Vegan breakfast ideas
Breakfast is where most people get stuck, because the default Western breakfast is built on eggs, milk and cheese. These ten swap in soy, oats, beans and tofu — each one lists protein, calories, time and rough cost per serving so you can pick by what you actually need this morning.
Key facts
- Recipes
- 10 with full nutrition estimates
- Average protein
- 20 g per serving
- Fastest recipe
- 3 minutes
- Cheapest serving
- $0.50
10 of 10 recipes
Soy overnight oats with berries
Five minutes the night before, zero minutes in the morning. The soy milk is what makes the protein number work.
- Protein
- 18 g
- Kcal
- 430
- Time
- 5m
- Cost
- $0.70
Ingredients and method
- 60 g rolled oats
- 200 ml fortified soy milk
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 100 g frozen berries
- Pinch of cinnamon
- Stir the oats, soy milk, chia and syrup together in a jar.
- Top with the frozen berries — they thaw overnight and bleed colour through the oats.
- Refrigerate for at least 6 hours. Keeps 3 days, so make three jars at once.
Turmeric tofu scramble
Black salt gives it the sulphurous egg note. More protein than two eggs, ready in ten minutes.
- Protein
- 24 g
- Kcal
- 380
- Time
- 10m
- Cost
- $1.10
Ingredients and method
- 200 g firm tofu, drained
- 1 tsp olive oil
- ¼ tsp turmeric
- ½ tsp kala namak (black salt)
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- Handful of spinach
- Black pepper
- Crumble the tofu into a hot oiled pan with your fingers — uneven pieces look and eat better than neat cubes.
- Fry 4 minutes without stirring much so some edges brown, then add turmeric, nutritional yeast and pepper.
- Stir the spinach through until it wilts, and season with kala namak off the heat so the sulphur note survives.
Beans on wholegrain toast
The cheapest 20 g of protein in any supermarket, and it takes four minutes.
- Protein
- 20 g
- Kcal
- 400
- Time
- 5m
- Cost
- $0.55
Ingredients and method
- 1 tin (400 g) baked beans or cannellini in tomato
- 2 slices wholegrain bread
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- Black pepper
- Optional: nutritional yeast
- Warm the beans with the paprika and plenty of pepper.
- Toast the bread hard so it holds up under the sauce.
- Spoon over and finish with nutritional yeast for a savoury, cheesy edge.
Peanut butter and banana toast
The unglamorous breakfast that outperforms most cereals on protein, fat and cost.
- Protein
- 15 g
- Kcal
- 450
- Time
- 3m
- Cost
- $0.50
Ingredients and method
- 2 slices wholegrain bread
- 2 tbsp peanut butter
- 1 banana
- 1 tsp chia or hemp seeds
- Pinch of cinnamon
- Toast the bread.
- Spread the peanut butter while warm so it melts in.
- Layer banana slices, scatter the seeds and dust with cinnamon.
Chickpea flour omelette
Besan batter sets like an omelette and takes any filling you have left over.
- Protein
- 19 g
- Kcal
- 390
- Time
- 15m
- Cost
- $0.80
Ingredients and method
- 80 g chickpea (gram) flour
- 150 ml water
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp turmeric
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- Salt, pepper
- Handful of mushrooms and spinach
- Whisk the flour, water, baking powder and spices into a smooth batter and rest it 5 minutes.
- Fry the mushrooms in an oiled non-stick pan, pour the batter over and cook 4–5 minutes on a medium heat.
- Flip once the top is dry at the edges and cook 2 minutes more.
Soy yoghurt protein bowl
No cooking. Soy yoghurt plus nuts and seeds lands near 25 g of protein.
- Protein
- 25 g
- Kcal
- 470
- Time
- 4m
- Cost
- $1.30
Ingredients and method
- 200 g fortified soy yoghurt
- 2 tbsp peanut butter
- 2 tbsp hemp seeds
- 30 g granola
- 100 g berries
- Spoon the yoghurt into a bowl.
- Swirl the peanut butter through it.
- Top with hemp, granola and berries.
Savoury miso porridge
Oats without the sugar: miso, sesame and greens for a breakfast that eats like lunch.
- Protein
- 16 g
- Kcal
- 410
- Time
- 12m
- Cost
- $0.85
Ingredients and method
- 60 g rolled oats
- 300 ml water
- 1 tbsp white miso
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 spring onion
- Handful of frozen edamame
- Sesame seeds
- Simmer the oats in water for 6–8 minutes until thick.
- Add the edamame for the last 3 minutes.
- Take off the heat, stir the miso in (boiling kills the flavour), then finish with sesame oil, spring onion and seeds.
Freezer breakfast burritos
Batch of six, wrapped and frozen. Three minutes in the microwave on a weekday.
- Protein
- 22 g
- Kcal
- 520
- Time
- 40m
- Cost
- $1.20
Ingredients and method
- 6 large tortillas
- 400 g firm tofu
- 1 tin black beans
- 200 g potatoes, diced small
- 1 onion
- 2 tsp cumin, 1 tsp paprika, ½ tsp turmeric
- Salsa
- Roast the potato dice at 200 °C for 25 minutes.
- Scramble the tofu with the onion and spices; warm the drained beans through.
- Fill, fold tightly, wrap in foil or baking paper and freeze. Reheat from frozen: 3 minutes microwave, or 20 minutes at 180 °C.
Green protein smoothie
For people who cannot face food before 9 a.m. Soy milk does the protein work.
- Protein
- 21 g
- Kcal
- 380
- Time
- 4m
- Cost
- $1.00
Ingredients and method
- 300 ml fortified soy milk
- 1 frozen banana
- Large handful spinach
- 2 tbsp peanut butter
- 1 tbsp ground flaxseed
- 1 tsp cocoa
- Blend everything for 60 seconds.
- Add water if it is too thick to drink from a glass.
- Drink within the hour — flax oxidises quickly once ground and blended.
Weekend tofu shakshuka
One pan, tomato and pepper base, tofu 'eggs' nestled on top. Feeds two properly.
- Protein
- 23 g
- Kcal
- 480
- Time
- 30m
- Cost
- $1.60
Ingredients and method
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes
- 2 red peppers, sliced
- 1 onion
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 tsp cumin, 1 tsp smoked paprika, ½ tsp chilli
- 300 g firm tofu
- Parsley
- Bread to serve
- Soften the onion and peppers for 10 minutes, add garlic and spices for 1 minute.
- Add the tomatoes and simmer 12 minutes until thick.
- Crumble large chunks of tofu on top, cover and steam 5 minutes. Finish with parsley and plenty of bread.
What to get right
Protein before pastries
Soy milk carries about 3.3 g of protein per 100 ml — roughly the same as cow's milk — while almond and rice drinks carry under 1 g. If your breakfast is oats or cereal, the milk you pour is the single biggest protein lever you have.
Iron absorbs better with vitamin C
Plant (non-haem) iron from oats, beans and fortified cereal absorbs several times better alongside vitamin C. A glass of orange juice, a handful of berries or a few strawberries with breakfast does the job.
Get B12 in early
Fortified plant milk, fortified cereal and nutritional yeast all put B12 on the table at breakfast, which is the easiest meal to make routine. A supplement is still the reliable route; fortification is the backup.
Make the fast version the default
The breakfasts people keep are the ones that need no decisions. Two jars of overnight oats prepared on Sunday remove the weekday choice entirely, and cost less than a coffee shop pastry.
Questions people ask
What is the highest-protein vegan breakfast?
A tofu scramble made with 200 g of firm tofu delivers around 22–28 g of protein, more than two eggs. Soy yoghurt with peanut butter and hemp seeds is close behind at about 25 g, and beans on two slices of wholegrain toast come in near 20 g.
What can I eat for breakfast instead of eggs?
Scrambled firm tofu with turmeric, black salt (kala namak) and nutritional yeast reproduces both the colour and the sulphurous egg flavour. Chickpea flour makes a good omelette or frittata, and mashed tofu with mustard works as an egg-mayo sandwich filling.
Is a vegan breakfast cheaper?
Usually. Oats, peanut butter, bananas, beans and own-brand soy milk are among the cheapest calories and protein in any supermarket. The expensive vegan breakfast is the branded one — croissant substitutes, protein shakes and ready-made smoothies.
How do I make a vegan breakfast that keeps me full until lunch?
Combine protein, fat and fibre. Oats alone empty quickly; oats with soy milk, peanut butter and chia hold for hours because the fat slows gastric emptying and the beta-glucan fibre in oats forms a gel that sustains blood glucose.
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Reviewed 2026-08-23 by the Veg.ac editorial team · Data: USDA FoodData Central; McCance & Widdowson's The Composition of Foods · Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 with a link back.