Think about the consistency of raw eggs. It’s gooey, somewhere in between a liquid and a solid, or perhaps more accurately “a phlegm,” according to Guy Fieri (via Food & Wine). Flaxseed, when soaked in water, also produces a phlegm, turning into what Fieri referred to as a “flax glob” that closely resembles raw eggs.
Flaxseed is exactly what it sounds like — the seeds from a fibrous plant called flax, Jessica Gavin explains. Flaxseed tastes nutty yet mild, so it can go uneasily unnoticed as a vegan egg substitute, much unlike sweet alternatives like applesauce or mashed bananas.
To make a “flax glob,” Fieri uses a ratio of three parts water to one part flaxseed, per Food & Wine. But for best results, Simply Recipes recommends first grinding the flaxseed into a fine powder, also sold as flaxseed meal. One egg is equal to one tablespoon of ground flaxseed (or a half tablespoon of whole flaxseed) plus two and a half tablespoons of room temperature water, Simply Recipes states.
It takes at least seven minutes for flaxseed to thicken into an egg-like consistency, so be sure to wait or else the substitution won’t be as successful, per Simply Recipes.