Eggless Baking- sweet bread with strawberries
Eggless sweet bread with strawberries

Eggless Baking is the new way to bake!

Retain the taste and texture but not the eggs! Lets study how to substitute eggs and still have the best baked delicacy around

In case you’re willing to avoid eggs be it for any reason: religion, dietary restrictions, going vegan, etc. it doesn’t mean that you cannot have bakery products because most of them contain eggs. We can obviously substitute eggs with various items, as everyone has right to have bakery products and bakery isn’t discriminating at all, be it a vegan or one allergic to egg!

So let’s go on and make the most out of it.

Need for eggs

So, to know what all items can be used as substitute for eggs, we first need to know what egg is used for in baking:

  1. Eggs in baking, help in binding all ingredients together, which means, it holds all the ingredients together by combining them as it’s a liquid ingredient. This gives the dough or batter some structure and helps in not falling apart.
  • They help to make the product brown when exposed to heat. Which mean they brown crust of baked goods is partly because of eggs in baking.
  • They enhance the taste and flavour of the final product by carrying all the flavors of ingredients together. Eggs in baking have the ability to enhance the flavour of existing ingredients. When it binds all the ingredients, the flavours come out as a whole.
  •  Eggs also add moisture to the product by getting absorbed by other ingredients. This property needs to be kept in mind while finding substitute for egg, the ingredient should be liquid to make the end product moist.
  • Eggs in baking provide light and airy texture to the products by creating air pocking and expanding and filling in air to the pockets.

So,  end of the story, to substitute eggs, we need to find ingredients which meet our above requirements and thus, give more or less the same texture and flavour to the product.

Substituting eggs with right ingredients retains taste and texture
Eggless Baked dessert- Substituting Eggs with the right ingredients helps retain taste and texture

On our quest to find the substitute of eggs, following few contenders have managed to be in the list:

  • Applesauce:

Easiest substitute for egg. Applesauce is very easy to prepare and one fourth cup of applesauce works for the place of one egg in most of the recipes. It is best to use unsweetened applesauce however, in case you’re using the sweetened version, adjust the sugar accordingly.

  • Nut butter:

Just like peanut butter can be used in some recipes like those of cookies, brownies and pancakes. About 3 tablespoons of any nut butter works as a good substitute forone egg. It is better to use creamy butter rather than the nutty or chunky variants as it may not blend well otherwise. Nut butters provide extra texture and gooeyness to  your dish.

  • Arrowroot powder:

Arrowroot is a South American tuber plant that is high in starch. The starch is extracted from the roots of the plant and sold as a powder, starch or flour. It resembles corn starch and is used in cooking, baking and a variety of personal and household products. A mixture of 2 tablespoons (about 18 grams) of arrowroot powder and 3 tablespoons (45 grams) of water can be used to replace one egg.

  • Yogurt or Buttermilk

These are one of the best substitutes for egg. One-fourth cup of plain yogurt or buttermilk is good for one egg.  This works best substitution for muffins, cupcakes and cakes. Very easily available in grocery stores and you could even consider making it at home.

Yogurt is a good substitute for eggs while making eggless cakes
Substituting Eggs with Yogurt is a healthy option
  • Silken tofu:

Here, we are not talking about tofu, but silken tofu. It has comparatively more water content than the normal tofu therefore; it would make the product moister. To substitute one egg, substitute one-fourth cup of pureed silken tofu.

  • Mashed banana:

It is one of the most popular substitutes for egg. The dish would get a bit too dense and moist; and, mild banana flavour would exist. Also, other pureed fruits like pumpkin and avocado also work, and they have milder flavours so, might not affect the end flavour. One fourth cup of puree is good to substitute one egg. It is also better to use ripe bananas and more vanilla extract with them, this would reduce the flavour of banana and enhance the flavour of the product.

Ripe Banana is a very good substitute for eggs as well as sugar
Mashed ripe Bananas are very good substitute for eggs in eggless baking. they can also replace sugar

These were just some of the substitutes that we’ve mentioned, there are many more substitutes for eggs like, ground flax seeds, chia seeds, commercial egg replacer, vinegar and baking soda, carbonated water, gelatine and many more.  Baking is all about experimenting, so you can be creative and can try something of your own, that can help substitute eggs and yet fulfill the above mentioned needs of eggs.