Light Plant-Based Breakfast Recipes

You’ve heard it before, and you know it’s true: The key to a successful, highly energized day is eating a balanced breakfast. When you get the right plant-based foods into your body in the morning, you feel great — both mentally and physically. Following are breakfast recipes that are on the lighter side and could even help you achieve weight loss (if that's a goal).

Liquid Nutrition Smoothie

Preparation time: 4 minutes

Yield: 2 servings

2 cups rice milk, almond milk, or hempseed milk

2 to 4 tablespoons plant-based protein powder (such as Sunwarrior or Vega)

1/2 cup blueberries or mixed berries, fresh or frozen

1 banana

1/2 cup chopped mango, peach, or pear, fresh or frozen

1/2 cup ice

1 teaspoon coconut nectar or raw honey

1/2 to 1 cup packed fresh spinach leaves

1. Blend all the ingredients in a blender until the mixture is smooth and no lumps remain.

2. Pour into two glasses and enjoy.

Per serving: Calories 186 (From Fat 27); Fat 3g (Saturated 0g); Cholesterol 0mg; Sodium 283mg; Carbohydrate 31g (Dietary Fiber 4g); Protein 11g.

The smoothie will keep for eight hours in the refrigerator.

Try adding a tablespoon of any of these superfoods: goji berries, cacao nibs, coconut oil, flax oil, chia seeds, hempseeds, carob powder, maca, matcha green-tea powder, almond butter, or acai-berry powder.

This smoothie will be creamier if your fruit is frozen, so opt for frozen fruit whenever possible (or just add more ice).

Soaked Oats with Goji Berries

Preparation time: 10 minutes plus soaking time

Cook time: 2–10 minutes

Yield: 1–2 servings

1/2 cup whole rolled oats

1/2 cup water

1 tablespoon fresh-squeezed lemon juice

1/2 cup rice milk or almond milk

1 tablespoon almond butter

1 banana, sliced

2 tablespoons goji berries

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1. Combine the oats, water, and lemon juice in a bowl. Cover with a plate and soak overnight at room temperature.

2. For cold oats, add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and enjoy.

3. For warm oats, add all the ingredients to a pot with an additional splash of rice milk. Warm for 5 minutes and serve.

Per serving: Calories 433 (From Fat 144); Fat 16g (Saturated 2.5g); Cholesterol 0mg; Sodium 49mg; Carbohydrate 62g (Dietary Fiber 6g); Protein 15g.

If you like your raisins or pumpkin seeds soft, soak them overnight with the oats. If you want to make the warming process even easier, prepare this recipe in a slow cooker the night before and just turn the heat on in the morning for a few minutes to warm it up.

Try using some of these toppings instead for a different flavor: chia seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts, currents, apple slices, pear slices, cacao nibs, or hempseeds.

Morning Millet Granola

Preparation time: 8 minutes

Cook time: 25 minutes

Yield: Approx 6 cups

3/4 cup pure organic maple syrup

1 tablespoon rice milk

1/4 cup coconut oil

4 cups rolled oats

1–1/2 cups puffed millet cereal or millet flakes

3/4 cup sesame seeds

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds

1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

1/4 cup flaxseeds

1 cup chopped almonds

1 teaspoon sea salt

1-1/2 cups raisins, apricots, or cranberries (unsulphured)

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

2. Combine the maple syrup, rice milk, and coconut oil in a large saucepan and set aside.

3. Mix the remaining ingredients, except the raisins, in a large bowl. Toss well.

4. Add the syrup mixture and stir well.

5. Pour the mixture into two shallow pans or baking sheets lined with parchment paper and bake for 15 minutes. Stir, then bake for an additional 10 minutes.

6. Take the granola out of the oven and add the raisins.

7. Cool and store in an airtight container.

Per serving: Calories 281 (From Fat 117); Fat 13g (Saturated 4.5g); Cholesterol 0mg; Sodium 73mg; Carbohydrate 41g (Dietary Fiber 5g); Protein 5g.

Don’t add the raisins or other dried fruits too early — they get very hard if baked in the oven.

Instead of millet, you can use oat bran, quinoa, or amaranth flakes.

Serve this granola with coconut yogurt and top it with fresh berries for a hearty breakfast delight.

Be sure that the dried fruit you buy is sulphite free. Suphates are preservatives that keep fruit “fresh” long after it has been harvested. Always check to make sure the dried fruit you buy is free of this additive.

Homemade Hempseed Milk

Prep time: 5 minutes

Yield: 6 servings

1 cup hempseeds

4 cups water

1 tablespoon coconut oil

2 tablespoons maple syrup or coconut nectar

1 teaspoon vanilla-bean powder, or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Place all the ingredients in a high-speed blender and blend for at least 1 minute.

Per serving: Calories 263 (From Fat 189); Fat 21g (Saturated 26g); Cholesterol 0mg; Sodium 6mg; Carbohydrate 9g (Dietary Fiber 4 g); Protein 13g.

Try swapping out the hempseeds for almonds, Brazil nuts, sunflower seeds, or macadamia nuts. If you swap out the hempseeds for a nut with skins, you@’ll need to strain the milk with a fine mesh colander, cheese cloth, or nut-milk bag to remove the skins from the liquid.

This milk can be stored for up to four days and keeps best in the refrigerator in a glass jar.

You can substitute this milk measure for measure in most recipes that call for dairy milk.