How Do You Make a Vegan Egg?

These days, you can find a vegan alternative for almost everything on the market. Nut milks, meatless corndogs, jackfruit "jerky": it's never been a better time to switch to a plant-based diet.

However, vegan eggs seemed like an impossibility to me. Mass-marketed products exist, but I couldn't imagine recreating a chewy egg white, crumbly yolk or runny sauce with ingredients they have in their pantries.

But, as usual, the Internet surprised me with a wide variety of recipes. Carrots, miso paste, tofu, garlic powder: they sound like stew ingredients, but they're actually stepping stones on the journey to crafting the perfect vegan egg. Here's a look at ways you can indulge in this plant-based treat.

1. Black Salt and Tofu

With its mild taste, high protein content and ability to absorb sauces and spices, tofu has been the go-to meat substitute for decades. Still, I never thought of tofu as a decent egg replacement until I found this recipe, which recommends breaking the tofu into crumbles and sautéing it in a pan with spices until it's fully cooked.

Tofu doesn't have much of a flavor, so you'll add black salt to transform your crumbles into plant-based eggs. Black salt contains sulfur compounds that give your dish a distinct "eggy" taste. If you don't have black salt in the pantry, nutritional yeast is a decent substitute.

2. Moong Dal and Turmeric

Moong dal is the term for split mung beans, which have a bright yellow shade that's perfect for vegan scrambled eggs. Apparently, it's so effective that JUST Egg uses mung bean protein for its folded egg products. You can also make artificial eggs at home with this recipe that flavors the split beans with black salt, nutritional yeast and onion powder.

After soaking the moong dal overnight, you'll blend it with coconut milk and spices, then cook the mixture in a pan for a delicious omelet or platter of scrambled eggs. The turmeric gives your "eggs" an added boost of yellow.

3. Tofu and Potato Flakes

We've established that you can make vegan scrambled eggs, but what if you're craving hard-boiled eggs for your salad or stew? Surely, it's impossible to mimic the firm whites and rich, crumbly yolks?

Turns out, you can make an artificial egg white by blending tofu with black salt and thickeners, then pouring the mixture into an egg-shaped mold and letting it solidify. For the yolk, this recipe recommends mixing black salt, vegetable oil, potato flakes and nutritional yeast.

Scoop out a hole in your fake egg whites, add your potato-based yolk, and you're done. This doesn't look or taste exactly like chicken eggs, but if you're smothering them in dressing or curry, you probably won't notice the difference. You might even prefer this version over the real thing.

4. Mustard and Cashew Milk

I figured that vegan deviled eggs would be easier because you have more freedom with the yolk. Sure enough, the Internet has plenty of recipes, including this one that features a yolk mixture made from mustard, miso paste, vegan mayo, mashed potato flakes and extra-firm silken tofu.

Instead of using tofu for the egg white, you'll boil cashew milk with agar agar powder, then chill this mixture in egg molds until it hardens. Add some traditional deviled egg seasonings, such as chives and paprika, and you've got a decent party appetizer.

5. White Miso Paste and Carrots

Now you're on track to make vegan scrambled and hard-boiled eggs for breakfast. However, what if you're craving a soft-boiled egg with a rich, runny yolk? You'll need a diverse set of ingredients, but this recipe claims to have the solution.

The egg white features tofu, agar agar powder and white miso paste. Once you've formed the whites, you're set to make a gooey yolk with boiled carrots, grape tomatoes, melted butter and kala namak, which is the term for Indian black salt.

If you're not feeling that version, another recipe teaches you how to make a creamy yolk with pumpkin, cashews, avocado oil and a brazil nut. You'll blend these ingredients together and pour them into egg whites made from black salt and soy milk. Afterward, try adding these gooey eggs to your plant-based ramen.

6. Vegan Yogurt and Cornstarch

The recipes we've discussed can imitate the look and texture of eggs, but the preparation methods are worlds away from "drop an egg into hot water and wait for it to boil." Does going vegan mean that you have to sacrifice certain joys of cooking, such as cracking an egg into a pan and watching the edges turn brown and crispy?

This recipe offers instructions for realistic plant-based fried eggs, but it's a little complex. To start, you'll make the egg whites from aquafaba, vegan yogurt, black salt and glutinous rice flour. Afterward, you'll make a yolk blend from ketchup, yellow mustard, garlic powder, nutritional yeast and cornstarch.

Once the yolk is ready, you'll dip spoonfuls into a sodium alginate bath until they solidify. Next, you'll pour the egg whites into the pan and fry the mixture until it's crispy on the edges. Place the egg yolk on top, and you've got a plant-based breakfast.

7. Oil and Nutritional Yeast

After all that, let's skip the egg whites and go straight to the main event. I thought that vegan runny yolks would be too complicated, but they're actually one of the easiest recipes you can make. In fact, this recipe has only three steps: mix the ingredients, heat them on the stove and serve them with toast.

Cornstarch, black salt, oil, turmeric and nutritional yeast make up the bulk of this dish. I guess it's essentially a fancy dipping sauce. If you missed having eggs and soldiers for breakfast, you can cut your toast into strips and dip them in this plant-based yolk.

Have you tried any of these recipes? Do you have your own recipe for homemade vegan eggs? Let me know in the comments.