Skip the drive-thru queue and make these vegan breakfast muffins at home
Sausage-style smoked tofu, chickpea fried ‘eggs’, and melty vegan cheese served on toasted English muffins make these vegan breakfast sandwiches a real treat
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With seasoned smoked tofu, an uncannily circular chickpea ‘egg’, and sliced vegan cheese stacked on a toasted English muffin this sandwich is reminiscent of a popular drive-thru breakfast favourite.
Much tastier than its fast food counterpart, this muffin is also more nutritious and much kinder to animals.
In fact, these vegan breakfast muffins are so good, it’d be an insult to scoff them down in your car on the way to a meeting.
Instead, serve these muffins for a special occasion. For Mother’s Day breakfast in bed, a celebratory brunch with friends, or a birthday brekkie treat.
Or just treat yourself on any day of the week. You deserve it.
How to make vegan egg
There are plenty of ways to replicate eggs when making vegan food, emulating the texture, flavour, and structural property of eggs in recipes.
For these vegan breakfast muffins, we use chickpea flour to create a ‘chickpea pancake’, which is more dense and less cakey than a wheat flour pancake – similar in texture to an egg omelette.
Kala namak completes the dish by adding an authentic eggy taste to the omelette.
However, this recipe is just as delicious seasoned with regular sea salt instead. It just won’t taste exactly like ‘real’ egg, which may be preferable for those who didn’t like the taste of chicken eggs in the first place!
This vegan egg substitute is cooked in a ring mould with turmeric to create the illusion of a yolk, making it look a little like a fried egg you might find in a fast food restaurant.
If you don’t have a ring mould, the vegan eggs could be cooked in a muffin pan or in small tart cases in the oven. Bake at 180°C (Gas Mark 4, 350°F) for 15-20 minutes until the ‘egg’ is risen and golden brown.
Alternatively, one larger ‘omelette’ can be made in a pan and cut into quarters to serve. It just won’t fit as neatly on your muffin.
Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Calories: 515
Servings: 4
Rating:
Nutritional information per serving:
Serving size
250g
calories
515
fat
19.6g
saturates
3.9g
carbs
63.6g
sugars
11.3g
fibre
6.3g
protein
22.4g
salt
3.4g
Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Calories: 515
Servings: 4
Ingredients
Method
Ingredients
(Servings: 4)
- For the tofu
- 56.25 56.25 g smoked, ready pressed tofu, drained and patted dry
- 0.25 0.25 Tbsp olive oil
- 0.25 0.25 Tbsp soy sauce
- 0.25 0.25 tsp liquid smoke
- 0.25 0.25 Tbsp maple syrup
- 0.25 0.25 tsp hot paprika
- 0.25 0.25 tsp garlic powder
- 0.25 0.25 tsp onion powder
- Sea salt and black pepper, to taste
- For the 'egg'
- 32 32 g gram (chickpea) flour
- 20 20 ml unsweetened soya milk
- 0.25 0.25 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 0.25 0.25 tsp cider vinegar
- 0.25 0.25 tsp kala namak (or regular sea salt)
- 0.25 0.25 tsp turmeric
- Black pepper, to taste
- Stainless steel egg cooking rings
- 0.5 0.5 Tbsp olive oil
- For the muffins
- 1 1 English muffins, split and lightly toasted
- 1 1 slices meltable vegan cheese
- 2 2 slices tomatoes
- your favourite sauces
Method
- In a bowl, mix together all the ‘egg’ ingredients, except for the turmeric, until you have a smooth bubbly batter. Transfer 4 tbsp of this mixture to a different bowl and mix in the turmeric to colour it yellow.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (Gas Mark 4, 350°F). Cut the tofu into 4 equal ‘steaks’ and set aside. Mix all the other ingredients for the tofu together in a shallow dish. Add the tofu to the marinade and coat on all sides. Set aside for 30 minutes to absorb the marinade. This step can also be completed the night before, and refrigerated until ready to use.
- Place the tofu and any remaining marinade in a baking dish and transfer to the oven. Bake for 20 minutes or until glazed and golden at the edges.
- To make the ‘egg’, heat a frying pan over a medium heat and add the oil. Place the cooking rings into the pan, brush the inside surface with a little oil and carefully pour some batter inside each ring to come about 2cm up the sides of the ring. Turn the heat down to low and add a tbsp of the turmeric mixture into the centre of each ring to make the ‘yolk’. Put a lid on the pan and leave to cook gently while you toast the muffins.
- To assemble the muffins, add a piece of tofu to each muffin half and top with a slice of cheese. Add the ‘egg’ on top of the cheese along with some tomato slices and your favourite sauce. Enjoy your vegan breakfast muffins whilst still hot.
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