Dairy & Eggs
Best Large Egg Substitutes
Out of Large Egg? Here are 3 real substitutes, ranked and ratio-backed.
1. Unsweetened applesauce
Ratio: 1/4 cup per egg
Works as a binder in baking but adds moisture and a mild sweetness — best in quick breads and muffins, not structure-dependent bakes like soufflés.
Best for: baking (quick breads, muffins)
2. Ground flaxseed + water
Ratio: 1 tbsp ground flaxseed + 3 tbsp water per egg, rested 5 min to gel
Binds well and adds a mild nutty flavor and slightly denser crumb — most reliable in cookies, muffins, and pancakes.
Best for: baking
3. Mashed banana
Ratio: 1/4 cup per egg
Adds real banana flavor and extra moisture/sweetness, so it only works where that flavor fits.
Best for: baking (banana bread, pancakes)
Egg substitutes in baking are genuinely one of the more limited categories on this site, because eggs do several different jobs at once — binding, moisture, leavening, and in some recipes structure — and no single substitute replicates all of them simultaneously the way a real egg does.
All three options below work primarily as BINDERS, which covers the most common reason a recipe needs an egg (holding a batter together), but none of them provide the same whipped-air structure a real egg provides in something like a soufflé or angel food cake — which is why this site's substitute notes are explicit about which baked goods each option realistically works in.
Ground flaxseed mixed with water is the closest thing to a neutral, all-purpose egg substitute among the three, since applesauce and banana both bring their own distinct flavor and sweetness that only fit certain recipes.
None of the three binders ranked above will do anything close to what aquafaba can — the starchy liquid drained from a can of chickpeas whips into a genuinely stable foam that behaves surprisingly close to a real egg white's structure, which makes it the one substitute on this whole site worth reaching for specifically when a recipe like a meringue or a mousse needs whipped air, a job applesauce, flaxseed, and banana simply can't do.
None of the three substitutes ranked here work as an egg wash for glazing pastry or bread before baking, either — a light brush of plain milk, or melted butter, gets a comparable browned sheen on the crust without needing an egg at all, a separate workaround from the batter-binding substitutes this page focuses on, worth knowing since an egg-free baker often needs both answers in the same recipe.
Need to convert Large Egg first? Use the Ingredient Converter.
Frequently asked questions
Do any of these egg substitutes work for recipes where eggs provide structure, like a soufflé?
No — none of the three (applesauce, flaxseed, banana) replicate a whipped egg's ability to trap air and set into a stable structure, so structure-critical bakes like soufflés or angel food cake aren't good candidates for any of these substitutes.
Which egg substitute has the most neutral flavor?
The flax version, by a clear margin — it brings only a faint nuttiness that mostly disappears once it's baked, while both fruit-based options leave their own sweetness and flavor behind in the finished bake, which matters if the recipe is meant to taste savory or already has plenty of sweetness of its own.
Can I use these substitutes for more than one egg in a recipe?
They generally work best replacing one, or at most two, eggs in a recipe — using them to replace three or more eggs starts to noticeably change a recipe's structure and moisture balance in ways a single-egg substitution usually doesn't.
Is there a store-bought commercial egg replacer that works better than these three?
Commercial egg replacers (often starch- and leavening-based) are formulated specifically to mimic an egg's binding and light leavening role more consistently across recipes than a single kitchen substitute like applesauce or flaxseed — a reasonable option if you bake egg-free often enough to justify keeping one stocked.
Does the flaxseed substitute need to be ground, or can whole flaxseed work?
It needs to be ground — whole flaxseed doesn't release its gel-forming compounds into water the way ground flaxseed does, so whole seeds won't bind a batter the way the substitute is meant to.