10 Vegan Breakfast Ideas (Compilation #19)

Winter provides me with opportunities to explore so many new-to-me breakfasts, especially since I convinced myself to steer a bit away from the parade of berries in favor of some more seasonal fare. (I love berries, but there is more to life.) Nearly all of these ideas--fully 8 out of 10--are gluten free, so if you're avoiding gluten, pull up a chair!

1. Oatmeal with Vanilla Poached Pears and Almond Butter (Gluten Free)

As soon as I saw this recipe on BBC Food, I knew I had to try it. I substituted 1/3 cup of brown sugar for the 100 grams of caster sugar and used a teaspoon of vanilla rather than a vanilla bean or vanilla bean paste in the pear poaching liquid. This is essentially oatmeal topped with vanilla-infused, sweetened poached pears, an almond butter syrup made with some of the liquid, and a sprinkling of sliced almonds. It was really good and perfect for cold weather. My porridge (as they call it in England; to me it's oatmeal because porridge is so many other things, too) isn't as white as theirs, probably because I cooked it in soy milk. Thus, I think overall there is less contrast here, which makes it a bit less beautiful, but you could also make this with something whiter, like cream of rice, probably. I love poached pears. I don't often make them because they do take some planning, but it's hands down my favorite way to eat a pear.

2. Grapefruit Green Smoothie (Gluten Free)

This recipe from Minimalist Baker seemed so unusual, I was intrigued. Also, I had everything on hand. So what else to do but try this concoction of grapefruit, apple, banana, ginger, spinach, and orange juice? This is, as indicated, closer to a juice than a smoothie, light and refreshing. I didn't taste the spinach and I got some greens in for the morning. As I was saying in my last compilation, I've been trying to have more substantial breakfasts, so just a smoothie wouldn't do; I paired this with idea #3 below.

3. Maple Sweet Potatoes with Tempeh Bacon (Gluten Free)

I've been on the bandwagon for sweet potato breakfasts for a long time, and I was in the mood to try them in a new way. This recipe from That Was Vegan? is perfect for breakfast but you could also have it anytime; it's pretty versatile. It also means I get to have the oven on in the morning, which I love in the winter. This is not really a weekday breakfast unless one gets up really early (though I do that sometimes) but it's a nice thing to have on a weekend, and if you make a larger batch the leftovers are pretty good the next day or two.

4. Spirulina Spinach Smoothie Bowl with Seeds and Coconut (Gluten Free)

This turned out thinner than I'd planned so I didn't get to top it with sliced bananas; alas. However, I was glad to finally get to try some spirulina! It's a source of protein I hadn't yet exposed myself to and it was pretty exciting. This was the recipe I used, but next time I'll use less liquid so I can get to add all the goodies to it. It had some goodies anyway, though: Hemp seeds, chia seeds, and coconut flakes. Because I was sticking to my commitment to have a more substantial breakfast, I had a slice of toast and a cup of tea with this.

5. Apple-Grape Breakfast Salad (Gluten Free)

If you like Waldorf salad, you may like this, though you might like it even if you don't because it is similar-but-different. The creamy yogurt-cream cheese dressing would be pretty great with a lot of different fruits but it was especially nice with apples and grapes, which walnuts complement beautifully. If you want to try it, here's my recipe. Though it was not substantial enough on its own to fulfill my 2021 commitments to eat a more well-rounded breakfast, this apple-grape breakfast salad was a great accompaniment to idea #6.

6. Almond Butter Energy Bites (Gluten Free)

On a frustrating evening when I knew I needed to be ready for breakfast but I just couldn't bear the thought of getting up early enough to actually cook in the morning, I prepared these simple almond butter energy bites from Choosing Chia. Unlike most energy bites I've tried there is no oatmeal in these, just almond butter, almond flour, maple syrup, seeds, seasonings, and chocolate chips. I coated them with hemp seeds because I was looking for the nutritional punch but I wished I'd coated half in coconut because the hemp seed flavor was a bit strong. I still really enjoyed these anyway. They have a wonderful texture from the almond butter-almond flour combination.

7. Chickpea Flour Aquafaba Omelet (Gluten Free)

I've often read about using aquafaba in cooking but rarely actually did it other than to make whipped cream, but I decided to commit to making something with the liquid in my most recent can of chickpeas and found this recipe from Darn Good Veggies. It promised to be a new spin on chickpea flour omelets because the whipped aquafaba would make the omelets fluffier, and that was definitely true! These were not the dense aquafaba omelets I'm most familiar with making. Mine were pretty salty, I think because my aquafaba was salty and there was a substantial amount of salt in the recipe, so do be forewarned about that. Next time I'd cut the salt in half. I filled these with the classics--mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, and some Violife cheddar shreds--and put some grapes on the side for garnish because the plate looked strange with just the omelet on it. I don't know if I improved matters with the grapes, but in any event this tasted good and was a nice savory start to my day.

8. Orange Pancakes with Cranberry Topping

Though cranberries are native to North America, we don't eat them all that much compared to other fruits, and even more rarely do we eat them fresh. I can get other berries year-round, but there's a very narrow window for fresh cranberries. They're sort of like fresh cherries in terms of their fly-by-night status, and I think it makes me appreciate them all the more. When fresh cranberries were in season, I was excited to try these orange pancakes with cranberry topping from Vegan Yack Attack. They probably would have been more beautiful with a bit of orange zest for a garnish, which I'd happily try if I made these again. These are not that sweet but full of flavor, so they were definitely sweet enough for me.

9. Lemon Mousse with Pomegranate (Gluten Free)

Though this would also be great as a dessert, I knew that this recipe from Pine and Crave would make a satisfying breakfast and would be super easy to veganize (I just used Bee Free honey substitute, but you could also use agave or maple syrup if you couldn't find vegan honey--Bee Free is out of business, but I know there are others). It seems really decadent but it's mostly a nutritious blend of cashews, lemon juice, and tofu. (So says the non-medical doctor me, but of course consult with a medical doctor for nutritional advice.) It fit really well with my commitment to a substantial breakfast, and the pomegranate arils and lemon zest made for such a beautiful contrast. I did not use as much pomegranate as the recipe suggested because my pomegranate was enormous and also I wanted mine to match the original picture better. For me, this was the perfect amount of pomegranate. This mousse would also be good with berries when in season. I know I've said it before but it may be one of the best perks of my vegan life that I get to eat mousse or pudding for breakfast and have it be perfectly reasonable.

10. Pizza Toast

The internet tells me that the Japanese invented pizza toast, which honestly would sound about right, even though it seems very American in another way. Japan does remarkable things with bread. I don't know if you're the type to eat pizza for breakfast, but I've always kind of liked it, so pizza toast seemed really up my alley! It's easy--just pre-toast the bread (so it won't get soggy), then spread some marinara sauce on top, put on some non-dairy mozzarella, and then whatever pizza toppings make sense to you. I already had some pepperoni to finish off and some olives and green pepper hanging out in my fridge so I added those. I grated some Violife Parmesan over the top for that last little pizza punch and voila! Pizza toast! If you're into savory breakfasts, this might be ideal for you.