How to Make Flax Eggs

Learn how to make a flax egg, plus get tips for where this two-ingredient vegan egg replacer will and won't work.

Egg replacers are key to vegan baking, and there are so many to choose from! A flax egg is one of my favorites, because it's easy to make using one shelf stable ingredient, plus a little bit of water.

How do I substitute flax for eggs?

In general, you can use a flax egg to replace up to two eggs in pretty much any recipe that uses egg for moisture and/or as a binder.

Eggs serve different -- sometimes overlapping -- purposes in different recipes. They work as a binder, meaning that they are what keep your cake from falling apart. They also add moisture and help with leavening.

Flax eggs work well as a binder and to add moisture to a recipe.

When it comes to leavening, they're not so great. Using a flax egg replacer can yield a slightly denser result than an animal egg. In most cases, this isn't a big deal at all.

If your recipe calls for more than two eggs, you may start running into structural issues when you substitute flax. I do this anyway on occasion, like with boxed cake mixes, which usually call for three eggs. Your cake will be a bit softer than normal but still delicious.

To make one flax egg combine:

• 1 tablespoon flax meal
• 3 to 4 tablespoons of water

You'll use three tablespoons water for a regular egg, and use four tablespoons if the recipe calls for a large egg.

Where flax eggs will not work

For dishes like meringue, quiche, or angel food cake where eggs do a lot of heavy lifting, a flax egg will not work. Rather than veganize a recipe for these, I'd look up a vegan recipe from a trusted source.

Similarly, you aren't going to be scrambling flax eggs. They won't give you the texture you want at all. Instead, I recommend making a tofu scramble or using an egg replacer that's meant to be scrambled, like Just Egg.

What kind of flax to use

You can use either brown or golden flax meal to make a flax egg. The color doesn't matter, but you must use flax meal.

Whole flax seeds will not work. Flax seeds have a tough outer hull that will not allow them to absorb water.

The flax absorbing moisture is what turns your mixture from any ol' slurry into an egg replacer.

Does it really need to thicken?

No! A lot of flax egg recipes say to let the mixture thicken, but you really don't have to do that. The flax meal will absorb plenty of moisture as you mix your dough.

Recipes using flax eggs

📖 Recipe

Flax Egg Recipe

Learn how to make a flax egg, plus get tips for where this two-ingredient vegan egg replacer will and won't work.

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Course: Condiment

Cuisine: Vegan

Keyword: flax egg, how to make a flax egg

Prep Time: 2 minutes minutes

Total Time: 2 minutes minutes

Servings: 1

Calories: 37kcal

Author: Becky Striepe

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 tablespoon flax meal
• ▢ 3-4 tablespoons water

Instructions

• ▢
  In a small bowl, whisk together the flax meal and the water. Use 3 tablespoons for a regular egg or 4 tablespoons for a large egg.
• ▢
  Use just like you would an animal egg in baking recipes.

Video

Notes

Make sure that you are using flax meal for this recipe, not whole flax seeds. Whole seeds will not work.

This recipe makes enough egg replacer for one egg. I do not recommend using a flax egg to replace more than two -- maybe three -- eggs in a baking recipe.

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Flax Egg Recipe

Amount per Serving

Calories

37

% Daily Value*

Fat

 

3

g

5

%

Saturated Fat

 

0.3

g

2

%

Polyunsaturated Fat

 

2

g

Monounsaturated Fat

 

1

g

Sodium

 

4

mg

0

%

Potassium

 

57

mg

2

%

Carbohydrates

 

2

g

1

%

Fiber

 

2

g

8

%

Sugar

 

0.1

g

0

%

Protein

 

1

g

2

%

Vitamin C

 

0.04

mg

0

%

Calcium

 

19

mg

2

%

Iron

 

0.4

mg

2

%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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