How To Veganize A Recipe
Not all ingredients are created equal
Weirdly enough, most of the recipes I make aren’t plant-based ones. Most of my cookbooks, most of my saved posts and bookmarked recipes; all the same. A lot of the learning we can do when it comes to cooking and baking is from cooks and bakers that aren’t plant-based.
Every ingredient has a purpose. Flavor (the obvious one), texture, consistency, structure, beauty – all equally important. So, when you see a recipe that you really want to riff on and without animal products, all you have to do is determine the objective of the ingredient in question; what purpose does it serve in this recipe, and what other ingredient can serve the same purpose?
First things first:
Have you checked out The Index?
The Index is a page on this very website where I try to concisely give you ingredient substitute recommendations. If you don’t feel like digging into the nitty-gritty like we’re doing here, give The Index a try.
Second things second:
Make sure you know the purpose of the ingredient you’re replacing
Most ingredients can serve multiple different purposes depending on the recipe. Eggs for example, in cake, contribute to structure of the cake, but also moisture, and leavening! You need to learn what does what.
Not so fast:
Keep other ingredients in mind!
If you take out an ingredient, it might effect a separate one. If you remove buttermilk for example, and replace it with regular plant-based milk, just know that there might be baking soda in the recipe that was relying on the acid in that buttermilk to react. You’ll need to add an acid as well.
Some helpful examples:
Eggs, in cookies
Eggs in cookies contribute two things: binding and leavening. The binding is most important. The leavening isn’t as crucial because cookies contain other leavening ingredients. The simplest vegan substitute for binding is either ground flax seed, or a commercial egg replacer. If you use the flax seed, soak 1 tbsp in 2.5 tbsp water (per egg) for 15 minutes and add it where the recipe calls to add the egg. You also might want to increase the baking soda & baking powder by 1/4 tsp each.
Melted butter, in cake
Melted butter acts in most cake recipes similarly to any other liquid fat. This means you can replace it with oil. If a cake recipe calls for melted butter, you can use melted plant-based butter, or vegetable oil, or if you want to make things interesting, olive oil!
Buttermilk, in biscuits
Buttermilk has a lot of fat, and a lot of acid. What you’ll need is a fatty, rich plant-based milk (I like soy milk, or Oatly Full Fat), but you’ll also need to add an acid, which will help the biscuits with rise and tenderness. Add a tbsp of vinegar (any kind) for every cup of milk.
Follow your instincts & try something new!
Once you have a basic understanding of the science behind ingredients, you can use it to experiment on your own. Swap out an acid like lemon juice for a different one, like a delicious vinegar. Or use coconut oil in place of melted butter in a cake recipe where some coconut flavor might bode well – like a banana bread, or a fruit-flavored cake!
