Making pancakes without eggs can seem daunting to beginners, but it’s actually really simple. If you know the right substitutions and combinations, you’ll be able to make a satisfying breakfast in less than ten minutes.
That’s why we’ve put together this list of 7 best egg substitutes for pancakes! With these ingredients on hand, even beginner pancake makers will be able to create fluffy and tasty breakfasts with ease.
Why Are Eggs Used in Baking?
Eggs have long been a staple in the home kitchen. They’re often used in baking, but they also have a variety of other uses. Here are some of the most common uses for eggs in the modern home kitchen:
- Eggs are used to bind ingredients together. When you cook a cake, or you scramble an egg, it’s because the egg acts as a binder (although there are some recipes that call for eggs specifically to help with binding). The protein in eggs holds things like cakes and cookies together.
- Eggs can be used to leaven or puff up baked goods. Again, this is because of the proteins in eggs. Eggs are also key to achieving that light, airy texture we love in cakes and muffins.
- Eggs can be used to enhance flavor and add color. You can use egg yolks as a rich addition to sauces or dressings, or use them raw to make a bright yellow hue. And since eggs are such a versatile ingredient, they can easily be substituted into any recipe without having an impact on taste or texture.
Using products of eggs is not only practical but also enjoyable!
List of 7 Best Egg Substitutes for Pancakes
#1 Nut Butter / Seed Butter
Nut butter is a healthy alternative to eggs because it’s low in cholesterol and saturated fat, high in essential minerals and vitamins and full of healthy fats.
If you want to make pancakes without eggs, use 2 tablespoons of nut butter for each egg you are replacing. Since nut butter has a stronger taste than eggs, you may want to add extra vanilla extract or a pinch of cinnamon.
Another option is to blend 1/2 cup of soy milk with 2 tablespoons of ground flax seed, then add that mixture to the pancake batter. This option has all the benefits of nut butter plus an extra boost of fiber and omega-3 fatty acids.
#2 Applesauce
A healthy fruit-based substitute for eggs, applesauce is a tasty addition to any recipe that calls for a fat or oil. Made by mashing up apples and straining them, applesauce can be added to pancakes, muffins, cakes, and more.
While applesauce can be substituted in any recipe that calls for eggs or oil, it works especially well in recipes where bananas are being used as the egg substitute. In place of one egg or 1/4 cup of water in your recipe, combine 1/4 cup of unsweetened applesauce with your other wet ingredients before adding them to the dry ones.
Fresh homemade applesauce can be made by cooking and mashing up two peeled and cored apples. You may also use organic kinds which can easily be purchased from your local store. Like bananas, combine applesauce with raising agents like baking powder and soda to help keep your pancakes fluffy and light.
#3 Flax Seeds
A flax egg is a vegan alternative to chicken eggs. It can be used in place of an egg in recipes for baked goods like pancakes, muffins, cakes and waffles. A flax egg is made by mixing ground flax seed with water. The resulting mixture has the ability to replace eggs in most recipes, as it binds ingredients together.
Flax seeds are similar to sesame seeds in that they are high in fiber and omega-3 fatty acids. They are also a good source of protein and contain some B vitamins, including folate.
For allergy sufferers and vegans, ground flax seeds make an excellent egg substitute.
To make a flax egg or flax seed egg, you first need to grind the flax seeds. You will be able to tell that they are ready if your coffee grinder fills up with flax seeds.
You can grind them in a coffee grinder for about 30 seconds to get all the flax seed meal, and then add them to a bowl. Then, you just have to add enough water to make it look like your regular egg. The ratio of water to flax seed meal is one part water to two parts flax seed meal.
If you want to test out how it tastes, then you should crack an egg into the bowl with the flaxseed meal, and see how it tastes. If it is not as good as an actual egg, then you should add more water until it reaches the consistency that you want.
After this is done, then you can add them into your recipe for pancakes. One tablespoon of ground flaxseed should be used per one pancake recipe that requires one regular sized egg.
#4 Mashed Banana
M ashed banana has the same consistency and dryness as a potato, and like a potato it may lead to a gummy final product if used in excess. For this reason, they are best suited to recipes that call for little more than bananas. An alternative is to mash up half a banana with one tablespoon of water and use this as an egg substitute in recipes that would otherwise call for a whole mashed banana; this will give you something closer to an egg-based texture without adding much extra dryness.
The best recipes with which to use mashed bananas are pancakes, waffles, muffins or brownies. The eggs in these dishes provide moisture and binding anyway, so the addition of mashed bananas simply improves upon these qualities.
Mashed bananas can also be used as an egg substitute when making cookies or cakes. Like eggs, bananas can help make doughs light and fluffy, but since their taste is rather strong they should be used in small quantities and combined with other ingredients like sugar and vanilla extract that will mask the flavor of the banana.
#5 Chia Seeds
Chia seeds are just as easy to pulverize as flaxseeds. Use a coffee grinder for this purpose. To do the job, you will need about one tablespoon of chia seeds for each “egg” needed in your dish.
Place water in a small dish and sprinkle in the chia seeds. Stir the mixture, and let it sit for up to five minutes. The way you know the chia seed egg substitute is ready is that it will have a viscous, gel-like texture.
To give your pancakes some crunch and flavor, add chia seeds into your batter before cooking them up on the stovetop or in a frying pan. For every egg used in your recipe, add one tablespoon of chia seed gel instead of the real thing, and stir thoroughly before cooking your pancakes on both sides.
#6 Aquafaba
Aquafaba is great for replacing eggs in vegan cooking and baking, as it has a similar consistency and can be used as an egg substitute in many dishes. Aquafaba is made from the liquid of cooked or canned pulses—beans and chickpeas, like black beans, kidney beans, and chickpeas.
The word aquafaba comes from the Latin for water and bean. It’s not just the cooking liquid, however; it’s also the viscous fluid that forms inside a bean or pea pod when it is cooked, especially a chickpea. These beans are usually dried, so aquafaba is most often found in cans of legumes, rather than freshly cooked ones. These days aquafaba is making a splash in vegan circles because of its ability to mimic egg whites in recipes and to hold up as an ingredient in similar ways to mayonnaise.
#7 Starches
Starches are a great egg substitute for baking. The ready-to-use starch products are easy to find in grocery stores or Asian markets. They work well, and they’re cheap. But you can also make your own egg substitutes by mixing the starches with water until they’re smooth and viscous, then heating them for 2 or 3 minutes in the microwave (or on the stovetop) to cook them and evaporate off any water that’s left.
You can’t just use these mixtures as-is—they won’t whip up into a foam like eggs do—but you can beat them with an electric mixer to get a fluffy consistency, or add baking powder and vinegar to help them rise. To substitute for egg whites only, try adding 1 tablespoon of agar powder per 1 tablespoon of starch that you’re using. Agar turns very firm when cooked, so it’s good for meringues and sturdy cakes; but it makes batter too stiff to be used as an all-purpose “egg substitute”.
Final Thoughts
Learning to replicate the effects of eggs in your recipes without using real eggs is not always easy. The reason it’s difficult is that the effects that you’re trying to replicate are not obvious, so it’s hard to tell if you’re on the right track.
One way to solve this problem is by using old standbys like flaxseeds, grated beets and other vegetables, mashed bananas or chia seeds or aquafaba if you don’t have an egg allergy or vegan diet.
Another way to solve this problem is by experimenting, observing how your recipes turn out under different conditions and trying to replicate what the recipe calls for. A lot of people use a scale to measure the flour strength instead of volume—I don’t personally use a scale because I’m constantly running out of flour, so I just eyeball it.
This article has provided you with many solutions for creating egg-free recipes. But do not expect that you can always work out the answers from what you have read here. There are many tricks of the trade that many bakers don’t even know about, and so it is also up to you to learn.
A good starting point is to watch online cooking videos and look at people’s methods of creating egg substitutes in past recipes.
