Egg Allergy or Intolerance

When you’re diagnosed with an egg allergy or egg intolerance, it may feel as if you are suddenly very restricted. Breakfast is reduced to oatmeal or toast, and sandwiches have to go without mayo! But the real kicker is the baked goods. Don’t worry, after having to eat without eggs on and off for several years, here are the best suggestions for getting by without eggs.

Replacements for Eggs

If you have to avoid eggs, it affects mostly your breakfast choices, but it also becomes much more difficult to bake! Here is what you can replace an egg with in baked goods.

Flax “Egg”

1 Tablespoon ground flax seed
3 Tablespoons boiling water

Mix the flax with the water, and let sit for several minutes until the mixture is gelled.

Gelatin “Egg”

1 Tablespoon gelatin
1 Tablespoon cold water
2 Tablespoons boiling water

Put one tablespoon of cold water in a bowl, and sprinkle the gelatin on top. Let the gelatin bloom (absorb the water). Then add the boiling water, and stir vigorously to melt the gelatin and infuse air into the mixture.

Applesauce + Baking Soda

In heavier baked goods like a muffins or a cake, you can replace an egg with a cup of applesauce and a teaspoon of baking soda. They will react to help the cake rise slightly.

Banana

If you’re making pancakes, half of a mashed banana works perfectly to help the pancakes get fluffy!

Our Experience with an Egg Allergy

Baby Boy is allergic to eggs. It took about two weeks of green poop and rash break out to figure out what it was, but now we know. So I’ve been avoiding eggs like crazy.

At home it was easier, not easy, but easier. Basically my breakfast food options are down to bread and cheese a la bagel or toast, or cereal. This sucks because every good warm breakfast food has eggs, not to mention eggs themselves. I’ve also been avoiding cake and the likes.

Then we got to Houston, and I couldn’t resist, I had a cupcake. Of course by the next morning Baby Boy has a small rash, but I said “it’s ok, I won’t have anything else”.

But at our holiday dinner I was eating matza ball soup. After one ball is occurred to me that matza balls have eggs, so I left the other one. But idiot number 1 here had challah. Then the next day, I had some more until the light bulb went off in my head. Hello, stupid. So Baby Boy has a major rash, and mommy has major guilt.

Fast Forward

By the time Baby Boy was a year old, I could have eggs again with no major reaction on his part.

At three years old, our pediatrician suggested we could feed him small amounts of egg, and very slowly increase the amount of egg white.

By four years old he could eat a whole egg and essentially didn’t have an allergy anymore, and just a slight sensitivity if we over did it.

In the meantime, we have changed our family diet, and now are mostly on the GAPS diet. The GAPS diet is what we are using to heal various food allergies, including this lingering egg sensitivity. It is a slow process but actually speak to the root cause.

A Few Egg Free Recipes

You can make almost any baked good with the egg replacements I wrote above. Nowadays there are so many great options, that google is your friend. In the meantime, here are a few recipes I’ve made that have made it to the blog!