*EASY* Eggless Savory Breakfast Ideas

I’m going to hold your hand when I say this…. You don’t need to eat eggs. I get it - you like them, they’re easy, they’re part of your routine. But they are not an essential food group.

Shortages and high prices are an opportunity to evaluate what ingredients you’re depending on, and consider ways in which you can expand your palate, your cooking ability, and get some variety in your breakfasts.

Over here we eat savory for breakfast almost exclusively, AND we don’t eat eggs, so we have lots of ideas for you. We wake up hungry, so we also need breakfast to be easy and relatively fast. The following ideas are a mix of things that can either come together quickly in the morning, or require a bit of time, but are very easy to prepare in advance and keep well in the fridge.

My number one tip is to not be intimidated by tofu. You don’t need to press it or marinate it or toss it with cornstarch - just slice it and sear it on a hot pan. If you can fry an egg, you can sear tofu. It's really simple. The flavor will come after when you add things like hot sauce, salsa, chili crisp, etc.

Here’s an eggless breakfast grocery list, followed by what to do with all of it. This is meant to just give you an idea of the building blocks - swap out items as you see fit.

Bases

• Frozen hash browns

• Plantains

  • I love to buy the frozen, plain salted ones and eat them with beans and salsa (think chilaquiles vibes) but you can get the sweet cinnamon ones, or fresh ones if you’d like

• Sweet potato

• Tortillas

• Pita bread - we love this one with extra protein

• Frozen peas

• Oats

• Chickpea flour

• Lentils and yellow split peas

Proteins:

• Tofu

• Black beans

• Refried beans

Toppings

• Sauerkraut

• Hot sauce

• Salsa

• Avocado

• Vegan cheese

• Nutritional yeast

Fruits and Veggies:

• Whatever is in season!

Here’s what we do with all this:

Hash brown with seared tofu and avocado topped with hot sauce

Sauerkraut and/or fruit on the side

Creamy black beans with plantains and avocado, topped with hot sauce

Loaded bean quesadilla

Super fast and easy and hits the spot. Just canned refried beans on tortillas, with a little touch of vegan cheese. Serve with salsa and hot sauce.

Mashed peas on toast

Did you know that you can treat peas like avocado? They are a staple in our kitchens because they’re cheap, versatile, last in the freezer, and are the easiest way to add extra nutrition and bulk to just about any dish.

For this breakfast, warm up about a cup of frozen peas in the microwave and then mash well with your seasonings of choice. I recommend salt, pepper, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, and hot sauce. I then treat this like avocado and serve it on top of toast. If I’m extra hungry, I’ll sear some tofu to go with it.

Sweet potato toasts

I like to make big, thin slices of sweet potato and roast them, then treat that like a toast and load it with avocado or mashed peas and tofu.

Tofu scramble breakfast wrap in a protein pita

Think scrambled eggs vibes, but with tofu. Crumble the tofu up and sautee with whatever you like - onion, garlic, tomato, salt, pepper… I highly recommend adding nutritional yeast for flavor, a little turmeric for color, and if you have it, kala namak - which is black sulfur salt, a staple in Indian cuisine. The sulfur gives an extremely egg-like smell and flavor.

You can eat this as is or with toast. If I’m on the go, I like to make a wrap in the protein pita. This one is great for meal prep!

Savory oats

You might think savory oats sound really weird, but they are really just a bland grain that you can treat similar to rice - perfect for all kinds of savory dishes, but also work well as a sweet rice pudding. Oats are the same way - they are not only great as the base of a savory bowl, but they can go with so many different flavors too. Here are our two go-tos:

• Mix in salt, pepper, and nutritional yeast, and top with avocado and tomato.

• Cook with carrots and cabbage, season with sesame oil and soy sauce, top with seared tofu and chile crisp. This has congee vibes.

Sweet potato hash with tofu on top

This one requires the most time of anything on the list - it requires grating the sweet potato. Sadly, grating is my least favorite kitchen task, but this dish is my favorite breakfast. Alas.

To make, all you do is grate the sweet potato, and cook into a hash with onion and garlic. For extra fiber and bulk, shredded carrots and cabbage make great additions. Top with seared tofu and a fat source like tahini, avocado, or candied nuts.

I would not recommend making this in the morning when you're already hungry - make a big batch for dinner the night before, and save some for breakfast.

Chickpea flour omelette

This is inspired by an Indian dish called besan chilla - read, this is a very old cultural food and is not a modern invention at all, so don’t go thinking it’s weird. Similar dishes exist in the Mediterranean too - socca and panelle, for example. This looks like a lot of steps, but it truly takes only a few minutes to mix it up and cook, so don’t sleep on this one!

If you've never made an omelette or savory pancake made from chickpea flour, then you’re probably thinking that you need a recipe. Sorry, I don’t have one. Google one if you must - plenty of other people have recipes for this. But I’d like to challenge and encourage you to trust yourself and make it without a recipe. Here’s how:

1. Scoop out some chickpea flour. Eyeball the amount - you know how hungry you are and how much will fit on the pan. Use your common sense.

2. Add a little pinch of baking powder. You’re probably thinking, what do you mean you aren’t measuring that? I said what I said. Baking powder is a leavening agent - more means it will be fluffy and tall like a pancake, less means it will be thinner and flatter like an omelette or a crepe. Either way, it’s going to work so don’t worry about getting too technical.

3. Season as you see fit. This is a blank slate, you can go a lot of different directions here so just do what you like. I typically go with salt, pepper, turmeric, nutritional yeast, kala namak, and garlic powder.

4. Gradually mix in water until it has the consistency of a runny pancake batter. You don’t have to worry about overmixing because it contains no gluten.

5. Sauté your veggies of choice. You also don’t have to add veggies if you’re out or if you can’t be bothered.

6. Add your veggies to the batter.

7. Cook it like a pancake over low/medium heat.

8. Serve with your favorite condiments or chutneys.

This is great on its own, or on a breakfast sandwich.

Split pea or lentil omelette

Similar to the idea above, this is also inspired by an Indian dish called moong dal chilla. To make, you soak dry yellow split peas or lentils overnight, then blend with water to a batter consistency. Season as you like, cook it like an omelette, and add your veggies and toppings of choice.

Chickpea flour & tofu frittata

This is a perfect option for meal prep. To make, just sauté your veggies of choice. While those are cooking, blend firm tofu with chickpea flour and seasonings of choice. Mix in the sautéed veggies, oil your pan well, and then bake at 350 until it's cooked through - about 35 to 45 minutes. Then you can slice it up for breakfast for the next few days.