You Don’t Have to Put an Egg On It in Portland (2025)

“I wouldn’t feel comfortable cracking eggs open for my family right now,” says Matt de Gruyter, founder of the plant-based Next Level Burger, echoing a sentiment many feel as yet another puzzling zoonotic disease looms. It’s a concerning time for animal products. Harvard Belfer Center and chief biopreparedness officer at NYC Health + Hospitals Syra Madad told Food Network getting bird flu from eating eggs “remains low.” Still, the first H5N1 bird flu human death was recorded in January 2025, domestic cats are contracting the disease (including one who died from it in Oregon), and a new strain was found in dairy cattle this month.

And yet the cost of eggs is still astronomical. Amidst all this, folks are also contending with the availability of a familiar staple. Egg prices hit a record high in January, and with no end in sight as hundreds of millions of birds are culled to slow the spread of the flu, restaurants are scrambling to adapt. Some have removed menu items. Others are adding an “egg tax.”

Luckily, Portland is full of restaurants that have long been egg-free. Not only does this mean there will always be breakfasts available sans surcharge, but it also means Portland chefs are able (and super willing!) to share tips for eggless protein-rich breakfasts and fluffy baked goods.

Eggless Breakfast

Chubby Bunny

For those searching for an eggy breakfast without the egg, Portland chefs recommend replacing the protein with tofu, pepitas, or mung beans. Pepitas make a delicious scramble, mung beans make great omelets — or moonglets — and tofu works well in scrambles and breakfast sandwiches.

“When people say they don’t like tofu, I challenge them to try really fresh tofu,” says Justin Miller of Rad Magic Subs, who uses Ota Tofu for the deli’s new “egg” patty breakfast sandwich.

In Portland, there are two must-try fresh tofu options: Ota and Bui’s Natural Tofu. At Bui, a container of fresh tofu is $2.70 and at Ota, a 16-ounce block is $3. Ryan Koger of Northeast’s Feral is a big fan of Ota, too. “There’s such a tender texture,” he says. “So as a scramble or fried egg substitute — it’s just so good.”

To truly mimic eggs, “the secret is black salt,” say Carlos Reynoso and Polo Bañuelos of Mexican favorite Mis Tacones. Since eggs contain sulfur compounds, chefs unanimously recommend adding black salt, aka kala namak, a volcanic salt long used in Ayurvedic medicine and Indian cooking, to achieve that familiar tang. “A little goes a long way,” warns Tyler Sirna of vegan fast food spot Chubby Bunny.

And while it is common to season vegan scrambles with garlic or onion powder, Koger recommends trying a pinch of asafoetida, another sulfur-rich spice, often used as an allium substitute. To achieve the golden color associated with healthy yolks (and which is often supplemented for in the egg industry) the chefs recommend adding turmeric. “These foods have been around for thousands of years. Go to your local tofu shop, go to your local Indian grocery store,” says Koger.

Coopers

For another eggless patty, Sirna recommends Just Egg — a thick substitute of mostly mung bean and oils — poured into a muffin tin, baking it, and topping with a pinch of kala namak. Although Just Egg makes ready-made patties, he prefers this method to recreate that chewy texture.

When using Just Egg in a scramble, Alex Felsinger of Mirisata and Cooper’s recommends using a well-seasoned cast iron. If using a nonstick pan, Felsinger says to avoid the textured ones.

For breakfast staples like pancakes, waffles, and muffins, “you don’t even necessarily need an egg substitute,” says Marisa Kroes, a classically trained pastry chef who opened Orange & Blossom patisserie in 2023 to great acclaim. “Sometimes you just need a bit more liquid, a little more fat, or a touch more leavener.”

At home, Kroes suggests keeping flax and chia on hand. When ground and mixed with water, flax or chia create a smart egg replacement. Kroes is also a fan of local company Bob’s Red Mill and its Egg Replacer, which uses psyllium husk for binding and baking soda for leavening. At the patisserie, she’s learned she can simply add it to the dry ingredients and add the suggested water to the wet ingredients, no mixing required beforehand.

Fortunately, there’s no one-and-done egg substitute and diverse substitutes abound. Aquafaba, the liquid normally discarded from a can of chickpeas, can be made into a meringue topping for a pie, icing for cakes, or marshmallows for hot chocolate. For it to be at its most stable and shiniest for desserts like macarons, Kroes reduces it by half. “We assume that recipes rely on eggs, but we can get creative with less exploitative and more affordable options,” says Kroes. “It’s a myth that eggs have to be a staple in baking or dessert.”

Eggless lunch

Aquafaba can also be used to make egg-based sauces like hollandaise and mayonnaise. At upscale pasta and charcuterie spot Unwind, Riley Shepard uses it in his sabayon. Touting “the beauty of aquafaba mixed with a little xantham gum,” Shepard says the mixture creates the proper structure and binding, plus the eggless sabayon will hold its shape up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. For mayo, Koger suggests blending aquafaba with a few chickpeas so “it’s more like a whole-egg mayonnaise.”

Rad Magic Subs

But you don’t need a can of chickpeas or an egg yolk to make an emulsification. Mustard is a classic emulsifier, as is soy milk, and garlic has long been used to turn oil into sauces like allioli and toum. Alternatively, many of these chefs recommend a good ol’ jar of Vegenaise. While some chefs praise Hellman’s or Duke’s, vegan chefs have a soft spot for the heart-healthy Follow Your Heart brand.

For egg salad sandwiches, Rad Magic Subs switches out the hard-boiled eggs with both the firm and the age “fried” tofu from Ota. Many of the people who order the sandwich at Rad Magic, according to Miller, are folks who have a lot of nostalgia for egg salad but are avoiding cholesterol. Since cholesterol is only found in animal products, this version is, of course, cholesterol-free (and superb).

Eggless dinners

Feral Supper Club

To make fresh pasta, eggs are unnecessary. Italians have long made noodles with just water, flour, and salt. That’s how Lilla chef-owner Pasquale Liotti — who grew up in Southern Italy — makes the restaurant’s pasta. Abby Garland, Lilla’s front-of-house manager, says Liotti uses an “almost scientific approach” to create vegan facsimiles of Italian favorites. Like Kroes and others, Liotti doesn’t rely on a single egg substitute. For carbonara, Liotta adds psyllium husk to make the dish’s silky sauce. For a thicker batter for dishes such as chicken Parmigiana, he adds chickpea flour.

To create another Italian American classic, spaghetti and meatballs, Miller of Rad Magic Subs says an egg replacer à la Bob’s Red Mill makes meatballs “nice and fluffy.” For color, the chefs at Feral sometimes add a bit of reduced carrot juice, and for cavatelli, they use a little sourdough starter. At Unwind, Shephard has found that using a 20 percent ratio of cold-pressed olive oil to the usual weight of an egg works best.

Caesar salad, the Italian Mexican classic, is likewise easily whipped up without egg. Portland chefs often rely on soaked cashews or tahini to achieve that classic creaminess. At upscale dive bar the Uncanny, you can order a crisp Caesar — the base is the OG staple, Vegenaise — while enjoying an egg-free, “egg white” cocktail.

Eggless Cocktails

To froth cocktails, bartenders at the Uncanny — one of the best bars in America according to Esquire — make Super Foam from methylcellulose, a common emulsifier derived from plant cellulose. Jathina Campos and Marguerite Sharpe, two of these talented bartenders, say making the foam is a bit time-consuming, but worth it since it doesn’t leave raw egg on their hands during service and ensures diners don’t have an egg-scented cocktail experience. Fee Foam is another popular, easy option. Plus, “Angostura and pineapple naturally provide a bit of foam on their own,” adds Sharpe. The Uncanny also has a draft cocktail on nitro. These alternatives, alone or in tandem, all create a luscious mouthfeel without the raw egg.

Eggless Future?

Staring at empty shelves and news reports can be overwhelming; these vegan chefs hope these alternatives can bring a bit of respite. And they also want to remind people that full or empty shelves mean full or empty cages. Large-scale agriculture, especially animal agriculture, is not built to last. “Vegans have been doing these things for years out of knowledge that [animal products] are unsustainable and their unsustainability is catching up to us,” says Koger. “It’s not going to be possible to continue eating eggs or animals at this rate.” In the United States, millions of female chickens are forced to lay over 100 billion eggs each year. “There’s nothing natural about the egg industry,” laments Kroes.