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8 Ingredients Every Vegan Baker Needs in Their Pantry

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Emma Gallagher is a Brit living in North Carolina. She grows organic gardens and... Read More

Vegans and non-vegan bakers alike have come to the very strong and unequivocal conclusion that baked goods can be completely plant-based, not require ridiculous ingredients, are indistinguishable from their buttery and eggy counterparts, and are simply delicious.

If anyone out there is used to reaching for eggs, milk, and butter in their cakes, cookies, bread, and pies, it is fair to believe that baked goods could not exist without them. But, they’d be sorely mistaken.

With just a couple of tweaks and a few substitutes, cakes that rise, pies that are crumbly and melt in the mouth, and cookies that are chewy on the inside and crunchy on the outside can exist.

Check out this list of a few essentials for the vegan baker. Don’t worry, there is nothing out of the ordinary, and most are pretty wholesome, too.

Source: Curious Cat Bakery/YouTube

1. Coconut Oil

Though dairy-free ‘butter’ and margarine exist as substitutes for regular butter, not everyone is really into all the ingredients that go along with them.

Fortunately, clean and healthy coconut oil is an amazing replacement for oil, fat, or butter in a non-vegan recipe. It has that same versatility of being a solid or liquid depending on what the recipe demands.

If your recipe demands melted coconut oil, be sure that all of your other ingredients are at room temperature, or else they will make the coconut oil stiffen up rather readily.

2. Bananas

You might notice that lots of vegan cake and muffin recipes call for mashed-up bananas even when the bananas have nothing to do with the essence of the bake.

This is because bananas act wonderfully well as a binding agent and a substitute for eggs. You might get a little taste of banana, but that isn’t terrible, is it? It is also a great way to use up all of those brown and dying bananas on your counter.

3. Applesauce

Like the humble banana, apple sauce is often cited in vegan baking recipes as a binder and substitute for egg. It also adds moisture to your mix and can help provide a great texture to your cakes and muffins.

Though you will likely only be using a small amount of applesauce, there is a chance that this flavor might come through in the final product. Either make sure that these flavors are compatible or that the dominant flavor dominates!

4. Flax Seeds

Source: Simply Quinoa/YouTube

Ground flax seeds are a vegan baker’s best friend. Soak one tablespoon of ground flax in three tablespoons of water and set aside for a few minutes, and you will have one vegan ‘egg’ to use for baking.

Pour this gelatinous gloop into your mixture just as you would an egg. It will add moisture and act as a binder to your dry ingredients.

You have little worry about the flax flavor coming through in the final product, but you will be happy to know that you will benefit from all of the nutritional benefits of flax.

5. Chia Seeds

This section is going to read much like the flax section. Chia seeds, when hydrated, turn into a gelatinous, gloopy mess. This mess is amazing for making chia jam and other yummy chia puddings.

Surprise! It is also a great egg replacer for vegan baking. As with the ground flax, add one tablespoon of chia seed to three tablespoons of water and set it aside for a few minutes. This will make one ‘egg in a recipe.

Unlike with flax, you will not need to grind the chia seeds first. Like flax, however, you will gain all of the bonus nutritional benefits of chia seeds in your final baked treat.

6. Apple Cider Vinegar and Baking Soda

If you have a baked vegan treat recipe that does have one of the aforementioned egg replacements, look again and see if the dynamic duo of apple cider vinegar (ACV) and baking soda is not in there somewhere.

Anyone who has played with homemade drain cleaners, oven cleaners, or even made a volcano at school knows the power these two ingredients have when they meet.

This chemical reaction works wonders in the mixing bowl, too. The ACV activates the baking soda, which in turn, helps cakes and muffins to rise, creating that light and fluffy texture we all love.

7. Plant-Based Milk

Though water can often be used successfully in place of milk in a baked-good recipe, there are also so many plant-based milk options that can easily take the place of cow milk.

Almond, soy, coconut, oat, and all of the others, plant-milk are all a 1-1 substitute for cow milk but can offer slightly different flavor profiles as well as a host of bonus nutritional benefits.

There might be some consistency difference, too, depending on the type of milk you use, but this might give you a chance to play around and experiment a little.

8. Apple Cider Vinegar and Plant-Based Milk

There might be recipes that call for buttermilk. That sour, creamy flavor seems like it would be a tough one to recreate. But, if you are used to buttermilk in your pancakes or southern-style biscuits, grab your favorite plant milk and a bottle of ACV (sometimes lemon juice).

Buttermilk is usually added to recipes to give a bit of tang and acidity to sweet treats and help balance out the flavors. It also helps to break down gluten, creating a much softer texture.

It will usually only take one tablespoon of ACV to one cup of plant milk to create that perfect tang. Mix these at the very start of your preparation time. By the time you are ready for it, the two ingredients should have curdled together perfectly.

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