Common Vegan & Vegetarian Substitutes

Collection of common vegan and vegetarian substitutes. Here is an exhaustive list of ingredients that you can use in place of meat, eggs and dairy in your recipes. This will be your fool proof reference whether you are a vegan, vegetarian or just want to replace meat due to unavailability or for health reasons. Check it out and take your pick!

I have been meaning to write this list for a long time. Though this is a vegetarian blog, many of my readers are vegans and they often ask me what can I substitute f0r milk in this beverage or what is the vegan alternative for yogurt in this cake.

Whether or not you are a vegetarian or vegan, how many times you have started with a recipe and found yourself in short of meat, eggs or even milk? So a list of alternatives never hurt right. On that note let us get into the common vegan and vegetarian substitutes.

As a food blogger one of the most repeated question I get from my readers in the recent times is ” what would be the vegan substitute for xxx ingredient in your recipe?”. So I thought it was about time to make out a list.

I am a vegetarian since birth and I have always looked out for egg replacements in baking and sometimes vegetarian replacements for meat in an otherwise interesting curry recipe.

Over the years I have found these substitutes that work like charm and there has been no looking back. I hope you will find these vegan substitutions helpful as well. Here is a full collection of over 100 vegan recipes you might like.

Now these vegetarian and vegan substitutes are no way a compromise in taste and flavor. Also most of these are something you can easily find in your kitchen or available easily in local stores.

This list is for absolute beginners who have started to cook. If you are a pro, you may already know these.

Please go through the list and try them in your recipes.

Common Vegan and Vegetarian Substitutes List

Egg Substitutes

Whenever you wish to substitute another ingredient for egg in baking you will have to take the volume of eggs into account. Here are few ingredients you can use in place of eggs in your cakes, cookies, puddings, brownies, omelettes French toast,  etc.

Apple sauce– it is one of the most common ingredient used for eggs in cakes. 4 tablespoons of applesauce for one large egg is what I have successfully tried in many recipes. Just make sure to use unsweetened applesauce or adjust sugar in the recipe.

Yogurt- Another common egg substitute widely used in baking is yogurt or curd. 1/4 cup yogurt for 1 egg. Vegans can easily use any vegan yogurt like peanut or cashew yogurt. Here is a brownie recipe with yogurt.

Flax egg- This is my another personal favorite and nutritious as well. Mix 3 tablespoons water and 1 tablespoon flax seed powder. Mi well and beat slightly to get a foamy texture that resembles eggs. Use in the recipe. Check out this banana walnut bread using flax egg.

Chickpea flour– Chickpea flour or besan is a wonderful replacement for whole eggs in  recipes like french toast, omelettes etc. Check out this vegan savory french toast that tastes amazing.

Scrambled tofu or paneer- If you are looking for substitutes for scrambled eggs scrambled tofu (vegan) or paneer(vegetarian) is an excellent option. You can use it any recipe that calls for scrambled eggs.

Aquafaba- The chickpea brine or water left behind the cooked chickpeas behaves exactly like egg whites. This is super popular now as vegan substitute for egg whites in making meringue, macrons and even mayonnaise.

Butter Substitutes

Oil– Oil is by and far the most common and easy substitute for butter in most recipes. Be it in curries or bakng you can safely use oil in place of butter. Go for neutral favored oil in baking. Here is a vanilla muffin recipe with oil

Vegan butter- There are many vegan butters like nut butter or seed butters available. You can also make them easily at home like peanut butter, almond butter.

Meat Substitutes

Depending on the texture of the meat you can use any of the below mentioned ingredients instead of meat

• Tofu or paneer
• Potatoes (many of my friends and I use potatoes in biryani recipe)
• Textured soy protein
• Temph
• Mushrooms
• Raw jackfruit
• Seitan

Cheese Substitutes

• Cashew cheese
• nutritional yeast

Some more common substitutes

honey- sugar syrup, agave, maple syrup

Dairy cream– cashew cream, non dairy cream from stores

Sour cream- Plain vegan yogurt

Gelatin- agar agar or china grass

So that’s it, my list of vegan and vegetarian ingredients you can swap for meat or eggs. So what did I miss, please let me know in the comments 🙂