How to replace eggs in pastry recipes
Eggs 🥚 are an essential ingredient in pastry allow us to thicken and set sauces and creams, create emulsions, form foams, or bind different ingredients together. Although they’re difficult to replace in our recipes, it’s not impossible!
For this, it is important to know what function the egg whites, egg yolks and whole egg perform in each recipe, and thus to know with which ingredients they can be substituted. This is something we cover in depth in the Extended Online B·Concept Pastry Course, along with knowledge of molecules and mastery of recipe formulation.
Egg whites contain a high percentage of water (88%) and protein (11%), as well as other macronutrients in small amounts. Proteins are undoubtedly the key players, as they provide structure to many pastry products pastry the gelation process. In addition, they allow us to incorporate air into textures such as meringues, mousses, or soufflés, and help bind the various ingredients in cookies or sponge cakes.
Egg whites contain a high percentage of water, so if we want to omit them, we’ll need to add the corresponding amount of water to the recipe. To incorporate air into our batter, we can use plant-based proteins such as soy, potato 🥔, or aquafaba.
On the other hand, in addition to water (50%) and protein (15%), egg yolks 🥣 contain 30% fat, consisting of both saturated and unsaturated fats. Thanks to this combination, egg yolks add texture and creaminess to our recipes! They also contain lecithin, which allows us to create stable emulsions in ice cream and other creamy desserts. When omitting them, we can compensate for their emulsifying power by using powdered, granulated, or liquid lecithin derived from sunflower or soybeans.
Finally, in recipes where eggs are used primarily to bind ingredients, substitution is easier. We can use flaxseeds or chia seeds, applesauce, bananas, or nut butters. These will help us achieve a smooth batter that doesn’t crumble after baking!
Thanks to the growing demand for plant-based alternatives, we can create pastry , lighter, and pastry flavorful pastry recipes using a wide range of plant-based proteins from legumes, nuts, tubers, and seeds.
Did you know that half of the recipes in our bookpastry , Lighter, and Tastier Pastries” are egg-free?
🔬 Learn how to formulate them by following our B·Concept method!
