Vegan Eggs Benedict
The iconic brunch dish but VEGAN! A decadent hollandaise sauce, a runny “egg” yolk, and can enjoy this vegan eggs benedict in style!
Eggs Benedict was one of my favorite breakfasts of all time. In fact, it was my go-to order anytime I went out for brunch or breakfast on the weekends. I like this vegan eggs benedict just as much as the ones I used to eat. If only for the fact that when I’m done eating it, I don’t feel like I just shoveled a bunch of bricks into my stomach. As delicious as those bennys were, they were a gut punch.
And the other good news is this vegan version is A LOT easier to make than a traditional one. We don’t need to worry about poaching eggs, or making the very delicate hollandaise sauce either!
And for me, the best part of this Vegan Eggs Benedict is the runny YOLK SAUCE! Something that’s usually missing in these recipes.
ingredients for vegan eggs benedict
- Tofu Egg – For the “egg” I’m using our good buddy tofu. I wanted to keep this simple, and tofu works out great for that. You can also make a Tofu Egg Patty like I do in my Breakfast Sandwich and skip the Yolk Sauce if you like.
- Hollandaise – For the Hollandaise, we’ll be employing a cashew based sauce that is way easier to make than a traditional hollandaise sauce, and it’s just as rich and decadent!
- Seasonings – We’ll also use the usual suspects like nutritional yeast, lemon juice, vegan butter, and cayenne.
- Lactic or Citric Acid – If you can get it, I highly recommend buying some lactic or citric acid! It’s one of my favorite ingredients for anything savory or tangy and it does a fantastic job in the hollandaise.
- Black Salt – This will give the sauce a slight eggy flavor. It’s not super necessary in the hollandaise, but I do recommend using it in the egg yolk sauce for sure.
Yolk Sauce – This is recommended but technically optional, but it does make the dish that much more savory and decadent! But this Vegan Yolk Sauce is super easy to whip up and you can use it in my Fried Egg or Huevos Rancheros as well!
- Ham – You can make my Vegan Ham, or use store-bought! You can even skip it and just add some avocado and tomato, maybe some Tofu Bacon or Rice Paper Bacon instead!
- English Muffins – Most store-bought English Muffins are vegan. The popular brand Thomas is not, but every other one I’ve found is, just check the package!
how to make vegan eggs benedict
There are a few components to this, but they are all pretty simple to put together.
The Hollandaise sauce is unbelievably easy to make! All we need to do is soak some cashews in boiling water for about 15 minutes. Then we’ll simply blend them up with some plant-milk and seasonings! That’s it! No double boiler or worrying about the perfect emulsion.
Speaking of emulsion, that’s exactly what we need to do with the yolk sauce. It’s mostly water and oil, and then a bunch of seasonings. I like to use my immersion blender to mix it up. You can use a normal blender, but you’ll need to drizzle the oil in slowly to emulsify it.
We’re also adding some cornstarch to thicken it. Once it’s blended, simply heat it over medium low just until it thickens. Then remove it from the heat and add some black salt for eggy flavor.
If your emulsion does break, don’t sweat it! Simply add it back to a blender and blend until smooth again. For leftovers, just gently reheat it again in a saucepan. Be careful not to overheat as this is what causes the emulsion to break.
Next for the vegan egg, get a block of tofu. I prefer super firm (which needs no pressing) or extra firm that’s been pressed for 30 minutes. Then slice it into about 3/4″ slices. You should be able to get 2-3 slices per block.
Next we’ll cut out a cylinder using a cookie cutter. We’ll then take a smaller cookie cutter and cut out the middle. This will create a tofu donut (or tonut as I call it).
You will have a lot of tofu scraps, but that’s okay! You can crumble them up and use them in a Tofu Scramble or some Tofu Ground Beef!
If you want to cook and season your tofu, I suggest doing that before you cut out the hole in the middle. The tonut can be a little fragile, and moving it around too much might cause it to fall apart.
Either way, we’ll fill the hole up with our egg yolk sauce. Then using some of the tonut hole (the smaller cylinder we are cutting out to create space for the yolk), slice off a little bit and put that on top of the egg yolk.
This is to protect the yolk from spilling out when we top it with the hollandaise sauce. I gotta say, having the runny yolk along with the hollandaise sauce really sold me on this recipe! It was the one thing missing in my past attempts.
Top it with some chives and cayenne and dig in!
variations on Eggs Benedict
The classic benedict is great, but there’s a bunch of variations out there! Like the West Coast pictured here. It features tomato, avocado and some Rice Paper Bacon. There’s also a Florentine which is sauteed spinach (and sometimes tomato too). Honestly, you can top it with anything, so get creative and have fun.
You can also make some Breakfast Sausage and a Hash Brown and slap it between the buns for a Egg Benny Burger!
storage & reheating
Simply store any leftover sauces in the fridge. Gently reheat them in a saucepan on low heat. Do not microwave them as they can get clumpy and lose their emulsion. Use within 3-4 days.
handy dandy video here!
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Vegan Eggs Benedict
Ingredients
- 8 English Muffins
- 16 slices Vegan Ham
- Fresh Chopped Chives (for garnish)
- Cayenne or Smoked Paprika (for garnish)
Tofu Eggs
- 32 oz Super Firm Tofu (or Pressed Extra Firm)
- 1 batch Vegan Yolk Sauce
- 1 batch Vegan Hollandaise
Instructions
- It's optional, but I highly suggest making my Vegan Yolk Sauce!
- And making my Vegan Hollandaise is not optional!
Tofu Egg
- If using extra firm tofu, press it for 30 minutes.
- Slice each block of tofu into 3 – 4 slices, depending on how thick you want your "egg"
- Using a cookie cutter, cut out as many egg sized sections as possible. Save the scraps for another recipe. If cooking tofu, do so now and season to taste. Then using a smaller cookie cutter, cut out a hole in the center of each tofu egg. This is where our yolk sauce will go when we assemble the benedict. Your tofu should look like donuts now. Take the donut "holes" and slice off a small disc. We'll use this on top of the yolk sauce to seal it inside the tofu egg so it doesn't spill out when we add the hollandaise sauce.
Eggs Benedict
- Toast or grill your english muffins and vegan ham to desired browning. Then top each muffin with vegan ham, and then a tofu egg. Drizzle in about 1-2 Tbsp of the yolk sauce into the tofu egg hole. Then top the sauce with the little tofu discs you cut out from the tofu holes.
- Pour over as much hollandaise sauce as you'd like. Then top with paprika or cayenne and some chopped chives or parsley and ENJOY!
This recipe is THE DUPE. DUUUPEEE!!
Eggs Benny has been my vegan Moby Dick— so many places/blogs get it wrong, it’s THE breakfast food I’ve missed the most, and the creamy, tangy hollandaise sauce impossible to replicate… UNTIL NOW!
This is a legit review. I’ve made this 5 times already. It’s so good. I omit black salt cause I don’t want my food to taste/smell like farts but trust me. This IS the Benny you’ve been looking for.
Haha, yes my wife hates black salt too! Glad you found a benny recipe that hits the notes!! Appreciate the feedback!
Yo Eggs! Yolk, tastes like eggs, easy! Makes the best eggs benedict ever
Will it still work/taste good without the message my family members don’t like using it?
MSG? Yes will still be good!
This is one of my house hold’s favorite weekend breakfasts! I usually don’t bother cutting out an egg shape from the tofu, but just pan frying a rectangle of medium firm tofu (my preference for egg texture) on one side, adding a blob of the “yolk” and then the hollandaise. It’s not as egg-sthetic, but it gets it on the table faster!
I’m not much of a recipe user, but this is one of the few I follow to a T!
Awesome, I love this one too! Glad you like it and that it’s in the rotation!
I’m astounded. This was insane. I’ve never had a vegan benny, and never thought I would. This hits on every level and is pretty dang easy with all the right equipment. Highly recommend going IN on the MSG and the lactic acid. The black salt is excellent here too. Not too overpowering. Used Tofurky’s smoked ham and grilled that sh*t up. SO GOOD! NO NOTES!
Wow! Thank you! Eggs Benny was one of my favorites, glad this worked so well for you!
So I only made the hollandaise sauce but holy breakfast it is the best dang sauce I have ever eaten. I can’t wait to try the rest of this recipe because I know it will be just as good.
Thank you for sharing your recipes!
Nice, I love the hollandaise, so glad you do too! Thank you!
My blocks of tofu are in 14oz. Packages, do I still need 2 packages for the standard recipe?
Yes