August 18, 2022 · Written by Foodtolive Team

What Are Vegan Eggs? Everything You Need To Know

We live in an age where many of us choose to go vegan due to some environmental and health reasons. Expanding vegan trends spur us to look for the best vegan alternatives to animal products. Eggs come from poultry, so you would say they should be on the list of those eliminated foods for vegans. In reality, this is not the case.

Eggs are one of the most widely used products in the world: typical British breakfast can’t do without eggs; in Israel, they often make Shakshuka (an egg dish); Canadian breakfast table is also likely to include boiled eggs. Some vegans can’t imagine their meals without eggs, so they decided to create an appropriate alternative which contains no animal protein. It’s also commonly known as the vegan diet.

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Vegan eggs come from…

Firstly, let us take a look at vegan eggs: an amalgamation of ingredients designed to mimic either the look and taste, binding abilities, or both, of poultry eggs. [1] A base of tofu is an indispensable ingredient for vegan eggs substitute. It gives a good egg-like texture. You may use silken or firm tofu or even a mixture of both depending on the way of vegan egg recipes. Modern substitutes make use of everything from soy milk to mung beans and black salt.

Vegan eggs can be of different types…

Secondly, vegan eggs are now made to resemble the taste of conventional eggs. Greenqueen.com reports that the most realistic incarnations always include the use of black salt, which deposits a sulfur-like smell and flavor. Nutritional yeast also works really well and provides a yolk-like color, imitating a cheese note in food. [2]

In addition, vegan egg ingredients are not only limited by the above-mentioned ones. In baking, for example, the following ingredients go well as egg substitutes: flax, chia, apple sauce, and aquafaba.

What Are Vegan Eggs? Everything You Need To Know

If hens lay eggs, vegans would…

On one hand, any product produced through the exploitation of animals cannot be considered vegan. The egg industry exploits the reproductive system of hens which contradicts the key principles of veganism. [3] That is to say, a “true” vegan would eliminate eggs from their diet since by its definition vegan diet excludes products of animal origin.

On the other hand, there are vegans who eat regular eggs and still consider themselves to be vegans. A kind of paradox, isn’t it? Nevertheless, they claim that eggs are cruelty-free and therefore, are acceptable because chickens produce eggs naturally. They are the so-called vegans we’ve mentioned earlier in the article. Vegans stand behind the idea that supporting the producers of cruelty-free eggs by buying their produce does more good than harm. [4] There is a strong counterargument – if we seriously take the principle of cruelty-free eggs, why not drink cow’s milk? (Even though cows produce milk only after they’ve given birth to calves, it’s still their natural ability). But what do you call a vegan who eats eggs and drinks milk? Probably “a vegetarian”. [4]

Taking a look at both sides of the argument, we are prone to the idea that if a diet includes eggs, it is not truly vegan. We would rather consider it a vegetarian diet. Unlike vegans, vegetarians eat eggs because they neither contain animal flesh nor animal cruelty (this is also known as ovo-lacto vegetarianism).

Chicken eggs are not vegan because…

Chicken eggs contain cholesterol while vegan eggs don’t. The research conducted by Victor Zhong has found that one large egg contains around 186 milligrams of cholesterol. The researcher claims that adding even 300 milligrams of dietary cholesterol per day may be harmful. The content of protein is more or less the same both in vegan and chicken eggs. But according to Victor Zhong’s research, vegan eggs appear to be far more nutritious.[5]

Chicken vs. vegan eggs (based on the data revealed by nutritionix.com) [6]

What Are Vegan Eggs? Everything You Need To Know

Vegan eggs are definitely a good choice because…

Tofu is higher in iron and protein; it’s also lower in fat and is a good source of vegan calcium. Vegan eggs nutrition is significant: vegan replacers such as flax and chia seeds contain Omega 3, Omega 6, and Magnesium. Almost all vegan substitutes consist of plant-based ingredients. Moreover, vegan eggs are cholesterol-free. So, if you monitor your cholesterol levels, flax-eggs are definitely the best choice! From the environmental perspective, the production of vegan eggs appears to be eco-friendly: unlike animal products, it doesn’t require water, gases, or waste.

what-are-vegan-eggs-flax-egg-2

Vegan eggs can completely replace chicken eggs since…

Indian startup EVO Foods has developed a vegan egg recipe based on vegetable protein. The creators say that the texture is softer than that of a conventional egg. The production process included removing proteins from legumes, which are fermented before the launch of texture agents. Moreover, the storage time of a plant-based egg is six months.

Despite taking more time to cook, vegan eggs scramble nicely and the consistency is pretty similar.

What Are Vegan Eggs? Everything You Need To Know

Best Vegan Egg Substitutes Recipes | Baking [7]

Vegan egg recipes in a few minutes
scrambled eggs

Mix the following ingredients:
crumble tofu, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, pepper, salt, oil, onion, garlic, tofu mixture, black salt.

fried eggs

Egg yolks
1. Add to your food processor and blend:

1 cup, steamed kabocha squash
3 tbsp canola oil
10 tbsp water
1 tsp black salt
1 tsp Kosher salt

2. Add 2 tbsp water

1 tbsp cornstarch
Mix and refrigerate until cooled completely.

3. Refrigerate 3 hours until yolks set

You can use a mold you can use tablespoons to form the yolks.

Egg white

4. Add the following ingredients to your food processor:

8oz silken tofu
3 tbsp water
3 tbsp rice flour
½ tsp black salt
2 tbsp coconut milk

5. Cook 3-4 minutes

Chickpea Nuggets

hard-boiled vegan eggs

Add all the ingredients to the whites to a food processor and mix for 2 minutes until smooth. [8]

Egg white

0.25 cups cubed extra firm tofu
0.75 cups water
1.25 tsp agar agar
0.5 tsp black salt
1.5 tsp nutritional yeast

Pour the liquid into a bowl and bring to boil.
Use mold to form whites and put them in the fridge for 25 minutes

Egg yolk

1 tbs plant-based butter
2 boiled medium-sized potatoes
0.25 tsp turmeric
0.25 tsp black salt
1.5 tbs nutritional yeast

After making this mixture, you can use a melon baller to scoop out the part of the whites to put yolks in.

Overall, vegan eggs can fully replace regular eggs. In terms of health, ethical, and environmental reasons the advantages of vegan eggs prevail over conventional eggs: 1) high protein content; 2) no harm to animals; 3) no use of natural resources.

Going vegan isn’t a necessity – it’s a choice of a healthy lifestyle. Vegan products (vegan eggs, in particular) have become “competitors” of the original products because they completely imitate their taste, form, and consistency. To cut a long story short, the world is becoming more vegan than ever before…