Easy Breakfast Ideas — 20 Recipes Ready in 15 Minutes

The research on breakfast is mixed, but one thing holds up consistently: people who eat protein and fat in the morning report fewer cravings and less energy slumping through the morning than those who eat pure carbohydrates or nothing at all. A piece of toast alone will leave most people hungry by 10am. Add two eggs, an avocado, or a handful of cheese, and the same meal becomes genuinely sustaining.

The recipes here are built around that principle — real ingredients that provide protein, fat, and enough flavour to be worth making. Most take 15 minutes or less, and several can be partially prepped the night before to make the morning even faster.

Avocado toast has a reputation for being basic, but when done correctly it's a genuinely satisfying breakfast. The key is using good bread (sourdough or rye holds up better than sandwich bread), properly ripe avocado, and seasoning aggressively. Flaky salt, lemon juice, and chilli flakes are the minimum — add a fried or poached egg on top and it becomes a complete meal.

Other 5-minute options worth rotating in: Greek yoghurt with honey and granola, overnight oats you've prepped the night before, or a simple omelette with whatever cheese and herbs you have to hand. These aren't exciting in concept, but they're reliable — you can make them half-asleep on a Monday without thinking.

This avocado toast recipe includes several variations beyond the basic version — combinations with eggs, smoked salmon, cherry tomatoes, and different seasonings. Each variation adds around 2 to 3 minutes to the prep time and significantly more nutritional value and flavour. Having 3 or 4 variations in your head means you can make it interesting rather than eating the same thing every morning.

Great for: quick weekday breakfasts, anyone trying to eat more healthy fats, a fast breakfast that still feels like a proper meal.

Eggs are the most efficient breakfast protein available. They cook in minutes, are endlessly variable, and contain all the essential amino acids alongside healthy fats and significant micronutrients. If there's one ingredient to keep stocked for fast breakfasts, it's eggs.

Egg foo young and chilaquiles both use eggs as the base but produce results that feel like proper meals rather than a quick fix. Egg foo young — the Chinese omelette dish — comes together in about 12 minutes and is one of the most protein-dense quick breakfasts you can make. Chilaquiles use leftover or store-bought tortilla chips as a base for eggs and salsa, producing a deeply flavourful dish in minutes.

Egg foo young is a restaurant classic that's significantly easier to make at home than most people assume. The technique — making thick, puffy omelettes in a well-oiled pan and serving with a simple gravy — takes about 12 minutes once you've done it once. The filling is flexible: whatever vegetables need using and any protein works.

Great for: a filling weekday breakfast, using up vegetables, introducing more protein into your morning routine.

Chilaquiles is a Mexican breakfast that turns yesterday's leftover tortilla chips into a proper morning meal. The chips are briefly simmered in salsa until just starting to soften — they should retain some crunch — then topped with fried or scrambled eggs, crumbled cheese, and sour cream. The whole dish takes about 15 minutes and tastes significantly more impressive than that.

Great for: using up leftover chips, a weekend breakfast that feels like something from a good brunch spot, people who like bold flavours in the morning.

Weekend breakfasts are a different category — you have 30 to 45 minutes, you want something satisfying and a bit special, and you're not in a rush. Quiche lorraine is the best example: it takes about 45 minutes including the pastry, serves as many people as you need, and can be made ahead and reheated. A slice of properly made quiche with a simple salad is one of the best meals in this entire collection.

Other weekend breakfast ideas worth exploring: full fry-ups with all the components, shakshuka (eggs poached in a spiced tomato sauce), French toast with thick bread and a proper egg custard, and pancake stacks with proper technique rather than a packet mix.

Quiche lorraine is built on a few non-negotiable elements: a proper shortcrust pastry (not shop-bought if you can avoid it), a custard filling with a correct cream-to-egg ratio, and good-quality bacon or lardons. Rush any of these and the result is disappointing. Take the time — it's mostly passive time waiting for the pastry to rest and blind-bake — and you get something genuinely excellent.

Great for: weekend brunch, feeding a group, making ahead for the week.