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What is the best thing to use to replace an egg wash on pastry crust to give it a nice coloring?

Fall Flavors Are Calling

Fran Costigan - Fall Flavors Are Calling

Recorded

This event was on October 7, 2025

When we think of autumn desserts, the usual suspects—cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg—often take center stage. But the season offers so much more! In this month’s Essential Vegan Desserts Live event, Rouxbe Director of Vegan Pastry, Chef Fran Costigan will go beyond the basics and explore new ways to learn how to move beyond the classic spice trio and craft desserts that truly capture the depth and beauty of the season. And since it’s October, Chef Fran will offer some treats for Halloween.

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Question

Katherine Doucette

What is the best thing to use to replace an egg wash on pastry crust to give it a nice coloring?

Answer

So there are, you have some options. Plant milk with a little bit of sweetener maple or agave brushed on your baked good before it goes into the oven is one option. In that case, soy milk really gives you the best result because soy milk has the most protein, but you could try it as well with, um, oat milk if soy is a problem for you. Also, aquafaba, which is chickpea liquid. The liquid that chickpeas are cooked in what we make our vegan meringue with what we make our baked Alaska in the course with is another option. If you, that's something that will give you a more of a firm. More of a firm. I wanna say, I'm trying to think of the word coating. Um, it would give you a, a nice coating and for the deepest color, non-dairy milk plus oil, plus some sugar. So those are all great. Sometimes if I'm doing uh, like a danish, I want a stickier coating. I use, I like to use apricot jam or um, orange marmalade and I really like that.

Fran Costigan

Director of Vegan Pastry

FranCostigan.com

Fran Costigan is internationally renowned as the authority on vegan desserts. Trained at the New York Restaurant School and Natural Gourmet Institute, Fran was a chef in both traditional and vegan pastry kitchens before moving into teaching over 20 years ago. A lifelong chocoholic and long time vegan, Fran’s latest book, Vegan Chocolate: Unapologetically Luscious and Decadent Dairy Free Desserts, (Running Press 2013) is for all who madly, deeply love chocolate desserts, whether or not dietary considerations are an issue. Her previous cookbook, More Great Good Dairy-Free Desserts Naturally (Book Publishing Company 2006) is the basis of the Costigan Vegan Baking Boot Camp Intensive®. For more information, www.francostigan.com.