Just Egg, the mung bean-based egg alternative that has already developed a cult following in the US, is coming to Europe. The Plant Base’s editor, Melissa Bradshaw, attended an exclusive brunch in London this week to celebrate its expansion.

What is Just Egg?

Just Egg was developed by Eat Just, a US food-tech start-up founded in 2011 by Josh Tetrick and Josh Balk. The founders’ goal was to develop a nutritious plant-based egg alternative that could match the taste and texture of its traditional counterpart, using only plant-based ingredients and with no animal involvement.

Its hero ingredient is the mung bean, a nutrient-rich legume that enables Just Egg to provide 13g of protein per serving – comparable to the amount of protein in two traditional eggs. It is also low in saturated fat, contains no cholesterol and is free from common allergens including gluten and soya.

The product has generated considerable buzz in the States since it hit the market in 2019. Over 500 million Just Egg products have already been sold, with parent company Eat Just having raised more than $800 million in capital to date.

Now, Vegan Food Group (VFG) – the UK-based vegan food powerhouse established in 2024, and housing brands including VFC Foods, Meatless Farm and Clive’s Purely Plants – is bringing the popular product to new territories through an £11.25 million partnership with Eat Just.

VFG has secured the exclusive rights to manufacture and supply Just Egg across European markets, producing the egg alternative from its manufacturing site in Lüneburg, Germany, with Just Egg supplying its proprietary mung bean protein ingredient.

Addressing a “broken” food system

On Tuesday 5 August, the VFG and Just Egg teams celebrated the upcoming UK launch with an invite-only brunch event held at East London vegan restaurant Unity Diner, located near the bustling Spitalfields Market. 

Guests were welcomed with alcohol-free mimosa mocktails and mini carrot cake muffins, created using the Just Egg product. The sponge was soft and moist, warmly spiced with the addition of apple, raisins and walnuts and showcasing Just Egg’s capabilities in traditional baking applications.

Matthew Glover, co-founder of the Veganuary movement and chairman of the board at VFG, opened the day with an introduction to Just Egg and how the product aligns with VFG’s values and mission of removing animals from the food chain.

Glover took a moment to speak candidly about the lack of animal welfare standards within the egg industry, describing having witnessed first-hand the “squalid” conditions for hens at both caged and ‘free range’ farms. He called for change across the food system – something he described as “fundamentally broken” – and an end to factory farming, detailing the cruel treatment of hens and male chicks in a sobering speech that undoubtedly made for a difficult listen for attendees.

“The only cruelty-free egg is a plant-based egg,” he concluded, met with cheers and applause across the room. Also stepping up to share insights, focusing on the nutrition of the egg alternative, was registered nutritionist and author Rhiannon Lambert.

Lambert, an advocate of plant-based diets and author of the books The Science of Nutrition and, most recently, The Unprocessed Plate, praised Just Egg’s nutritional profile alongside its taste and texture.

She highlighted the growing fear among consumers and within the F&B industry about ultra-processed foods (UPFs), highlighting that under the Nova classification system – which categorises foods based on their degree of processing – the Just Egg product could well fall into the UPF category. But this doesn’t make it ‘bad,’ she noted, warning of the dangers of tarnishing all processed and packaged foods with the ‘unhealthy’ label and pointing out the product’s well-rounded nutritional profile.

Alongside mung bean protein, the product contains water, rapeseed oil, salt, corn starch, natural flavourings, tapioca starch, carotenes (colour), yeast extract, dried garlic, maltodextrin, acidity regulator (potassium citrates) and a firming agent (calcium citrate).

The tasting

The much-anticipated Just Egg was served up in scrambled egg style atop toasted muffins, served with mushrooms and tomato.

Its texture was impressively reminiscent of the real thing: fluffy, light and creamy, with a subtly salty and savoury flavour and a vibrant yellow hue, achieved using turmeric and carrot extractives.

A range of canapés were also offered up, encompassing both sweet and savoury, spotlighting Just Egg’s versatility when used across different formats.

These included a beetroot and plant-based feta quiche, a New York baked cheesecake made with vegan cream cheese, a rich chocolate brownie, and my personal favourite – toad in the hole, using Just Egg to create a soft and lightly chewy Yorkshire pudding, wrapped around a mini plant-based sausage and topped with sweet caramelised onion.

An interactive cooking experience also offered guests the opportunity to try cooking Just Egg for themselves, demonstrating its ease of preparation. The product comes in a liquid format, and can simply be poured into a pre-heated pan with plant-based butter – within a few minutes of stirring, it begins to set and take on the familiar scrambled egg appearance, able to be cooked according to consumer preference.

An eggcellent option for British consumers

The event team enthused about the benefits of Just Egg hitting UK shelves, providing an option not just for vegan consumers, but for all – those with allergies to eggs, those who are actively trying to reduce animal-derived foods and make plant-based swaps, and those who are simply just curious.

Egg alternative products aren’t new to the F&B market here in the UK – other brands have launched liquid egg alternatives for scrambling and baking, such as Crack’d, introduced in 2020 and based on pea protein, while vegan cake and ingredients brand Oggs sells aquafaba (chickpea water) as an egg alternative for baking specifically.

However, Just Egg’s offering serves up a significantly higher portion of protein than other alternatives currently on the market, giving it a notable edge at a time when ‘high-protein’ is high on the list of priorities for many consumers. March 2025 research from UK online retailer Ocado found that almost half (43%) of consumers have increased their protein intake in the past year, while searches for ‘high protein’ more than doubled by 105% year-on-year according to the company’s data.

The product has hit the market in a 340ml carton, containing the equivalent to six eggs, priced at £3.99 and available via Ocado.

Abigail Nelson-Ehoff, head of marketing at VFG, said: “Eggs are one of the most common foods on the planet, spanning many cultures and cuisines, so we are proud to introduce Just Egg to the UK and educate customers that a plant-based egg exists, and it is delicious”.

“The technology behind Just Egg has come a long way since it launched back in 2019 and we are excited to be bringing this latest and best formulation to the UK market.”