10 Vegan Breakfast Ideas (Compilation #18)

There is a theory about diversifying through restriction--that if all things are available to you, you'll make very narrow choices; if you have fewer options, you'll expand to embrace more of them. This may explain some of what I've had in isolation all this time, and some of why my vegan breakfasts are so much more diverse than what I ate as an omnivore. I was just going to have ten options, put them out there, and go, because it was hard for me to even think of ten at the time I wrote the first post, but here we are with 180 options. 

What can I say. I'm into breakfast.

This compilation feels more stereotypically vegan than I think most of what I make is, but I also think my tastes are changing as I age. It's also much more obviously a seasonal grouping of wintery foods (at least in my part of the world), aside from the fancy fruity toast. I just can't seem to get raspberries out of my system. And there is a lot more savory content here than you'd expect from me most of the time, but I'm unpredictable, maybe.

1. Pumpkin Pie Spice Breakfast Shake (Gluten Free)

I had long read rumors of people who put oatmeal in drinkable form, but never tried it myself until I had all the ingredients for the pumpkin pie spice breakfast shake at Oh My Veggies. It turned out too thick to be really drinkable, and I ate it with a spoon. Most of the ingredients, though cold, weren't frozen, so this was less chilly and easier to handle on a cold morning than a smoothie would usually have been. I really liked this, but I ended up having toast afterward, because even though this was plenty of calories for a breakfast, it didn't satisfy me the way a bowl of oatmeal would have. I think this would be good on the mornings that food sounds unbearable, though, because it's easier to get enough calories that way.

2. Fancy Fruity Toast

I gave you this recipe a little while ago, and I still find it utterly delightful. It's got everything I want in a breakfast--carbs from the toast and the fruit, protein and fat from the nut butter, seeds, and cacao nibs, and chocolate, because to me that's a macronutrient in and of itself. More seriously, this was good fuel for me, and I felt really good after eating it.

3. Farro Breakfast Salad with Sweet Potatoes, Apples, and Kale

I found this recipe at the Full Helping and it seemed like a gentle introduction to the idea of a green breakfast salad. Everything in it is cooked. Although I will say I should have used fresher kale (mine is looking a bit sad) and shouldn't have prepped the apples and sweet potato so far ahead of time, probably, this was really good with a slice of plain toast with margarine and a cup of tea. I liked the citrus-almond butter dressing, and I want to try it on some other kinds of salad in the future.

4. Pumpkin Pancakes with Vanilla Yogurt and Toasted Pecans

Still having some pumpkin to use, I found this recipe for pumpkin pancakes at Love and Lemons. I also took the suggestion to put vanilla yogurt and toasted pecans on top before adding maple syrup when serving. (The maple syrup is not pictured.) These were utterly delicious. I would probably want soy yogurt next time rather than the almond milk yogurt I used this time, because I have been trying to get more protein in my breakfasts and soy yogurt definitely beats almond milk yogurt for that. This was really filling and a great way to get a start on a lazy day at home.

5. Cheesy JUST Egg Veggie Scramble (Gluten Free)

Though I think JUST Egg Scramble is too much like eggs without being exactly like eggs, such that it has an uncanny valley thing going and can be disturbing, there are some other ways to use it that will make you swear a chicken was involved. I cooked some bell pepper, onion, and tomatoes and added the scramble and a bit of Follow Your Heart Smoked Gouda non-dairy cheese (chopped up so it would melt quickly). I had this with sliced avocado, sautéed mushrooms, and toast. It was remarkable!  Note: this is labeled "gluten free" because the scramble is; my bread wasn't.

6. Banana Gingerbread

I am trying my hardest not to waste bananas, and I didn't want to freeze any more of them, so I found this great seasonal recipe for banana gingerbread at Vegan Richa. I forgot to put in the crystallized ginger (and thus was annoyed with myself) but it was still great with some margarine in the morning. Strangely enough, it has hardly any ginger, but the flavors layer well, with molasses, maple syrup, coconut sugar, and spices.

7. Winter Fruit Salad with Poppy Seed Citrus Syrup (Gluten Free)

Most fruit salads tend toward the summery end of the spectrum, with melons and berries, but you can still have seasonal fruit salad in the winter. This one is based on one I found at Lemon Tree Dwelling, but I scaled it down and didn't have quite the same number of fruits in it, because twelve servings of fruit salad would truly be too many! So this is kiwi, grapefruit, mandarin oranges, pomegranate arils, and sliced bananas. The poppy seed citrus syrup consists of water, sugar, orange juice, and poppy seeds, and it goes so well with the somewhat tart fruits here. I garnished this with more poppy seeds. But because I'm trying hard to eat a somewhat more substantial meal in the mornings these days because it really does seem to help my physical condition, I didn't just have fruit salad, lovely as it was. I paired this with idea #8.

8. Leftover Rice Breakfast Porridge (Gluten Free)

In the world of porridges, this is one of the simplest. Take 1/2 cup leftover rice (any kind), about 1/2 cup or so of soy milk, a tablespoon of maple syrup, and a dash of cinnamon. Cook for about 7 minutes or until hot and bubbling. Top with cinnamon and sliced bananas.

9. Savory Oatmeal with Tempeh Bacon, Mushrooms, and Spinach (Gluten Free)

This is one of those things I resisted trying and now I can't believe I waited so long! I made some oatmeal using veggie broth (made from Better than Bouillon) with some nutritional yeast in the liquid, then topped that with tempeh bacon, sautéed mushrooms, and wilted baby spinach. I can't wait to explore more savory oatmeal options!

10. JUST Eggs Florentine

I hope you'll forgive two appearances of JUST Egg in one compilation; this uses JUST Egg Folded rather than the scramble, so it's not exactly the same thing. I found this recipe on the JUST Egg website. It promised to be a "healthy" eggs Benedict (which was odd; eggs Florentine is already a thing, and it's more what this is than eggs Benedict) and I was intrigued by the cashew cream sauce. I loved it. I would put that cashew cream sauce on just about anything. It would probably make brussels sprouts sing and I can't wait to try that. As for the rest, I used spinach for the greens (because it seems to me that's what "Florentine" actually means--"with spinach"--so I was confused by the chard in the original recipe; I think the company doesn't really understand what these words mean!). This is basically a really loaded avocado toast, and it is perfect for a day you might want to make a bit more of a production out of breakfast.