10 Vegan Breakfast Ideas (Compilation #46)

Still winter. Still doing our best. What you see here represents the end of fresh cranberries; I have loved them deeply and look forward to seeing them again when cranberry season rolls around again.

Because. CRANBERRIES.

So yes, there are a lot of cranberries in this, but there are other things here, too! And even though you can't get fresh cranberries now, frozen ones would probably be fine in pretty well all of the cranberry meals, so I'm going to go ahead and show them to you as they are now rather than holding onto them until November.

One thing that doesn't show up here is anything savory--for some reason, I just wasn't into it at all this time around. But there are some veggie surprises anyway.

1. Cranberry Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins (Gluten Free, Soy Free)

Are you avoiding gluten? Or do you just have interesting flours in quantity that need you to use them periodically? Well, this is the recipe for you! You'll find it at Flexitarian Nutrition. And yes, it involves four different flours, but I already had them all. I cut the recipe in half (hence, five muffins shown) and they turned out perfectly. They had a good but not-too-strong peanut flavor that went surprisingly well with cranberries, and chocolate goes with almost everything so definitely no complaints there! One thing I liked about this besides how they tasted is that it layered in the vegan protein sources: Chickpea flour, buckwheat flour, peanut butter, and chia seeds. I had one with a latte and I was raring to start the day.

2. Warm Apple and Almond Butter Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Almond Milk Yogurt and Chia Seeds (Gluten Free, Soy Free)

I found this recipe at Rainbow Plant Life, among a bunch of other stuffed sweet potato ideas I want to try while sweet potatoes are cheap and having the oven on to roast them is really appealing. It's pretty straightforward--layer a roasted sweet potato with non-dairy yogurt, almond butter, spiced apples, and a garnish of chia seeds--but also delicious. I can roast sweet potatoes in the oven while I'm getting other things ready for my day, but if you need breakfast as soon as you wake up, you can also stick them in a slow cooker overnight.

3. Yeasted Banana Bread Toast with Cranberry Chia Jam (Nut Free)

For the bread, I veganized this recipe from King Arthur Flour with soy milk, some vegan honey I had on hand, and vegan butter. This was a remarkable loaf and a great, different way to use up an overripe banana. The cranberry chia jam recipe is found over at Making Thyme for Health. It's essentially cranberry sauce thickened with chia seeds. I toasted the bread, spread on some vegan butter, and topped it with the jam; with a soy-based latte and some fruit salad, this was a perfect breakfast.

4. Blueberry Baked French Toast Casserole (Nut Free)

I had half a loaf of yeasted banana bread that needed to be used for something other than sandwiches, plus some blueberries I'd found on a very sharp discount right after the holidays. I was in the mood for French toast, but it was during the work week, and I was not going to be available for making an elaborate weekday morning breakfast. Bring in the overnight baked French toast casserole! I couldn't find a vegan recipe that looked promising to me, but I found a non-vegan one I could easily veganize with JUST Egg. I swapped soy milk for the almond milk as well, and I cut the recipe in half because that's how much bread I had (plus I didn't want to be eating French toast for a week). It turned out so well. I put everything in the fridge overnight and then in the morning I just popped it in the oven to bake while I did my usual morning routine. Because of the JUST Egg and soy milk, it had a good amount of protein, such that I didn't need anything else with this other than some vegan butter and maple syrup. If there's one thing I love about winter, it's a casserole.

5. Cranberry Cobbler with Brown Sugar Pecan Crust (Soy Free)

Is this probably more of a dessert? Yup. But I don't care. With a little whipped coconut cream and a soy milk Cafix latte, it also made a wonderful breakfast on a lazy weekend morning. I used the recipe at Great Grub, Delicious Treats, substituting vegan butter (everything else was already vegan). All the flavors go together beautifully. I would make this again easily.

6. Deep Dish Double Chocolate Breakfast Cookie with Coconut Whipped Cream (Gluten Free, Soy Free Option)

My cookie is an oval because it reflects the bakeware I had on hand to fit the recipe, but yours may be round if you want! The recipe is from Running with Spoons, and it's essentially a dense, blended baked oatmeal. It's a cookie you'll need to eat with a fork, but hey, it's still cookies for breakfast so we don't mind! I found these cookies a bit on the dry side, but the coconut whipped cream remedied that beautifully. I made mine with peanut butter and soy milk, but if you need to avoid the soy, just use the almond milk suggested in the original recipe.

7. Carrot Cake Latte (Nut Free)

Though this recipe seems to have disappeared from the website where I originally found it (The First Mess), there is a Google doc that The First Mess put up you can still access. I made a few swaps because I didn't have coconut cream, so I used non-dairy creamer and some soy milk and reduced the water accordingly. This was really good! Not too sweet, and with a lovely array of spices.

8. Banana-Orange-Cranberry Baked Oats with Pecans (Gluten Free)

This is such a perfect winter breakfast--seasonal produce and shelf-stable things come together for something hot, comforting, and delicious. The recipe is easily made vegan using this defaulting-to-vegan one from Garlic and Zest. (I made it with soy milk, coconut oil, and maple syrup, and I cut it in half because I didn't want 8 servings.) I had my oats with a banana and some herbal coffee with soy milk to round out the meal.

9. Wintery Ambrosia Salad (Gluten Free, Soy Free)

Though you've seen a version of this before, this one is more of a breakfast side than a breakfast main--it's decadent and sweet, but doesn't contribute much protein, so I rounded this out with some hummus toast and a soy milk latte. But it's still delicious! Here we have sliced banana, quartered red grapes, chopped red and green apple, clementine segments, and vegan mini marshmallows mixed with some whipped coconut cream. If you wake up and need a treat, this could be a good option!

10. Upside Down Apple Pancake (Soy Free, Nut Free)

If you've ever wanted pancakes but you don't want to stand there flipping them for an hour, this recipe from Healthy Family Project is perfect--just swap the butter for a vegan version or coconut oil (but the buttery flavor is so good, so I recommend vegan butter). I cut the recipe in half and cooked it in a small pan, but otherwise made it as written. I then had this gorgeous, easy breakfast for a cold morning.