Start your day off right with this Vegan Eggs Benedict with avocado – made to perfection with seasoned tofu and homemade vegan hollandaise sauce.
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links.
Who loves to brunch?!
I do! I do. One of my favorite ways to start off a weekend day is with a nice big vegan brunch.
When I first moved to this city, over a decade ago, I discovered the amazingness of vegan brunch. Before coming to Portland, my options were limited. If I was lucky, I may be able to find a place with a breakfast burrito minus the egg. Then, just as I was about to despair, I found myself in the vegan mecca of the world. It is here that I learned about all the amazing vegan brunch foods that I never knew were possible.
One of my favorite brunch foods has been the tofu benedict. I am a fan of savory through and through and I love the combination of fresh vegetables, eggy tofu, and sweet and creamy hollandaise sauce.
This is vegan comfort food at its finest.
Recommended Ingredients & Equipment
Ingredients & Substitutions
- English Muffins
- Tomato – Use a steak tomato or large Roma tomato.
- Extra Firm Tofu – Look for high-protein extra-firm tofu. This particular tofu does not need to be pressed. If you can only find water-packed tofu, make sure to thoroughly press out the water with a tofu press. Softer tofu will crumble and not give you the same chewy texture.
- Oil – Use a high heat oil. I recommend avocado or coconut.
- Nutritional Yeast
- Salt and Pepper
- Mixed Greens – You can use mixed salad greens, spinach, or arugula.
- Avocado
- Vegan Hollandaise Sauce – This recipe is a mixture of vegan butter (look for a high-quality butter like Earth Balance), all-purpose flour, non-dairy milk (I recommend soy) nutritional yeast, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper.
Recommended Equipment
For this recipe, you will need a saucepot, a sauté pan, baking sheets, and basic kitchen utensils including a chef’s knife and cutting board. (<<affiliate links)
Check out the full list of my recommended kitchen tools and gadgets.
How to Make Vegan Eggs Benedict
When it comes to veganizing eggs benedict, there are two things we must recreate: vegan egg and vegan hollandaise sauce. Let’s first take a look at the hollandaise sauce.
Step One – Make the Hollandaise Sauce
Traditional hollandaise sauce is made with butter, eggs, lemon, and salt and is considered one of the 5 basic sauces in French cuisine. To make vegan hollandaise sauce, we need to sub out the butter and eggs. For the butter, I used Earth Balance buttery sticks. Easy peasy.
It took a little more trial and error to replace the eggs. Eventually, I discovered that by making a paste with flour and butter, I was able to form a roux. From there, I added non-dairy milk to create a thick, rich, and golden sauce. Once the sauce had the perfect creamy texture, I removed it from heat and flavored it with lemon juice and nutritional yeast.
This silky smooth, incredibly rich vegan hollandaise sauce is incredible!
Step Two – Make the Tofu “Eggs”
The second step in vegan eggs benedict is making vegan eggs. Traditionally eggs benedict are made with poached eggs. To replicate the texture, I used pan-fried firm tofu. Medium tofu works as well but avoid extra-firm tofu as the texture is too tough.
This tofu is lightly crispy on the outside, and melt-in-your-mouth soft on the inside. It is flavored with salt, pepper, and nutritional yeast for a delicious egg replacer. While it won’t fool anyone into thinking they are eating eggs, it is a delicious tofu alternative that everyone loves!
Step Three – Assemble and Serve
To assemble these tofu benedicts, start with a toasted English muffin. Top with mixed greens and a thick tomato slice. Add sautéed tofu, hollandaise sauce, and avocado. To be extra decadent, add some vegan bacon to your vegan benedict.
Serving and Storing
Serving – Once assembled, these tofu benedicts should be eaten immediately. Serve tofu benedict as part of your brunch with fruit, potatoes, and a Bloody Mary.
Storing – Leftover hollandaise sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. When ready to use, gently reheat it over the stove or in the microwave.
More Vegan Brunch Recipes
- Vegan French Toast
- Lemon Blueberry Scones
- “Huevos” Rancheros
- Vegan Biscuits and Gravy
- Shiitake and Caramelized Onion Quiche
Vegan Eggs Benedict
Ingredients
Tofu Benedict
- 2 English Muffins
- 1 large tomato, cut into slices
- 8 oz firm tofu
- 2 tablespoon avocado oil
- salt and pepper
- 1-2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
- a small handful of mixed greens
- 1 small avocado
- hollandaise sauce, recipe follows
Vegan Hollandaise Sauce
- 2 tablespoon vegan butter, I use Earth Balance
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice, to taste
- salt and pepper
- pinch of cayenne
Instructions
- To make the Hollandaise Sauce, place vegan butter in a small saucepan and bring to boil. Add flour and whisk until it forms a paste. Slowly add milk, whisking continuously until well combined. Bring sauce to a boil, whisking frequently, until sauce begins to thicken (about 1-2 minutes). Remove from heat and add nutritional yeast, lemon juice, and seasoning. Stir together. Set aside.
- Next, make the tofu. In a cast-iron skillet, heat avocado oil over medium heat. Slice tofu 1/2 inch thick and sprinkle each side with nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper. Place tofu in a pan with hot oil and pan-fry on each side for about 4-5 minutes, until browned. Remove from heat.
- Slice the English muffin in half and toast. Top each muffin with a small amount of mixed greens and one tomato slice each. Place pan-fried tofu atop each tomato and smother with Hollandaise Sauce. Finish with sliced avocado and serve immediately.
Hi, I’m Sarah. I’m a 14-year (and counting) vegan, professionally trained photographer, former pastry chef, founder of My Darling Vegan, and author of the
Beth says
I’ve been making tofu eggs for some time now, but I sprinkle mine with kala namak, Indian black salt, to mimic the slightly sulphury flavor of an egg. The hollandaise sauce sounds great, will be trying it out this morning!
deb says
Haven’t made this yet, but i just discovered tofu scrambled ‘eggs’..in those i added a tiny dash (to taste) of Black Salt to give it that eggy smell…can’t wait to try the Hollandaise sauce! thanks
Kjersten says
This looks good and I’m excited to try it but I have a quick question – did you press the tofu first or just drain, slice and pan fry?
Sarah says
I just drained it, although depending on the type of tofu pressing it first might be a good idea.
Jill says
Just made this today with some sauteed chard instead of the lettuce and tomato. It was so delicious! Pretty messy sandwich (we just used regular bread since we didn’t have english muffins), but really tasty! Thanks for the recipe! I thought the tofu might not be so tasty with the simple preparation, but with all the flavors mixed together, it was perfect!
Steph says
Recipe looks awesome but I’m not a vegan…can I substitute nutritional yeast for something? Is it supposed to be like cheese?
Cassie says
Awesome recipe! I love tofu 😀
Katie says
I just tried this recipe for the first time and it was fantastic! I added some veggie sausage patties as well 🙂
Sarah says
Thanks! The veggie sausage addition sounds amazing!
Cheryl says
I made this for brunch today…delicious! and pretty quick/easy to make. Even the omnivore over here ejoyed it! this recipe is a keeper!
Jen says
I’m a pretty new vegan (6 months now) and one of my favourite breakfasts (to indulge) was eggs benedict. I’m so happy I stumbled across this!! I made it this morning. So yummy!! I look forward to trying more of your recipes!
Sarah says
Congrats on your vegan transition! And I’m so glad you found me.
Lexie says
I agree! As a new vegan (nearly two months now) this recipe is very much appreciated! I just finished eating this delicious alternative to my favourite breakfast meal! The tofu is so much more delicious than eggs could ever claim to be. (Could be because I breaded mine. Haha, I didn’t say it was the healthiest.) I’ll be frequenting your blog whenever I get cravings!
Sarah says
Welcome to veganism! It’s awesome! I’m glad you found me. If you ever have any questions, please email me. Also, I’m going to have to try that breaded tofu next time I make this!
Kitchen'r Jon says
Yup, here it is, along with some black bean mushroom burgers: http://wp.me/p3e3tX-dO
And as I see it, when it comes to making bread, we all choose the more lengthy things that we want to do ourselves, in my case it is bread, but it’s hard to do everything from scratch!
Sarah says
Awesome! I hope I can try this soon.
Kitchen'r Jon says
Sounds delicious. Seems very summery! This will totally be an option for us as soon as I get some more English muffins made. Which by the way, I realize it’s bit of extra work, but homemade English muffins are incredible, once you make them it’s hard to go back to non-homemade… at least that’s been my experience.
Also, would just some crummy vegetable shortening work in place of the vegan butter? Not a real good option, but could work similarly.
Sarah says
Do you share your english muffin recipe on your blog? I would love to see it. I’m not often patient enough to make my own bread, but every once in awhile I get in the mood.
Katie @ Produce on Parade says
How scrumptious looking! I was never a big egg fan, but my husband was…so I am sure he’d love this! I’ve always preferred tofu over eggs so I’m sure to enjoy it too! Thanks for sharing such a clever recipe 🙂
Sarah says
I hope you and your husband enjoy it, Katie!
Diana says
Thank you so much for the link to the other recipe. I will give that a try.
Diana says
I am so glad you are back with more wonderful recipes!!! This one looks so good. Can the vegan butter be substituted with some kind of oil? Can’t get vegan butter here and I want to try this recipe so bad.
Sarah says
Here is a totally different Hollandaise recipe that uses silken tofu:
Otherwise I’m kind of at a loss. Coconut oil might work but it would give the Hollandaise Sauce a slight coconut-y flavor. Does anyone else have ideas?
Emma says
What a great looking (2nd)breakfast! Avocado makes everything better! I was doing the 2nd breakfast thing too during revision for my finals as I was waking up so early to work that there was no way I was waiting until lunch time to eat :S
Sounds like you’ve got a perfect little family morning routine worked out.
Sarah says
So you know all about how great 2nd Breakfast is!
Lisa says
Simply stunning! I am not a tofu fan, but even this looks amazing to me!
Sarah says
Thanks Lisa!