Vegan Egg Salad

If you are looking for a great, quick, and fulfilling vegan lunch or snack idea, you need to try this vegan egg salad. Made with tofu, vegan mayo, and herbs, it’s great on a sandwich or on its own.

You’ll be amazed at how scrumptious and delicious this is. It’s become one of our favorite recipes with tofu.

Check out our best tofu recipe collection!

What to expect

Ingredients and substitutions

• Tofu: tofu is going to replace the texture of eggs in this vegan egg salad. We use firm tofu. Medium-firm tofu is good too, and if you like a little bite then you can even go for extra firm tofu. I would not use silken tofu for this recipe. It’s a little too soft and pudding-like for my taste.
  
• Vegan mayo: this is used to replace regular mayo. You can use store-bought or homemade vegan mayonnaise. We have a really simple and tasty vegan mayo recipe that you can make in literally 1 minute. Check it out.
  
• Mustard: you can use yellow mustard or dijon mustard. It adds a tangy, almost eggy taste.
  
• Celery: great for crunch and a little freshness.
  
• Fresh dill and fresh chives: oh my, those two herbs are so delicious in egg salad. I’d recommend using both if you can find them. We just bought two small plants and planted them on our balcony so we have them always handy. We have not tried this recipe with dried herbs, if you do please let us know in the comments below. If you can’t find fresh dill or fresh chives, then I’d use fresh parsley instead.
  
• Garlic: it adds slightly tangy notes to the dish. Finely grated is best. Also, remember to cut it open lengthwise and remove the core with the tip of a knife before grating it. It’s more digestible this way. If you don’t have fresh garlic, then your best bet is garlic powder or onion powder.
  
• Vinegar: we use apple cider vinegar. You can also use white wine vinegar. Some use lemon juice, but I actually think that vinegar is better here. It adds acidity, which is a flavor booster, opening up your taste buds to fully appreciate the other ingredients.
  
• Turmeric powder: we add this to give the tofu egg salad a light yellow color and make it look more appealing. You won’t really taste the turmeric powder, but you’ll get all the incredible health benefits as it’s packed with antioxidants.
  
• Salt and pepper: to add taste, the pepper is best if freshly ground. In this recipe black pepper is added for flavor, but also for increasing the bioavailability of the antioxidants in turmeric, making this dish rich in antioxidants.

• Black Salt (Kala Namak): this is the secret ingredient, which is not so secret if you are already into plant-based eating. It’s optional, and the salad will still taste delicious without it, but if you like an eggy taste we strongly recommend it.
  
  Kala Namak, sold as Black Salt in most western supermarkets, is an Indian/Himalayan rock salt with a purple-blackish color, and it tastes like eggs thanks to its sulfur content. So it’s a miraculous ingredient if you are cooking egg-free recipes that require that eggy taste.
  
  Black salt has a pungent smell when you cook with it, but don’t worry, its taste is mild and subtle.
  
  I cannot recommend it enough. You can find it in most Asian grocery stores, and of course online. If you buy a package it’ll last you a long time. We buy ours once every two years or so. Keep it in an airtight container (like a mason jar) to preserve its taste.

Tips

• Black salt: as I have already mentioned, black salt (Kala Namak) is what makes this salad really taste like a real egg salad. I put this ingredient as optional because not everyone has this in their kitchen and because this tofu egg salad still tastes really good without it, and some people might actually prefer it without that eggy taste. If you love an eggy egg salad get yourself some black salt and you won’t regret it.
  
• A little Kala Namak at a time: black salt has a pungent smell and can be overpowering if you add too much of it, especially if you just bought it. So add a tiny bit at a time and add more if you need to.

Serving suggestions

We are big fans of tofu in our family! It’s a wonderful protein for an easy dinner, and fun to use in vegan appetizers. It’s a delightful starter on a slice of bread, or cracker, on top of sliced cucumber, and with chopped green onions on top. You can also:

• Serve as a salad: by making this easy tomato-cucumber salad, just add a couple of servings of vegan egg salad on top.
• Serve as a healthy lunch in a wrap: for example, this Italian flatbread is perfect for wrapping the egg salad. It’s even meal-prep friendly and brilliant as a lunch box recipe.

Get Ahead

This recipe is perfect to make ahead as it keeps in the fridge for up to 3 days, so you can make a batch and use it for sandwiches, wraps, and so on.

The one tip I’d give you if you make this with the intention of keeping it for a few days is to press the tofu a little longer to remove more of its moisture. As the salad sits in the refrigerator, it can get a little water if the tofu has a lot of water in it.

Questions

Variations

Curry Tofu Egg Salad: this one is our favorite variation of a tofu egg salad. All you need to do is to add 1/2 teaspoon of curry powder (add 1 tsp if you really like curry) to the dressing and you’ve got a delicious oriental-tasting vegan egg salad with curry.

Vegan Egg Salad with Chickpeas: to make a vegan chickpea egg salad you can replace tofu with canned chickpeas. All you have to do is to drain and rinse a can of chickpeas. Then put them in a bowl and mash them with a fork till you have kind of a chickpea mash. Not too fine. Now mix in the vegan salad dressing, stir, and you are done.

Tofu Egg Salad No-Mayo: there are two ways to make a vegan egg salad without mayonnaise. One is to use a dairy-free yogurt. This method is also low fat. The other is to use ripe mashed avocado. If you use avocado, I would not add Kala Namak and Mustard to the dressing. Both ways are very healthy, nutritious, and creamy.

Storage

Store this tofu egg salad in a bowl in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, ideally covered with a lid or with a plate. Do not freeze, as this changes the texture of the tofu.

For many more tofu ideas, check out our tofu category page.