Vegan Fried Egg

With some CRISPY EDGES, a SOFT RUNNY YOLK, and some EGGY FLAVOR thanks to BLACK SALT, now we can enjoy a vegan fried EGG! Yes – you read that right.

Fried eggs with the runny yolks are something that we don’t see too often in the vegan universe. I’ve seen a few but one thing that I never saw was a white with the crispy, browned edges.

That was my favorite part of a sunny side up egg. The yolk was tasty of course! But without those crispy edges for some textural contrast, it was just kind of a goopy mess!

This is the first time I’ve had a vegan fried egg that was truly reminiscent of what I remember!

why you’ll dig vegan fried eggs!

If you loved Fried Eggs and don’t eat them anymore, then I can pretty much guarantee you will love these! They are great on their own with a little salt and pepper.

Or you can dip some toast in them!

You can even put one on a vegan burger!

You can serve it up with some vegan sausage and Rice Paper Bacon! Literally use it like you would a chicken fried egg!

And even though it might seem like a lot of work to make these, once everything is prepared, you can store it in the fridge for about a week. So every morning you can simply whip up a vegan fried egg or two in just a few minutes!

That being said, for an even easier vegan egg recipe, check my Tofu Scramble!

What Ingredients are Needed for a Vegan Fried Egg?

Now admittedly, there are some unusual ingredients in this recipe. But we are trying to recreate the textures of an egg, so if you ask me, that makes total sense!

However, you should be able to find them at either an Asian market, or online. I’ll link to all of them below so you can find them!

The Egg whites

For the base of the egg whites, I highly recommend using some plain unsweetened vegan yogurt. I used the one by Forager (not sponsored) and I really dug it!

If you can’t find that brand of vegan yogurt, just make sure it’s unsweetened and it should work out.

I also tested this recipe using silken tofu as the base, and it worked out OK, but the yogurt was far better.

We’ll also be using some Aquafaba (the liquid from a can of chickpeas). You can make some Vegan Tuna Salad with the chickpeas!

Glutinous Rice Flour is another important ingredient. Make sure it’s glutinous and not regular rice flour. I’ve tested this recipe with regular rice flour and it just doesn’t work. And glutinous rice flour is GLUTEN FREE!

The combo of these ingredients will give our whites a firmer texture and will get them nice and crispy on the bottom! My favorite part!

The yolk

We will create the yolk with Reverse Spherification. What that means is we are going to add some of our liquid yolk sauce to another more viscous liquid. Then a chemical reaction will cause the thicker liquid to form a layer around the yolk sauce and encapsulate it.

But just like with a real yolk, this layer can be easily broken, and we’ll be rewarded with a runny yolk!

The two ingredients needed for this process are Sodium Alginate & Calcium Lactate. We’ll use the sodium alginate and some distilled water to create an alginate bath. Then we’ll add the calcium lactate to the yolk mixture.

When these two chemicals interact they create that layer around our yolk! It’s SCIENCE!

updated yolk recipe

I first made this recipe back in 2021. Recently, I made a Vegan Eggs Benedict recipe with a Yolk Sauce. I was curious to see if that Yolk Sauce would work in this recipe, and it totally does!

In fact, I love it way more than the original recipe that used Pumpkin Puree. But just in case you’ve made that and love it, or if you want something lower in oil, I’ll provide both recipes.

Just know that the newer Yolk Sauce is like 10 times better in my opinion!

over medium option

Now, if you don’t like runny yolks, or if you don’t want to go through the process of reverse spherification, fret not! You can just add some tapioca starch to the yolk mixture.

Then, spoon some of that into the center of the whites once you ladle them into the pan. Flip once the egg has been browned, and cook to desired doneness. Perfect for an egg sandwich!

You can also simply skip the reverse spherification and add some yolk sauce to a cooked egg white too!

How to make vegan eggs taste eggy?

As far as EGGY flavoring, we are relying on Black Salt (aka Kala Namak). We’ll also be using our good friend nutritional yeast and some other savory seasonings.

Black salt is a lot less potent if you add it before cooking. So I like to sprinkle some on after cooking the egg as well, along with some regular salt and black pepper.

How do i make a vegan fried egg?

I know that this might all seem like a lot of work, but I swear, it’s really not! In fact, I’ve made these about 4-5 times now and it’s honestly a cake walk!

The first step is to add the Sodium Alginate a teaspoon at a time to a blender that’s running with some Distilled Water.

Then pour that mixture into some kind of tupperware. It will have a lot of air bubbles which will not be good for what we want. So we will let it rest in the fridge overnight.

Next we’ll simply combine the ingredients for both the yolk sauce and egg whites. For the yolk sauce, I recommend using an Immersion Blender. If you don’t have one, you can also use a blender. You’ll just need to drizzle the oil in VERY SLOWLY to emulsify it.

Then we’ll warm up the yolk sauce to activate the cornstarch. It’ll get a bit thicker and amazing! Let it cool to room temperature.

After that we’ll add about 1 tablespoon worth of the yolk sauce to the alginate bath.

It won’t completely submerge itself. So I’ll take a small spatula or spoon and just spoon the mixture over until it’s fully covered.

We’ll let that hang out for about 20 – 30 seconds. Then using a Slotted Spoon, we’ll gently scoop out the yolk.

Let the alginate mixture drain off, and wipe the bottom with a paper towel.

You can let the yolks hang out in some cool water.

Next let’s get a pan over medium heat, and a little bit of oil going. Add about 2 – 3 Tbsp worth of the egg white.

Move the pan around to spread the egg white as thin as you’d like. Then plop the egg yolk on top.

Cook the egg until the edges are as crispy as you’d like!

You can also flip the egg for over easy if you want as well!

storage

This recipe will make about a dozen eggs or more, with some leftover Yolk Sauce (which you can use on a Vegan Eggs Benedict!)

You can store these in the fridge for about 4-7 days. The alginate bath will last about a week. The Yolk Sauce and Egg Whites are better the fresher they are, but after a week, they still tasted good to me!

One last thing, if you need to dispose any of the alginate bath, don’t pour it down the sink as it can clog it up. Just add it to a bag and throw it out with the garbage!

tips for making vegan fried eggs

• Use Black Salt for “eggy” flavor.
• For a poppable yolk, use some Sodium Alginate & Calcium Lactate.
• Make sure you use Glutinous Rice Flour and not regular rice flour!
• Use an Immersion Blender to blend up the Yolk Sauce.
• Fry the egg in some oil to get the CRISPY EDGES!

more vegan breakfast recipes you’ll dig!

• Eggs Benedict
• Tofu Scramble
• Breakfast Burritos
• McGriddles

I realize this is a lot of information for a simple egg! If you’re like me, it’s easier to learn by showing and not telling. So I even made a video for my fellow visual learners! Keep in mind this is an older video that uses the older recipe, but you can still learn a lot from it.

here’s a HANDY DANDY video!

Recommendations for Kitchen Gear, Spices & Pantry Items, Photos & Videos, please check out my Amazon Storefront.