When I was an omnivore, my favourite “lazy morning” breakfast was a poached egg on an english muffin with a slice of turkey and my matcha latte (full of milk). I perfected the art of poaching and knew exactly how to get that perfectly cooked sphere of egg white, with the rich, golden yellow, gently melting yolk. I still salivate thinking about it… But! I have found a few very good alternatives: this morning’s Tofu Scrambled Eggs, and my Spinach, Avocado, Tofu Scramble (for another blog). Paired with these delicious Vegan Gluten-Free Herb and Cheese Biscuits and my Vegan Matcha Latte, breakfast had me forgetting the oozing egg yolk — thank goodness!
In this post, I will share with you how I made these Vegan Eggz. Stay tuned for the recipes for the biscuits and latte in future posts.
The original recipe for these “eggs” (hereafter referred to as “eggz”) came from Hot for Food Blog, well, the book version, Vegan Comfort Classics by Lauren Toyota. My very generous husband gifted the book to me as a surprise (as he does, Mr. Wonderful), and I’ve been obsessively perusing it since, trying and adapting the recipes to my taste. I highly recommend getting the book at the start of your vegan lifestyle switch because it’s likely that the first dishes you’ll miss when you change your diet are the junky comfort foods. Having a reservoir of vegan junk food recipes will save you from caving into your omnivore cravings — trust me!
The recipe is actually for a Breakfast Sandwich, which is divine. This morning, however, I felt like having my scrambled eggz in loose egg form, nestled between two of my Vegan Gluten-Free Herb and Cheese Biscuits (my sister always writes cheeze instead of cheese) and my favourite Matcha Latte. The recipe for the egg mixture varies slightly between Hot for Food Blog and the Vegan Comfort Classics cookbook — and I’ve used a combination of both and my own tastes to make my own version. I feel I need to give you a little heads-up: I have not yet been able to fry these eggz without turning them into a scramble rather than a flippable-patty. Perhaps Lauren has a secret technique I missed, because her photos look PERFECT. I will say, if you can’t take the mess, opt for baking them in the oven on a lined baking sheet or in muffin tins. I will include directions for both below.
My Version of Lauren Toyota’s Vegan Scrambled Eggs
This recipe will make a batch of egg scrambles. Actually serving amounts depends on how you cook them. If you are looking to cook the batter in muffin tins for egg patties, you should get around 20 patties. If you would prefer as a scramble, it should be enough for 8-10 servings. Likewise, cooking times will vary with the method.
Prep time: 5-10 minutes
Cook time: 20-40 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 package of *organic firm tofu (350g)
- 1/3 cup non-dairy milk (I used rice)
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/4 cup flour (tapioca is recommended, but most flours should work)
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika powder
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp salt (I use himalayan salt**)
- ground pepper to taste
- 1 tbs of finely chopped chives
- (optional) preferred seasoning
- (optional) non-dairy cheese shreds to taste
Combine all the ingredients except chives (and cheese, if using) in a blender until smooth. You may need to add more milk if it appears too thick.
* It is important to use organic, non-GMO soy products wherever possible due to health complications found from consumption of genetically modified soy, and the mass amounts of toxic pesticides used for non-organic soy crops. If consuming large amounts of soy, it is generally better to consume naturally fermented, organic, non-GMO soy.
** Sea salt is often recommended in most healthy recipes you’ll find, but recent studies have shown that sea salt is largely contaminated with plastic from our oceans. Himalayan salt from mountains may be a healthier choice — or even table salt may be a healthier choice.
Pan-fried Eggless Eggz
If you are making your eggs in a pan, heat your pan over medium heat and lightly coat with oil or vegan butter. Scoop serving portions into the pan and smooth over to flatten with a spatula to aid cooking. Leave the batter to cook for at least 3 minutes, then flip.
This is when it all falls apart for me… Literally. It will become scramble at this point, but just go with it. Mix up in the pan and flatten and try and get as many edges nice and brown. Depending on how big your pan is and how large you want your servings, you will likely have to do a few batches at a time.
I usually make myself a single serving of scramble in the pan, and then bake the rest on a baking sheet, so I can get to eating immediately. You’ll know your scramble is done when it looks more yellow than off-white, with browning. It should take 10-20 minutes per pan batch. Eat immediately.
Oven-baked Eggless Eggz
If you are baking your eggs in the oven, preheat to 350 degrees F and line either a large baking sheet or two muffin pans. For the baking sheet, spread your batter thinly in single-serve sizes (the batter doesn’t swell, so don’t worry too much about crowding). For muffin pan patties, either line your cups or grease them before scooping no more than an inch in height of batter into cups.
You will want to check your patties after 10 minutes of cooking on the baking sheet, and flip once they start to rubberize. In this cooking version, you should be able to get stable patties rather than scramble. So if you can’t flip at this point, cook longer. Once flipped, cook for at least another 10 minutes before done.
For the muffin pan patties, you can leave them for 20 minutes before worrying. You will want to check them at this point to see if they have started to brown and crack on the top slightly. This will tell you they are done. Cook until they are yellow in colour, with browned edges and a crack in the middle.
Let the eggz cool in their pans for 5 minutes, and 10 minutes for the muffin cups, then serve.
My Vegan Journey 
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