Fuel Your Day With These 8 High-Protein Breakfast Ideas

Every meal is important, but what you eat for breakfast can set you up for success for the rest of the day. Whether you’re looking to lose weight or need a boost to get you moving, a high-protein breakfast will leave you feeling satiated and nourished. 

Let’s learn about common protein-enriched ingredients and breakfast recipes that are bound to become your new favorites.

Why Should You Start the Day With Protein?

How often do you grab junk food or carbs when you’re starving? Eating 18–20% more protein helps improve quality food choices during the day, including fewer grains and added sugars. Protein is also an amino acid responsible for adequate insulin and serotonin production.

It is best to eat a high-protein breakfast as it takes longer for your body to break down and absorb the nutrients, prolonging your energy source as it slowly hits the bloodstream.

Certain ingredients have high protein content, including eggs, cottage cheese, nut butter, raw nuts, oats and protein powders. What you do with these ingredients is entirely up to you, but they deliver plenty of delicious options.

8 High-Protein Breakfast Recipes

A high-protein breakfast is essential whether you’re rushing out the door or enjoying a lazy weekend morning. Can’t decide what to make? Get energized with one of these eight delicious recipes.

1. Avocado Baked Egg

Yoga teacher and author Kathryn Budig has the perfect avocado baked egg recipe for a high-protein breakfast — and it couldn’t get easier.

Preheat the oven to 425° Fahrenheit and cut your avocado lengthwise. Remove the pit and scoop out a small amount of flesh from each center. Add a pinch of salt to both avocado halves.

A small ramekin is ideal for this recipe to prevent the avocados from rolling around. Crack an egg into each scooped avocado and bake for 20–25 minutes, depending on how runny you like your egg yokes. 

Once done, remove from the oven and top with hot sauce, fresh herbs, salt and pepper. You can enjoy this breakfast with a spoon or over toast. 

2. Savory Cottage Cheese Bowl

One cup of small curd cottage cheese has 25 grams of protein, making it an excellent breakfast option to start the day.

Nourish your body with a savory cottage cheese bowl. Stir chives or spring onions and black pepper into your cottage cheese. Then top with sliced cucumbers, bell peppers and tomatoes. Garnish with more chives and chopped pistachios for added crunch.

3. Egg White Frittata

Fill up on protein but cut back on cholesterol with a simple egg white frittata. Set your oven to 400° Fahrenheit and spray olive oil in a 9×9 baking dish. 

Add all the ingredients to the dish — egg whites, sliced cherry tomatoes, red onion, chopped spinach, salt and pepper — and stir gently. You can also add cottage cheese, minced garlic and Italian seasoning for a rounder flavor.

Bake for 30–35 minutes for the egg whites to firm up. Allow the frittata to cool before slicing and serving. 

4. Mango Almond Smoothie Bowl

Smoothie bowls are a refreshing way to start your day and take minutes to whip up. For this recipe, blend fresh or frozen mango, banana, almond milk, yogurt, raw almonds and allspice until smooth. 

Pour into a bowl and top with fresh raspberries, almonds, honey, coconut flakes or other toppings.

Almonds contain a whopping 6 grams of protein and are low in saturated fat. They also contain dopamine-producing amino acids like tyrosine for better mental health. 

5. Peanut Butter Overnight Oats

Are you looking for a high-protein breakfast you can enjoy while getting ready for work? Save time by prepping your morning meal the night before with peanut butter overnight oats. 

This recipe only requires five simple ingredients — unsweetened almond milk, rolled oats, maple syrup, chia seeds and natural salted peanut or almond butter. Many people make overnight oats in mason jars — just ensure enough room for the oats to expand.

Top with sliced banana, fresh berries, coconut flakes or cacao nibs. Overnight oats will stay fresh in the refrigerator for 2–3 days. 

Tip: You can microwave your oats for 45–60 seconds or warm them up on the stove before eating. 

6. Morning Glory Protein Muffins

Morning Glory protein muffins are another excellent breakfast or snack you can make beforehand. They practically explode with flavor, including grated carrots, orange zest, shredded apples, pecans and ginger. With a scoop of vegan protein powder in the batter, you have an energizing meal to satiate you for hours.

Some people add coconut and raisins or swap out orange juice for pineapple juice. Flax seeds also provide an extra dose of fiber. 

Seal leftover muffins in an airtight container and refrigerate them for a week, or store them in the freezer for a month.

7. Breakfast Quesadillas

At this point, you know eggs are a versatile ingredient of a high-protein breakfast. You can even make breakfast quesadillas with them.

Whisk eggs and hot sauce together, then add black beans. Semi-cook the eggs for 1–3 minutes and set aside in a bowl. Stir in jalapeno, spring onion and cilantro. 

In a separate skillet, warm a tortilla on medium heat and flip. Sprinkle half with shredded cheddar cheese and add the egg mix. Then, add more cheese and fold the other half of the tortilla. Let the quesadilla crisp on each side for 1–2 minutes before transferring to a plate. 

Feel free to add salsa, sour cream or more black beans for extra protein.

8. Smoked Salmon Toast

Salmon should be a staple in everyone’s diet. Although it’s an excellent source of protein, it’s also rich in omega-3s — an anti-inflammatory nutrient studies show aids mood and cognition, lowers blood pressure and improves heart health. Arrhythmias are responsible for most of the 500,000 cardiac-related annual deaths in the U.S.

Start your day with a slice of artisan multigrain toast with about three ounces of smoked salmon on top. You could also add cottage cheese, fresh dill, chives, dijon mustard or horseradish. 

Make a High-Protein Breakfast a Daily Habit

If you were never much of a breakfast eater, now is a great time to make it a habit. Give yourself extra time in the morning to create a healthy, high-protein breakfast for yourself and reap the rewards of more energy.