Now, there are many people who like to ease into veganism by starting with one vegan meal a day. And for many people, they start with breakfast. I think the reasons are twofold. First, they can think about it the night before and prepare much easier that way. And the second is that once they’ve eaten their breakfast, they can go about their day without having to think about it again.
I think this is an interesting approach. And if it’s something that you’re considering trying (going vegan or easing into it with breakfasts), it’s worth a look at vegan breakfast ideas, so that you have some different options. So I thought I’d compile a short list for you to look at of breakfasts that don’t take a ton of work. Because I don’t know about you, but I don’t like to cook very much in the morning. I’d prefer to spend the beginning of my day getting ready, whether that’s exercising, meditating, planning or getting dressed. So here are some simpler vegan breakfasts. Remember that you can always add a side of fruit or toast to round out a meal at breakfast, with little extra effort.
1. Porridge
There are quite a few different kinds of porridge, and as long as you’ve got some sort of grain you could make one. However, if you’re looking for easy, you can find more instant cooking porridges at the supermarket for not much more money.
You might consider oatmeal, grits, cream of wheat and malt-o-meal. For me, I prefer sweet porridge. And I’ll put things like fruits, sugar, cinnamon, nuts and seeds in it. But you can also try savory porridge. For savory porridge you might want to try salt, pepper, some nutritional yeast or vegan cheese (if that’s you thing). Also, some flavorful veggies would be good, like onions, peppers, herbs. For many, the idea of savory porridge can be a little odd to get used to, but once you try it, you might just find a new favorite!
2. Bagels
So before going vegan, you may have started your day out with a bagel and a cup of coffee (for example). And good news, you don’t have to give up bagels as a vegan. Most of them already are plant-based. The main ones that you would be avoiding are the ones with cheese baked into them or perhaps treated with an egg wash. But for the most part, if you’re buying your bagels at the grocery store in a package, they’re probably already vegan.
“But what do I put on it now?” I hear you ask me. Well, I have two main favorites. For a savory profile, I like hummus. You might want a plain hummus, pine nut, garlic, or roasted red pepper. But you’ve got a lot of options there. (Also, technically, there are sweet hummus options too. A lot more companies are coming out with “dessert hummus” flavored with chocolate or fruit, etc.) Some other things you could try on your bagel is some vegan butter or cream cheese.
But for sweet bagels like cinnamon raisin or fruit flavored ones, my favorite is peanut butter. You could also try jams, jellies, marmalade or other spreads like cookie butter.
But my favorite is peanut butter, and I think it probably will be for a while. In the US, it’s cheap and easy to find. And it’s something that I personally, really like. Put a side of fruit and a cup of coffee or juice and you’ve got a small, but delicious morning meal.
3. Cereal with plant milk
A really normal breakfast for you before going vegan might be some cereal and milk. When you’re vegan, cereal with plant milk is just as simple.
When it comes to cereal, you’ll want to avoid some of them that have honey or animal-derived D3 in them, mainly. Now I don’t often find Peta to be the best source for vegan things, but when it comes to lists of accidentally vegan foods, they’re pretty good. So check out this list they compiled of some vegan cereals to put with some plant milk in the morning.
4. Smoothie
Maybe it’s cliche, but like many a vegan, I do enjoy a good smoothie. You can put pretty much any fruit or vegetable that you want in one and customize it to your own tastes.
For me, I like to make frozen bananas the base for most of my smoothies. It’s a good mildly sweet flavor and lends itself to a lovely creamy texture at a relatively low price, as far as smoothies go. I like smoothies because they’re easy, but depending on what you put in yours, it may not be cheap.
And if you’re looking for more oomph in your smoothies, consider adding some mix-ins. I personally like to add peanut butter or seeds into my smoothies for a bit of extra calories, fat and protein. Some people swear by avocado in smoothies to make them more filling, and others like to add in protein powder.
5. Tofu scramble
Okay, was it any surprise that I’m mentioning a tofu scramble? Other than being an old vegan standby, tofu scramble is something that I just genuinely enjoy very much.
A lot of vegans will try to make the scramble egg-like by adding black salt (for the slightly sulphuric taste) and turmeric (for the color) to medium firm tofu, maybe a little nutritional yeast. And hey, that’s a good enough way of doing things if you’re trying to mimic eggs.
But for me, I like to cook with tofu on its own terms. I accept I’m making a tofu dish, not an egg dish. And I embrace it. This means that I end up putting any old spices of flavorings that I want, even if they taste nothing like eggs. I often will add in some tomato sauce, onion, garlic, chili powder, etc. And yes, I’ll end up with a tofu scramble that looks and tastes nothing like eggs. But it’s delicious, and that’s what really matters.
6. Vegetable hash
Here’s another one that has far less structure than it may seem at first glance. A good vegetable hash will have some vegetables, spices, some form of protein (some legumes or vegan meat, usually), and for me, potatoes are a must.
Making vegetable hash is pretty easy, you cook it just like a stir fry. Chop up whatever it is you want to put in there and fry it up with some spices in a frying pan. You may want to add some salsa, guacamole, or other sauce or spread on top (or on the side) to add some more complexity to the flavors. You do, however, definitely want to make sure you’re getting your potatoes and beans all the way cooked (if you’re adding them). I recommend using canned beans and slightly boiling your potatoes beforehand. And make sure that whatever you do boil, you drain thoroughly before adding it to the pan to fry. You don’t want a wet mess of a vegetable hash.
7. Breakfast burrito
So after a vegetable hash, I think we can segue very neatly into a breakfast burrito. Especially since you can just take your vegetable hash (or tofu scramble, or both for that matter), and throw them in a tortilla and call it good. The breakfast burrito is one of the best on-the-go breakfasts, in my opinion, and is super difficult to mess up. You can put nearly anything you like in it, and it will taste good.
If you want to get real fancy with your breakfast burritos, you could scramble up some JustEgg (a very lifelike vegan scrambled egg replacement) and some soy chorizo. Add in some Chao cheese, and you’ve got a breakfast that any meat-eater would hardly notice was vegan at all. But on the simple end of things, some potatoes and beans with the proper spices and some salsa are just as delicious, and super accessible for those who are on a budget or have less vegan options in their grocery stores.
If you don’t have a lot of time in the morning, I’d suggest making a big batch of the filling on the weekend. That way you can just scoop it onto a tortilla and heat it up in the mornings before you go to work. This is the kind of meal that you can dress up with a different sauce depending on your mood or you can make it exactly the same every time.
8. Pancakes
And last but certainly not least, we’ve come to my favorite weekend special breakfast, pancakes. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need eggs or milk in order to enjoy some gorgeous, fluffy pancakes. In fact, some simple pantry staples can get you pretty far in terms of pancakey goodness. You can find a bunch of recipes online, but if you want the one I use, you can find it here on Allrecipes.com.
Now when it comes to pancakes, I prefer to use the recipe as a starting point. It’s a perfect recipe for plain, vegan pancakes without any weird ingredients that you’ll have to find at a special store or learn how to use. However, I really like to make my pancakes special when I have the energy and inspiration. I’d encourage you to get creative as well. You start with your canvas (plain pancakes), but there’s so much you can add to them to make things really interesting. Like, for example, a brown sugar streusel or a fruit compote. You could even stuff them with some flavored nut butter. The point here is that pancakes are delicious. And when you use them as a stepping stone to something more, you can get a pretty amazing breakfast.
Add to the conversation
As always, thank you for reading my thoughts. But now, I want to hear from you! What are your favorite, go-to vegan breakfasts? If we all put our heads together, we’ll all eat better, so let us know in the comments! And if you’re interested in reading more vegan-related content, be sure to subscribe to the blog for email updates. You have a lovely day!