Someone asked about being egg free on keto. This is a good question. Eggs are the second most common food allergy in the United States. There are also people who choose not to eat animal-based products, such as dairy and eggs. So, at first glance, I thought this was going to be easy. We eat eggs occasionally as just eggs – scrambled, fried, and hard boiled. But, our everyday meal is not filled with eggs. Then, I started thinking about our recipes and it got more complicated.
Why we Eat Eggs on Keto
Eggs are a high-fat, low carb food. Two eggs have 11 grams of fat and only 1 gram of carbs. They are a quick and easy breakfast food. Pair them with some bacon, and you have yourself a good keto meal. They are also good as a snack. Bill often has just a hard boiled egg midway through the day. I prefer deviled eggs, which is just a hard boiled egg with added fat in the form of mayonnaise.
Being Egg Free on Keto
Like I said, at first glance I thought it was easy. Just don’t eat eggs. Not a big deal. When we first started keto, we ate a lot of eggs because they were a simple high fat, low carb food. It got so I couldn’t look at an egg without feeling queasy. I went for many weeks without eating an egg…or did I?
Turns out, when I started going through our recipes to make a huge list of egg free options, they were few and far between. Some of our favourite foods have eggs in them. Flatbread has eggs in it. Most of what we bake as a keto dessert has eggs in it. Most importantly to me, chaffles have eggs in them!
Why It’s Hard to be Egg Free on Keto
Eggs are handy when we are baking. They bind and hold ingredients together and they add moisture to the food. They trap pockets of air in the food, letting them rise. That’s why we use eggs in things like bread and cakes. They also help ingredients turn that pretty brown colour when exposed to heat. We have a couple of recipes that add a cream and egg mixture over the top of casseroles to add that flavour and that nice golden brown to the meal.
Many of the alternatives to eggs that people use when they don’t do keto are high in carbs. Sometimes people replace eggs with applesauce or bananas. These are not keto-friendly fruits. There are egg replacements, but they tend to include potato starch and are high in carbs. The best one I came across was Bob’s Red Mill. It has 7 grams of carbs in a tablespoon, and one tablespoon replaces one egg. If a baking recipe called for one or two eggs and the batter made 12 items, it would be okay.
Other Egg Alternatives
There were a couple of egg alternatives that are more keto-friendly. One is using vinegar and baking soda. You use 1 teaspoon of soda with 1 tablespoon of vinegar for each egg called for in the recipe. This alternative keeps baked goods light and airy.
Another alternative was nut butter instead of eggs. Three tablespoons of nut butter (almond, peanut, or cashew) replaces one egg. This will change the flavour of your food, and nuts can also be a common allergy. I’d use this one with caution.
The simplest alternative I found was using carbonated water. ¼ of a cup of carbonated water replaces one egg. This would keep the food light and fluffy. The only thing it wouldn’t accomplish is enhancing the flavours in the recipe.
A Final Thought About Being Egg Free on Keto
Pretty much any recipes that are no-bake are also egg free. Health professionals frown on eating raw eggs, although I’ve had my fair share of raw cookie dough throughout my life with no obvious concerns. Fat bombs tend to be no-bake, so they don’t contain eggs. And, while our flatbread recipe contains eggs, you can get Mr. Tortilla and they do not have eggs. Now chaffles? I’m not sure how I would deal without having them on the weekends, but I’d probably try one of the above alternatives for them.
Being egg free on keto wouldn’t be the easiest thing in the world, but it is certainly doable. If you don’t currently eat eggs, you likely have your favourite alternatives and workarounds. If you try a recipe with an egg alternative, let us know how it turns out!
Wendy
