of the most commonly used, simply because it’s so easy to use. When using it, just follow the instructions on the packaging, and you will never go wrong. It seems to do well in brownies and cakes too.

[icon type="vector" icon="enotype-icon-new" size="24" hover_animation="border_increase" ]When using applesauce, ¼ cup of unsweetened applesauce will replace 1 egg.

Muffins

Pumpkins are a very delicious treat, and often get overlooked. A third of a cup of canned pumpkin, is equivalent to one egg. It can be used for almost all baked products, due to its ease of use. It is specifically used as an egg substitute when preparing muffins, since it gives them a subtle flavor. Moreover, muffins baked using pumpkin, tend to have a longer shelf life, than those prepared using eggs. Soy yogurt is another excellent substitute, since it has moisture preserving properties. Your baked good will last longer, without getting dry and crumbly. A quarter a cup of soy yogurt would be enough to replace one egg, when baking muffins.

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Cakes

When compared to brownies and cookies, finding a nice egg substitute when preparing cakes, is quite tricky. This is because they have to rise well. Therefore, careful consideration has to be made, on the choice of substitutes used, to get the desired result. On that note, pureed fruit, silken tofu, yogurt, and vinegar-baking soda can all be used. However, the ideal substitute would be the homemade egg substitute (recipe below). It works perfectly, especially when preparing plain vanilla sponge cakes.

Savory Dishes as Coating/Binders

When eggs are needed to coat or bind breadings or toppings, you have a few options, all of which will produce a similar ‘sticking’ quality, but you may have to experiment on which taste you prefer best. Buttermilk, yogurt, Italian dressing, butter. margarine or olive oil all work very well for coatings.

Homemade Egg Substitute

What comes out clearly is that there are many products today which you can use as egg substitutes. Here is a homemade one that will work great in cakes and breads:

2 Tbls. gluten free flour mix

½ tsp. vegetable oil

½ tsp. baking powder

2 Tbls. Milk or dairy free milk

Mix all ingredients together. Use to replace 1 egg.

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