Banana Soufflés | Any Vegan Alternatives?

These soufflés are the perfect marriage of Puerto Rican ingredients and French technique. In Puerto Rico, Eric Ripert pulled a couple of bananas off a tree to make this dessert. If there is any doubt about the ease of pulling bananas off the tree for these banana soufflés, let’s also count the number of ingredients. This recipe only requires five: sugar, banana, lime juice, eggs and salt. There is no flour, therefore no gluten. There is no milk or cream, therefore dairy free. It is suitably paleo—eliminating most processed and refined foods.

Making soufflés can be tricky, especially getting the proper rise from all the assembled ingredients. Carefully keep the bowl clean and whip the egg whites to sift peaks, the resulting rise of the soufflé in the oven is quite predictable. Do it a few times, you’ll gain confidence in spite of the dubious reputation of soufflés. Eric Ripert’s banana soufflés are flavorful and puffy and light. Melt in your mouth goodness you’d expect from a soufflé.

Taking it a step further, I want to find out whether it is possible to make vegan soufflé without the eggs. There are egg substitutes out there. Like ground flaxseeds to substitute for egg yolks and aquafaba (from the liquid of a can of chickpea) to replace egg whites. I tried and have to report that you can make something that may look like the soufflé, but they don’t give you the soft cloud-like mouthfeel. Therefore, the conclusion is you can’t really make soufflé, the way we expect them to be, without the eggs. In the end, while scratching my head, I really appreciate how incredibly transforming and versatile the eggs are in our everyday cooking and baking.

Golden brown and high-rising crust of the banana soufflé

A vegan version is not quite hitting the marks

Print Recipe

Banana Soufflés

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted, for greasing
• 5 tablespoons sugar
• 2 firm, ripe bananas, mashed (1 1/4 cups)
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1 large egg yolk
• 3 large egg whites
• Salt

Instructions

1

Preheat the oven to 400°. Brush four 1-cup ramekins with melted butter. Add 2 tablespoons of the sugar to 1 of the ramekins and rotate it to coat with sugar. Tap the excess sugar into another ramekin and repeat until all the ramekins are coated with sugar.

2

In a food processor, puree the bananas with the lime juice, egg yolk and 2 tablespoons of the sugar until smooth. Scrape the banana mixture into a large bowl.

3

In a medium stainless steel bowl, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until soft peaks form. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar and beat until firm and glossy. Using a rubber spatula, beat one-fourth of the beaten whites into the banana mixture, then gently fold in the remaining whites. Spoon the soufflé mixture into the prepared ramekins and tap them lightly on a countertop. Transfer the soufflés to a baking sheet and bake in the center of the oven for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown and risen. Serve at once.

Notes

https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/banana-souffles