These Vegan Egg McMuffins are the vegan breakfast sandwiches of your dreams!
Eggy, cheesy, hot and satisfying, just the way I remembered :)
My very first job was at McDonald’s, of all places. I never really loved the food, in fact, as a kid, I was slightly traumatized by McDonalds because my dad would force feed me Big Macs because Happy Meals were “not enough food”. I remember sniffling and choking back tears as my dad made me eat an entire double decker sandwich with cold fries so I could “grow”, when all I really wanted were chicken nuggets and a toy.
How on earth did the marketing team manage to convince parents that McDonald’s food was in any way nutritious?
In any case, I clearly don’t eat McDonald’s now because of their lack of vegan options, but I sure as hell am down to veganize their menu items. I have a mac sauce recipe lying around in my notebook that I’ve been meaning to share with you guys, but that’ll have to wait.
We have egg mcmuffins to veganize.
Working at McDonald’s surprisingly enough taught me a lot about work ethic. It taught me that you still get paid the same if you work hard while your coworkers slack off and shoot each other with mayo guns. I learned that the day shift is always a lot more productive than the night shift. I learned that the best time to get fast food is the busiest times, because there is a high turnover and your fries won’t have been sitting under a lamp for half an hour.
But most of all, I learned the basics of cooking, funny enough.
Cooking eggs, flipping burgers, assembling sandwiches so they weren’t the dried, sad squares my mom used to make when I was a kid. (Sorry mom, maybe your sandwich skills have improved now but my sandwiches could have benefited from some condiments back in the day).Β I learned about food safety, internal temperatures, and “the enemies of fries” being water, air, salt and heat (WASH).
Well now I’m just regurgitating the stuff I had to say to new trainees. In the 3 years I spent at McDonald’s, I had a lot of fun with some of my coworkers. But the onslaught of awful customers made me realize that being nice goes a long way, especially when it comes to getting spit-free food. (For the record, I never did that, but I definitely saw some of my coworkers do some sketchy stuff to mean customers’ food).
There are certain things that will bring me back to memories from my first job: the smell of coffee brewing in the morning, the sizzle of fries being dunked into hot oil, and of course, these breakfast sandwiches.
It’s been over 10 years since I worked at McDonald’s, but I’ll never forget the feeling of sinking my teeth into a freshly made (that I made myself) egg mcmuffin. Soft, pillowy English muffins, weird plastic yet gooey-when-melted cheese, salty butter, tender eggy filling and crisp salty goodness from the bacon. I may be vegan, but that doesn’t mean I dislike the taste of breakfast sandwiches. I simply choose not to participate in that cruelty anymore.
Alas, my friends, I’m here to show you that you can abstain from eating animals and their by-products, and still reminisce in morning breakfast sandwiches, just how you like it. I liked adding tomato for a bite of freshness, and the vegan bacon is a nice touch, but it’s up to you, my friends! Tofu adds that eggy bite with black salt delivering that sulfuric egg-like flavour. I get flashbacks of ducking past the customers and hanging out with my coworkers on break when I bite into one of these badboys, and I hope I can bring back some sort of happy memories for you too.
If you’re a fan of brinner (aka breakfast for dinner), you might like these recipes from my friends! I teamed up with some awesome vegan YouTubers to bring you 10 vegan brinner recipes and they all look fantastic! Check ’em out and enjoy! I’ll link the recipes below, but if you want to watch all the videos, check out this playlist!
- Vegan Breakfast Nachos from Sweet Simple Vegan
- Vegan Breakfast Tacos from Meat Free Athlete
- Vegan Savoury Bread Pudding from Vegan Lovlie
- Vegan Maple Bacon Granola from Feasting on Fruit
- Cheezy Vegan Breakfast Pizza from From My Bowl
- Loaded Potato Waffles from Two Market Girls
- Vegan Chickun and Waffles fromΒ Lisa Reimi
- Vegan Breakfast Bao from The Kale Sandwich Show
- Vegan Breakfast Lasagna from hot for food
Vegan Egg McMuffins
Ingredients
For the "Eggy" tofu:
- 1/2 tsp black salt (aka kala namak)
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp tamari
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 tsp black pepper (or to taste)
- 8 slices of firm tofu
- 1 tbsp grapeseed oil (or oil of choice)
For the sandwiches:
- 8 English muffins
- 8 slices of vegan cheese (I used Follow Your Heart Cheddar Slices)
- 2 vine tomatoes (enough for 8 slices)
- Vegan butter for the English muffins
- Optional: vegan bacon or sausages (either the processed stuff, or the homemade version with eggplant/mushroom/cassava/coconut etc)
Instructions
- Combine black salt, turmeric, tamari, nutritional yeast, water, and black pepper to make the eggy marinade. Add 2 slices of the tofu to the marinade and let sit for about 2-3 minutes before cooking.
- Preheat a pan to medium heat. Add oil and your marinated tofu (meanwhile replace the marinated tofu with cut tofu so it can absorb some of that eggy flavour). Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side until browned, while also cooking up the vegan bacon/sausage if using.
- Toast your English muffins, then microwave the cheese slices on one half and butter the other half.
- Assemble the sandwich by layering the eggy tofu, vegan sausage/bacon, sliced tomato, and the English muffin!
- Repeat until all sandwiches are made and enjoyed!
Brenda says
I definitely had brinner last night…
However, this: “It taught me that you still get paid the same if you work hard while your coworkers slack off and shoot each other with mayo guns.” is so infuriating, and it’s what ultimately got me to say screw it and ditch retail. When I had my annual review on year, and learned that the productivity standards against which all my co-workers were judged were based on what *I* could accomplish in a shift, and then still got the standard “on target” rating, I was just completely over the whole damn thing. I still miss the people, and often even miss the work, but that element still makes me mad any time I think about it.
Lisa Le says
Yep. Over the years I definitely learned that no matter how hard I would push myself, at the end of the day, your shift ends at the same time as everyone else’s =/ I made some great friends from working at McDs, but I definitely don’t miss it, not for a second XD Great first job.
Ellesha says
Just made it this morning – delicious! The tofu actually tastes eggy! Plus it was so easy to make. Definitely making this again.
Lisa Le says
So glad you enjoyed it!!
Sara says
Loved hearing about your McDonald’s experience, I’ve always wondered what it would be like to work somewhere like that! And even cooler that you did manage to get some positive out of it. I love that you address still enjoying their breakfast items, even as a vegan! I feel like often we’re boxed into not being able to enjoy smells/flavors that aren’t vegan, when the real point is that we’re humans too, haha. It just becomes a fun challenge to vegan-ize those recipes and make them even better, which you absolutely did here! These look so fun and like the perfect special breakfast! :)
Lisa Le says
Haha working at McDonald’s wasn’t really that bad. The worst part honestly is the customers, but as is any retail/fast food job =P Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment, Sara!
Mariam Benemla says
o m g so gorgeous! should buy a sweet bun for it though as the mcd one is so sugary :D
Mandy says
This looks amazing! Can you please explain the tofu slices? I know I can buy tofu in big blocks and smaller cubes. Does it also come in slices or are you cutting a block into slices, and if so can you get the eight slices out of a single block? Do you drain the tofu or prep it in any other way? I’m still kind of new to using tofu, so any other advice on tofu basics is appreciated. Thanks!
Ellie says
I was craving an egg mcmuffin this morning – totally confusing, I haven’t cared for egg since going vegan! But this was absolutely delicious, thank you for the recipe. So good I had to have it for breakfast AND lunch …
Angela Fitton says
Made this this morning. Beautiful! Loved the balance in the marinade. Be making this again and again. Thanks!
Haley says
This tofu marinade was great! Made this with some daiya cheese, the gardein breakfast sausages and the ezekiel english muffins. Was very tasty, and also super easy. I was able to do this for a regular breakfast where I have limited time.
Lauren says
Wow!!! Gotta say, this is absolutely fantastic. I have a huge weakness for fast food breakfast. This seriously hits the spot. I made my “Egg” McMuffin with Ezekial muffins, the tofu egg slice, and half a piece of Follow Your Heart Vegan cheese, but to put this one over the top, I added some pure maple syrup to each inside side of the muffin to more replicate a McGriddle. So freaking fantastic!!! I’m betting you could also make some WFPB pancakes and exchange for the muffins to also get a nice McGriddle style sandwich. Anyway, thank you for this awesome marinade that makes these tofu slices straight up taste legit.
Stephanie M says
Hey, I just wanted to know the calorie information?
Lisa Le says
Hi Stephanie! I tend to not include calorie information because I’ve had a history of disordered eating. Sorry I can’t help ya there ^^;
Beth says
Has anyone tried baking this and had success? Frying is great but some mornings Iβm extra lazy and cook for more people.
Laura Jones says
Ok, my non vegan boyfriend said heβd give up bacon if I made these every weekend.
So good, and the egg marinade is on point. Thanks for sharing this recipe!!
Lisa Le says
Hahah yessss Eddie said similar things, and now he’s the one in charge of making this for breakfast whenever he wants it XD