Tips for Baking Without Eggs
Getting used to baking without eggs can be challenging at first. If you have just been diagnosed with an egg allergy, or are eating a vegan diet (or Wahls Protocol) and you have to start baking without eggs, it is still possible to enjoy your favorite muffins and cakes, with some slight tweaks.
What Eggs Do For Our Recipes
Eggs help with binding and thickening, as well as supporting the rise of your breads and cookies, creating a light texture. They are mostly made up of protein, fat and water. But it is the egg white's magical ability to froth up that helps to create rise, structure and moistness in our baked goods. When we replace the eggs, we are looking for ingredients that give us those same results which is why many replacements are made of chemical leaveners, meant to help with rise as well.
You can look for recipes that are already converted to baking without eggs, or you can take your traditional recipes and replace the eggs with alternatives like a "flax egg" or mashed fruit like bananas. I have created a list for you below of the most popular egg replacements and what kind of recipes they work best in.
Egg Substitutes for Baking:
Fruit Puree: Use ¼ cup of fruit puree (banana, applesauce or pumpkin) and ½ teaspoon of baking powder in place of each egg.
This works best in breads, brownies and cakes.
Flax Seed: 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds mixed with 3 tablespoons warm water; let stand 2 minutes or until it forms a gel.
Good for pancakes, brownies and muffins.
Water+Oil+Baking Powder: For each egg, combine 2 tablespoons of water with 1 tablespoon coconut oil and 2 teaspoons baking powder.
Good in cookies and cakes
Cream Cheese+Water: 1 tablespoon cream cheese plus 1 tablespoon water. Your cookies may turn out more dense and chewy than if they were made with eggs.
Chemical Egg Replacers: are an option too, I find they work best when you don't need to use too much. I have used Bob's Red Mill egg replacer in my Pumpkin Bread with good success. Most of these eggs replacers are a combination of starch plus some extra raising agents and leavening.
The ingredients for Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer is: Potato Starch, Tapioca Starch, Baking Soda and Psyllium Husk. All good ingredients and will help your baked goods to rise.
For Pie Crust - replace egg with a little extra oil and milk.
For a pumpkin pie filling, replace eggs with the equivalent amount of pureed silken tofu.
Aquafaba
Aquafaba is the newest, greatest egg white replacement—and you might already have it on hand. It’s simply the leftover liquid from a can of garbanzo beans. Aquafaba can be whipped into vegan mayonnaise, baked into meringues or macaroons, and shaken to make egg-free cocktail foams. Don’t worry, any residual bean flavor will disappear once it’s cooked, so it can be used for sweet or savory recipes.
How to Substitute: Use 3 tablespoons of this starchy bean water to replace each egg. If you’re using it as a binder, whip it slightly until foamy. For meringues or whipped egg white substitute, use an electric mixer to beat it into peaks.
How much Egg Replacer to Use
1 egg is roughly 3 to 4 tablespoons, so your substitute needs to equal the amount of egg you are replacing.
I wouldn’t recommend using the above substitutions in egg-heavy recipes, like when a recipe calls for 4 to 6 eggs which can happen with coconut flour recipes.
Sources for Egg Free Recipes:
If you want a recipe that has already been tested instead of trying to convert your own, there are cookbooks and blogs around out there who have done the work for you. Try searching for "Vegan" recipes. These will not contain any eggs, but it also won't have any dairy. This is great if you also have a dairy allergy.
I have the "The Allergen Free Baker's Handbook" on my own shelf. All recipes are free from eggs, as well as many of the top allergens.
This blog, Mommy's Home Cooking put together a list of "Amazing Desserts you can make without eggs".
Here is another resource for egg-free dessert ideas like cobblers, cookies, bars and even breads.
Happy Baking!
My sweet recipes that don't require eggs:
Apricot and Coconut Shortbread Bars
Coconut Cashew Cookies
Chewy Mayan Wonder Bars
Healthy Chocolate Truffles
**Please note, some of the links on this site are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I can earn from qualifying purchases, at no additional cost to you. All of the products on my site are actually used by me. I do not recommend anything that is not in my own kitchen and used in these recipes. I am showing you what I use and providing easy links to those products so that you may get the same great results in your own kitchen.