A worldwide financial meltdown appears to be the one occasion that may trigger folks to chop again on meat. Within the years that adopted the 2007 Nice Recession, the typical American’s annual meat consumption fell by nearly 9 %. Milk purchases fell too.
However via all of it, egg consumption remained comparatively steady and saved climbing, reaching round 280 eggs per individual on common in 2022.
That quantity may fall this 12 months, not as a result of folks have soured on eggs, however as a result of there aren’t sufficient to fulfill demand. Simply within the final two months, 27 million egg-laying hens — 9 % of the nation’s egg-laying hen flock — have been (brutally) killed to gradual the unfold of H5N1, a extremely pathogenic pressure of chook flu.
Shortages have doubled the price of eggs, and impressed at the very least two egg heists. Regardless of grand guarantees from Donald Trump’s presidential marketing campaign to carry down the value of eggs, his personal agriculture division now says their value will proceed to surge this 12 months.
This has some buyers — possibly you — turning to egg options.
Whereas most grocery shops now supply all kinds of plant-based milk and meat merchandise, there are fewer egg options available on the market. However there’s nonetheless lots you are able to do with the plant-based egg options possible accessible at your native grocery retailer, and even with extra conventional kitchen elements, when you’ve gotten fewer eggs than traditional, or none.
Simply Egg, a plant-based liquid egg launched by San Francisco-based startup Eat Simply in 2018, is created from an ingredient that’s international to most People — mung beans — but it surely scrambles and capabilities like the true factor. The style might not idiot you, because it’s not fairly as eggy (as in, smelly) and is much less fatty than rooster eggs. However eggs normally aren’t eaten alone — cooking Simply Egg with olive oil, garlic, onion, tomato, and a vegetable or two of your selection makes for a tasty breakfast that comes near an egg scramble. And it has the same quantity of protein as liquid eggs from chickens per serving.
I’ve additionally had scrumptious quiches and frittatas made with Simply Egg, and it might even be used to interchange eggs in baking (extra on this later). The corporate additionally sells pre-cooked frozen egg patties for breakfast sandwiches, and breakfast burritos.
Nonetheless, Simply Egg prices round $7.50 for a 16-ounce bottle, which is far more than liquid rooster eggs partly as a result of, as I’ve written about, animal agriculture has benefited — and continues to profit — from a long time of presidency help that helps maintain costs low.
Simply Egg is by far the most well-liked plant-based egg: Eat Simply’s CEO, Josh Tetrick, informed me that within the first two months of 2025, gross sales grew 5 occasions quicker than in the identical interval final 12 months. It’s accessible in practically 50,000 grocery shops and eating places in North America — use the corporate’s retailer locator right here to test availability close to you.
At first look, Merely Eggless seems virtually equivalent to Simply Egg, in that it’s a plant-based product that is available in each liquid and patty type and is made with a bean (lupin beans as an alternative of Simply Egg’s mung beans). However I’m unhappy to report that that’s the place their similarities finish. I used to be excited to seek out the product at Dealer Joe’s final 12 months, however I used to be shortly upset once I cooked with it. For one, it doesn’t scramble in addition to Simply Egg or common eggs — it simply will get clumpy. Second, it tastes dangerous. As one BuzzFeed author put it, “These have been, sadly, nasty. There’s no solution to beat across the bush right here. I really spit them out.”
I didn’t go as far to spit it out — I soldiered on and completed my meal — however I haven’t purchased it once more.
AcreMade, an organization partially owned by livestock big Cargill, makes a plant-based egg product created from pea protein that’s…okay. It is available in powder type, which when blended with water will be scrambled. It has texture and is functionally just like Simply Egg, however doesn’t style fairly nearly as good. It’s solely accessible on-line and prices $15 for a 5.6-ounce bag, which comprises 24 servings — equal to 24 eggs — and can be accessible for buy on its web site. The corporate additionally has a related product to interchange eggs in baking.
Yo Egg is a more recent firm that has lately expanded the variety of grocery shops and eating places that promote its merchandise, which embrace a plant-based poached egg, a patty, and a hard-boiled egg substitute. I lately tried the poached product — made with soy and chickpea protein — at a restaurant and appreciated it. The flavour was good, however I used to be much more impressed with the corporate’s technical means to create an egg white pouch stuffed with a thick, yolky liquid.
Discover their merchandise at a grocery retailer or restaurant close to you.
I by no means appreciated hard-boiled or deviled eggs, so WunderEggs — launched in 2023 by Texas-based startup Artful Counter — aren’t for me, however I’ve associates who like them. WunderEggs’s foremost elements are easy — water, almonds, coconut milk, and cashews — they usually look remarkably just like eggs.
Final 12 months, the corporate received an innovation award from grocery big Albertsons, and it’s now accessible in 1,600 of its shops (Albertsons, Safeway, Shaw’s, and Vons), in addition to all Entire Meals places.
A tray of six prices round $8 and comprises 8 grams of protein.
Tofu is the right meals: it’s low cost, excessive in protein, iron, and calcium, accessible nearly all over the place, and can be utilized in quite a lot of dishes and cuisines, together with as an alternative to an egg scramble. By itself, it doesn’t style like eggs, however medium-firm tofu, when mashed and sauteed, can have the same texture. Like rooster meat, tofu doesn’t have an inherently robust taste and might take up no matter spices and sauces you throw at it.
Why you need to think about making tofu a dietary staple
Tofu, created from soybeans, isn’t as glamorous as all the brand new plant-based meat startups, however it ought to be. It was invented in China round 2,000 years in the past and stays a dietary staple world wide for good purpose. At $2-3 per pound, it’s cheaper than meat — besides, typically, rooster— and is broadly accessible in grocery shops and most Asian eating places. It’s low in saturated fats and excessive in protein, calcium, and iron, and you will get it in comfortable (silken), medium-firm, agency, or extra-firm varieties. It’s versatile within the kitchen, taking effectively to frying, grilling, baking, or even in desserts. And as a bonus, it’s extremely environmentally pleasant, utilizing much less land and water, and emitting far fewer greenhouse gasoline emissions, than animal-based protein.
For those who’re skeptical, strive first ordering a tofu dish at an Asian restaurant to expertise how actually scrumptious it may be.
Tofu scramble — a basic plant-based staple — is often made with oil, garlic, onions, greens, and (plant-based) cheese. It’s filling, reasonably priced, wholesome, and if made effectively, tasty in its personal proper even when it doesn’t straight replicate the flavour of eggs. A pinch of kala namak, or black salt, will give it an eggy style and odor.
Listed below are just a few well-liked, fool-proof recipes to get began:
An honest tofu scramble ought to take you half-hour or much less to make, however if you need it even quicker, strive the all-day egg scramble from tofu maker Hodo. It’s a spiced and mashed block of tofu wealthy with taste, made with onion powder, garlic, cumin, turmeric, smoked paprika, and extra. It’s a bit salty, however cooking it with just a few greens and cheese can lower a few of that.
I’m extra of a baker than a cook dinner, and I’ve been vegan for nearly 20 years, so I’ve mastered the artwork of baking with out eggs, and I can inform you it’s fairly easy — as a result of loads of baked good staples don’t want eggs within the first place. I can’t inform you what number of occasions a non-vegan bit into one thing that I or a buddy made, had no concept it didn’t have eggs (or dairy), and have been none the wiser.
You need to use merchandise like Simply Egg, AcreMade’s egg replacer, or this one from Bob’s Pink Mill, to interchange eggs in baking. However to economize, you possibly can merely use, relying on what you’re making, bananas, floor flax seeds with water, apple sauce, silken tofu, and even the water from a can of chickpeas (referred to as aquafaba). These elements might strike you as odd egg replacers, however eggs don’t add an excessive amount of to the flavour of a baked good. Somewhat, they’re extra of a purposeful ingredient, working to bind different elements collectively, enhance texture, and provides sure desserts some fluff. Relying on the recipe, these different elements can do the trick.
This information from well-liked vegan recipe developer Nisha Vora covers learn how to use these elements as egg replacers and that are greatest for which baked items. To be protected, I like to recommend utilizing recipes which can be already egg-free so it’s been examined as such, slightly than attempting to reformulate a basic recipe, particularly while you’re simply getting began.
Apart from what I’ve talked about right here, there are just a few different plant-based egg merchandise that both aren’t simple to seek out at grocery shops or aren’t accessible in any respect within the US: Beleaf plant-based egg, Crack’d, Neggst, and Zero Egg. (I’ve had the Beleaf egg and loved it however haven’t seen it in shops.)
Why aren’t there extra plant-based egg choices?
If the US have been going through shortages of rooster, beef, or cow’s milk, customers would have a wide selection of other decisions. However for some purpose, regardless of the enduring recognition of the egg, the plant-based meals sector has put little effort into making tasty and reasonably priced animal-free choices.
That’s a disgrace, as a result of egg farming is significantly merciless to animals. Most egg-laying hens are packed into tiny cages, unable to even flap their wings, the place they languish for one-and-a-half to 2 years earlier than they’re slaughtered for pet meals. Cage-free farming is an enchancment, however nonetheless far more inhumane than you would possibly suppose.
I requested Tetrick of Eat Simply why there’s such a scarcity of competitors (Simply Egg, he mentioned, makes up 99 % of the plant-based egg market). He informed me it’s a extremely technical problem in comparison with making, say, a plant-based burger, and it’s required the corporate to lift loads of capital, and tackle loads of threat.
“We nearly didn’t accomplish it,” he added.
I’m glad they did, as a result of it means we have now at the very least one nice plant-based egg product that’s additionally broadly accessible. However for the sake of the hens, and meals safety threats just like the chook flu, I hope they get much more opponents.
