If your recipe calls for egg wash and you have no egg left, you might be wondering what to use instead. Or perhaps you don’t want to use another egg, since you will end up with egg yolk and probably most of the egg white too.
There are many ingredients you can use to substitute egg white in your baking, which produce exactly the same or very similar result.
I’ve listed for you all my 21 egg wash substitutes that I’ve used over the years of baking bread, rolls and pastries and when I teach my bread baking courses. I’ve tried my best to list them in order of ingredients that you might have already at home to keep thing really simple and budget friendly.
Personally, I usually reach for the simplest way of replacing egg wash, which usually includes water, sugar or milk. Saying that, some of the egg wash replacements, such as custard powder do add extra flavour, so you might like to consider these as well.
What is egg wash?
Egg wash is basically just raw egg white (sometimes with a little bit of water).
Where do you use egg wash?
Egg wash is being used in traditional bread baking, sweet bread baking and also when baking pastries, cakes and sometimes other bakes.
Why use egg wash?
The main purpose of using egg wash is to moisten the top of the bread or rolls, so that the dough can carry on proving and rising in the oven. If you didn’t brush your bread or rolls, you might notice that the bread won’t rise as much or will crack as it’s trying to rise.
The first 10 minutes in the oven the bread dough (or any yeasted dough) is still working. After the 5-10 minutes the yeast abilities go with the temperature rising inside the bread and the bread stops rising. After that the crust develops. Moisteing the top of the bread helps with this process.
The other reason for using egg wash, is that it gives bread, pastries or rolls lovely shinny colour and also deepens the colour a bit.
How to use use egg wash or egg wash substitute?
Using pastry brush, brush very lightly the tops of your bread, rolls, pastries or cakes, just before you put them in the oven. Be careful not to add too much, so the egg wash or the egg wash substitute doesn’t start running too much down the sides of your bread.
Also don’t brush too hard as this might deflate your bread or rolls.
When do you use egg wash?
I usually brush my bread or rolls just before I place them into the oven to bake. Sometimes, if I forget or the egg wash (or the substitute) doesn’t look even, I also brush the bread very quickly when I take it from the oven.
Water
One of the easiest ways to replace egg wash for your bread, yeasted cakes or other bakes, is to use water.
The water will help to moisten the surface of the bake and prevent it from drying out too much. If used on it’s own, the water will evaporate eventually and leave no residue.
This means that you are not going to achieve a high gloss with water replacement for egg wash.
Water + flour
If you have a bit of flour left from making your bread or cake, just mix it with some water and you have a quick (and budget friendly) replacement for your egg wash.
To make life even easier, I usually just add some boiling (or hot) water to mixing bowl (that I’ve just used for making my bread or cake) and give it a bit of stir.
The flour and water will form a liquid (thickness will depend on how much flour you add in), which you can then brush on your bread or cake.
Milk
You can use any kind of milk to replace egg wash for your bakes. The highter in fat (animal fat) it is, the better shine you will have on your cake or bread. The sugar in the milk will also help to brown the top of the surface as the bread or cake bakes.
Cream
The next step up from a full fat milk is cream. Again you can use any kind of dairy cream (single or double or heavy cream) or non-dairy cream, such as plant based oats cream.
Powdered egg white + water
I often use powdered egg for making nougat or homemade marshmallows, so I always have some around.
The powdered egg white powder is usually sold in small 5 grams bags (look in the baking section of your supermarket) and when mixed with water it replaces one whole egg white.
Depending on how much egg wash you need, simply add a tablespoon of water to a pinch of powdered egg white, mix together and brush on your bread or cake.
The powdered egg white with water works in exactly the same way as regular egg white.
Butter
Melted butter is another good option for egg wash replacement. You are welcome to use dairy or plant based butter.
Dairy based butter withstands higher temperatures better, so it’s a good idea to use it for bread or bread rolls that are usually baked at highter temperatures (200-220 C or 380-420 F).
Plant based butter is great for cakes or yeasted cakes, which are usually baked at lower temperatures of 180C or 350F.
Dairy free milk or cream
Plaint based milks or creams also work great as an alternative for egg wash. You can use any type of plant based dairy, such as soya, almond, oat, hemp or pea.
Some milk alternatives, such as coconut milk, might be a little to strong in terms of flavour to use as a egg wash. This very much depends on what type of bread or pastries you are baking.
I normally don’t worry about bread (the coconut flavour won’t affect it), but if I was making for example almond pastries I would probably not use coconut milk for these (just use water or other alternatives from the list).
White or Greek Yoghurt
Plain white or Greek yoghurt are also a great alternatives for egg wash. I sometimes mix the yoghurt with a bit of water if I don’t have enough or if they look too thick to brush on my bread or pastries.
You can easily use the bits of yoghurt that are always stuck around the top of the yoghurt pots or in the lids. Mix them with a little bit of water and use it instead of egg wash.
Mayonaise
Since mayonnaise is mainly made from eggs, it’s the perfect substitute for egg wash for your savoury breads and bakes. Depending on what kind of mayonnaise you have (some versions include mustard or stronger flavours), the mayonnaise might be only suitable for savoury bakes.
Original mayonnaise is fine to use on any bakes. I usually dilute the mayonnaise with a bit of hot water, otherwise it can be too thick to brush on.
Vegetable or Sunflower oil
Any kind of heat resitant oil will work well as a replacement for egg whites wash. I usually use vegetable or sunflower oil, but rapeseed or rice oil will work fine.
All of these oils are fairly odourless and flavourless, which means that they won’t add any flavour to your bread or cakes.
Be careful about using olive oils or strongly flavoured oils (such as truffle or nut oils), which usually have a lower resistance to heat and will add too much flavour to your bread or cakes.
Only use the kind of flavour that works with your bake. For example, you can use basic olive oil for focaccia or pizza, which will work great – flavour wise.
Ground Flaxseed + water
If you follow vegan diet, you will probably already have ground flaxseed soaking in water to replace any egg in your cooking or baking. If you do, then just take a tablespoon out, thin it down a little with more water and brush on your bread, rolls or pastries.
Ground flaxseed is perfect for any seeded bread, like my Black Rye Bread Recipe or rolls as it will compliment the flavour nicely.
Sugar Syrup (honey, maple, golden syrup, agave) + water (optional)
Honey is a great substitute for egg wash, especially for sweet bread baking such as my Cinnamon Sweet Star Bread Recipe as the honey flavour compliments the cinnamon already in the bread.
If you don’t have honey (or want to keep the recipe vegan friendly), use maple or agave syrup. I sometimes also use carob or date syrup, but I realise that’s not something you might have readily in your kitchen cupboard.
Sugar + water
The next easy to make egg wash substitute is to mix some sugar with hot water and leave it to dissolve. Once the sugar has dissolved, brush it on your bread, rolls or pastries.
You can use any kind of sugar for this, including white, brown, golden, demerera, coconut or other types of sugars.
The bread, cake or pastry will go slightly browner as the sugar caramelises on the top, so choose your sugars based on the type of bake you are working on. For example white sugar will have lighter colour and flavour than demerera sugar and will go with any type of bake.
Molasses Sugar (or other darker syrups, such as dates or carob syrup)
If you want to achieve darker colour on your bread or rolls and you also want to add a tiny bit of caramelised flavour, make sure that next time you bake you use mollases or other dark sugar syrups.
Depending on how thick your sugar syrup is you might need to add a bit of hot water to dilute the mixture before brushing on. The sugar will caramelise as you bake your bread adding a wonderful colour, flavour and aroma to your bread.
Homemade sugar syrups (dark brown syrups etc.)
You can also use homemade syrups, such as my simple pear syrup recipe, which would be perfect for fruit tarts or pastries.
Chia seeds + water
If you are making a lot of chia seeds puddings, smoothies or healthy oatmeals, you might already have chia seeds soaking in milk or water in your fridge. Take a spoonful out, dilute it with a bit of water (if it appears thick) and brush on your bread, rolls or other savoury bakes.
The chia seeds will stay on, so use it on bakes that flavour wise would work together (any bread with seeds in or savoury type of bread will be great with this).
Custard powder + water
If you are baking sweet rolls, like my Fresh Plum Scones Recipe, then mixing a bit of custard powder (or angel’s delight) with warm water is a good idea to replace the egg wash.
Don’t make the mixture too thick, otherwise you might end up with a crusty layer on the top. I usually mix 1 teaspoon of custard powder with 2 teaspoons of water (or double that if you are making a bigger batch).
Cornflour or Potato flour + water
Similarly like custard powder, which is mainly starch and flavouring, using cornflower or homemade potato flour mixed with a bit of warm water is a great way to replace egg wash.
Chickpea water (aquafaba)
If you like making homemade humus or cook with chickpeas, you usually end up with the chickpea water, that’s not always being used.
You can keep it for few days in the fridge (in a suitable container with a lid) and use it up as instead of eggs for any baking you might be doing.
Jelly powder (or concentrated jelly) + water
If you are baking something sweet and with fruit, you can also use diluted jelly powder or concentrated jelly instead of egg wash.
The jelly adds a light fruity flavour, but because it’s not very stable in high temperatures, I normally wouldn’t use it for bread or rolls (but any recipe that bakes up to 180C or 350 F is fine).
Tapioca water
This is not something you might have readily at home, but the other day, when I was making my tapioca pudding, I’ve end up with a lot of tapioca water, that didn’t absorbe into the pudding. Tapioca water is basically water that you’ve used for soaking and boiling tapioca pearls.
Most of the times I discard it (or leave it to absorbe into the tapioca pearls), but you can use it effectively for brushing your bread, cakes or pastries before you bake them.
The tapioca water creates opague layer on top of your bread and it’s particularly nice on white bread or pastries.
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