vegan waffle recipe without banana or pumpkin?

February 7, 2008 5:19 AM

Vegan waffles with no banana, using egg substitute?

I've got some Bob's Red Mill egg substitute (yes, I looked on their web site for a recipe - no luck). It's a powder. I could just use the equivalencies on the package - so much powder + so much water = 1 egg (plus I'd add some oil to make up for the lack of fatty egg yolk).

But of course, vegan egg substitute is not exactly like egg, it doesn't bind quite as well, and if you use too much there can be a slight bitter taste. I think there's actually seaweed involved. Waffles depend on the binding qualities of egg in order to be removed in one piece from the waffle iron; a misstep could lead to a very messy waffle iron full of gunk that will be difficult to remove. Not to mention a bunch of less-than-tasty waffles.

So, I'm trying to find some kind of proven recipe to use. No odd flavors, though - we've got some lovely-looking maple syrup that we'd like to use, and just plain old waffles is the perfect companion for it.

Searching for [vegan waffles] yields all kinds of recipes using pumpkin or banana as a binder -- I definitely don't want to use banana, as it will be too sweet to add much syrup then, and I really just want a plain waffle that will take various toppings well. Pumpkin just doesn't sound good to me right now, anyway. I even found waffleparty.com -- but it doesn't have a plain waffle recipe (that I can find), just a bunch of slightly-too-interesting ones. I also searched the Post-Punk Kitchen blog (the cupcake book they published is awesome), but no luck.

Searching for ["egg substitute" waffles] yields recipes that, I strongly suspect, are using "egg beaters", which are actually egg whites -- not what I want. I'm surmising this because the quantities given for the egg substitute are liquid measure quantities - like 1/4 cup or 2 Tbsp.

I've got some soy yogurt to work with, too, and I'd also be interested in a vegan pancake recipe. Thanks!

posted by amtho to food & drink (17 comments total)

At one point, my infant son appeared to be allergic to everything. Mrs. Plinth switched to a diet that was devoid of soy, dairy, egg, shellfish, and a few others. We tried an egg substitute from Ener-G which wasn't too bad. They have a recipe on their site. I've not tried it.

Ener-G worked fine in most baked goods. I would not have high hopes for waffles as there are two things that make waffles work: air and butter. A traditional waffle uses beaten egg white to provide air in the batter which when cooked becomes structure. The heinous amount of butter contributes to flavor and helps the when brown giving that nice Malliard reaction.

Pancakes are much more reasonable to do since the leavening is all chemical.
posted by plinth at 5:48 AM on February 7, 2008

Saw the buttermilk in their recipe - apologies there, but that should be an easy substitution.
posted by plinth at 5:51 AM on February 7, 2008

I bake a lot of vegan stuff, but use a different egg substitute: Ener-G Egg Replacer. It's a powder made of potato starch and tapioca starch. I usually mix the egg replacer powder + water in with the wet ingredients and mix all the wet ingredients together, just as you would with a regular egg. I've had very good results with a variety of baked goods (cookies, pancakes, waffles, muffins, etc.).

I tend to shy away from vegan baked-goods recipes, because they use a lot of ingredients that I find unnecessary. Instead, I'll take a traditional recipe from, say, The Joy of Cooking, and substitute the egg and milk. Easy, and there is no difference in taste or texture.
posted by smich at 5:51 AM on February 7, 2008

PPK have really great recipes for pumpkin waffles and apple waffles (I've tried both and both are excellent). But you said you wanted plain ones. You could leave the apple and spices out of the apple ones and you'd be pretty close to plain. The apple juice and apple sauce remaining are pretty neutral flavorwise. In both recipes they use a fruit puree to replace the egg. Have you thought about using a "flax egg" to replace the eggs for your recipe?
posted by hecho de la basura at 6:11 AM on February 7, 2008

I thought about using apple, but it's rather sweet. I'd like to avoid too much sweetness. Yes, I found the apple and pumpkin waffles on the PPK site.

I've substituted in traditional recipes before, with yummy results. However, the texture is usually a little different -- so I hesitate to do that here, lest I end up cleaning a waffle iron for 2+ hours.
posted by amtho at 6:28 AM on February 7, 2008

I've used flax-egg to decent effect. Holy moly is the consistency ever gross. Alien slime.
posted by loiseau at 6:31 AM on February 7, 2008

lioseau - I'm not sure if you're recommending flax-egg or warning me away. I'm not inclined to try it based on your "alien slime" endorsement, but perhaps I'm missing something.
posted by amtho at 6:37 AM on February 7, 2008

The pumpkin and apple sauce seem like they're present in vegan waffle recipes in order to replace the buttermilk and/or butter found in traditional recipes. They're thick and not too sweet, adding some bulk and some unctuousness (for lack of a better word). There aren't too many (vegan) things that can do that (prune puree is another possibility).

Canned pumpkin isn't actually that strong a flavor (esp in that PPK recipe--that's just one can for 16 waffles--I made a pumpkin bread recently with only one can of pumpkin and it wasn't nearly strong enough for my tastes). The "pumpkin pie" spices (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves) are what bring out that pumpkiny flavor. So, this isn't exactly what you asked for, but I would try using that recipe without those spices and see what happens.
posted by CiaoMela at 6:39 AM on February 7, 2008

we made the waffles of insane greatness vegan by using vanilla soymilk instead of buttermilk and using egg substitute instead of the egg (not sure what brand, but the same thing you're talking about).

even veganized, they were still insanely great.

and we had no problems with getting them out of the waffle iron.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 6:49 AM on February 7, 2008 [1 favorite]

we make vegan waffles with the recipe from our betty crocker waffle iron by just using ener-g. they turn out fine, but they're supposed to be more like belgian waffles.

for vegan buttermilk- just add a little vinegar to soy milk. it works ok!
posted by kendrak at 6:54 AM on February 7, 2008 [1 favorite]

I'd suggest the applesauce as well. I use it all the time (actually as an egg replacer). Get the unsweetened kind. It does not add any sweetness to the recipe that I can tell.
posted by Sassyfras at 7:02 AM on February 7, 2008

amtho: lioseau - I'm not sure if you're recommending flax-egg or warning me away. I'm not inclined to try it based on your "alien slime" endorsement, but perhaps I'm missing something.

It works, I'm just saying it's not something you'd want to eat, like, on its own.
posted by loiseau at 8:45 AM on February 7, 2008

Ah, it's the flax-egg that's slimy, not the waffles themselves.
posted by amtho at 9:03 AM on February 7, 2008

If you're using a waffle-iron, you can use this recipe for super-crunchy Swedish vegan waffles. My friend's mother came up with it and the waffles were so good I took a machine back to England with me!

Frasvåfflor (Super crunchy Swedish waffles)
100g vegan margarine
4 fl oz soya milk
3 oz plain flour
1 tbsp baking soda

Melt the margarine and let it cool.

Whisk together the soya milk, flour and baking soda to a smooth batter, avoid lumps. Fold in the margarine and maybe some cold water if the batter is too thick.

After that it's all about putting the batter into the waffle iron, I guess you know that part. Golden brown is what you're going for.


American Fluffy Pancakes

I make these all the time.

1 cup plain flour
1 cup soya milk
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder

Whisk it all together and pour out a CD-sized amount into a Teflon/non-stick frying pan.

As soon as the pancake starts to bubble, scoop it up and flip it over.


English Style Pancakes

These are the thin Shrove Tuesday style pancakes.

8 oz plain flour
1 oz cornflour or custard powder or soya flour
1 cup cold water
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 oz icing sugar (optional)
pinch of salt

Whisk it all together, add more water if necessary. Pour 1 ladle of batter into a pan and spread out thinly.

As soon as the edges start to look cooked, scoop it up and flip it over.

You don't need a commercial egg replacer.
posted by xpermanentx at 9:57 AM on February 7, 2008

I've made vegan waffles from several different recipes and mixes, using Ener-G egg replacement powder and soy milk. I've also sometimes used flax seed and applesauce instead of egg replacer. All of the recipes turned out great. (If the recipe calls for melted butter, I use vegetable oil or melted margarine.)
posted by mbrubeck at 10:10 AM on February 7, 2008 [1 favorite]

I haven't found egg replacers necessary. My waffle recipes uses the following proportions (if I recall correctly): 1 cup flour, 1 cup soymilk/water, 1T sugar, 1T oil, 1T baking powder. I spray the iron liberally with oil.
posted by mahamandarava at 3:16 PM on February 7, 2008

OK, I kind of went crazy with the best answers, but I truly do appreciate the actual recipes. Thank you!
posted by amtho at 3:24 PM on February 7, 2008