What is the healthiest breakfast to eat?

There's no single best one. Good choices are plain Greek yogurt with berries and nuts, eggs with vegetables and whole-grain toast, and oatmeal cooked in milk with fruit. They all mix protein, fiber and healthy fats and have little added sugar.

What is a quick healthy breakfast?

Greek yogurt or skyr with fruit and seeds, cottage cheese with fruit, two boiled eggs you made the day before, overnight oats, or whole-grain toast with peanut butter and banana. Each takes 5 minutes or less.

What should I eat for breakfast to lose weight?

Choose a breakfast with a lot of protein and fiber for its calories, such as Greek yogurt with berries, eggs with vegetables, or cottage cheese with fruit. They keep you full longer. Skip juice, pastries and sweet cereals, which add calories but don't fill you up.

Is it OK to skip breakfast?

Yes, for most healthy adults. A review of 13 trials found that eating breakfast didn't help people lose weight. People who ate breakfast actually ate about 260 more calories a day. If you're not hungry in the morning, it's fine to wait. Just make your first meal a healthy one.

How much protein should I eat at breakfast?

About 20–30 g is a good target. Two eggs give you about 13 g. A cup of plain Greek yogurt gives about 20 g. Most cereals and toast alone give less than 10 g, so add eggs, yogurt, cottage cheese or tofu.

21 Healthy Breakfast Ideas (Quick, High Protein, Easy)

Q: What is a healthy breakfast?

A healthy breakfast has protein (eggs, yogurt, cottage cheese, tofu), fiber (oats, whole-grain bread, fruit, vegetables) and little added sugar. Aim for about 20–30 g of protein and 5 g of fiber or more. That keeps you full until lunch.

A healthy breakfast keeps you full until lunch, gives you steady energy and makes it easier to eat well for the rest of the day. It doesn’t need to take long. Most of the ideas below take 5–10 minutes, and some you can make the night before.

The short answer: a good breakfast has protein (eggs, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, tofu), fiber (oats, whole-grain bread, fruit, vegetables) and little added sugar. Aim for 20–30 g of protein and 5 g of fiber or more. Below are 21 healthy breakfast ideas with the protein, fiber and calories for each, so you can pick what fits your day.

Protein, fiber and calories are approximate, based on the USDA FoodData Central database. Brands differ, so check the labels of what you buy.

What makes a breakfast healthy?

Look for these four things on your plate:

Protein – eggs, Greek yogurt, skyr, cottage cheese, milk, tofu, fish or beans. Protein fills you up more than the same calories from sugar or fat.
Fiber – oats, whole-grain bread, fruit, vegetables, beans, chia or flax seeds. Fiber slows down digestion, so your blood sugar rises more slowly.
Healthy fats – nuts, seeds, peanut butter, avocado or olive oil. A little goes a long way.
Little added sugar – the World Health Organization advises keeping added sugars under 10% of your calories, and ideally under 5%. That’s about 25 g (6 teaspoons) a day.

A typical sweet breakfast – a pastry, a glass of juice and a sweet coffee drink – can use up all of that before 9 a.m.

Do you need to eat breakfast?

Not necessarily. For years we heard that breakfast is “the most important meal of the day”. But when researchers looked at 13 trials, eating breakfast didn’t help people lose weight. People who ate breakfast ate about 260 more calories a day than those who skipped it (Sievert et al., BMJ, 2019).

So if you’re not hungry in the morning, it’s fine to wait. What matters most is what you eat. If you do eat breakfast, a protein-rich one helps. In one study, young women who usually skipped breakfast ate a breakfast with more protein. They had fewer cravings in the evening and snacked less on fatty and sugary foods than when they skipped breakfast (Leidy et al., American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2013). If you’re curious about eating later in the day, read our guide to intermittent fasting.

High protein breakfast ideas

Breakfast	What’s in it	Protein	Fiber	Calories
1. Greek yogurt bowl	1 cup (200 g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt, ½ cup berries, 1 tbsp chia seeds	22 g	6 g	215
2. Veggie omelet with toast	2 eggs, spinach, tomato and onion, 1 tsp olive oil, 1 slice whole-grain toast	17 g	4 g	290
3. Cottage cheese with fruit	1 cup low-fat cottage cheese, ½ cup pineapple, 1 tbsp walnuts	25 g	2 g	270
4. Breakfast burrito	1 whole-wheat tortilla, 2 scrambled eggs, ¼ cup black beans, salsa	20 g	7 g	360
5. Tofu scramble	5 oz (150 g) firm tofu, peppers and spinach, 1 tsp olive oil	25 g	4 g	290
6. Smoked salmon on rye	2 slices rye bread, 2 oz (56 g) smoked salmon, cucumber, 1 tbsp cream cheese	16 g	5 g	300
7. Skyr with oats and apple	¾ cup (170 g) skyr, 2 tbsp rolled oats, 1 small apple, cinnamon	19 g	5 g	235

Eggs are one of the cheapest sources of protein. A large egg has about 6 g of protein and 72 calories – see how many calories are in an egg for every size and cooking method.

Quick healthy breakfast ideas (5 minutes or less)

Breakfast	What’s in it	Protein	Fiber	Calories
8. Boiled eggs and fruit	2 eggs you boiled the day before, 1 orange	13 g	3 g	210
9. Peanut butter banana toast	1 slice whole-grain toast, 1 tbsp peanut butter, ½ banana	8 g	4 g	230
10. Berry smoothie	1 cup milk, ½ cup Greek yogurt, 1 cup frozen berries, 1 tbsp ground flaxseed	20 g	6 g	290
11. Avocado toast with eggs	1 slice whole-grain toast, ½ avocado, 2 eggs	18 g	7 g	345
12. Hummus toast	2 slices whole-grain toast, ¼ cup hummus, tomato and cucumber	13 g	8 g	260
13. Low-sugar cereal with milk	1 cup whole-grain cereal (under 6 g sugar per serving), 1 cup milk, ½ cup berries	11 g	7 g	260

Tip for smoothies: use milk or water, not juice, and keep the whole fruit. Juice adds sugar but takes away the fiber that keeps you full.

Make-ahead breakfast ideas

Breakfast	What’s in it	Protein	Fiber	Calories
14. Overnight oats	½ cup rolled oats, ½ cup milk, ½ cup Greek yogurt, 1 tbsp chia seeds, berries	20 g	9 g	330
15. Egg muffins	3 eggs baked in a muffin pan with peppers, spinach and onion	19 g	1 g	240
16. Chia pudding	3 tbsp chia seeds soaked overnight in 1 cup milk, topped with fruit	14 g	11 g	320
17. Baked oatmeal	1 slice of oats baked with eggs, milk, banana and walnuts	12 g	5 g	300

Make 6 egg muffins or 4 jars of overnight oats on Sunday, and breakfast is ready for most of the week.

Warm and filling breakfast ideas

Breakfast	What’s in it	Protein	Fiber	Calories
18. Oatmeal cooked in milk	½ cup rolled oats, 1 cup milk, 1 tbsp peanut butter, ½ banana	17 g	6 g	420
19. Shakshuka	2 eggs cooked in a tomato and pepper sauce, 1 slice whole-grain bread	17 g	5 g	320
20. Beans on toast	½ cup beans in tomato sauce, 1 slice whole-grain toast, 1 egg	15 g	9 g	310
21. Savory oats	½ cup oats cooked in water, topped with a fried egg, spinach and a little cheese	17 g	5 g	330

Why oats are a great base: oats have a fiber called beta-glucan. Eating at least 3 g of it a day – about a large bowl of oatmeal (¾ cup or 70–80 g dry oats) – lowered “bad” LDL cholesterol in a review of 28 trials (Whitehead et al., American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2014). Choose plain rolled or steel-cut oats. Flavored instant packets often have a lot of added sugar.

Healthy breakfast ideas for weight loss

If you want to lose weight, look at protein and fiber per calorie. These breakfasts fill you up for the fewest calories:

Greek yogurt bowl – 22 g protein for about 215 calories
Skyr with oats and apple – 19 g for about 235 calories
Egg muffins – 19 g for about 240 calories
Cottage cheese with fruit – 25 g for about 270 calories
Tofu scramble – 25 g for about 290 calories

Nuts, peanut butter, avocado and granola are healthy but high in calories. Use about a tablespoon of nut butter or a small handful of nuts. Check how many calories you need with our free calorie calculator, and read how a calorie deficit really works.

Breakfast foods to limit

Many popular breakfast foods are high in sugar and low in protein and fiber. That’s why you feel hungry again by 10 a.m.

Food	Why to limit it
Sweet cereals	Often 10–15 g of sugar per serving and little fiber
Pastries, muffins and donuts	Lots of calories, sugar and refined flour, little protein
Fruit juice	The sugar of 2–3 fruits without the fiber
Flavored yogurt	Often as much sugar as a dessert, plus thickeners and flavorings
Bacon and sausage	Processed meat is linked to a higher risk of colon cancer
Sweet coffee drinks	Can have more sugar than a can of soda

Many of these are ultra-processed foods. Learn how to spot them in our guide to ultra-processed food.

Tips for a healthy breakfast every day

Start with protein, then add fiber: eggs plus toast, yogurt plus fruit, cottage cheese plus berries.
Choose whole grains: oats, whole-grain bread, or cereal with at least 3 g of fiber per serving.
Eat whole fruit, not juice.
Buy plain yogurt and add your own fruit and a little honey if you need it.
Add vegetables to eggs, toast or wraps – spinach, tomatoes, peppers and cucumber all work.
Prepare the night before if your mornings are rushed: boil eggs, make overnight oats or chia pudding.
Don’t force it. If you’re not hungry, a later first meal is fine – just make it a good one.

Track your breakfast without guessing. With NutriSmart, you take a photo of what you eat and the app counts the calories, protein, carbs, fat and fiber, and shows you what’s left for the day.Get the app free

For more ideas, see our lists of high protein snacks, high fiber foods and low glycemic index foods, or try the Mediterranean diet for the rest of the day. To find your daily protein goal, use the protein calculator.

Want breakfasts with 25–36 g of protein? See our high protein breakfast ideas.

Love a crumpet in the morning? Here are the calories in crumpets with every topping.

The bottom line

A healthy breakfast doesn’t need to be fancy. Combine protein, fiber and a little healthy fat, and keep added sugar low. Greek yogurt with berries, eggs with vegetables and whole-grain toast, overnight oats and cottage cheese with fruit are all quick, cheap and filling. And if you’re not hungry in the morning, it’s fine to wait – what you eat matters more than when.