Healthy Breakfast Ideas and Recipes

Healthy Breakfast Ideas that are weight loss-friendly, sugar-free, plant-based, nutritious, delicious, and way more exciting than a bowl of cereal.

Research shows that those who regularly eat a healthy breakfast are more successful at losing weight—and keeping it off—than those who skip the morning meal.

But weight loss isn’t the only advantage that breakfast offers.

Eating breakfast can strengthen your mental performance. It helps you have better concentration and longer attention span. Studies show that children do better in school when they begin their day with a healthy breakfast.

And regularly eating a healthy breakfast has been shown to reduce your risk of many diseases, such as diabetes.

What Makes a Healthy Breakfast?

In the grocery store, you can find plenty of breakfast options labeled as “healthy”, but that doesn’t mean they truly are nutritious solutions.

For a healthy breakfast, you want a meal is composed of whole, unrefined foods. It should contain no white flour, no white rice, no refined corn products (like most grits, cornstarch, etc.). It should also be sugar-free and oil-free. You also want to avoid additives, preservatives, and other chemicals that often get added to commercially-available foods.

The best way to ensure that your breakfast is healthy is to make your own. Here are 11 of my go-to healthy breakfast ideas. These breakfasts are:

• weight loss friendly
• wholesome
• sugar-free
• plant-based
• nutritious
• delicious
• high in fiber
• and a lot more exciting than a bowl of cereal

Healthy Breakfast Ideas (and Recipes)

Banana Breakfast Cookies

One of the most popular recipes on my blog are these yummy Banana Breakfast Cookies.

Packed with whole-grain goodness, healthy fats, and natural sweetness, these easy-to-make breakfast cookies are loved by young and old. And since they’re also oil-free, sugar-free, gluten free, and vegan they work for various dietary preference.

But my favorite part about these breakfast cookies it that I can make them ahead of time and keep them in the freezer so I can have a quick breakfast on busy mornings.

Berry Chia Breakfast Bowl

So much healthy omega-3 and antioxidant goodness in one bowl!

Grain-free, gluten-free, sugar-free, and dairy-free, this Berry Chia Breakfast Bowl is a luscious way to start your day.

Oil-Free, Sugar-Free Pear Crisp

Who said fruit crisp can’t be a healthy morning meal?  

This delicious Oil-Free, Sugar-Free Pear Crisp is just as luscious and flavorful as classic pear crisp, but it’s sugar-free and oil-free. And it’s made with whole grains. This mean that this crisp is so nutritious you can eat it for breakfast – guilt-free!

Fig Pear Oatmeal

Gluten free, vegan, and made without sugar or oil, this wonderfully flavorful Fig Pear Oatmeal is made with wholesome ingredients to power you through the day.

Bonus: It’s an easy-to-make, one-bowl recipe and can be made ahead of time and reheated when ready to eat.

Veggie Scrambled Tofu

Looking for a more savory breakfast? Veggie Scrambled Tofu is just what the doctor ordered. Compared to scrambled eggs, Veggie Scrambled Tofu is lower in fat, higher in fiber, and lower in cholesterol (actually it has no cholesterol!). Plus, it’s a great source of plant-based protein.

Serve Veggie Scrambled Tofu in wrap for an easy breakfast to go. Or serve it along side potatoes for a satisfying sit-down breakfast.

Baked Apple Blueberry Oatmeal

A reader favorite, this sugar-free Baked Apple Blueberry Oatmeal is a great source of slimming fiber and beta-glucan – both very helpful for weight loss.

Packed with wholesome ingredients like whole-grain oats, applesauce, coconut, and heart-healthy blueberries, this breakfast is both delicious and nourishing.

Apple Salad with Almond Orange Sauce

Start your morning on a bright note with this super flavorful Apple Salad with Almond Orange Sauce. Naturally sweet and wonderfully delicious, this healthy salad offers whole grains, fresh fruit, omega-3’s, and fabulous taste!

Harvest Oatmeal

Oatmeal that is loved by oatmeal haters!

This simple oatmeal recipe is loved even by those who don’t typically like oatmeal. Harvest Oatmeal is a satisfying breakfast that can help you lose weight and reduce cholesterol levels.

No-Bake Walnut Fig Bites

If it’s a healthy grab-and-go breakfast you need, you’ll love these No-Bake Walnut Fig Bites

Make these delicious energy bites ahead of time and keep them in your freezer. Then, grab some of these plus a piece of fresh fruit and you have a quick and healthy breakfast to go.

These homemade energy bites are so much healthier than the energy bars you find in the grocery store.

Sugar-Free, Oil-Free, Apple Buckwheat Granola

Contrary to popular belief, granola is not a health food as it usually contains a boatload of unhealthy fats and sugar (or other sweeteners). You may as well eat a bowl of Fruity Pebbles. With oil on top.

This Sugar-Free, Oil-Free, Apple Buckwheat Granola is not only sugar-free, but it is oil-free as well.

Plus, it’s an incredibly convenient breakfast choice because you can make this granola the day before, a week before, or even a month before. Then, anytime you need a quick breakfast, grab yourself a bowl, some plant-based milk, add a few blueberries (fresh or frozen) on top and you have yourself a healthy meal.

Warm Breakfast Grain Salad

This breakfast is good for your gut!

Full-of-flavor and whole-grain goodness, this Warm Breakfast Grain Salad offers the perfect combination of chewy, crunchy, tart, and sweet. Not only is this breakfast delicious, but it is also good for your gut microbiome.

More Healthy Breakfasts!

Hungry for more? Here are some more of my favorite breakfasts.

References

Keith A. Wesnes, et al., “Breakfast reduces declines in attention and memory over the morning in schoolchildren”, Appetite (2003)

J.M. Murphy, et al. “The relationship of school breakfast and psychosocial and academic functioning”, Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine (1998)

Rania A Mekary, et al., “Eating patterns and type 2 diabetes risk in men: breakfast omission, eating frequency, and snacking”, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2012)

Mayu Uemura, et al., “Breakfast Skipping is Positively Associated with Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus”, Journal of Epidemiology (2015)

K Iqbal, L Schwingshackl, et al., “Breakfast quality and cardiometabolic risk profiles in an upper middle-aged German population”, European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2017)

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