Breakfast Quinoa with Berries

This berry and coconut breakfast quinoa is perfect for vegan meal prep. Make a big batch at the beginning of the week and add your favorite toppings in the morning for an easy, healthy 5-minute breakfast!

In college, I ate a bowl of oatmeal with banana and peanut butter every single morning without exception. I suppose you could say I'm a creature of habit.

But in fairness to me, our dining hall was less than satisfactory. Because Amherst is such a small school, everyone lives on campus all four years, which meant four years of a kitchen-less dorm room.

Needless to say, after four years of my daily breakfast habit, I really lost my taste for oatmeal. In the two years since graduation, I've probably only had oatmeal 5-10 times!

Though I'm much more of a smoothie bowl gal these days, it's still nice to have a heartier, protein-rich option. Hence this easy breakfast quinoa with berries and coconut.  

We've actually been making this recipe for years; even before the start of my oatmeal obsession in college. My mom used to make a huge batch of breakfast quinoa for the cross country team after a long run on a hot summer day.

Quinoa is a fantastic source of plant-based protein, with 8g in a one cup serving! While we most often use it in savory recipes like this Thai Peanut Quinoa Salad or this Quinoa Vegetable Stew, it's also well suited for sweeter ingredients.

It has a naturally nutty flavor that pairs really well with a touch of coconut oil and coconut sugar. It doesn't need too much sugar, especially when paired with tart, sweet fresh berries.

Ingredients

It's super easy to make this healthy breakfast quinoa. Here's what you'll need:

• Quinoa: about 1 cup of dry quinoa will make for 3 cups cooked. Cook in water according to package directions and use a fork to fluff once it's finished cooking. Technically, any color of quinoa will work, but we like white quinoa in this recipe (it's also easiest to find).
• Coconut oil: you could also use melted vegan butter.
• Maple syrup: feel free to sub with coconut sugar, honey or agave.
• Cinnamon
• Shredded coconut: desiccated coconut works best, but you can also use larger coconut flakes if preferred.
• Hemp seeds (optional): a completely optional ingredient, but a great way to add extra plant-based protein and healthy fats.

Toppings

We suggest adding the toppings just before serving.

• Berries: frozen or fresh of just about any kind will do. We love blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries, but this would also be great with cherries, mango, banana, etc.
• Chopped nuts and/or nut butter: hazelnuts, peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, sunflower butter...any will do!
• Coconut

Meal prep

If you meal prep this breakfast quinoa, make a big batch at the beginning of the week and add toppings as you go. The perfect 5-minute breakfast!

Store the cooked quinoa in an airtight container in the fridge. It will last a little over a week, but will dry out the longer it sits in the fridge.

This breakfast quinoa tastes great hot or cold, but if you find it has dried out too much in the fridge, reheat with a little extra water.

Feel free to customize toppings to your liking. We like to go the PB&J route by topping with homemade raspberry chia jam and peanut butter!

More easy vegan breakfast recipes you'll love:

• Vegan Breakfast Burritos
• Banana Bread Granola
• Green Smoothie Bowls 3 Ways
• High Protein Breakfast Bowl
• How to make Scrambled Tofu
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Pancakes via NattEats

If you make this Vegan Breakfast Quinoa with Berries, we’d love for you to leave a comment and rating below! We also love to see your creations on Instagram – tag us at @crowded_kitchen so we can see what you’ve been cooking.

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