Winter Breakfasts

That Don’t Feel Like a Chore: Hearty Ideas Under 10 Minutes

Quick Summary

When it’s cold outside, the last thing you want to do is make a snowstorm inside your kitchen. So here are some great, quick breakfast options for those busy winter mornings.

Deep Dive

This article provides easy-to-prepare winter breakfast ideas that will keep you cosy on busy mornings. Instead of complicated recipes that require hours of prep time, we’ll show you how to create warm and comforting dishes using high-heat methods, warming textures and innovative combinations of ingredients—and do it quickly. You can enjoy many delicious ways to have a hot breakfast in minutes (not hours). Enjoy.

Why Winter Breakfasts Need Warmth Without Work

Wintertime is often the slowest time in a person’s life. A person’s breakfast should give them some comfort at the beginning of the day without requiring too much effort on their part. If a breakfast can give warmth to a person’s body immediately upon eating, i.e., steam, softness, and flavour, then a person should have no problem waking up every morning. Breakfasts made during the winter season should give a person a sense of comfort with little or no fuss. A person should be able to put a breakfast together in the morning, even while they are still half-asleep, yet feel good that what they have made is a great breakfast.

The Warm Toast Pile

The warm toast pile is another example of this type of no-fuss breakfast. Rather than just a boring slice of toast, this is stacked toast with warm and slightly indulgent toppings that provide a base for everything else that will be on the plate. You’ll have soft toppings, which will melt a little when they come into contact with the warmth of the toasted bread, and crispy toppings that provide crunch, plus you may want to add a warm fruit component that can easily be cooked up in a skillet. Each layer of food becomes a multi-layered breakfast that is greater than what you put into making it.

The 10-Minute Oat Bowl That Doesn’t Taste Like Homework

The ten-minute oat bowl is another example of a no-fuss breakfast; it’s quick to make and has the bonus of not having to be cooked in a large pot. Many people think of instant oats as "homework having to be completed," but winter has breathed new life into them. Instead of looking at the oats as "homework", consider them a bowl of comfort food that gives warmth to your body and hugs you. They can also become something you enjoy eating during the winter months by adding a bit of spice, plus a bit of texture with quick-stirred nuts and seeds.

The Lightly-Scrambled Skillet Breakfast

Whether you're in a hurry or looking for an excellent way to get your day started, this is it! A few minutes with a hot skillet is all it takes to prepare delicious soft scrambled eggs. Feel free to add any number of ingredients to your scrambled eggs, such as chopped vegetables and herbs or leftovers from yesterday. The result will be a fluffy, warm and comforting breakfast, with minimal effort required. The scrambled eggs can then be served over toast or placed in a bowl, making it the perfect breakfast.

The Hot Fruit Situation

The flavour of winter fruit is enhanced tenfold by heating it! Cooking fruit in a warm skillet for a short period creates an almost dessert-like experience. There are many options for warming up fruits, and depending on what you have available, you could use apples, pears, and berries as toppings for yoghurt, oats, or toast. Or if you're having one of those really cold mornings, just eat your warm fruit directly from the skillet.

The Almost-Soup Breakfast Mug

If you're one of those people who need warmth in the morning before anything else, try this idea! Warm broth blended with your choice of ingredients creates a very light meal that can be drunk from a mug. It doesn't weigh down your stomach and provides a gentle boost of energy to get you up and out of bed.

The 5-Minute Grain Bowl Hack

Using leftovers or pre-cooked grains (your choice) as a cold breakfast option and revive them by pouring hot water (boiling preferred) and/or heating up milk (unflavored preferred) over the grains. The steam produced from the hot water (or milk) will help expand (fluff) and warm the grains. Create a grain bowl with your favourite nuts, seeds, dried fruits or soft toppings such as bananas. They have the benefit of being filling without making you feel sluggish, and you will find the grains are just being heated back up, as you will not be cooking them again. 

The Quick Savoury Wrap

Make it easy on yourself by making a savoury, warm tortilla wrap filled with warm, soft foods like scrambled eggs, heated beans, or sautéed veggies. There are so many different fillings that will work, and while your wrap will hold in the heat, you can make them stick to the outside until you are ready to eat them, as well as leftover fillings to use later. These wraps are very messy, but they are messy in a really good way. 

It shouldn't be stressful to create a winter breakfast! You may feel like you've had a victory by creating a breakfast that was quick to prepare and hot.