10 Vegan Breakfast Ideas (Compilation #39)

Be warned: I'm still really into fruit. But there is one fruit-free savory meal here, sticking out like a sore thumb. This is high summer, and getting to eat berries and stone fruit is the consolation for having to endure all this heat--except when I have too much kale on hand and have to do something about it.

1. "Honey" Lime Quinoa Fruit Salad (Gluten Free, Nut Free, Soy Free)

I had a bit of leftover quinoa that I wanted to have for breakfast, but it was definitely not porridge weather, so I decided to veganize this recipe from The Recipe Critic (scaled down, of course!). Instead of honey, I used rice nectar. This was absolutely delicious. To round out my meal, I had some peanut butter toast.

2. Sweet Potato Breakfast Bowl with Bananas, Yogurt, Granola, and Blueberry Syrup (Gluten Free)

I thought about throwing this in a "random meals" post but decided it was too good to be lost in the "random" category. I started with a base of spiced mashed sweet potatoes, then topped that with some non-dairy vanilla yogurt, vanilla granola, banana slices, and homemade blueberry syrup. It may look and sound a bit odd but it was delicious. It helped that my banana was at the exact perfect moment when it was just beginning to get a bit spotty but it wasn't at all mushy. You could also have this with a baked sweet potato, if you're not in the mood for making a sweet potato mash.

3. Chocolate Zucchini Smoothie (Gluten Free)

When friends give you zucchini windfalls from their garden, there are only so many meals with sauteed zucchini that you'll want to eat. But that's not a problem, because there are a few zillion other ways to eat zucchini. If you freeze cubed zucchini, you can use it like ice cubes, and it doesn't really do much to the flavor of smoothies, so you can sneak them in all sorts of places. I found this recipe at Homemade Nutrition and made it by freezing 1/2 cup of chopped raw zucchini overnight and leaving out the ice cubes. I loved it! It was like having a chocolate milkshake for breakfast. Alongside this, I had a slice of toast with sunflower seed butter to round out the meal.

4. Banana Barley Pancakes with Berries (Nut Free, Soy Free)

I had a cup of leftover cooked barley, and I thought it could be breakfast somehow, so I went looking for a way to use it. I found this recipe from Live Naturally, which I made with some Bob's Red Mill egg substitute and using whole wheat flour instead of coconut flour. They were more like banana-barley fritters than what I usually think of as pancakes, but they were actually pretty darn delicious! They were seasoned so well, and the barley gave them an intriguing chewy texture. I topped them off with some mixed berries and sliced banana, and then after I took the photo I added a dollop of whipped coconut cream for good measure. The whipped topping is totally optional, though; maple syrup would work just as well. To me, this, alongside a glass of soy milk, was a perfectly delightful breakfast.

5. Strawberry Mango Cinnamon Toast

I kind of had an idea of this before I found a recipe for it, but ultimately I just veganized this one from the National Mango Board, but using the bread I had on hand rather than French bread, and scaling the recipe down to make one slice. I really liked this! I think the cinnamon was a bit overpowered by everything else but it was delicious anyway. I love strawberries, mango, coconut, cream cheese, cinnamon, and butter, so why wouldn't it all be amazing together on a slice of toast? Add chia seeds for just a bit more protein and there you are. Perfection.

6. Leftover Millet Porridge with Nectarines and Cashew Butter (Gluten Free)

Millet is one of those things that can go in sweet or savory directions. Here, I used the millet porridge recipe from Martha Stewart Living, but instead of bananas and cacao nibs, I added nectarine slices, cashew butter, chia seeds, and extra cinnamon. This was really good, and a great solution to that bit of leftover millet I had around.

7. Blueberry Zucchini Oatmeal Pancakes (Nut Free)

If the banana barley pancakes I made were more like fritters than pancakes, I'd say these were more like soft oatmeal cookies than pancakes, but I wouldn't complain about either! But that's the reason why you're getting two pancake varieties in one of these breakfast posts (I typically only want to give you one type of a thing at a time)--neither "pancake" is very much like a pancake. In any case, I found this recipe at Making Thyme for Health, when I was looking for zucchini recipes. The batter is super thick, almost like a cookie batter, and you have to spread it out by hand. I didn't show my pancakes with the homemade blueberry syrup and coconut whipped cream I ate them with, because it was far less photogenic that way, but just trust me when I say that is an absolutely delicious way to have them.

8. Cheesy Grits with Barbecued Soy Curls, Kale, and Pickled Onion (Gluten Free, Nut Free)

Here we have the one reprieve from fruit! Although I took this idea from Shane & Simple, I just used bottled barbecue sauce on my soy curls (which were actually leftover barbecued soy curls from the night before), and scaled the rest of the recipe down to make one serving. If I made it again, I'd use some vegan butter to elevate the grits even more, but this was pretty delicious as it was! Such a comforting meal, and the only one in this list that isn't reflective of my summer love affair with fruit.

9. Breakfast Fruit Salad with Pearl Barley and Orange Juice Vinaigrette (Soy Free)

Though I rarely bothered with it before I was vegan, I love barley, and always have. It's one of my favorite grains. As noted in the recipe for this salad over at Sweet Vegetable, pearl barley is like "oatmeal rice," and although it tastes like neither, I totally get that description, so it definitely works for breakfast. Though barley does take longer to cook than many other things you might have for breakfast, it doesn't really require attention to be paid to it, so you can just start it and let it simmer while you're doing other things. I started it while I was brewing my tea in the morning and by the time I was done with my morning yoga, it was ready to come off the heat. It then sat and steamed while I cut up my fruit and it was ready to serve after I'd mixed the orange juice vinaigrette. Though this could be an excuse for me to eat berries and grapes--not that I need excuses; I just eat berries and grapes!--it's also a fun change from oatmeal on a morning you want something cooked. The pistachios the recipe calls for are also genius--they go perfectly with everything else.

10. Cashew Butter Raspberry Acai Bowl (Gluten Free)

The original smoothie bowl was Brazil's acai bowl, from what I've understood. (Correct me if I'm wrong!) So if you can get your hands on some acai (typically sold in puree packs in the freezer section in my part of the world), you can try out this deep purple fruity goodness. This bowl was made from acai, frozen banana, frozen raspberries, and soy milk, and then I topped it with fresh sliced banana, sliced strawberries, sliced mango, blueberries, hemp seeds, chia seeds, granola, pumpkin seeds, and cashew butter. There are a lot of ways to eat the colors, and here's an especially fun one in my opinion!

As much as I'm loving all this fruit, a part of me is starting to look forward to fall flavors. Bring on the winter squashes, apples, pears, and lots of cinnamon. What has been your favorite summer breakfast this year? (Or if you're not in summer now, winter?)