Kid-friendly breakfasts that aren’t cereal

“You know what I need? A list of quick, go-to breakfasts that KIDS safely make themselves that isn’t cereal.”

Updated 8/22/2024

My friend Lia asked me this and it got me thinking… It would be nice to assemble a bunch of these ideas all in one place. I also wrote a new blog post, Preparing Healthy Breakfasts and Lunches for School: A Guide for Parents, to include lunch ideas, too!

The breakfast choices, of course, will depend on the age/skill of the child as well as food preferences. One thing that will make it work is a willingness to prep a few things to make the mornings easier.

Overnight oats

Overnight oats

aka muesli

I’d also call this muesli. Oats are soaked overnight and in the morning, your child can add fresh fruit, dried fruit, nuts, seeds, and yogurt. The toppings can be kept together in an easily accessible area. Click here to view the recipe for my favorite muesli. There is also a recipe in the cookbook at the end of this list.

Oatmeal in a programmable rice cooker

Yep, a rice cooker.

A hot bowl of porridge ready when you are (or while you’re still sleeping!)

If you are a family who all likes to have rice and oatmeal now and then, a good programmable rice cooker can be a great investment. Add oats, chia, dulse flakes, salt, and water to it the night before and everyone can dish up hot porridge the next morning whenever they like and top it with cream, sugar, fruit, and nuts as they like. Here’s my favorite oatmeal recipe and a video on how to cook oatmeal in a rice cooker too. You can also see my recommendation for a great rice cooker here.

Pre-cooked sausages

You can buy pre-cooked sausages or you can buy breakfast sausages, cook them yourself and keep them in the fridge for your kids to reheat. They make a solid breakfast, lunch or after-school snack. Costco makes a good breakfast sausage and you can bake up to 2 packages at a time on a half-sheet pan in the oven at 400F for 30 minutes.

Whole grain toast with nut butter

Buy some nice bread. If your child likes it, maybe some of that nice Ezekial sprouted grain bread. Top it with peanut butter, sunflower butter or almond butter and either some honey, jam or sliced bananas. It doesn’t seem like much, but serve it with a warm mug of rooibos tea with milk and that’s a nice filling breakfast.

Yogurt with fruit

Plain full-fat yogurt or Greek yogurt is great to have on hand. Avoid the fruit/sweetened yogurt as they have as much sugar as a Snickers bar. You’re better off topping it with some fresh or frozen blueberries and a drizzle of maple syrup. Keep some washed berries in the fridge to grab or a tub of frozen berries. Greek yogurt can be nicer here (but a bit more expensive) and is also higher in protein.

Cottage cheese with fruit

One cup of cottage cheese has around 30g of protein. Keep some canned pineapple or peaches in the fridge so your child can easily scoop some out to sweeten the cottage cheese.

Yogurt with granola

Some good store-bought granola can make a crunchy topping. Or, you can make your own. Here’s my favorite cranberry-almond granola recipe that my kids like with yogurt.

Fruit/yogurt smoothie

You can whip up a quart or two of this to last a few days. Keep it in the fridge for your children to have when they need it. It’s a great breakfast/snack to teach your child to make as all but the youngest can handle an immersion blender. Yogurt, banana, and berries are the basics. But recommend your child to look online for new recipes! (The cookbook listed below has a number of nice ideas.)

Scrambled eggs

This will take some training to get your child confident. The cookbook below has a good recipe. They can also follow my how to cook eggs video to show them the basics.

Cookbook

America’s Test Kitchen’s “The Complete Cookbook for Young Chefs” is a brilliant visual cookbook for children. It’s a great visual cookbook with easy-to-follow recipes that work. My own kids have used this book to develop their own skills. Waffles, breakfast tacos, overnight oats, muffins, blueberry pancakes, fruit smoothies, granola bars, french toast and eggs are all covered in the book. If you have children, I think this and the companion baking book are both must-haves for the kitchen.