Sunday morning fry ups are often completed with a side of scrambled, poached or fried eggs but with the potential of an egg shortage hitting supermarkets, egg fans might need to look for an alternative.
Shoppers face the prospect of egg shortages this year amid a threatened “mass exodus” of fed-up farmers. Industry leaders say spiralling feed and energy costs are pushing many British producers to breaking point.
Often vegan recipes use bananas, chickpeas, and flaxseed to replace the eggs but these won't work for your Full English breakfast. So where do you turn if you're egg-less for your fry up? There's actually a few imitation eggs on the market, mainly emulating the classic scrambled egg.
We've tested four different scrambled egg substitutes to see if they can beat nature's own hen's egg. Our picks were scrambled chickpeas, scrambled tofu, and two egg replacement liquids - Crack'd and Oggs.
As these can be cooked a number of different ways, to keep thing fair each egg alternative was pan fried and seasoned with some salt, pepper and paprika. They were served on a bed of buttered white toast and garnished with parsley.
Scrambled Chickpeas - 3/5
★★★
70p for one can ( Sainsbury's )
This is the cheapest option for all our alternatives as it makes the most scramble by far for the cheapest price. I grabbed one can of chickpeas in water from Sainsbury's own brand range and made around three servings from it.
However, attempting to mash these chickpeas was time consuming and a bit of an arm workout. While this might be the cheapest option it's not the one if you're in a rush or want an easy breakfast.
Taste and texture let this down as it was just mashed and fried chickpeas - no scrambled egg in sight. If you're looking for a direct egg replacement this falls short but as a healthy addition to your fry up it's definitely worth a try.
Crack'd No-Egg Replacer - 1/5
★
£3.00 for one bottle equivalent to six eggs
Crack'd is a liquid pea protein which can be used as an egg replacement base for Yorkshires, omelettes and pancakes. The bottle also reads "amazing scrambled" - which gave me high hopes that this would be the key to vegan scrambled egg.
Sadly, this was probably the worst of all the options as it it failed at almost every turn. I used half a bottle, or three eggs, to make the smallest portion which took forever to cook.
Crack'd advised around three to five minutes cook time but the pea protein never appeared to properly cook to a consistency that mimicked scrambled eggs. It vaguely tasted like a Yorkshire pudding, despite the seasoning, but was a long way from resembling anything you'd want in your Full English.
Scrambled Oggs - 2/5
★★
£3.25 for one bottle equivalent to six eggs
Oggs was the most expensive of the four egg replacements and looked very similar to pancake batter when poured into the pan. The chickpea protein was the closest in looks to a scrambled egg once cooked.
The smell while cooking screamed pancake batter so I did not have high hopes for it tasting like eggs. Once again the cooked mixture had the similar Yorkshire pudding flavour of the Crack'd.
Again I used half a bottle for this serving and got a decent portion out of that. This had the potential to be a great replacement for scrambled eggs but that Yorkshire pudding flavour makes it a swing and a miss.
Tofoo Co Scrambled - 4/5
★★★★
£2.95 for one box equivalent to four eggs
This scrambled egg substitute surprised me as I'm not a tofu fan but Tofoo Co's Scrambled Tofu was actually the best all-rounder of the bunch. Make no mistake it is still tofu and is a lot drier than scrambled eggs but it was closer than all the rest.
While this still tasted like tofu, the flavour was pleasant and in a pinch it could be a good replacement. I think for vegans and those who absolutely cannot eat egg then scrambled tofu could be the way forward.
Tofoo Co is the best of the ones I tried but is still not a true, like for like replacement for scrambled eggs.
Verdict
All of these were a bit of a miss when it comes to nailing the taste and texture of scrambled eggs. While adding egg substitutes to your baking is common for vegans, making a replacement to have for brunch is unlikely to hit the mark.
The Tofoo Co Scrambled is the best pick if you want to scramble something for your toast but it is by no means an egg alternative. For vegans or those who are egg-free this could be a nice addition to fill a gap in your diet.
Crack'd and Oggs should be avoided if you're hoping to replicate scrambled eggs, although they might make good vegan pancakes or Yorkshire puddings.
Overall, it might be worth just leaving eggs out of your Full English for now until the egg shortage is over...
