Eggs are slightly less obvious in how to replace them, though good alternatives are possible in most dishes, and vegan cakes are lovely, doing brilliantly without eggs or dairy.
Where to look:
Next to similar products, and in “Free From”, Asian and organic sections in supermarkets.
Allergan, Ener-G, and Organ egg-replacer are available from most health food shops and some supermarkets in the free-from section. Or buy online from shops like Goodness Direct. You can also make your own.
Dairy, egg, honey and meat alternatives
Conversion Table
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Converting your recipes and meals
Converting recipes is highly rewarding. It makes a great career expanding step, or simply a fun person or school project. A deeper understanding of animal-free cooking broadens the horizons of both budding home cooks and caterers. With our help, cooking vegan, vegetarian, and dairy and egg intolerant meals is daunting no longer.
We have found that by focusing on making dishes vegan you cater to the vast majority of special diets, be they religious, vegetarian, or dairy-intolerant. We also will include gluten-free ideas and links, as this is common, sometimes in conjunction with dairy-intolerance, so a vegan gluten-free recipe then becomes a great answer.
There are thousands of fantastic vegan and special diet recipes on the Internet, and many recipe books, but you don’t have to use them to make tasty animal-free food.
You can make dishes you’ve always made. Simply convert your old recipes. This page shows you how.
Where to buy the alternatives in the UK is indicated, and most are widely available. “his” stands for a health food shop, and includes whole food shops and organic stores.
In cooking, you often taste little difference if a vegan ingredient is swapped in for a non-vegan one. As stand-alone items, they may taste different, and whether they taste better or worse is down to conditioning and personal preference. I bet you can’t tell dairy-free ice cream from the real thing!
Dairy, egg, honey and meat alternatives
surprisingly vegan
If you are new to vegan food, you’ll be surprised what else in a standard store cupboard is vegan. Some major examples are given here.
Staples
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Making a dish meat-free is not simply about removing the animal products, it’s about replacing them. Focus on high-protein alternatives such as beans, lentils, tofu, tempeh, fake meats, nuts, and seeds, and be generous with these to please your hungry guests, especially if they’ve been exerting themselves.
In our conversion table here we give ideas for direct conversion to very similar items to meat, poultry, and fish, but you can use any of the above substitutes too.
Where to look:
Next to similar non-vegan products, in the chiller, vegetarian sections of freezer cabinets, and in “Free From”, Asian and organic sections in supermarkets.
Conversion table
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NB Quorn and some Linda McCartney products are vegetarian but not vegan. Quorn contains eggs and the mince used in some L McC products is manufactured using dairy products – her sausage rolls are vegan and tasty, but the sausages are worth a miss anyway.
Other communities
Many other easily available items are vegan, beyond the massive range of fruit and vegetables out there. Here are some commonly found even in the most unadventurous larder:
- peanut butter
- yeast extract (e.g. Marmite)
- hummous
- nearly all tomato ketchup, BBQ sauces, mustard, pickles, and chutneys
- herbs, spices, and curry pastes – nearly always vegan
- salsa
- baked beans
- chips (fried in vegetable oil)
- cocoa
To be wary of
There are a few things it is better to steer clear of without the help of a vegan friend or the Animal Free Shopper guide. The major ones are:
- wines and beers – many are clarified with bones, egg, and fish products. The big supermarkets and off-license chains have lists of which ones are vegan if you ask
- sweets and jellies – many contain gelatine, which is made from animal bones. Health food shops and big supermarkets sell vegan alternatives which tend to be of high quality.
- cakes – usually contain eggs, though they don’t need to.
Putting all this into practice
You can experiment by converting your favorite recipes. See how close you can make them to the real thing. They may taste a lot better too, and not be so hard on your stomach.
Replace Real Egg with Vegan Egg
For people who want to transform to a vegetarian and change from their favorite baked good into a vegan treat knows that the hardest part is finding a replacement for the favorite egg that eliminates the egg without eliminating the taste.
It’s rather hard especially when you have ingrained in your mind that eggs have several advantages when it comes to baking. They add moisture, hold the treat together, and they have some leavening (or rising) power as well.
However, the good news is that there are many vegan-friendly egg replacements that you can find on the market.
In Need of Different Vegan Egg Substitutes
Even though just about any recipe that calls for eggs can be “vegan-ized” by using the proper egg substitute, there’s no single best Vegan Egg Substitute. Eggs perform a variety of functions, depending on what you are making. So, you may need a different Vegan Egg Substitute depending on what you are baking.
For example, when making a cake, eggs are a leavening agent, this makes the cake fluffy and light. In other baked foods like muffins and cookies, the eggs add moisture and act as a binder, gluing all the other ingredients together.
If you’re looking for a Vegan Egg Substitute in mayonnaise or quiche, the eggs are central to the finished product, most likely you’ll need something like tofu to produce the consistency of eggs while making other adjustments to the recipe as well to add flavor and body.