What to Use Instead of Eggs (It Depends What You're Making)

The reason eggs are hard to replace isn't that they're irreplaceable — it's that they do completely different things depending on what you're cooking. In a cake, eggs add lift, moisture, and help the batter hold together. In fried rice, they add richness and bind everything into clumps. As scrambled eggs, the egg is the whole point. In a burger, they're mostly there for binding. The mistake most people make when starting out is looking for one universal egg substitute. That doesn't exist. What exists is the right substitute for each job.

For binding — the job eggs do in things like burgers, veggie patties, and meatballs — a flax egg is what you want. Mix one tablespoon of ground flaxseed with three tablespoons of water, stir, and leave for five minutes. It becomes slightly gelatinous and does exactly what an egg does structurally. Chia seeds work the same way at the same ratio. You won't taste either in the final dish. For things that need to hold their shape under heat, this is your go-to.

For scrambled eggs, omelettes, and frittatas, firm silken tofu is the closest thing. Drain and crumble it, then season aggressively — black salt (kala namak) has a sulphurous flavour that actually tastes like egg, which sounds off-putting but works remarkably well. Chickpea flour mixed with water and a pinch of turmeric and black salt makes a convincing omelette batter. It pours, sets, and folds like the real thing. Add whatever fillings you'd normally use.

For baking — cakes, muffins, brownies, pancakes — you have several options. Mashed ripe banana adds moisture and binds well but adds a faint banana flavour, good in some things, less so in others. Unsweetened applesauce does the same job more neutrally at three tablespoons per egg. Aquafaba — the liquid from a tin of chickpeas — is the most useful all-rounder. Three tablespoons replace one egg. For meringues and whipped toppings, aquafaba whipped to stiff peaks is genuinely remarkable. Commercial egg replacers (Orgran and Bob's Red Mill are reliable) work well as a fallback when you're unsure.

A few things worth keeping in mind: if a recipe uses more than three eggs, you may need to combine substitutes rather than rely on one. And black salt is worth buying — it's inexpensive, lasts for months, and transforms tofu scrambles from 'pretty good' into something you'd actually want to make again. The egg question is one of the first things new vegan cooks get anxious about. It's also, once you understand the logic behind it, one of the easiest to solve.