8 Warm Breakfasts To Start Your Day

From plantbasednews.org

By Kaitlyn Lourens

Try these breakfast recipes sure to keep you warm during cold mornings 

When the weather turns cold, warm breakfasts can make mornings feel a little more inviting. A hot meal gives you a chance to slow down before the day begins, whether you prefer something sweet, savoury, or packed with warming spices. There are plenty of ways to make breakfast more interesting than the usual bowl of cereal.

Oats, rice, chickpeas, tofu, and fresh vegetables all work well in hot breakfast recipes. Some bring fruit and gentle sweetness, while others offer bold spices, savoury flavours, or a mix of textures. You can also prepare certain dishes ahead of time, making busy mornings easier without sacrificing variety.

If you’re looking for new ideas to add to your morning routine, these recipes offer something for different tastes and schedules. From familiar breakfast favorites with a twist to dishes inspired by cuisines around the world, there’s plenty of inspiration to help you start the day with a warm meal.

Tofu scramble breakfast sandwiches

Hayden SteinbaughAdd your favourite vegan cheese to this sandwich

Try these tofu scramble breakfast sandwiches by Six Vegan Sisters for a savoury start to the day. Garlicky toasted bread holds tofu scramble, vegan bacon, mashed avocado, and melted vegan Cheddar for a breakfast packed with flavour and texture.

Find the recipe here.

Ginger peach baked oatmeal

Amber AsakuraFresh peaches work here too

This ginger peach baked oatmeal from Clean Food Dirty Girl combines juicy peaches with rolled oats, dates, raisins, and almonds. Ginger, cinnamon, and cloves bring warming spice, while the baked texture makes it easy to slice and reheat for breakfast throughout the week.

Find the recipe here.

Pak choi congee (Chinese rice porridge)

Katharina PinczolitsCongee was historically a famine food, but now it’s connected to comfort

The third recipe on this list comes from Yang Liu and Katharina Pinczolits. Their Chinese-style congee slowly cooks rice into a creamy porridge, with shiitake mushrooms and salted radish adding savoury flavour. Fresh pak choi and spring onions finish the dish with a little crunch.

Find the recipe here.

Ginger-infused strawberry oat bake

Hannah BodsworthHave a slice with tea or coffee in the morning

Frankie Paz puts a fruity spin on baked oats with this strawberry oat bake. Homemade strawberry chia jam sits between layers of oats and ground almonds, while ginger and cardamom add a gentle spice. Cut it into bars for an easy breakfast or morning snack.

Find the recipe here.

10-minute smashed chickpea scramble

Sarah NevinsThis high-protein scramble makes for a quick and high-protein meal to start your day

Short on time? Try this smashed chickpea scramble by Sarah Nevins, which takes just 10 minutes to prepare. Mashed chickpeas combine with softened onions, nutritional yeast, tomato paste, and garlic powder for a quick savoury alternative to a traditional scramble.

Find the recipe here.

Spicy Southwestern breakfast burrito

Toni ZernickThis breakfast dish contains plenty of protein and fibre

Black beans, corn, red peppers, jalapeños, and chickpea scramble fill this spicy Southwestern breakfast burrito by Will Edmond. Cumin and smoked paprika give the filling a smoky kick, while avocado, fresh cilantro, and lime bring freshness to every bite.

Find the recipe here.

Pumpkin spiced latte pancakes

The Happy PearYou can add fruit, vegan yogurt, and other toppings to these autumnal pancakes

For something inspired by a coffeehouse favourite, try these pumpkin-spiced latte pancakes from The Happy Pear. Pumpkin puree keeps the pancakes moist, while cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and optional ground coffee recreate the familiar flavours of a spiced latte.

Find the recipe here.

Loaded zucchini breakfast casserole

Melanie McDonaldServe this breakfast casserole to a group or use it as meal prep for the week

Melanie McDonald gives breakfast casserole a plant-based twist with zucchini, onions, hash browns, and crusty bread layered in a savoury tofu custard. Garlic, Dijon mustard, nutritional yeast, and herbs add flavour, while the oven creates a golden top and soft centre.

Find the recipe here.

https://plantbasednews.org/veganrecipes/breakfast/warm-breakfasts-to-start-your-day/

How To Make Incredibly Authentic Vegan Portuguese Custard Tarts

From plantbasednews.org 

Pasteis de nata, we missed you so!

Even as plant-based options become more widely available, finding vegan Portuguese custard tarts can be surprisingly difficult. The iconic Portuguese pastry, known as pasteis de nata, traditionally relies on eggs, cream, and buttery pastry. But Canadian vegan YouTuber Candice Hutchings believes vegans shouldn’t have to miss out on one of Portugal’s most beloved desserts. In a recent video, the creator behind Edgy Veg shares her method for making vegan Portuguese custard tarts at home, using a combination of coconut milk, starches, and clever flavour additions to recreate the rich custard filling and caramelized top that make the original so famous.

Hutchings, who has spent years developing plant-based versions of classic comfort foods, explains that this recipe grew out of an existing favourite. “I have a creme brulee recipe on my website, and I have a recipe in my cookbook,” she says. “I’m going to take the base of that recipe and kind of really try and bring out an eggy flavour.”

Starting with accidentally vegan puff pastry

Hutchings uses a coconut milk-based custard thickened with starches to recreate the classic pastei de nata filling - Media Credit: YouTube / Edgy Veg

According to Hutchings, the first challenge is recreating the pastry shell. Fortunately, she points out that this step is often easier than many people realize.

“So for the pastry, a lot of puff pastry is actually vegan,” she says. “It’s by accident. It’s because they use oil and not butter.”

To add extra flavour and texture, Hutchings rolls out thawed puff pastry sheets and sprinkles them with cinnamon sugar before shaping them into tight logs. While she notes that the cinnamon sugar is completely optional, she likes the subtle sweetness it brings to the finished tarts.

After rolling the pastry into logs, she wraps them and chills them in the refrigerator. This step helps firm up the dough before it is sliced into portions and pressed into a muffin tin. Hutchings hopes the rolling technique will create additional layers and flakiness in the finished pastry shell.

“What I’m hoping with the whole rolling situation is that we get some added flakiness,” she says.

Rather than using specialty tart moulds, she opts for a standard muffin tin, carefully pressing each slice of pastry into shape and extending it slightly above the rim to mimic the traditional look of pasteis de nata.

Building a custard from coconut milk

The filling is where most of the experimentation happens. Hutchings explains that traditional Portuguese tarts are essentially an egg custard baked inside pastry, so recreating that texture without eggs requires a strategic combination of ingredients.

“It’s pretty much an egg custard in a pastry,” she says. “It’s delicious, it’s incredible.”

Her base begins with coconut milk, sugar, and a cinnamon stick. Instead of adding ground cinnamon directly, she gently infuses the coconut milk with cinnamon flavour, allowing the spice to steep after briefly simmering.

The choice of coconut milk might raise concerns about coconut flavour, but Hutchings deliberately develops the recipe to avoid that outcome.

“For the custard itself, it’s going to be a coconut milk base,” she explains. “So it will taste a little bit of coconut, but I’m hoping that the flavours that I’m adding in kind of get rid of that.”

While the coconut mixture infuses, she prepares a second mixture using tapioca starch, corn starch, and unsweetened soy milk. The starches provide the thick, silky texture associated with custard. Hutchings notes that viewers can use only cornstarch if tapioca starch is unavailable.

She gradually combines the two mixtures while whisking continuously over heat. As the liquid approaches a simmer, the starches begin thickening the mixture into a custard-like consistency.

The ingredients that create an eggy flavour

YouTube / Edgy VegShe adds turmeric to her coconut custard mixture to achieve the pasteis de nata’s signature yellow hue, while kala namak provides the eggy flavour

One of the most interesting parts of Hutchings’ recipe is how she recreates the flavour of egg yolks without using eggs.

First, she adds nutritional yeast, which she says contributes some of the rich, buttery qualities associated with traditional custard.

“This will give it kind of that like distinct eggy buttery flavour that you get from like an egg yolk,” Hutchings explains.

Vanilla adds depth, while turmeric helps create the characteristic golden-yellow colour found in traditional pasteis de nata. Hutchings adds the turmeric gradually, carefully adjusting the shade as the custard cooks.

To take the flavour even further, she turns to kala namak, also known as black salt.

“This is an Indian salt,” she says. “And what it does is it kind of smells and tastes sulfuric.”

That sulfuric quality is often used in vegan cooking because it closely resembles the aroma and flavour of cooked eggs. Hutchings recommends adding it gradually and tasting along the way until the custard reaches the desired level of egginess.

After tasting her finished mixture, she declares, “It’s perfectly eggy for me.”

Filling and baking the tarts

Once the custard reaches the right consistency, Hutchings works quickly to fill the prepared pastry shells before the mixture begins setting.

She estimates that each tart requires roughly two to three tablespoons of filling and advises distributing the custard evenly before topping up individual tarts.

The color, she notes, looks remarkably close to the original Portuguese version. The filled tarts are then baked for approximately 15 to 20 minutes, though Hutchings emphasizes that oven performance can vary.

As they bake, the pastry becomes crisp while the custard sets. Traditional pasteis de nata are known for their dark, blistered tops, and Hutchings aims to achieve a similar appearance.

After baking, she recommends leaving the tarts in the pan for about 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack. This cooling period allows the custard to fully set and prevents the delicate pastries from falling apart.

Looking back on the batch, Hutchings admits she slightly overfilled them. Still, she isn’t complaining.

“I’m not upset about it because who doesn’t love custard?” she says.

For anyone searching for vegan Portuguese custard tarts that capture the texture, appearance, and flavour of the original, Hutchings’ recipe offers an inventive plant-based solution built from years of vegan recipe development and a few carefully chosen ingredients.

For more vegan recipes, follow Edgy Veg on her YouTube Channel.

https://plantbasednews.org/veganrecipes/desserts/vegan-portuguese-custard-tarts/