Keto Breakfast Ideas
NO BREAD? NO PROBLEM!
No toast, muffins, bagels or donuts?
Calm down lads and lassies. It is possible to make breakfasts without toast, bagels, donuts and muffins. There are non-grain substitutions for all of these, but I urge you to step away from the baked goods for now, until you shake off their shackles. Please read my earlier blog on keto baked goods to understand why.
I hear all the time “But I’m sick of bacon and eggs.” I don’t blame you there. Consider some of the following for ideas for a keto breakfast.
Ideas For a “Breadless” Breakfast
1) All manner of frittatas. Yes, I know they are eggs, but several steps above scrambled, fried or poached. They also can be made in muffin tins and travel well! Add any of the following (and check cookbooks about how to make frittatas if you have never made one – they can be done entirely on the stove or half on the stove, finished in the oven):
Ham
Cheese
Sausage
Chorizo
Diced vegetables
Spinach
Leeks
Broccoli
You get the idea!
2) Yogurt (PLAIN!) Greek or Regular with berries or other fruit as mix-ins. Use full-fat yogurt, or at least do not use non-fat. You don’t want to be hungry in a few hours. Please read my FAQ about sugar in yogurt.
3) If you are still eating grains on a low-carb plan, go ahead and enjoy that oatmeal or other hot cereal that you like.
Make sure it is the pure cereal grain and not one that contains several ingredients, including sugar!
That packet of instant oatmeal that you have probably is not just oatmeal.
However, if you plan to move all the way to Keto, I would suggest getting your taste buds used to other breakfast foods and not have cereal 7 days a week!
4) Hamburgers – yeah, I know. But either a plain hamburger or one that has been mixed with diced peppers, onions and celery, makes a very filling breakfast. Top it with cheese!
5) Any leftovers from dinner work well for breakfast – think outside the box. You think some of those foods you can’t face in the morning, but you would be surprised!
Eggs any which way are fine.
If you are looking to add fat, I would go for eggs scrambled with cream and cooked in butter or ghee.
On the side you can put
bacon
salami
sausage
full-fat kielbasa
full-fat hot dogs
steak
etc.
Whenever I scramble eggs, I always throw in a handful of baby spinach or sautéed mushrooms.
If you are sensitive to chicken eggs, duck eggs are becoming more available in some markets. Very often people will have sensitivity to one but not the other.
If you do eat eggs make sure you search for the hundreds of Keto crustless quiche recipes.
There are recipes both baked and in crockpots, and
Wonderful grab-and-go egg muffins that can be made with all sorts of goodness like
ham
cheese
sausage
leeks
all sorts of other vegetables
Let’s not forget hard-boiled eggs and egg salad!
Beyond Eggs
After a certain point, especially if you were a cereal or baked-goods breakfast person, you may tire of eggs.
Often, I have turkey breast rolled up in a cheese wrap.
Countless mornings I have had ham and cheese rollups in lettuce leaves.
One of my favorite breakfasts is a fried beef burger or chicken burger.
There are several brands of Keto granolas, and they do not contain wheat products and are made primarily of nuts and seeds (or you can make your own).
Just be careful to count these as total carbs no matter what the fiber count is.
If you are counting net carbs only, you can do that, but watch your quantity.
There are several full-fat plain yogurts and Greek yogurts that are very low in carbs.
Personally, I pick a very low-carb plain Greek yogurt and do not count it, as I also have only a small amount – about ½ to ¾ cup.
To this I add seeds and nuts or Keto granola, or cut-up cucumbers and mint (which, by the way, put through a blender makes a fabulous dressing!).
If you are eating berries, go ahead and add them to the yogurt, although I would save this combination for a wonderful dessert later in the day.
I have made stunning breakfast plates with
smoked salmon
olives
one or two cheeses
radishes
celery sticks
sliced cucumber
I also suggest a caprese salad. It is no more than sliced mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, balsamic vinaigrette and olive oil.
Full-fat cottage cheese and ricotta cheese are allowed on Keto, but make sure you count the carbs.
Coffee Sides
Even though I suggest not going with Keto baked-good substitutes, you are highly unlikely to go overboard on these morning “coffee sides” that follow. These are great ideas for a keto breakfast especially if you are on the run with coffee in hand.
The reason I call these few breakfast baked-goods “unlikely to overeat baked coffee-sides” in the breakfast worksheet is because their sweetness factor is minimal, which often drives the “I can’t stop eating this” behavior.
Give me a Keto cookie or cake or sweet Chaffles with Lankanto maple syrup (a monk fruit sweetener), and it’s another story!
Cloud bread
Google “cloud bread” or “oopsie rolls” and you will find dozens upon dozens of recipes and directions.
Basically, it is just four ingredients: eggs, cream cheese, cream of tartar, and salt!
I add cinnamon and a little sweetener for my morning recipe.
Keto Egg Loaf with Blueberry and Lemon
This is a recipe is from the website Have Butter Will Travel and it makes a wonderful breakfast. It is good enough for company.
True story: I served it for a Thanksgiving brunch and as people were finishing it, I whipped up a second one – it was the hit of the brunch.
It’s great to grab-and-go or to enjoy leisurely at home.
Keto Bagels
If I have a really strong hankering for a bagel there is are many Keto bagel recipes in cookbooks and on the Internet.
However, unlike the cloud bread and Keto Egg Loaf, there is a modicum of disappointment because although you can slather it with cream cheese and top it with tomatoes, onions and smoked salmon, it does not fool you into thinking you are eating a “real” bagel.
However, if you miss bagels and really want to have something like that to hold in your hand, go for it!
Here is my recipe.
Chaffles
Using a waffle maker, you can make these sweet or savory.
There are hundreds of recipes on the internet.
There is even a Facebook page devoted to them!
Palate-Brain Disconnect
If you start to experiment with Keto baked goods along your journey, you will develop less of a disconnect between your palate and your brain and you will actually enjoy the Keto bagel.
Breakfast Worksheet
Here is a special breakfast worksheet that I am putting right here for you - not even sending you to download it! I
Eggs: Fried, poached, scrambled, hard-boiled, egg salad
Omelets and Quiches made with
Cheese
Bacon
Salami
Kielbasa
Sausage
Hot dogs
Vegetables
Rollups with any deli meat
Sides of avocado and olives
Keto or low-sugar granola
Yogurt with
Keto Granola
Nuts and seeds
Cucumber and mint
Berries
Caprese plate (mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, basil, olive oil and balsamic vinegar)
Charcuterie plates with
Smoked salmon
Cheese
Meats such as salami and prosciutto
Olives
Vegetables
Baked goods
Coffee-Side Selections
What are some of your own ideas?
Different ways to make eggs
Variety of sides and mix-ins for eggs
Rollup ideas
Yogurt mix-in ideas
Combination Plates
As you can see...There are plenty of ideas for a keto breakfast without muffins, bagels, toast or donuts.
A lot of these suggestions can even be made into handheld fast food!
Let go of what you are used to and try a few new things.
PLANNING BREAKFASTS
Once you begin to look at keto or low carb as a lifestyle it becomes less a matter of going ON a diet or going OFF a diet.
Make choices based on health (in my case lowering my blood sugar and getting out of pre-diabetes range).
Make choices on how foods make you feel throughout the day.
(I find I am lethargic all day if I have something like pancakes or muffins for breakfast, but will absolutely dance through my day if I make breakfast healthy with protein and vegetables.)
Make choices based on other goals in your life (in my case it was to eliminate binge behavior).
Make wise non-carbohydrate choices at breakfast and you will set yourself up for a successful day! Not a measuring cup, scale or spoon in sight!
Thank you for taking the time to read this blog, Keto Breakfast Ideas, and I hope it will help you navigate your journey. Don't forget to subscribe to the mailing list (below) so that you don't miss the next blog! If you are interested in my course, Keto Fundamentals, please take a look at it here.