Want to get on the Paleo diet, but not sure what you can have for breakfast? Don’t let that stop you. We give you the best Paleo breakfast ideas to ensure you enjoy your mornings.

We’ve all heard it: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Chances are every single person reading this has been taught that since they were old enough to think about food.

Are you heeding the advice?

Too often we’re skipping, cutting corners or grabbing breakfast, but loading up on sugary, calorically empty options like drive-thru donuts, processed, sodium-laden breakfast sandwiches or swigging down some coffee and calling it a meal.

These nutritiously empty options don’t count as the hearty, healthy breakfast our mothers likely preached for us to load up on. If you find yourself crashing mid-morning and notice your energy levels tanking, that’s why.

There’s a much better way. Starting off your day on the right foot with a filling, healthy breakfast sets the tone for the rest of your day and starts it off deliciously. It’s a no-brainer to fill your body with healthy fuel first thing.

If you’re choosing to follow a Paleo diet, chances are you are already considering your health more than most.

Congrats on taking that first healthy step. As we all know though, starting a new diet regimen doesn’t necessarily guarantee healthy choices, so if you are committed to a Paleo lifestyle and have realized the importance of getting your breakfast choices in check, then we have a few Paleo breakfast ideas to get your day off to the healthiest and most delicious start.

If you think eating Paleo means you’ll need to give up your favorite, all-American breakfast treats, then think again!

Health and the happiness of your taste buds can definitely coexist.

What Is The Paleo Diet?

If you’re already on the Paleo bandwagon, alongside thousands of other Americans who are changing the way they eat in favor of this dietary plan, or just considering it, then you should know that there’s a lot to be said for this return to ancient ways route.

The Paleo diet has been picking up steam for years now around the dietary and health conscious community and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. Even paleo protein is beginning to gain traction.

Everywhere you look, celebrities, athletes and regular Joes alike are jumping on the Paleo train, swearing off processed, modern day havoc-wreaking options, and returning to a simpler way of eating.

It’s nearly impossible to avoid the constant flood of fans singing the praises of the diet.

If the word diet makes you cringe though, it shouldn’t.

Why?

Deprivation and eating foods that taste like cardboard is a thing of the past. Eating a Paleo diet opens up the doors to enjoying many of your favorite treats even watercress, just minus the bad-for-you ingredients and guilt.

If you set out to lose some pounds in 2017, regain your old strength and stamina, and feel your best, wising up about your food choices is going to be the single biggest thing you can do for your health. You can pump the iron all day long, but you can’t outwork a bad diet.

Unfortunately, it’s all too easy for the word “Paleo” to evoke the kind of confusion that swirls around other dietary terms like “all-natural” and “organic.” What does it mean and just what menu options are there in a

Paleo lifestyle?

The basic premise of it is simple. Rather than filling your plate with the modern day concoctions that not just ancient people, but even our own grandparents might not recognize as food, the Paleo diet advocates for a return to simpler times.

These Are The Paleo Food Types 

It doesn’t take more than a simple stroll through the grocery store to remind you just how far humans have strayed from whole, real foods. We’re filling our bodies with pounds and pounds of processed, artificial, additive-ridden, far from their natural state food products. With this smorgasbord of junk comes a healthy bill a mile long, much of which is easily avoided with a return to the foods our bodies actually recognize as food.

The Paleo diet tells us to return to the way of yesteryear.

So what’s on the table?

Plenty of good old-fashioned options like meat, wild game, berries, and nuts.

What’s off?

Grains are out, as are carbs, added sugars, salt and other foods that we often load up on. Go ahead and clean these out of your pantry. Alcohol and anything processed is off limits as well. As is dairy, grains, tuber, legumes and more. If a hunter-gatherer in ancient times wouldn’t have recognized and had access to it, it’s out.

By cutting out modern offenders like grains, legumes, and dairy, we remove many of the causes of the diseases that are killing so many people. That includes such things as heart attacks, strokes, and cancer.

These are ailments that were hardly ever issued for the ancient man and that have proven, direct links to the foods we put in our mouths.

So, now that you know just what Paleo is and what’s on the menu, what does this leave for your breakfast options?

Just about any of your favorite treats can still viable options!

Paleo Breakfast Ideas

Read on to get some delicious Paleo breakfast ideas that don’t taste like diet food, but are 100% Paleo approved.

Sweet Potato Waffles

What would morning be without the option of this sweet treat for weekends or anytime you’re feeling like a special breakfast?

Sweet potato easily pads out the coconut and almond (grain free) flour, and bam, added veggies, healthy carbs, vitamins, in waffles!

1 cup almond flour

2 Tablespoons coconut flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 medium sweet potato, cooked and skinned

2 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

2 Tablespoons maple syrup or agave nectar

1/2 Tablespoons coconut oil

1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk

Plug in and let your waffle iron heat, and while it’s doing so, assemble all of your dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Mix together well. In a separate bowl, mix together all of your wet ingredients and then add to the dry. Continue mixing until well combined. The batter should be thick, so you’ll need a spatula to spread it onto the waffle iron. Cook until done, according to the directions on your iron.

Coconut Flour Pancakes

Why coconut flour pancakes?

Simple. Because breakfast wouldn’t be breakfast without a big old stack of pancakes!

2 Tablespoons extra virgin coconut oil, unrefined and organic

1 Tablespoon raw honey, for flavor

1/4 cup coconut milk

3 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup coconut flour, sifted

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon sea salt or Himalayan pink salt

Begin by mixing together the coconut oil and honey until it forms a soft cream. Then add eggs, beating them in one at a time. Add coconut oil and vanilla to this mix. Keep mixing until smooth. Next, add your dry ingredients and mix until just combined (do not overdo it on the mixing). Spoon the batter into your heated skillet or pan and flip when you see bubbles form. Cook until brown on both sides and serve with maple syrup.

Banana Nut Porridge

If you need a hearty breakfast to sink your teeth into for colder weather mornings, this filling porridge is ideal. Bonus: It will keep your energy levels stable all morning long.

1 ripe banana

1/2 cup raw almonds

1/2 cup raw, unsalted cashews

1/2 cup raw pecans

2 cups coconut milk

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Dash of sea salt

You’ll need to get started on this recipe the night before. Begin by soaking the cashews, almonds, and pecans in a large bowl of water with sea salt sprinkled in. Cover the nuts with at least an inch of water. Then cover and allow it to soak overnight. The next morning, drain the water and process the nuts in a blender or food processor, mixing in the coconut milk, banana and cinnamon as you go. Blend well until smooth. Divide into servings and microwave for no more than 40 seconds (or warm up on the stovetop). Top the bowls with raisins, sliced banana, more nuts or any toppings you like.

Paleo Breakfast Burrito

This burrito obviously can’t rely on a traditional flour tortilla, so for an extra kick of protein, you’ll be making your own out of egg whites!

4 eggs, white and yolks separated

1/2 onion, finely chopped

1 or 2 tomatoes, finely chopped

1/4 cup green canned chilies, diced

1 red pepper, cut into strips

1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro

1/2 cup cooked meat (such as sliced steak or ground beef)

1 avocado

Hot sauce or salsa

With the four egg whites in a bowl, warm some oil in a 10-inch skillet. Pour half the eggs into the skillet, making sure they cover the base of the pan in a thin layer and put a lid on it, letting it cook for about one minute until it forms into something like a thin tortilla. Repeat this with the other egg whites.

Slide onto a plate and, in the same pan, cook down the tomato, green chilies, red pepper, cilantro, and meat, adding in the egg yolks once the veggies are sautéed, and mixing into a scramble. Just before you’re done, add the avocado and spoon half of the filling into each egg white. Roll into a burrito and serve with salsa or hot sauce.

Italian Egg Scramble

This scramble is protein-packed and comes together in a snap. Yes, even when you’re trying to rush out the door. You can alter it to your liking and utilize it as a clean out the fridge type of meal to use up any veggies you may have on hand that are starting to get old.

1/2 teaspoon coconut oil

1 1/2 cup kale, chopped

1/2 cup cherry tomatoes

1/4 teaspoon rosemary, minced

2 eggs

1 teaspoon balsamic vinaigrettes

1/4 avocado

Begin by melting your coconut oil in a small pan over medium-high heat, and toss in chopped kale, three teaspoons of water, rosemary, cherry tomatoes and a dash of salt. Toss everything around and put a lid on the pan, allowing it to cook for three to four minutes. Stir once or twice to keep things from sticking. Using the back of a spatula, press down on the cherry tomatoes to pop them and release their juices. In the same pan (push the veggies to the side), crack two eggs and add a pinch of salt.

Once the eggs are nearly scrambled, fold them into the veggie mix. Serve the cooked mixture onto a plate and drizzle it with vinaigrette. Feel free to serve with avocado slices.

Breakfast Burger

Yes, burgers are now for breakfast!

When you need to sink your teeth into something hearty and savory, you can’t beat this monster breakfast burger with buns made of mushrooms. This recipe has bacon, but if that’s not on your menu, simply skip that item.

1/2 lb bacon

2 thick slices of avocado

Lettuce

2 Portobello mushrooms

Prep bacon by slicing the strips in half and cooking them to taste around 20 or so minutes. Remove cooked bacon and drain excess grease out on a plate (which you can save to use later). Slice stems off the portabella mushrooms and gently cook the caps in the same pan you used for the bacon, for two minutes on medium-high until toasted. Assemble sandwiches with bacon, lettuce, avocado and any flavoring you enjoy.

Don’t forget that store-bought ketchup isn’t Paleo!

Conclusion

Breakfast doesn’t have to be drab and you’ll find yourself with zero desire to skip it when you have delicious Paleo breakfast ideas in your repertoire. Bring a little excitement back into your morning with any of these Paleo diet-friendly options and you’ll find yourself no longer craving the old takeout, drive-thru breakfasts you used to eat. Instead, you’ll be doing your health a favor with these delicious Paleo breakfast ideas.

By Emmy Schneider-Green