Protein-packed porridge or oatmeal is a great eggless breakfast choice. Photo via Unsplash/Susan Wilkinson

Food

Eggs Too Pricey? Six Ideas for Protein-Packed Eggless Meals

Sargent College’s Joan Salge Blake shares affordable, healthy ideas to avoid spiking egg prices

Breakfast has long been touted as the most important meal of the day. But what happens when the price of one of its most important staple ingredients—eggs—soars? 

That’s the dilemma facing many Americans. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly consumer price index, the average price tag on a dozen eggs was a record high of $4.95 in January, almost double the $2.52 in January 2024. And last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released a report predicting egg prices will increase a staggering 41.1 percent this year. The high prices are largely due to bird flu outbreaks, triggering the largest spike in egg costs in the United States in nearly a decade, and as a result, some Massachusetts stores have even set limits on how many cartons of eggs customers can buy. 

Joan Salge Blake (Sargent’84, Wheelock’16), a Sargent College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences clinical professor of nutrition and health sciences, runs the nutrition podcast Spot On! and has expert insights on eating right. She says eggs are a wonderful—and historically affordable—option because they’re a good source of protein, are low in saturated fat, and are a great way to get in the essential nutrient choline.

“The beauty of it is you can eat eggs all day long,” Salge Blake says. “You can eat them for breakfast, you can eat them for lunch, you can eat them as a snack, and you can eat them for dinner.” 

She understands this new need for eggless alternatives, however. She provides six tips for navigating the arm-egg-eddon without skipping on protein and nutrients.

Deviled Eggless Salad

This delicious recipe comes straight out of Salge Blake’s first book, Eat Right the E.A.S.Y. Way! Featuring the Eating As Sensibly As You Can Plan. An eggless twist on the classic deviled egg, you can eat this over toast for breakfast, for a snack, or for lunch, she says. Here’s how to make it: 

In a blender or food processor, combine all the ingredients except the scallions until smooth and creamy. Put the mixture into a storage container, then mix in the scallions. Cover and refrigerate the salad for at least three hours so the flavors combine. The recipe makes two cups, or four ½ cup servings. 

Tofu “egg” cups 

If you’re looking for soy-based recipes to spice up your breakfast rotation, Salge Blake recommends the website Soy Connection. In particular, she points to their tofu “egg” cup recipe: 

Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, then grease or line a muffin pan. Combine the chickpea flour, nutritional yeast, tofu, soy milk, chili powder, baking powder, garlic powder, black pepper, and salt in a high-speed blender. Blend until smooth, then fold in the onion, bell pepper, and kale. You can also add in cheese if you wish. Once the batter is evenly combined, pour it into the muffin tins, then bake in the middle rack of the oven for 35 to 40 minutes. You’ll know the cups are ready when they’re puffy and slightly golden. Once they’re done, take them out of the oven and let them sit in the baking tray for 5 to 7 minutes. Then transfer them to a cooling rack.

Protein-packed porridge

Craving something sweet to start your day? Salge Blake says oatmeal is a wonderful source of fiber and can easily be jazzed up to create a high-protein breakfast. She recommends cooking your oatmeal with cinnamon or cocoa powder to enhance the taste, then topping it with vanilla Greek yogurt. You can also add chopped nuts. 

“That is a phenomenally well-balanced breakfast, in that you’re going to have dairy and healthy oils and you’re going to have high fiber,” she says, adding that yogurt and nuts add to the protein in oats. 

Alternatively, you can also mix the cocoa powder in the vanilla yogurt for even more flavor. And the good news about cocoa is that it’s also high in flavanols. “That’s an antioxidant that’s good for your heart,” Salge Blake says.

Soy smoothie 

Protein powders are a popular addition to smoothies, but they can often be expensive and filled with additives. Luckily, Salge Blake says, there are other affordable, protein-packed foods to choose from at the grocery store. When it comes to making smoothies, she recommends adding silken tofu. Made in a different way than regular tofu, this product has a smooth, pudding-like texture that’s perfect for blending. It’s also got a neutral, creamy flavor that enhances the smoothie’s overall taste. You can adjust the quantity of silken tofu to your preference, but this recipe recommends adding half a block (around six ounces) for every two small smoothie servings. 

To boost your smoothie’s protein content even more, add nut butter—peanut butter is generally the cheapest—or yogurt to the mix. Once you’ve combined it with your choice of fruit and milk, you’ve got a delicious and sweet breakfast that will keep you satisfied until lunchtime. 

Eggless desserts 

To keep your wallet happy as you go grocery shopping, Salge Blake recommends conserving the eggs that you buy. 

“When you buy eggs, eat them like a meal and enjoy them,” she says. “You don’t need to bake with them.” 

So, what if you want to make muffins, cake, banana bread, or any other dessert that calls for eggs? The answer might be surprising: use a can of beans. That’s right, aquafaba, or the water from a can of beans—usually chickpeas—can provide the structure and lift eggs usually supply in desserts, Salge Blake says. 

She recommends straining a can of chickpeas, then conserving the liquid. Place the liquid in a stand mixer and add in a little cream of tartar. A good rule of thumb is ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar per four ounces of aquafaba. Then whip the mixture until it reaches peaks, which should take around four minutes. Three tablespoons is equivalent to one egg. 

The best part is that the actual beans can be used in soups and stews or mixed with rice for another protein-packed yet affordable meal, she says.

Discounted eggs 

Even after trying plant-based alternatives like peanut butter or cottage cheese on toast, some egg lovers might still crave the unbeatable taste of eggs benedict or a soft-boiled egg in ramen. In this case, Salge Blake says it’s important to make the most of grocery store deals and to not shy away from discounted eggs. 

“People get scared about using marked-down food,” she says. “But really, this is where the dates on the label are confusing to consumers.” 

The “Sell by” date on a discounted carton of eggs isn’t when the product will expire, it’s just the deadline before the store has to sell it. So if you buy marked-down eggs just before the sell-by date, as long as you refrigerate it soon after, the produce should be safe for the next three to five weeks. 

Finally, remember to keep your eye on grocery store flyers to see if they put eggs on sale as loss leaders. Loss leaders are food sold for significantly discounted prices—the store might not even make a profit from their sale—with the assumption that shoppers attracted by the low prices will inevitably buy other, more expensive, items at the store while they’re there. 

However you choose to navigate soaring egg prices, Salge Blake says, it’s important to continue prioritizing breakfast. “When you skip breakfast, what happens is you typically have lost an opportunity to get fiber, dairy foods—like milk, it’s rich in calcium and vitamin D—and fruits into your day,” she says.

Listen to Professor Joan Salge Blake’s podcast Spot On! here.