Our Best Breakfast Recipes You'll Wish You Knew Sooner

The early bird gets the worm, and it also gets breakfast, also known as the most important meal of the day. While on busy days, this may be just a cup of home-brewed coffee or even a quick stop at the drive-thru, there's nothing like filling your sun-soaked kitchen with the wonderful aromas of something homemade. Savory or sweet, if done right, you just can't beat it. While we certainly won't judge you if a trip to those golden arches is in your future, we simply can't get over the fact that nearly one-quarter of Americans rarely eat breakfast, according to The Washington Post.

We know, we know. Lives are busy between hectic work schedules and family life, but these numbers are surprising as some experts have suggested that eating our largest meal first thing in the morning is overall better for our health. How could you pass up a big plate of pancakes, eggs, and bacon every morning? Because ... health. 

We're taking the guesswork out of your morning routine with our best breakfast recipes you'll wish you knew sooner. With everything from ham and cheese cloud eggs to scrumptious snickerdoodle French toast, there's something for every taste bud. You'll have no excuse for skipping a morning feast.  

Ah, 2020. A year where we are all looking to grab a slice of comfort. Behold: the quiche. Perhaps one of the most versatile breakfast or brunch options, yet is so often overlooked. They also happen to be a great way to stretch your budget, as you can use whatever you have lying around in your kitchen. Leftovers be gone! Quiches are a classic European baked dish that has developed over time thanks to creative chefs.

Lucky for you, we have procured the be all, end all of quiche recipes out there. Developed by Mark Beahm of the Sunday Baker, this savory quiche, featuring caramelized onions and bacon, will have you wowing your brunch guests or awaking the weary morning eyes of your family. The best part about this show-stopping dish is it gives the illusion of being fancy while being quite easy to prepare. No advanced baking skills are required here. And the metaphorical icing on this quiche? Leftover slices can be stored in the refrigerator for up to five days (that is, if they last that long). 

How we wish everyday could get off to a sweet start. There are few things as satisfying as a freshly baked muffin. We grabbed them as kids and savor them as adults. The word "muffin" is likely a derivative of the German word "muffen," meaning small cake. So, it's basically a small cupcake for breakfast. We're in! While savory varieties are common these days, we often find ourselves craving sweet varieties like banana nut, blueberry, and the ultimate version, chocolate.

The high royalty of chocolate muffins may arguably be the ones found freshly baked in Costco stores across the country, Yep, THOSE ones. These giant bundles of joy are somehow always perfectly moist and feature the rich taste of cocoa and chocolate chips. We've been known to pick up a package or two of these on the way to the office or a gathering, and they never fail to please the masses. While Costco's version features some near unidentifiable (and unpronounceable) ingredients, we were able to mimic a near identical version with common items found in your pantry. No membership required for our copycat Costco chocolate muffins. 

We totally get it. You may not want to kick your day off with a fat-laden and carb-heavy breakfast that could potentially leave you with no other choice but to take a nap under your desk. Luckily, there are plenty of options that will fuel your body while keeping you full all morning long thanks to just the right amounts of protein and fiber. If that sounds appealing to you or you've looking to be a little bit more health conscious, then these mini frittatas are just what the doctor ordered. 

Developed by professional chef Maren Epstein of Eating Works, these mini frittatas feature buttery and nutty Pecorino cheese and a dose of vitamins and fiber in the form of fresh broccoli. While we love to pop these babies in our mouths in the morning, they are suitable any time of day or even as a bite-sized party hors d'oeuvre. The recipes calls for fresh roasted broccoli that adds a savory-meets-smoky layer to the dish and pairs well with caramelized onions. 

We're not going to lie. There are many days when we just want to throw in the (kitchen) towel and add some simplicity to our lives. That's where Starbucks comes in: a one-stop shop for our morning caffeine fix that also offers a slew of savory and sweet edible options, all with the added bonus of us partaking from the comforts of our car. They are also our go-to stop for all things pumpkin. With the changing of the season comes the arrival of the coveted pumpkin spice lattes, and more importantly, their pumpkin scones. 

Featuring a beautifully double-glazed exterior that gives way to a light pastry, this is Starbucks at its finest. With just the right amount of spice and richness, these scones are somehow light and make for the perfect breakfast. So, what if we told you that it was totally possible to recreate this dish at home? That would be sugar, spice, and everything nice! Our copycat Starbucks pumpkin scone recipe is just as good as the original and doesn't require a masters in Baking 101. 

With each new year comes new resolutions that usually revolve around one's well-being. Maybe it's to cut back on that after-work vino or even hit the trails a little more. No matter what it is, we could probably all agree that it wouldn't hurt to add some more vitamins and antioxidant-rich fruits in our lives. The easiest way to eat your greens and fruits is in the morning. Of course, you could make the same old blended smoothie or grab an acai bowl, but we think the perfect balance of simplicity and deliciousness is the smoothie bowl. 

Often overpriced if purchased out, our at-home version is extremely cost-effective and aims to please. Even better, with the desired consistency of ice cream, it's basically a healthy dessert for breakfast. Created by professional chef and healthy eating advocate Maren Epstein, our version features oat milk, frozen mango, frozen banana, and the magical powdered elixir that is blue spirulina. Blue spirulina offers a bevy of health benefits that have not only anti-inflammatory properties but has been proven to lower levels of bad cholesterol. Even better, the spirulina gives the bowl a blue hue, making it totally Insta-worthy. 

Few things scream classic breakfast like French toast. With origins in Ancient Rome (yep, not France), it's believed that the dish was created in the 1800s by a man named Joseph French. Regardless of its origins, what's not to love about carbs that are soaked in a milk and egg mixture and then golden pan-fried until perfection? It's a hearty start to your day, whether in original form or in delicious varieties.

We'll take a pass on those sad, soggy strips that Burger King serves up because we have found the most decadent and impressive presentation of the dish. The Olive Blogger, also known as Melissa Olivieri, is ready to knock your socks off with Snickerdoodle French toast casserole. That's right. Your favorite wintertime cookie comes face-to-face with the epitome of breakfast heaven in this ultimate mash-up. Call it genius, your family will be begging for seconds of this one. Don't be surprised if it becomes a regular part of your cooking arsenal. 

You know that smell. You're walking through the mall, maybe running a quick errand, when you're suddenly summoned by the smell of freshly baked cinnamon rolls. Do they pipe that in? No, it's likely Cinnabon, and it takes all the willpower in your being to calmly step away from the counter. By no means are they healthy at a whopping 880 calories per roll, but boy, are they delicious. According to Bon Appetit, Cinnabon sells an average of one billion cinnamon rolls each year. They are quite literally rolling in the dough. 

Of course, you could run to your nearest Cinnabon or even your local grocery store for a package of ready-to-bake rolls for breakfast, but we've found the ultimate recipe for the at-home amateur baker. Created by Mark Beahm of the Sunday Baker, this cinnamon roll recipe is ideal for the novice cook and doesn't even require a stand or hand mixer. We are all for approachable meeting delicious in the kitchen. 

Usually, the drive-thru is all sorts of convenient, but nothing drives us as crazy as when the line is 20 cars deep and you're already five minutes late for that meeting. It's no surprise that Starbucks is, at most times, packed. With over 30,000 stores globally, they serve over 100 million happy customers. Egg bites made their debut on the menu in 2017 and have since wowed us with the salty goodness of bacon and the savory flavors of gruyere. These bad boys also have the added bonus of being relatively low in carbs and high in protein. 

You no longer have an excuse to complain about the wait times at Starbucks because we have come up with the ultimate egg bites copycat recipe. It honestly couldn't be any easier and requires just basic ingredients that you likely already have in the kitchen. The best part is that they can be made in under 30 minutes and then stored in the fridge for days. We even found a way to eliminate their method of sous vide-style cooking while maintaining that same moisture. Oh, la la. We love making a batch in advance and popping them in the microwave for an easy protein boost breakfast or snack at any time of the day. 

The world has gone *nuts* over this kind of butter, and it's not peanut butter. It's cookie butter, and it could be thanks to the likes of Trader Joe's Dutch Speculoos-flavored version. Speculoos is a spiced sweet cookie that is popular during the holidays in the Netherlands and other parts of Europe. In the U.S., it all began with the little butter that could, and it could. Since then, we've been graced with the spreadable delight in the forms of cocoa swirl cookie butter, Cold Stone Creamery's cookie butter shakes, and even cookie butter ice cream direct from the source, Trader Joe's.

We're about to take this obsession one step further with cookie butter banana bread. Your use for overripe bananas is next-level delicious with the addition of the cinnamon-flavored wonder for breakfast. Created by Mark Beahm of the Sunday Baker, this sweet treat is perfect morning, noon, or night, and dare we tempt you to spread even more cookie butter on the sliced finished product. We don't judge.

Eggs are perhaps the most well-known breakfast item with seemingly never-ending methods of preparing them. Apologies as we go full Bubba Gump on you, but we love them scrambled, fried, over easy, poached, boiled, sunny-side up, and pretty much any way you're willing to serve them to us. At approximately 70 calories per egg, they are an excellent source of protein and omega-3 fatty acids, and they serve as a staple in any well-balanced diet. It should be with no surprise that, according to the Washington Post, Americans eat nearly 300 eggs per person, per year. That's almost 100 million dozen eggs nationwide. No yolk about it!

So, what's all the fuss about cloud eggs? In a nutshell (or maybe egg shell), a cloud egg is a method of cooking where the egg whites are cooked separately from the yolk. The egg whites can have additional ingredients, much like an omelet, then the yolk is added in the middle like a nest. The product is a beautifully runny yolk. While it sounds a bit advanced, we've taken the guess (and mess) out of it as we've developed our recipe. Our ham and cheese cloud eggs will have you patting your own back at the breakfast nook.

Okay, okay. We may complain just a wee bit about the sad, soggy sticks of French toast the King doles out. While, in theory, they should work as they are handheld (woohoo!) and instead of being soaked in syrup, you simply dip, Burger King misses the mark on these big time. Unless served piping hot (which is rare for this fast food joint), they are a lukewarm disaster. 

If you want to bask in the glory of a fork-less morning, though, we developed a simple 5-ingredient copycat Burger King French toast stick recipe. Truth be told, we weren't able to replicate this version exactly, as ours is not vegan, containing both eggs and milk, but the taste is pretty much the same with the added bonus of ours being fresh. Using a thick-cut Texas toast, ours is fried in canola oil to produce a crispy, caramelized exterior. It's finished off with a sprinkling of powdered sugar, and we suggest a generous dunking of real maple syrup, not the so-called "breakfast syrup" that BK serves. 

Behind the seemingly simple-in-appearance breakfast recipe for pancakes lies a bit of mystery. Shockingly, it's an often-debated topic when it comes to the creation of these pillowy purveyors of butter and syrup. Did you properly mix the batter? Has it spent enough time resting? There are endless rules and conflicting theories on perfecting this morning meal. Lucky for our readers, we have achieved light and fluffy pancakes, with the best part being that they require only three ingredients and zero fuss. 

Our three-ingredient pancakes are comprised of just egg, milk, and self-rising flour. The secret to these airy pancakes is the use of a non-stick pan. While we'll happily and frequently offer recipe substitutions, this one is non-negotiable. Sorry, friends. A pancake stuck to the pan will ruin everything you've worked for. While it's called a three-ingredient recipe, you could also add fresh fruit and whipped cream or even Nutella to jazz this one up.

If bagels are the essential of any brunch in the Northeast, then biscuits would have to be their equivalent of the South. Basically, when any meal comes with a dollop of Southern hospitality, you can bet there's going to be a side of biscuits. Y'all hear. When properly made, they are both delicate and buttery, the perfect addition to all meals. While baking often leaves newbies with the fear of kneading and confusion in regard to just what the heck rise time is, we proclaim: Have no fear! 

We've developed a three-ingredient biscuit that produces a soft and chewy texture in each and every bite, while also taking no longer than 20 minutes to make. The only requirement of the baker is attention to the little details. Let our recipe guide you through the all-too-common baking mishaps, and you'll be out of the kitchen in no time, tray in hand with some of the most delicious and perfect biscuits you've yet to feast on. They are great along with your breakfast of eggs and bacon or as your bread of choice with dinner. 

We're going to wrap this up with the most simple yet often poorly executed breakfast dish: scrambled eggs. You are already aware of the endless health benefits associated with eggs, like lots of proteins, vitamins, and minerals. Not limited to the morning, eggs make their way into our lunchtime salad and even in runny perfection in our evening bowl of ramen or pasta. Let's walk before we leap people, because we are here to guide you in achieving the absolute lightest and fluffiest scrambled eggs.

You may have visions of Gordon Ramsey screaming into your ear his method of achieving perfection, but we've broken it down into easy steps just for you. Our version produces a French-style scrambled egg with large and still-moist curds. The key is in the addition of dairy in the eggs and the use of butter in your skillet. With some elbow grease in the whisking process, you'll have your fellow diners wondering if they're at some frou-frou Parisian bistro.