As you probably know by now, I like to make non vegan recipes into vegan ones. For that, it is important to find vegan friendly replacements for ingredients that are consistently used in baking and cooking. Eggs are one of those ingredients that you find almost in every baking recipe so I set out to find the best natural and healthier replacement.
While experimenting with suitable egg replacements, I first tried a recipe (a simple Victoria sponge) with the commercial version of egg substitute to see if the recipe would, generally, work with an egg replacement. The recipe came out perfectly fluffy and moist, so I started the trials with different natural egg substitutes like aquafaba, chia seeds and flax meal.
Overall, my favourite is flax meal. I like the colouring, golden like an egg, I like that it can get relatively crunchy and I like that it brings no texture into the mix. Aquafaba is great for those recipes that call for egg whites, but in other recipes I find that it lacks the body or the binding properties of eggs. Aquafaba makes the BEST meringues ever- check out the recipe here. I genuinely don;t like using chia as a binding agent. I don’t like the texture it brings, like a granulated sugar that never dissolves or the colour, thus grey hue that can make your baking look dull. In terms of like to like with an egg in properties, chia eggs work more or less like flax eggs.
Its a personal choice which egg replacer you use and of course, the recipe. More and more alternatives are discovered often and Ill do my best to update this document as time pases fro your reference.
Flax egg- 1 tablespoon flax meal and 2/5 tablespoons water. Mix well and let rest for 15 minutes. Stir before using.
Aquafaba- 3 tablespoons whipped aquafaba per egg.
Chia egg- 1 tablespoon chia meal and 2/5 tablespoons water. Mix well and let rest for 15 minutes. Stir before using.
As I regularly use flax meal in my cooking, I tend to grind a big batch of flax seeds into meal and store them in a glass jar in the fridge. Flax meal goes rancid rather quickly, so keeping it refrigerated after grinding is essential. Plus it makes it easier to use in recipes- put the right amount of tablespoons into a bowl, add the water, stir and wait. The ‘egg’ will be ready in 15 minutes!
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