It’s easier than you think to provide a healthy kid-friendly breakfast that keeps kids full and energized all morning. Below I listed some quick healthy breakfast ideas for kids to eat before school, including some easy healthy breakfast recipes for kids.
What makes a healthy breakfast for kids?
A healthy kids’ breakfast should contain at least 4 of the basic food group below. They provide energy for the body and help us thrive through the day.
A healthy breakfast for kids before school should contain:
- Protein – they keep kids’ tummy full and feed their muscles. Protein sources in kids’ breakfasts come from milk, wholegrain cereal, or wholegrain bread, cheese, eggs, or beans.
- Fruits – any fruit can be offered in a kid’s breakfast, preferably fresh or frozen, not in a juice. Fresh fruits contain more fiber which slows down the absorption of sugar and keeps your kid’s energy level up through the day. It also fills their belly even more as fiber swells in the stomach, providing a fulfilling sensation.
- Vegetables – raw or cooked, vegetables add fiber nutrients. If your kids don’t like vegetables for breakfast, try sneaking them into their food by making sweet potato pancakes or spinach banana muffins.
- Wholegrains – wholegrains are slow-carbohydrates it means carbs that contain lots of fiber to release glucose slowly into the bloodstream and keep the keep energy steady through their morning. It’s important to offer whole grain cereals or wholemeal bread to kids with at least 3g of fiber per 100 grams to keep them full and energized for long periods.
- Calcium – this is an important nutrient in growing kids, and you can offer calcium in many different ways. Of course, you can offer milk, yogurt, or cheese for breakfast. But if your kid is intolerant to lactose, there’s a great range of calcium-fortified cereals or non-dairy milk boosted in calcium that kids love.
Why should kids get breakfast in the morning?
When you wake up, your body has been fasting for about 12 hours and it needs glucose to make the legs run, the brain thinks clearly, and be happy.
It’s proven that kids who eat breakfast in the morning don’t lack important nutrients and maintain a healthy weight. That’s why skipping breakfast is not recommended before a long day at school.
#1 – Healthy kids porridge
Healthy breakfast ideas for kids don’t have to be complicated! And kids love a hot porridge to start the day, and that’s great news. In fact, a homemade porridge recipe is made with only 2 ingredients, so it’s easy to make, and it’s packed with protein, fiber, and nutrients.
Plus, if you are in a rush, you can easily microwave your kid’s porridge 1 minute and it’s ready to serve!
But how to make porridge recipes for kids? We all want to make a porridge that even picky eaters love.
Well, to make a healthy kid’s porridge recipe, combine the following ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl:
- 1/4 cup quick cooking
- 1/2 cup water or milk of choice
Then, microwave the bowl for 1 minute until the porridge is hot and creamy. Then, stir in 1/4 cup of frozen blueberries or frozen raspberries. This cools down the porridge and makes it safe for kids to eat. You can add 1-2 teaspoons of mashed banana or applesauce to sweeten the porridge naturally.
Finally, decorate with their favorite toppings like:
- dried fruits like chopped apricot, dried raisins
- a few chocolate chips
- unsweetened desiccated coconut
- fresh banana slices
- a dollop of nut butter – this also adds proteins
#2 – Healthy breakfast muffins for kids
Breakfast muffins are easy healthy kids breakfast because you can make them ahead, freeze and serve them all week long.
Plus, you can easily create a range of muffin flavors, adding or swapping one ingredient for the other. For example, you can use my banana peach muffin recipe and swap peach with blueberries or even chocolate chips to create different muffin flavors.
But first, let’s see what makes a kid muffin healthy for breakfast before school. A healthy muffin recipe should have a good blend of:
Protein – adding yogurt, egg, peanut butter, or bean in your kid’s muffins makes protein-loaded breakfast muffins like in my chocolate black bean muffin recipe.
Wholegrain cereal – by using rolled oat or white wholemeal flour, like in my chocolate banana oat muffins recipe.
Unrefined sugar – use mashed banana as a sweetener or applesauce and a low amount of unrefined cane sugar or maple syrup, like in these banana spinach muffins.
Hide some greens or other nutrient-packed seeds – muffins are great to sneak spinach or kale and add many nutrients to your kid’s breakfast without them complaining! Try my kid-friendly chocolate spinach muffin recipe, kids love it, and it’s full of banana, oat, spinach, and low sugar.
Portion control – for toddlers or infants, bake mini muffins using a small cupcake pan. You don’t get leftovers and it matches their small hands!
#3 – Whole-wheat toasts and protein
The simplest kid breakfasts ever are toasts. But to make healthy breakfast toasts for kids make sure you choose:
- Wholemeal bread with at least 3g of fiber per 100g to add fulfilling fiber to your kid’s breakfast. Some also contain complete proteins like quinoa or buckwheat.
- Protein spread – including nut butter like peanut butter, almond butter, or sunflower seed butter. Some kids have a savory tooth, and for them, you can suggest homemade beans in tomato sauce (or low-sugar added if ready-made), ham, sliced boiled eggs, or scrambled eggs.
- Fruits – banana slices, blueberries, raspberries.
- Vegetable – cooked avocado, spinach, tomatoes, or cucumber sticks.
#4 – Healthy kids cereals and milk
Cereals have bad reputations, but they shouldn’t! Not all cereals are the same, and plenty of cereal brands are healthy for kids’ breakfasts. To select healthy kid-friendly cereals, look at the nutrition panel and ingredient list and look for:
- Low sugar – less than 25g per 100 gram for school kids and preferably less than 10g per 100 grams for toddlers. Also, check the ingredients list to see which sweetener is used. Liquid fructose is not healthy, but some unrefined sweeteners are way better, like honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar, or date puree. These sweeteners add nutrients.
- Fortified in iron and vitamins – this is a great thing if your kids are picky eaters at mealtime. These cereals provide important nutrients like calcium, iron, and vitamins.
- Fiber – the more fiber, the more fulfilling the cereals are!
Serve cereals with milk, calcium-fortified non-dairy milk, or plain as a side to a piece of fruit and yogurt.
#5 – Greek yogurt with fruit and granola
As for cereals, look for low-sugar granola brands or sweetened with unrefined sugar. Serve on top of Greek yogurt or milk with or without fruits like blueberries or strawberries.
#6- Scrambled eggs
Eggs are a complete source of protein, which means they bring all the essential amino acids. It’s a great savory breakfast, even on school mornings. Serve them with a piece of wholemeal bread and vegetables like avocado or tomatoes.
#7- Muffin cups
Like breakfast muffins, muffins cups are great healthy breakfast ideas for kids and easy freezer breakfast to make ahead.
You can create different flavors by changing the type of berries or add-ons and using natural sweeteners like mashed banana, applesauce, or unrefined sugar to keep them low sugar.
#8- Overnight oats
Overnight oats are basically no-bake porridge. It’s an easy breakfast to make ahead and scoop in the kid’s bowl in the morning. To make a plain large batch of overnight oats, bring the ingredients below into a large sealed container.
Easy make-ahead kid overnight oats
- 1/3 cup old-fashioned oats
- 1 tablespoon chia seed
- 1 tablespoon peanut butter or almond butter
- 1/2 cup milk of choice
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
Then, keep the container in the fridge overnight and serve in the morning with healthy toppings like chopped nuts, berries, peanut butter.
#9 – Multigrain bagels
Choose a multigrain bagel, slice it in half, and toast. Then, add a protein spread like cream cheese, nut butter, or cheese. Top up with banana slices, blueberries, or savory toppings like avocado, ham, or spinach.
#10 – English muffins
There are plenty of healthy English muffins at the grocery store, not all are made of wheat flour. You can find some using added healthy grains like quinoa or seeds and kids loves them as muffins.
First, toast the English muffins and then cut them into small pieces for toddlers and serve them as a side to fruits/vegetables and calcium food.
#11- Breakfast smoothie
Smoothies are also healthy breakfast ideas for kids! A healthy breakfast smoothie for kids should contain cereals like old-fashioned oats, proteins, fruits, milk, and sometimes vegetables.
Try my green kid smoothie recipe and tell your kid it’s a monster breakfast smoothie to encourage them to eat breakfast with green colors.
#12 – Waffles
Healthy waffles for kids can be made with oat, banana, eggs, and milk. They are also great lunchbox filler for later in the week.
#13 – Pancakes and crepes
There are so many healthy kid pancake recipes you can offer for breakfast like banana oatmeal pancakes, oat almond pancakes, or simply wholemeal pancakes.
#14 – French toasts
French toasts are great sources of protein, calcium, and wholegrain if made with wholemeal bread and low added sugar. Sweeten your French toast with nutrient-dense unrefined sugar, like coconut sugar, maple syrup, or plain, and top them with bananas or apple sauce.
I hope you enjoy these healthy breakfast options for kids! They are all easy healthy kid-friendly breakfasts that keep your little ones full for a busy morning at school.
XOXO, Carine
