10 Vegan Breakfast Ideas (Compilation #36)

Spring is giving way to summer, so some pretty produce is finding its way into my breakfasts again! It's really exciting. Some of these were breakfasts I made on a staycation, so they're a bit more involved than a lot of what I eat on a regular basis. I think that's fine, though. Just consider those holiday ideas. 

1. Aquafaba Cinnamon Rolls (Nut Free, Soy Free)

Although baking yeast doughs can be intimidating, and I've had my fair share of confusing results, this recipe from Vegan Richa turned out really well. I followed the directions for making them ahead of time, and prepared the rolls the night before, then left them in the fridge overnight before baking in the morning. They aren't too sweet and have a really light texture, plus they made everything smell amazing while they baked. These are definitely not the dense cinnamon rolls you might remember from Cinnabon or something, but they're pretty good for their own thing. I made sure to have a protein source with these (i.e., a cup of soy milk) so I didn't make myself feel ill with such a carb-heavy meal.

I will warn you, however, that these go stale extremely quickly, even refrigerated, so you'll want to save this recipe for when you have a crowd to feed. I ended up having to throw some away because they turned to rocks before I could eat them all.

2. Boxty with Mushroom Gravy (Nut Free)

Though a lot of what is called "Irish" food in America isn't eaten in Ireland, boxty are actually Irish food. One thing I like about them is that they're a good use for leftover mashed potatoes, but unlike a lot of the leftover mashed potato pancakes we make, they also have shredded raw potatoes in the batter, which creates texture contrasts without necessarily adding many more ingredients. I use this recipe from The Fiery Vegetarian when I make boxty. Often, boxty are served with sour cream, but this time I wanted mushroom gravy. My gravy was the recipe from Cotter Crunch this time, which had a good depth of flavor from the white wine, smoked paprika, and tamari. The boxty and gravy go really well together. 

I also decided to make this more of a traditional Irish breakfast, so I had some sauteed grape tomatoes, some JUST Egg, and baked beans with my boxty. It's not all the way there to a full Irish breakfast (it needs sausage and a few other things in order to make it all the way there), but it is at least inspired by meals that start Irish days. It's more complicated than I would probably do if I wasn't on vacation or for a holiday weekend, but it was deeply satisfying on the day I had it.

3. Savory Carrot Dill Oatmeal (Gluten Free, Nut Free, Soy Free Option)

Although oatmeal is usually sweet, savory options can also be really satisfying. Oatmeal is a pretty neutral flavor, after all. Carrots and dill complement each other beautifully, so why not have them in your oatmeal? My recipe is a quick and easy allergy-friendly beginning to your day.

4. Chunky Monkey Smoothie Bowl (Gluten Free)

This is a pretty basic smoothie bowl, but if you're new to smoothie bowls, might be a good place to start! The base is frozen bananas, a bit of soy milk, cocoa powder, peanut butter, and chia seeds. It's topped with sliced bananas, cinnamon granola, cacao nibs, chopped peanuts, and more peanut butter. This was good on a morning in early spring that was too warm for me to want hot porridge, but also was too early to have particularly exciting spring produce yet.

5. Mango Blueberry Crumble (Soy Free)

I love fruit crumbles for breakfast. This one has beautiful colors, as well as being delicious. I used this recipe from Cafe Delights, using rice nectar in place of the honey and using the suggested coconut oil as a substitute for butter. I would have liked it to have had more of the crumble topping, but I am usually on Team More Crumble Topping, so bear that in mind. I had my crumble with a dollop of non-dairy lemon Greek soy yogurt; please note that although the crumble is soy free, the whole breakfast seen here is not. But you can easily find another non-dairy yogurt to make a soy free version of this, if you need one.

6. Spiced Amaranth Porridge with Soy Yogurt and Raspberry-Rhubarb Chia Jam (Gluten Free, Nut Free, Soy Free Option)

I wanted to make the most of rhubarb season, so I decided to make this raspberry-rhubarb chia jam recipe from Feeding Your Beauty. It was delicious, but of course chia jam alone is not a meal. I'd long wanted to try this recipe at Lazy Cat Kitchen for a spiced amaranth porridge, for which the suggested topping was raspberry chia jam, so I just made a variation. I made the porridge with sweetened soy milk but it still needed a bit more sweetness, so I added some vanilla Greek soy yogurt as well as the jam, with some pumpkin seeds for good measure. This was really good! If you avoid soy it is easy to adjust this to use a different plant milk in the porridge and some different toppings, too.

7. Toast with Mushroom-Walnut Pate and Folded JUST Egg

Before I was vegan, I fell in love with mushroom-walnut pate. I had a recipe for it here, even! And then after I made my transition to veganism, one of the first things I veganized was my own recipe for mushroom-walnut pate. You can find the vegan one alongside a packed lunch (it definitely needs its own post, though--I need to work on that), but my favorite way to have it in my pre-vegan life was with an egg on toast. So when I'd made mushroom-walnut pate in order to make special birthday tea sandwiches, I had an inspiration: What if I made that same toast, but with a folded JUST Egg? I made it and topped it off with scallions, and it's delicious. It's a perfect savory start to the morning.

8. Blueberry Lemon Grits (Gluten Free, Soy Free)

Sweet grits are controversial, but sometimes I like them! This is a recipe on the Pioneer Woman website that is already primarily plant-based, and I just used vegan butter to veganize it. The coconut milk made for a super creamy porridge, and the lemon added a wonderful brightness to it all. I topped my porridge with blueberries, slivered almonds, more lemon zest, and a drizzle of agave nectar. I enjoyed this, but a warning: This is not a source of protein, really. It's fat and carbs and it's delicious, and you'll get some vitamins from it, but make sure if you have this and it matters (ask your doctor for what you need), that you get a better protein source with it. On this morning, I had my bowl of grits with some toast and Yves veggie ham to get a boost of protein.

9. Kale Coconut Muffins (Soy Free)

It may not look like much, but that little kale coconut muffin is a pretty great way of getting in some hidden veggies! The recipe is from She Likes Food. It's not too sweet, but it's also not bitter, and you'd never guess--aside from the somewhat odd coloration--that it had kale in it. I served my muffin with a Cara Cara orange I sliced up and some lemon Greek soy yogurt. Not pictured, I also had a soy Postum latte for additional protein. I've indicated that this is soy free, and the muffin is; you'll need to choose different things to accompany it if you're avoiding soy (like, perhaps, almond or coconut yogurt and a pea milk-based latte).

10. No Eggs Benedictish

As a use-it-up special you saw recently, I toasted an English muffin and topped half with some vegan butter, baby spinach, a few slices of Yves veggie ham, some JUST Egg scrambled with mushrooms, chopped asparagus, and onions, leftover vegan Hollandaise sauce, and some asparagus spears. This was delicious with some Teeccino! I also had a fruit salad on the side and the other half of the English muffin with veggie cream cheese on it. It was a delightful breakfast.

Have you had a new-to-you breakfast lately?