Hard-Boiled “Eggs”

I lost track of how many failed hard-boiled “egg” salads I endured to bring you a recipe for hard-boiled “eggs” that produces something worthy of being eaten on its own. You’re welcome!

After reviewing multiple recipes, testing my own variations, referencing a package of WunderEggs, and testing again, I bring you the most believable vegan hard-boiled egg…

…if not the most inflexible. Let’s talk ingredients.

Substitute nothing.

At this time, I cannot recommend alternate ingredients. I love to offer leeway for preferences and personality in cooking, but in this case, I need you to save your creativity for how you serve your “eggs”. (Anything goes as long as they’re kept roughly between refrigerator and room temperatures.)

Each ingredient has an explicit reason for being chosen. In some instances, I even urge you to source a particular brand in order to achieve the same textures and flavors I did.

And I’m not affiliated with any links herein! I’m simply serious about the products I know will work. Select an ingredient from the following list for more details and an explanation.

• Japanese (AKA silken) extra-firm tofu
• SO Delicious Organic Unsweetened Coconutmilk Beverage
• kala namak (Indian black salt)
• agar agar powder
• nutritional yeast
• refined coconut oil
• konjac gum
• dried ground turmeric

Japanese (AKA silken) extra-firm tofu

Almost every mid-sized and larger grocery store I’ve entered has tofu in a refrigerator alongside produce and tofu on a shelf by other Asian ingredients.

There is a misleading concept in the United States that refrigerated tofu is “regular tofu” inadvertently giving shelved tofu an otherness about it. The actual differences are country and coagulants:

Refrigerated tofu is Chinese tofu which is quickly coagulated with acid(s) resulting in a crumbly texture. Shelved tofu, by contrast, is Japanese tofu which is slowly coagulated with salt(s) resulting in a silken texture. In fact, Japanese tofu is sometimes called “silken tofu”.

Here’s where shopping may be confusing: Chinese (refrigerated) tofu comes in extra-firm, firm, medium, and silken varieties. Yes, the same word that describes all Japanese tofu also describes the softest form of Chinese tofu! And Japanese tofu likewise comes in extra-firm through silken varieties meaning you can find silken extra-firm tofu (which sounds like an oxymoron) and silken silken tofu (which looks like a printing mistake).

Replace the first “silken” with “Japanese”, and now those names make sense! You need Japanese extra-firm tofu, located on a shelf likely containing other Asian ingredients, in a box probably marked “silken extra-firm”.

“Which brand should I buy?”

Brand doesn’t matter here. Simply to give you a clearer idea of what to purchase, I used Mori-Nu Silken Tofu Extra Firm.

“What if I have a soy allergy?”

All I can say for now is, “I’m sorry.” I don’t currently have a suggestion for you beyond WunderEggs which are soy-free with an “egg” white so good it was my vegan prototype. Your taste buds are in good hands with them!

SO Delicious Organic Unsweetened Coconutmilk Beverage (refrigerated)

not Silk. not canned. SO Delicious Organic Unsweetened Coconutmilk Beverage (refrigerated). not (shelved).

All that said, there is a little flexibility here.

If you cannot source this exact coconut milk, try any plain unsweetened soy milk. I used Silk Organic Unsweet Soymilk for a few recipe tests, and the results were OK. The color more than the flavor of my “eggs” was affected.

kala namak (Indian black salt)

Your “eggs” won’t taste like eggs without it.

Indian black salt is called such not because it is black, but because the volcanic rocks in the Himalayan and North Indian mines from which it is extracted are black. The salt itself is a pastel mauve.

Those black volcanic rocks also contain sulfuric compounds which appear as trace elements in the salt they yield. Thus, kala namak has a salty taste and an eggy flavor!

While switching to kosher or table salt won’t affect the appearance or texture of your hard-boiled “egg”, the flavor will be disappointing without Indian black salt. I strongly advise obtaining some.

agar agar powder

Firstly, this is natural!

Agar agar, or simply agar, is an extract from red algae that acts like gelatin. (And if you think that’s gross, I cautiously invite you to read about gelatin…)

Agar (agar) comes in a variety of forms, but to me, the powdered one is most accessible. It’s been the easiest – and cheapest – form for me to find by far! Consequently, I’ve only tested recipes with this one.

nutritional yeast

If I added any more turmeric to my recipe, the resultant “eggs” would taste like turmeric. Trust me! But with turmeric alone, color was lacking.

nutritional yeast to the resc-hue! What is more, its abundance of B vitamins lends some of the nutritional benefits obtained by consuming real eggs.

refined coconut oil

Like SO Delicious Organic Unsweetened Coconutmilk Beverage, refined coconut oil doesn’t have any coconut flavor. But unrefined coconut oil does! Ensure your coconut oil container says “refined”, or be prepared for a new kind of rotten egg.

konjac gum

Like agar, konjac gum is a natural extract with gelling properties. If you have seen or eaten shirataki noodles, then you have crossed paths with this ingredient from konjac roots!

I sourced konjac gum from Modernist Pantry. A gum, in this case, is a superfine powder. You may purchase a different brand, but not a different form! The coarser konjac powder and flour demand greater measurements than the one I provide for gum, and since konjac gum is the only form of konjac I tested, I cannot confidently convert that measurement for you.

Anything called “konjac gum powder” is redundant and therefore confusing, but otherwise the same. And, in a bind, an equal amount of the more readily available guar gum would work fairly well.

dried ground turmeric

Dried ground turmeric is critical for color. Though I haven’t tested anything else, I doubt substitutions would work: fresh turmeric wouldn’t distribute evenly, and food coloring would offset the liquid:agar ratio I found best for the right “yolk” consistency.

Rest assured, I tested a variety of amounts of turmeric to yield the perfect yolky shade of yellow without imparting spice.

Equipment

Most of the required equipment is considered standard:

• blender
• food processor
• spatulas
• medium saucepan
• small saucepan
• stove
• whisks
• baking tray
• refrigerator
• melon baller
• butter knife

I also suggest a food scale for measuring, but cups and spoons will serve you well as long as you level precisely.

The one thing you likely don’t have is a 2-pack of silicone egg molds each with 8 1.5-oz/45-mL cavities. These are necessary to make the photographed “eggs”.

“I don’t want to buy those!”

I understand. Pour the “egg” white mixture into a 9×13-in/23×33-cm glass baking dish. Once set, finely dice and mix it with the “yolk” mixture for an “Egg” Salad base.

Techniques

To me, the ingredients and mold are more unusual than the techniques for vegan hard-boiled eggs. Blending, food processing, heating, gelling, etc. are all fairly common processes!

“The ‘egg’ white mixture is in the egg molds, and I still have bubbles!”

Quickly grab a spoon, then use the back of it to coax them out. I like to pull bubbles toward and up the side of a cavity, or concentrate them in the wide part of a cavity since that part of the “egg” white will be scooped-out anyway.

Whichever you do, work quickly! Agar is fast-acting.