Silken Tofu Is The Simple Swap You Need For Egg-Free Pumpkin Pie

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, it's time to start thinking about what many consider the most important part: dessert. The most popular Thanksgiving dessert out there is easily pumpkin pie — which, being a hearty, seasonal, delicious dish, is certainly a fantastic choice — but a classic pumpkin pie recipe does exclude a certain group of people: vegan dessert lovers. This is because a traditional recipe for the pie calls for eggs. However, vegans don't actually need to worry because there's an easy solution — silken tofu.

Yep, silken tofu can be used to replace eggs in just about any recipe, and, thanks to the magic of tofu, you won't even notice the difference. When it comes time to make the substitution, all you have to do is replace every egg used with ¼ cup of silken tofu, then purée the tofu in a blender or food processor. So, if a recipe calls for 2 eggs, then you'll use ½ cup of silken tofu, and so on. And voila! Vegans are free to enjoy pumpkin pie.

After replacing the eggs with silken tofu, you may not be in the clear for a fully vegan pie since many pumpkin pie recipes call for sweetened condensed milk in addition to eggs. Luckily, there is an easy solution for this, too. A great replacement for sweetened condensed milk is full-fat coconut milk, which will give you the creaminess that the condensed milk provides. 

However, since coconut milk doesn't come sweetened, you'll have to do that part yourself by adding a sweetener to the coconut milk. For 1 can of coconut milk, add in ⅓ cup of your preferred sweetener, such as sugar or maple syrup. To prepare this replacement, you'll need to put the coconut milk and sweetener in a saucepan and bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and let it simmer for around 45 minutes, whisking about every five minutes. 

After the 45 minutes are up, remove the mixture from the heat and transfer it to another container to cool. Once it's cooled, you have your sweetened condensed milk replacement. Or, if you'd rather just follow a vegan recipe and aren't married to the idea of pie for dessert, you can check out Tasting Table's delicious, seasonal recipe for vegan pumpkin pie bars and call it a day.