10 Vegan Breakfast Ideas (Compilation #29)

Veggies are better represented here than they have been lately. I guess it's just been that kind of season. Or maybe it's just sweet potatoes...they're everywhere in this one! I had bought a 5-pound bag of sweet potatoes and wasn't paying enough attention; when I got them home I realized I'd bought gigantic sweet potatoes not suitable for my intended uses. But baked in my slow cooker, I had plenty to puree and stick in things, so I got to make some different new-to-me things. But this compilation includes a lot of non-sweet potato options, too, if you're not a sweet potato person. 

1. English Muffins with Spinach, Asparagus, JUST Egg, and a Creamy Cashew Sauce (Soy Free)

This ought to have an actual name. If I worked at it, I could come up with one. But there's no real need for a name; just know that it's delicious. It's about as described in the title: An English muffin, split in half and toasted, topped with sautéed spinach, triangles of folded JUST Egg, steamed asparagus, and some of the cashew cream sauce from this recipe. It's garnished with a bit of paprika and some halved grape tomatoes. Sometimes, you want something to impress people, even if the only person you're impressing is you!

2. Sweet Potato Dumplings with Caramel Sauce (Nut Free)

This one is kind of the other end of the spectrum from the last one! I found an omnivore recipe that was easy to veganize--it's essentially biscuit dough wrapped around a sweet potato filling and then baked swimming in a spiced buttery syrup--and it would be great to serve to omnivores skeptical of vegan food. For my purposes, it was delicious but needed something to cut the sweetness. I had some soy milk with mine for protein, and I'd also recommend balancing out the heaviness of this with something light, like fruit. But if you're feeling like an indulgence, this is a nice one!

3. Maple Pecan White Bean Blondies (Gluten Free, Soy Free)

When I saw this recipe at Don't Waste the Crumbs, I knew I had to have it as a make-ahead breakfast. It's primary ingredients are white beans and oatmeal, plus it has a fair amount of pecans, so nutritionally I don't worry too much about it, despite all that maple syrup and the fact that these are iced. (Don't skip the glaze--it's the thing that makes these.) I did, purely by accident, leave the brown sugar out entirely, but it was still plenty sweet enough from the maple syrup. Have a bar of this with some hot tea and you won't be sorry. You'll also never guess that these are made of beans and oatmeal.

4. Spinach-Potato Pancakes (Nut Free, Soy Free)

One of my prettier savory breakfasts! And pretty easy if you have leftover mashed potatoes. Mix them with chopped spinach, minced onion, some JUST Egg, a bit of flour, and a bit of baking powder, then cook them in olive oil until golden brown. Top with non-dairy sour cream and some more minced onion. I chose to have these with link sausages and slices of tomato and cucumber. It's a beautiful start to the day.

5. Chocolate Sweet Potato Banana Muffins (Soy Free)

These moist, fluffy muffins were a really delicious way to use up some of my sweet potato. I veganized this omnivore recipe by substituting the eggs and using canned coconut milk in place of the yogurt (though I'm sure vegan yogurt would work, too). They taste sweet and decadent but they're full of all sorts of good-for-me things (and maybe good-for-you, if your own doctor would agree--I'm not your doctor; don't take medical advice from me). I didn't have enough mini chocolate chips on hand to fold them into the batter but I used some as a garnish, and they were just perfect that way.

6. Champurrado (Chocolate Masa Harina Porridge) (Gluten Free, Nut Free)

More chocolate! After trying atole--a nutty, drinkable porridge made from masa harina--I was excited to try out champurrado, too, which instead of using nuts, uses chocolate alongside masa harina for the major flavor notes. (Can you resist a drinkable chocolate porridge? I think not.) I cut down a recipe I found at Muy Bueno to serve one and used soy milk to make it vegan. I wished I hadn't cut it down so much, because I could very easily have had twice this amount! It's not like the hot cocoa I might usually make (obviously), and although drinkable, is also clearly more like thin porridge than a beverage. I had this with the small fruit salad you see here and some toast with peanut butter to round out my meal, though if I'd made a bigger cup of porridge I probably would have been fine with it and just fruit. Live and learn.

7. Fluffy Sweet Potato Pancakes with Sweet Potato Caramel and Walnuts (Soy Free)

This recipe is from A Virtual Vegan. There is sweet potato in both the pancakes and the caramel and although the sweet potato pancakes were good, the caramel was amazing. It's dangerously amazing except that I won't always have all that sweet potato puree to use. The batter is extremely thick; to me, this made fluffier pancakes than my preference. I may be the only person who likes thinner pancakes. So next time, I'll add more almond milk. But if you do like super fluffy pancakes, this could be just the recipe for you! They did live up to the fluffy promises. I added walnuts as a garnish, as the recipe developer suggested, and they were great with this, too. More veggies for breakfast!

8. Apple Cranberry Crisp (Soy Free)

I really never get my fill of fresh cranberries when they're in season, so I was excited to find them at the store in mid-fall. (Part of my issue is that I avoid the stores around holidays, which means that cranberries and I don't get to meet up as much as I would like.) This recipe is from Kitchen Treaty, and it was utterly delicious with some non-dairy yogurt and a glass of soy milk to round out the meal. It was listed as a dessert but that rarely stops me from having something for breakfast, especially since, after all, this is mostly spiced fruit and oatmeal, albeit with some sugar, coconut oil, flour, and corn starch. I scaled this down to cook in a loaf pan, using a mixture of Granny Smith and a red apple I think was probably a Fiji but the sticker had come off so I'm not sure. It was a perfect sweet-tart flavor.

9. Creamy Banana Oatmeal (Gluten Free, Soy Free)

I found a straightforward banana oatmeal recipe from Running on Real Food, which you can garnish or not garnish as you like. I cut some banana stars and used those for a garnish along with chocolate hazelnut spread and some chia seeds. I think it really needed the hazelnut spread, because otherwise it wasn't sweet enough for me, but otherwise the banana flavor was really nice. Non-dairy yogurt would also be a nice topping.

10. Sweet Potato Farina (Nut Free)

I came up with this one on my own when I faced down all the sweet potatoes. It's one of my better inventions! You can find the recipe in a previous post. Don't skip the pat of vegan butter; it adds such a great richness to this warming porridge.

Do you eat sweet potatoes for breakfast? Or any other veggies? Let me know what your favorite morning veggies are!