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Easy Vegan Nutrition Packed Breakfast Recipes for Weight Loss
Plant-Based Weight Loss For Women
Author: Plant-Based Susy
Did you know that starting your day with a nutrient-packed vegan breakfast can set the tone for sustainable weight loss and boundless energy? Here’s how!
A nutrient-packed vegan breakfast is easy to do when you know what you’re doing. It can seem quite overwhelming at first, especially when weight loss is added to the mix. Even by itself, weight loss can feel like an impossible puzzle that requires the perfect diet with the perfect lifestyle, but that’s just not true.
Losing weight is often described as a simple equation: burn more calories than you consume. While the science is straightforward, the journey can feel far from easy. It’s normal to feel overwhelmed when balancing a calorie deficit, exercise, and healthy eating—especially when life gets in the way.
The good news is that weight loss doesn’t require perfection, just slow and steady progress. Small, sustainable changes to your diet and lifestyle can lead to big results over time. That’s where nutritious, plant-based breakfasts come in. These meals not only help you hit your calorie and macro goals but also keep you satisfied, energised, and motivated throughout the day.
Eating fewer calories doesn’t mean sacrificing flavour or satisfaction. In fact, incorporating more whole, plant-based foods into your breakfast can make the process feel enjoyable rather than restrictive.
Plus, healthier vegan options are naturally packed with nutrients that support your overall health while helping you achieve your weight loss goals.
Table of Contents:
Why a Healthy Vegan Breakfast is Key for Weight Loss
Vegan weight loss foods shouldn’t be boring. A nutritious vegan breakfast fuels your day, supports sustainable weight loss, and keeps you energised. Starting your day with a meal that balances protein, fibre, and healthy fats can help you stay full longer, making it easier to stick to your macro and calorie goals.
Plus, with so many delicious plant-based options to choose from, there’s no reason to settle for the same old breakfast every day.
Easy Plant-Based Breakfast Ideas to Keep You Motivated
Adding new foods, flavours, and recipes will prevent any boredom. Feeling a little tired and bored of food is normal without trying new things or making diet changes. Especially when on a weight-loss diet. It’s not the fault of veganism or a plant-based diet; it’s just a normal thing that we all experience from time to time. Eating the same things every day is dull.
Trying new foods, like some of the recipes we’ve compiled here, is one of the best ways to prevent boredom. And we’ve got some amazing options and foods to try here!
High-Protein Vegan Breakfast Recipes for Weight Loss
When it comes to calories, it can vary between brands and regions so keep that in mind when doing your grocery shopping. So remember this and adapt purchases or recipes to suit your needs.
Having a plan to follow can make eating a lot easier, especially if you’re new to a plant-based diet or trying to eat more healthy foods.
We’ve carefully created a 30-day meal plan that includes some of these breakfast recipes. The plan has been crafted to make it super easy to lose weight while being as healthy as possible with nutritious meals.
Tofu Scramble
A classic tofu scramble can be under 300 calories, even with a slice of toast included. It depends on the type of tofu and the brand but a tofu scramble is a great option that’s high protein. Adding mushrooms, peppers, spring onion, spinach and tomatoes is also a great way to make the meal more nutritious overall.
While the tofu is great and very filling, adding vegetables will add a lot of essential nutrients while adding new flavours. There are a lot of potential flavour combinations with this meal.
Tofu scramble pairs well with a slice of toast, cubed potatoes and hash browns plus other options like vegan sausages or vegan bacon. It’s also ideal for a breakfast wrap. This meal is easy to make larger or smaller as needed to fit your calorie needs.
Nutritional Benefits
Tofu contains all the essential amino acids, making it a complete protein. It’s also full of other vitamins and minerals, including calcium, iron, zinc and more. The nutrition levels can vary a little bit between brands, types of tofu and how it was made.
100 g or 3.5 oz of firm, calcium-set tofu will usually contain approximately:
Calories: 144
Carbs: 3 g
Protein: 17 g
Healthy Fats: 9 g
Fibre: 2 g
Calcium: 53% of the Daily Value (DV)
Manganese: 51% of the DV
Copper: 42% of the DV
Selenium: 32% of the DV
Vitamin A: 18% of the DV
Phosphorus: 15% of the DV
Iron: 15% of the DV
Magnesium: 14% of the DV
Zinc: 14% of the DV
Tofu set with nigari will contain less protein, fibre, potassium and calcium but slightly more fat. The protein difference is relatively negligible and brands don’t always advertise what they use to set the tofu.
You can even make your tofu scramble in different ways. Our most simple Tofu Scramble recipe is a great starting point for anyone new to eating tofu at breakfast. Meanwhile, our Huevos a la Mexicana style tofu scramble is perfect for breakfast, lunch and dinner!
A tofu scramble is an important addition to a breakfast burrito or our best bistro-style breakfast too!
Oats and Oatmeal Ideas
Oats for breakfast is a classic and easy to adjust for your calorie needs. They’re a staple for everyone, not just those on a vegan diet. There are hundreds of recipes and flavour combinations to try, from sweet to savoury!
Nutritional Benefits
Oats are a complex carbohydrate full of beneficial vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Great in all forms, the nutrient profile between them does change, but oats are great in all forms. They contain more protein than most other grains, but that’s not the main selling point.
100 g of oats will usually contain approximately:
Calories: 374 - 389
Protein: 16.9 g
Healthy Fats: 6.9 g
Carbs: 22% of the Daily Value (DV)
Fibre: 42% DV
Vitamin B1: 51% DV
Vitamin B2: 8% DV
Folic acid (B9): 14% DV
Pantothenic acid (B5): 13% DV
Calcium: 5% DV
Iron: 26% DV
Magnesium: 44% DV
Potassium: 12% DV
Zinc: 26% DV
Copper: 31% DV
Manganese: 246% DV
Most of us don’t actually eat 100 g of oats per sitting. Even 1 cup is around 80 g of oats. Brands like Quaker Oats will recommend 40 g as a portion, which is around 150 calories, full of beneficial nutrients and very filling.
A bowl of oats cooked in soy milk and topped with berries is a fantastic breakfast. Healthy, tasty, simple and filling. There are plenty of other ways to eat oats. Here are some of our favourite recipes that are really interesting:
Overnight Oats Sweet options
Oatmeal Savoury options
Savoury options usually take a little more work, many of them need partial cooking at the stove first but are perfectly fine to pack in the fridge for the next day. They’re often seen being served with cooked tofu, tempeh, chickpeas and other beans. It’s a great way to explore the different flavours you can get with oats and what other cultures have done with them.
Miso with pan-seared tofu
Turmeric Chickpea
Korean Style
Pea Risotto (yes, really!)
Oats used as muesli, flapjacks or in baked goods are also great. There are so many different ways to eat oats, it’s easy to add them to your diet. Oats are fantastic for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacking. They also make great smoothie additions!
Chickpea Pancakes
These perfect pancakes are more nutritious than pancakes made with plain flour. Chickpea flour is a lot more nutritious, with vitamins and minerals that can’t be found in the flour normally used to make pancakes. These pancakes are great with sweet and savoury toppings, making them super versatile.
Healthy pancakes are such a treat, and adding them into your breakfast rotation is a must.
We like this simple recipe from Detox Insta for a basic version.
Chickpea Flour Nutritional Benefits
Chickpea flour (AKA Gram Flour) is a great alternative to plain flour that lets you sneak more legumes into your diet.
100 g of chickpea flour will contain approximately:
Calories 387
Carbs: 58 g
Protein: 22 g
Healthy Fats: 7 g
Dietary fibre: 11 g
Sugar: 11 g
Potassium 24% of the Daily Value (DV)
Calcium: 4% DV
Iron: 27% DV
Vitamin B6: 25% DV
Magnesium: 41% DV
The amount of flour you’ll use for the pancakes will depend on the recipe. It’s unlikely you’d actually use 100g unless you’re cooking in bulk to freeze or refrigerate for later. This flour can be used to replace plain flour in other recipes too. Going 50-50 with it and plain flour also works really well.
If the chickpea flour doesn’t sound appealing, you can also use oats instead! Turning oats into pancakes is a great way to get more of that oaty goodness on a regular basis. Pancakes don’t always have the best reputation for being healthy, but oat pancakes are a great option too!
Chia Seed Pudding
Chia seeds are nutrient-dense and filling. When mixed with a liquid, they expand and clump together, which can be used as an egg replacer in baking recipes. Mixing chia seeds with dairy-free milk and giving it a lot of time to absorb all that extra goodness turns it into chia seed pudding. The seeds almost double in size and are very filling when eaten like this.
Making chia seed pudding is simple: mix chia seeds with plant-based milk and put the mixture in the fridge to absorb overnight. In the morning, you can serve it with fresh fruit, chocolate flakes, nut butter and anything else that sounds good.
Chia seeds are full of goodness. High in protein, calcium and omega-3’s, along with other vitamins and minerals. Like all seeds, they are a little high in calories compared to tofu, but they’re a nutritional powerhouse, and these puddings only require a small amount. Don’t be put off by the name either! Once soaked, they’ll have some bite but are very soft still.
Our simple chia seed pudding recipe is easy to adjust to suit your needs and is quick to make!
Chia Seeds Nutritional Benefits
While the calories might seem a little off-putting, chia seed pudding recipes use less than 100 g of seeds. A bag of chia seeds might only contain a few hundred grams of them but this will last a long time. Adding a sprinkle of them to your breakfast is a great way to get more early nutrients.
One ounce or 28 g of chia seeds will contain approximately:
Calories 138
Healthy Fats: 8.7 g
Protein: 4.7 g
Carbs: 11.9 g
Fibre: 9.8 g
Calcium: 14% of the Daily Value (DV)
Iron: 12% (DV)
Magnesium: 23% (DV)
Omega-3: 5 grams
Omega-6: 1.7 grams
Chia seeds are the best plant source of healthy omega fats; they even contain more than flaxseeds!
Avocado Toast
Smashed avocado on toast is a well-known breakfast option. It’s easy to prepare and delicious. Avocado is healthy and has plenty of good-for-you fats, though it is a little on the high-calorie and low-protein side compared to scrambled tofu on toast.
This is a fast breakfast with very little effort. It’s healthy and can be low-calorie, depending on the size of the avocado. It’s also great to have alongside a tofu scramble and an easy snack option if you need some extra healthy calories later in the day.
Avocado Nutritional Benefits
Avocado nutrient facts can range a little based on the size and variety. It’s always best to double-check if you’re concerned, but all avocados are full of beneficial vitamins and minerals.
One avocado that’s 136 g would typically contain:
Calories: 218
Healthy Fats: 19.9 g
Carbohydrates: 11.6 g
Protein: 2.7 g
Fibre: 9.1 g
Sugar: 0.9 g
Vitamin C: 15% of the Daily Value (DV)
Iron: 4% DV
Calcium: 1% DV
Potassium: 14%
Smoothie’s and Smoothie Bowls
There’s no easier vegan nutrition-packed breakfast recipe than a smoothie. Just throw some fruit and vegetables into a blender with some non-dairy milk, ice or water and blend. Adding some plant-based protein powder is a great way to make it a protein-packed meal for very little effort.
For a smoothie bowl, you’d just make it thick enough to be eaten with a spoon and serve it in a bowl instead of as a drink. Top it with some extra fruit, flaxseeds, chia seeds, coconut flakes, goji berries or whatever else sounds good. Making a smoothie thicker is a great way to make it more filling and feel more like a meal with things to chew.
Some foods don’t work too well in most blenders:
Large chunks of hard, raw vegetables and frozen fruit could damage the blade unless you’re using a professional-grade blender, which most of us don’t have at home.
Very sticky things and dry ingredients (without enough liquid) could block the blender.
Fibrous vegetables might not blend smoothly unless you chop them finely first.
When picking your smoothie ingredients, consider the strength of your blender and be sure to only use small-sized ingredients to ensure you get a nice, smooth blend. Chop off the toughest bits from your ingredients, especially ginger skin, and use plenty of liquid.
If you aren’t ready to start experimenting yet, then you can just modify an existing smoothie recipe! Our berry oat smoothie is easy to turn into a smoothie bowl, make it thicker by reducing the amount of liquids or adding more banana or other heavy/thick ingredients like nut butter.
The Truth About Losing Belly Fat on a Vegan Diet
Despite what people often claim, no scientific evidence says location-targeted fat loss is possible. There’s a lot of misinformation online and it’s not always because of harmful intentions. Nutrition science is still a very new field, and weight loss science still has a long way to go.
The targeted belly fat myth comes from people making assumptions which were later proved to be false. That’s kinda just how science goes! That’s why having access to our free weight loss cheat sheets based on the most up-to-date information is so important!
To lose belly fat, we need to lose weight in general. As we lose weight the fat will slowly be broken down across our body, including our belly fat!
There are a few things we can do to help with our fight against belly fat:
Maintaining a calorie deficit over time
Eating a healthy, plant-based diet
Incorporating regular exercise
Getting enough quality sleep
Staying properly hydrated
Reducing stress levels
All of these strategies are effective, necessary for a healthy lifestyle, and recommended as part of weight loss. None of them specifically target belly fat. Implementing some plant-based weight-loss strategies will also help your weight-loss journey and your health in other ways.
We’ve listed some of the best and most easy vegan nutrition-packed breakfast recipes above. The best possible breakfast is nutrient-dense, high in protein and fibre but low in refined sugar and unhealthy fats.
In reality, you can eat whatever you want for breakfast. Traditional breakfast foods are great but sometimes throwing in a typical lunch meal is a great way to break the meal monotony. There’s no harm in eating a bowl of beans and rice, veggies and healthy fats for breakfast.
Our top vegan foods for weight loss might inspire you to create some new breakfast meal options!
Build Muscle and Burn Fat with Plant-Based Nutrition
While losing weight can reduce belly fat and improve your overall health, building muscle is a crucial part of the process. Strength training helps tone your body, boost your metabolism, and support long-term fat loss. In fact, muscle tissue burns more calories at rest than fat tissue, meaning the more muscle you build, the more calories your body naturally burns each day.
Sarcopenia, or age-related muscle loss, can start as early as your 30s and accelerate in later years, making strength training even more important as we get older. But the good news is by combining regular resistance training with a protein-rich, plant-based diet, you can counteract muscle loss, maintain functional strength, and support overall health as you age.
Contrary to common misconceptions, building muscle doesn’t require animal protein or massive calorie surpluses. With the right combination of plant-based protein, healthy fats, and regular strength training, you can build muscle while still losing fat.
Here’s how plant-based nutrition and strength training can help you reach your goals:
Increased Metabolism: Building muscle naturally raises your base metabolic rate (BMR), increasing your daily calorie burn.
Improved Body Composition: Strength training tones your body and creates a natural framework for your skin to cling to, reducing the appearance of sagging during weight loss.
Balanced Nutrition: Foods like tofu, lentils, chickpeas, and tempeh provide the protein your muscles need to repair and grow stronger after workouts.
Strength training doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming. Even a few basic exercises like squats, planks, and push-ups can make a big difference. Pair your workouts with a nutritious vegan diet to maximise results and stay energised.
If you’re new to strength training, start slow and focus on consistency. Over time, you’ll notice improved muscle tone, increased strength, and a faster metabolism—all while enjoying delicious plant-based meals!
Easy, Healthy Vegan Weight Loss
Animal products aren’t needed to burn fat or to build muscle. A vegan diet is an excellent way to lose some unwanted, excess weight without compromising our health in other ways. It’s possible to eat nutritious meals every day while on a plant-based diet.
Losing weight just requires us to eat fewer calories than we need to maintain our current weight, and our bodies will do the rest. Eating the right meals, full of the nutrition we need will help to fuel our bodies and improve our habits for the long-term.
A whole food plant-based (WFPB) approach makes the process easy and sustainable.
A big part of weight loss is making positive changes so the weight doesn’t come back once it’s gone. Rebound weight is a real problem, but building a better lifestyle and diet will help prevent it from coming back. Starting each day strong with a good, high-quality and nutritious breakfast is a crucial part of this!
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I get enough protein on a vegan diet to lose weight?
Absolutely! A well-planned vegan diet can provide all the protein your body needs for weight loss while supporting muscle maintenance and overall health. Protein-rich plant-based foods like tofu, tempeh, lentils, chickpeas, and quinoa are excellent options. Incorporating a variety of these into your meals ensures you get all the essential amino acids, even without animal products.
👉 Ready to make plant-based weight loss simple? Download our FREE Weight Loss Cheat Sheets and get easy, protein-packed meal ideas to jump start your journey with confidence. Get your Free Cheat Sheets now!
What’s the best vegan breakfast for weight loss?
Whether you’re new to plant-based eating, curious about going vegan, or a long-time vegan looking to switch things up, the best breakfast for weight loss is one that’s nutrient-dense, satisfying, and tailored to your needs. Meals like tofu scrambles, overnight oats, and chia seed puddings are packed with protein and fiber to keep you full and energized throughout the day.
👉 Looking for ideas? Explore our collection of over 100 FREE plant-based weight loss recipes—crafted to help you achieve your ideal weight while enjoying flavourful, satisfying meals. Check them out here!
How do women over 40 stay motivated on a plant-based diet?
For women over 40, staying motivated on a plant-based diet means embracing variety and flexibility. Trying new recipes, experimenting with flavours, and focusing on meals that nourish your body and mind are key. Additionally, finding a supportive community of like-minded women can make the journey more enjoyable and inspiring.
👉Ready for a boost? Join our FREE More Plants💚Less Pounds Facebook Group—a private, welcoming space for women to share tips, recipes, and encouragement on their plant-based weight loss journey. Join now!
💚 "Happy Plant-Based Eating & Exercising!" 💚
Plant-Based Susy
Plant-Based Nutrition Professional & Weight Loss Coach
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