Egg Substitutes in Baking | How to replace Eggs in Baking

When you want to avoid eggs in your baking, having good knowledge about Egg Substitutes in Baking becomes very important. This list compiles all possible egg substitutes you can have.

Being a vegetarian, I don't eat eggs, not even in my bakes. Though I have been baking for over years and my initial baking was always with eggs, after blogging, I realized about substituting eggs with other options.

I have been baking successfully with other Egg Substitutes, some vegan, some with dairy. While I am not a Vegan and enjoy my dairy inclusion, I felt including the Vegan options to Substitute egg was also a good option.

My journey in replacing eggs have been mostly in baking cakes. I haven't really looked into the options of making egg based dishes into eggless ones. The scope of this post is also not to cover that area.

I have been baking eggless for nearly six years now and have used quite a number of options.

Since for the Mega BM themed on Baking, I selected a week to just showcase different options, I thought I would document all that I have read on this topic till now and how I have used it in my baking. I have gathered these details over the years both from online and offline resources.

I would like to thank all those who have shared their knowledge so generously.

In the compiled list below, I have listed the options that I have used and plan to use. I will be updating those yet to try with the details I post later.

Eggs play three important roles in a bake. It can be used for Leavening, Binding or for Moisture

Let's start by saying that it's easy to replace 1 or 2 eggs in a recipe. More than that it becomes pretty difficult to get the desired texture and taste of the original baked dish with eggs.

This also depends on the quantity of the cake that's baked. I have personally never baked beyond 2 cups. So replacing eggs for 2 cups is pretty easy. I remember a sponge cake that I remember my neighbor used to bake with 6 eggs. I used to be the person who helped in beating the eggs to peak!

The only thing I remember from that cake was the eggy smell. I have successfully replicated the same Vanilla Sponge Cake with Eggless options.

When an egg is used for Leavening, it plays the role of fermentation. Basically this is used to give rise for the baked dish. Leavening agents are needed in cakes, cookies, muffins, and bread to rise the dough. If the recipe calls for three or more, eggs, it becomes very difficult to replace the eggs.

Some of the replacement I have used are:

1. Cider Vinegar: This is the best replacement I have used successfully. I use apple cider vinegar. Mix 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar with 1 tsp baking soda. Microwave Chocolate Cake with Apple Cider Vinegar, Eggless Vanilla Sponge Cake Squares

2. Carbonated Water: This works best when you are using condensed milk and want to give air and rise to the cake. I use varyingly about 1/4 cup for every egg. Eggless Black Forest Chocolate Cake

3. Coconut Milk: For Vegan cakes, replace 1/4 cup thick coconut milk with 1 tsp baking powder. Recipe with this will come up soon.

4. Oil - With 1 tsp baking powder mix 1/3 cup oil. I always use olive oil because of Olive Oil's emulsification nature.

5. Flax Seeds: Mix 1 tbsp of ground flax seeds with 3 tbsp water. I also add 1/4 tsp baking powder. Eggless Banana Chocolate Chip Mini Muffin with Flax Seed, Eggless Dark Chocolate Cake with Almond Flakes

Eggs used as Binding

Eggs are used as Binding where the recipe does not have flour or breadcrumbs. In this case, the eggs are used as a binding and it becomes very tough to replace. In such recipes, tofu should work to some extent. However, I have not personally made it. However, there are few other replacements that you can use.

6. Banana: Use 1/2 a medium banana, mashed. Eggless Banana Cake

7. Cornstarch: Mix 2 tablespoons cornstarch and 3 tablespoons water.

8. Nut butter. Use 3 tbsp butter

Eggs used for Moisture:

If the eggs are used for moisture, it is easy to replace with fruit or vegetable puree, as long as the puree doesn't clash with your dish taste.

9. Fruit puree: Puree 1/4 cup cooked fruit. Options include apples, pears, oranges, and prunes. Chocolate Brownie with Apple sauce

10. Vegetable puree: Puree 1/4 cup cooked or canned pumpkin, sweet potato, potatoes, or beets, bottle gourd, carrot. Vegetable purees work best in dishes that will cover the flavor, like chocolate or spice cake.
Eggless Dark Chocolate Beet Bundt Cake

11. Tofu: Use 1/4 cup silken tofu.

12. Chia: Mix 1 tablespoon ground chia seed and 1/3 cup water and let sit for 15 minutes. (As with flax seed, you can add 1/4 teaspoon baking powder to this mixture to allow for leavening). I am yet to try this, will update once I get the exact recipe. Source: 

13. Commercial Ener-G - One Egg = 1 .5 tsp of Ener-G Egg Replacer plus 2 tbsp water.
Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies with Ener-G Egg Replacer

13. Buttermilk/Yogurt:- This is good in some cakes, bars, muffins, and quick bread. To avoid dense cake, you will have to add baking powder along with curds/Yogurt.

For 1 egg, use the below:
Use 1/4 cup yogurt for one egg
If you want to make buttermilk from milk, then for 1 cup of milk add 1 tbsp lemon juice or white vinegar. A delicious Muffins with Buttermilk as a substitute in this Double Chocolate Muffins.

What to do when I run out of Baking Powder?

There might be times when you don't have Baking Powder on hand. In that case, use 1/4 tsp Baking Soda plus 1 tsp of vinegar or 1 tsp of Lemon Juice. I made a chocolate cake with just Baking Soda and even replaced Cocoa Powder with melted Chocolate.

Eggless Chocolate Cake Without Cocoa Powder and Baking Powder is for those tough times when you want to bake a cake and don't have these essentials.