The Ideal Breakfast: What to Eat and What to Skip
The best breakfast pairs protein with fruit and a slow carbohydrate, and it takes five minutes to make. Here are the plates we would actually eat, the drinks worth having and the habits we would drop.
Our favourite plate: eggs, greens and fruit
If we had to pick one breakfast for most days, it would be two or three scrambled eggs with spinach, half an avocado and a handful of cherry tomatoes, with a bowl of berries on the side. It brings protein, fat, fibre and colour together on one plate. It also keeps most people going until lunch without reaching for a biscuit at eleven.
Scrambled eggs take about as long as the kettle, so this is not a weekend-only plate. Add a slice of wholegrain or sourdough toast on days you train in the morning or lunch comes late. On quieter days, leave the toast out and the plate still works.
- Two or three eggs: scrambled, poached or folded into an omelette
- A handful of spinach or rocket
- Half an avocado or a drizzle of olive oil
- Cherry tomatoes or sliced peppers
- A bowl of berries or a sliced orange
Porridge oats: the best choice for busy weekdays
Porridge is our weekday default. A small bowl of rolled oats, around 40 to 50 g dry, cooked in milk or a soya drink is cheap, filling and ready in three minutes. Top it with fruit and something crunchy or creamy, and it stops being bland.
Overnight oats are the same idea with no cooking: oats, milk and yoghurt in a jar in the fridge, ready to take to work. We would skip flavoured instant sachets, which tend to carry added sugar. Plain oats with your own fruit taste better anyway.
- Oats with sliced banana, cinnamon and a spoon of peanut butter
- Oats with grated apple, walnuts and a pinch of nutmeg
- Overnight oats with Greek yoghurt, frozen berries and chia seeds
- Oats with pear, a few almonds and a little honey
The Spanish-style morning: toast, tortilla and fruit
Some of the best breakfasts are the plainest. Toast rubbed with ripe tomato and a trickle of olive oil, with a slice of cured ham or a wedge of Spanish omelette, is a proper meal. Add a piece of fruit and a milky coffee and you have covered almost everything.
A tortilla made the night before is one of the most underrated breakfasts there is: eggs and potato, easy to slice and just as good cold. Keep croissants and pastries for the weekend. They are lovely, but they will not carry you through a busy morning.
- Wholegrain toast with grated tomato, olive oil and cured ham
- A wedge of Spanish omelette with a handful of cherry tomatoes
- Toast with fresh cheese and a drizzle of olive oil
- A piece of seasonal fruit: orange, kiwi, melon or a peach
Yoghurt bowls and other five-minute options
When there is no time to cook, a yoghurt bowl is the answer. Greek yoghurt or skyr with berries, a small handful of nuts and a spoon of oats takes less time than making toast. Buy plain yoghurt and add the fruit yourself, because flavoured pots are mostly dessert.
Other quick options work just as well. Cottage cheese on rye bread with cucumber, a kefir smoothie, or last night's leftovers are all perfectly good breakfasts. Breakfast does not have to look like breakfast.
- Greek yoghurt with raspberries, walnuts and a spoon of oats
- Skyr with sliced mango and toasted seeds
- Rye bread with cottage cheese, cucumber and black pepper
- A smoothie of kefir, frozen berries, half a banana and oats
Coffee, tea and juice: what to drink
Coffee is fine. Have it black, with a splash of milk, or as a milky coffee, and keep sugar and flavoured syrups out of it. Tea works the same way, and a glass of water before anything else is a good habit.
Freshly squeezed orange juice is a pleasure, but treat it as a small glass next to food rather than a pint on its own. Whole fruit keeps its fibre and fills you up far more. We would skip bottled smoothies and sweetened coffee drinks, which are more like a pudding than a drink.
- Black coffee, a flat white or a milky coffee
- Green, black or herbal tea
- A small glass of freshly squeezed orange juice with your meal
- A glass of water as soon as you get up
What we would skip, and how to make it stick
Sugary cereals, daily pastries, breakfast biscuits and most cereal bars are the foods we would move to the occasional list. They are quick, but they leave most people hungry again by mid-morning. Nothing is banned; they just are not the base of the week.
The easiest way to eat well in the morning is to stop deciding. Pick three breakfasts from this page, keep the ingredients in, and rotate them through the week. Save them in your tracker so logging takes seconds, and if you are not hungry first thing, simply eat a little later.
- Monday, Wednesday, Friday: porridge with fruit and nuts
- Tuesday, Thursday: Greek yoghurt bowl with berries
- Saturday: eggs, spinach, avocado and toast
- Sunday: tomato toast with a wedge of Spanish omelette
- Every day: coffee or tea, plus a piece of fruit
