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To reduce the content of non-network proteins in protein-based gels, a synergistic approach involving pH shift and D-galactose (DG) was developed herein to obtain elastic gels with dense networks. The results revealed that the combined effect of pH shift and DG promoted the formation of additional disulfide bonds and chemical bonds between molecules, resulting in a denser, and highly elastic gel network, which immobilized more aggregates, leading to a significant reduction in non-network protein content, and enhancing the functional properties of the gel. Moreover, non-network proteins primarily consisted of subunit A 4 (mostly Glu and Asp), while the subunit B was the primary polypeptide forming the gel network. Therefore, the removal of the non-network protein has no significant effect on the microstructure, water holding capacity, elasticity, and recovery of the gel. Comprehensively, the combination of pH shift and DG generated a positive synergistic effect of the glycinin hydrogel network structure., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)