If you’re vegan and looking for a scrambled egg substitute, a tofu scramble is one of the best options.
You can also try JUST egg (see my egg vs JUST egg comparison if interested), but that can get pricey.
Here, we’re going to compare my favorite tofu scramble recipe from Rainbow Plant Life to plain eggs.
Nutritional Value Comparison of Tofu Scramble and Eggs
Let’s start by looking at the macro profiles of both foods.
I calculated the nutritional data for tofu scramble using MyFitnessPal.
The nutrition data for eggs is per 100 grams, but that obviously wasn’t an option for the tofu scramble, so I just tried to scale down the calories to be similar.
| Tofu Scramble | Egg | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy (kcal) | 164 | 147 |
| Protein (g) | 12.0 | 12.4 |
| Total Lipid (g) | 11.0 | 10.0 |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 5.0 | 1.0 |
| Fiber (g) | 4.0 | 0.8 |
| Sugars (g) | 1.0 | 0.2 |
The profiles are actually remarkably similar.
The only big difference is that tofu scramble is significantly higher in fiber. But other than that, the protein and fat levels are almost identical.
Fat Comparison
If we look at the lipid composition in a bit more detail, we can see a few more small differences:
| Tofu Scramble | Eggs | |
|---|---|---|
| Trans Fat (g) | 0 | 0 |
| Saturated Fat (g) | 1 | 3.2 |
| Monounsaturated Fat (g) | 3 | 3.63 |
| Polyunsaturated Fat (g) | 4 | 1.82 |
| Cholesterol (mg) | 0 | 411 |
Tofu scramble has more polyunsaturated fats, which are typically known as “good” fats, and less saturated fat.
Eggs also contain cholesterol.
Current research suggests that dietary cholesterol and saturated fat probably aren’t too bad in reasonable amounts, but it’s obviously a controversial topic that I’m not going to go into here.
There are certainly cases where someone might be advised to avoid saturated fat by their doctor, and tofu scramble is a good alternative to eggs in that case.
Vitamins and Minerals in Tofu Scramble vs Eggs
Unfortunately, the micronutrient data on MyFitnessPal (or any alternative I’ve tried) isn’t great, so we’re missing data for many vitamins and minerals.
For example, this tofu scramble has nutritional yeast in it, which is fortified with vitamin B12 in most cases, but that doesn’t show up in the table below.
The RDA column is just so we can quickly compare and sort the data.
| RDA | Tofu Scramble | Egg | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Choline (mg) | 550 | – | 335.0 |
| Selenium (µg) | 55 | – | 31.1 |
| Vitamin B-12 (µg) | 2.4 | – | 1.0 |
| Riboflavin (mg) | 1.3 | – | 0.4 |
| Vitamin C (mg) | 90 | 27.0 | 0.0 |
| Phosphorus (mg) | 700 | – | 184.0 |
| Vitamin A (µg) | 900 | 18.0 | 180.0 |
| Calcium (mg) | 1200 | 216.0 | 48.0 |
| Sodium (mg) | 1500 | 276.0 | 129.0 |
| Folate (µg) | 400 | – | 71.0 |
| Vitamin D (µg) | 15 | – | 2.5 |
| Iron (mg) | 18 | 2.2 | 1.7 |
| Zinc (mg) | 11 | – | 1.2 |
| Potassium (mg) | 2000 | 108.0 | 132.0 |
| Vitamin E (mg) | 15 | – | 1.1 |
| Thiamin (mg) | 1.2 | – | 0.1 |
| Vitamin B-6 (mg) | 1.3 | – | 0.1 |
| Magnesium (mg) | 400 | – | 11.4 |
| Manganese (mg) | 2.3 | – | 0.1 |
| Niacin (mg) | 16 | – | 0.2 |
| Copper (mg) | 900 | – | 0.1 |
| Vitamin K (µg) | 75 | – | 0.3 |
Despite the missing data, I think they stack up against each other pretty well overall.
It’s almost certain that eggs have more choline, selenium, and vitamin A. I wouldn’t say those are the hardest nutrients to get, but for a plant-based diet, selenium can be tough to get (you would mostly look to find selenium in nuts).
On the other hand, tofu scramble has more vitamin C and calcium.
And when it comes to other important minerals like iron and potassium, both tofu scramble and eggs are pretty similar.
Tofu Scramble vs Eggs: Which is Healthier?
Neither tofu scramble or eggs are obviously healthier than the other when you look at the nutritional profiles for each.
You could argue that tofu scramble is better in some situations where someone needs to avoid dietary cholesterol and saturated fat. It also has more fiber, which is typically a good thing.
There’s a couple things about tofu that I want to mention to wrap this up:
- What about soy and estrogen? I’ve written a detailed summary of research showing that tofu does not raise estrogen levels unless you’re eating an absurd amount of it. This is a myth that needs to die.
- Isn’t tofu a processed food? Tofu is a processed food. In general, processed foods are less healthy because good components of the food are removed during processing (e.g. bran from wheat when making white flour). However, very little is removed from soybeans when making tofu, so while it is a processed food, I don’t think it affects the overall healthiness very much.
Is Tofu Scramble Better for the Environment Than Eggs?
One of the reasons that some people move to a more plant-based or vegan diet is because it’s better for the environment in almost all cases.
The graph below shows the carbon footprint of tofu and eggs side by side:
It’s clear that there isn’t a big difference in carbon footprint in this case.
Compared to meat, eggs have a fraction of the environmental impact. See my chicken vs chickpeas comparison if you want to see a more obvious example of plant-based protein being better environmentally.
There are certainly ethical issues surrounding egg production, but that’s probably beyond the scope of this post.
