5 Tasty Ways to eat Avocado for Breakfast

I absolutely love avocados.  A ripe, buttery avocado spread over a piece of toast and sprinkled with a bit of salt and pepper is one of my absolute favourite things to eat.  Add a juicy tomato and another piece of bread and you've got my favourite sandwich (and what I brought for lunch today!).  Not only are avocados delicious, but they have many nutritional benefits as well, including healthy monounsatured fats, more potassium than bananas, and plenty of vitamins and essential nutrients.

Because avocados fill me up pretty well, I love having them for breakfast to keep me full and happy until lunchtime.  There are so many ways to eat avocados for breakfast, so I thought I'd do a fun post today sharing some of the recipes I've been enjoying lately, along with lots of other avocado breakfast ideas from other blogs.

Here we go!

1) Poached Egg on Avocado Toast

This is one of the easiest and most satisfying breakfasts using an avocado.  Simply spread a ripe avocado over a piece of toast, season it with lots of salt and pepper (I actually forgot to do this before I took the photo, but rest assured it was added after!), then top it with a poached egg.  When you cut into the poached egg, the runny yolk spills out and you can dip each piece of avocado toast into the yolk to make it taste even better!

For another variation of the egg on avocado toast, I also really enjoy putting some scrambled eggs on top instead of a poached egg - you don't get the same runny yolk effect, but it's a lot easier to make when you're in a hurry and it still tastes delicious!

2) Fried Egg & Avocado Breakfast Pizza

This idea (from Justina Blakeney) is very similar to the one above, but a little fancier and more fun!  All you have to do is toast a pita (I used whole wheat), top it with some mashed avocado (don't forget that salt and pepper!) and a fried egg.  You get the same egg + avocado + runny yolk goodness, but you get to eat it like a slice of pizza!  Next time, I'd probably use a poached egg because I prefer the texture over fried eggs, but either works.  I also think some sliced tomatoes would make a great additional topping!

Get the recipe here.

Now while we're on the topic of eggs and avocado, I had to mention that I finally tried the famous 'egg baked in an avocado' that was all the rage on the web recently:

The basic idea is that you scoop out a bit of an avocado half, crack an egg into it, then bake the avocado in the oven until the egg is set.   I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this because the reviews on the internet are very divided - people either seem to love it and think it's the most amazing idea ever, or they absolutely hate it.  Unfortunately, I fell into the second group.  First of all, this took FOREVER to bake so that the egg was set, way longer than any time I saw in a recipe.  And once it was finally ready to eat, I found that I did not enjoy the taste or the texture.  Maybe I don't like baked eggs in general, but the whole thing was just a mushy, runny texture that started to really gross me out, and I wasn't a fan of the taste of warm avocado either.  I actually had to throw it out halfway through.

Has anyone else tried this?  I'm curious to hear your thoughts!

Moving on to much better ideas, avocados work really well in smoothies, like this one:

3) Avocado Banana Smoothie

Adding a ripe avocado to a smoothie gives it a rich, creamy texture that makes your breakfast smoothie a little more substantial, without overpowering the drink with avocado flavour.  It's also a great way to use up half an avocado if you need to!

The smoothie pictured above is a refreshing combination of banana and avocado.  I would normally add spinach for a bit more nutrients, but I didn't have any on hand at the time I made this.  Here are the ingredients I used (no directions needed - just mix in a blender until smooth!) :

1 cup milk

1/2 ripe avocado

1 frozen ripe banana, chopped

2 tablespoons rolled oats

1 tablespoon honey

handful of spinach (optional - not in the smoothie pictured above)

Another way to use avocados at breakfast (this time a bit more sneakily!) is in baked goods, like this healthy chocolate avocado banana bread!

4) Chocolate Avocado Banana Bread

This is a moist, chocolatey banana bread that tastes like you're eating chocolate cake for breakfast, but it's actually fairly healthy!  The original recipe was vegan and gluten-free, but since I didn't have a lot of the ingredients on hand, I made it non-vegan and glutenized with the following changes:
 

-          Changed the three flours to 1 cup all-purpose flour, and left out the xanthan gum (note that I should have used 2 cups as a replacement but accidentally used 1 - it still worked fine though!)

-          Changed the "flax egg" (flaxseed plus water) to one large egg

-          Baked for one hour

But the vegan version sounds great too!  Get the recipe at Manifest Vegan.

I also reduced the olive oil to only three tablespoons, and next time I might try using whole wheat flour in place of half the all-purpose flour so it's even healthier.  I really, really liked this banana bread and would definitely make it again.  It's especially good warmed up with a bit of margarine!

The final recipe I'll include here is possibly my favourite - a hearty breakfast wrap filled with eggs, black beans, salsa, cheese, and avocado!

5) Black Bean, Egg, & Avocado Wrap

This was a really easy wrap to throw together, but tasted just as good as something I would order in a restaurant.  You could make it fancier by throwing in some sauteed peppers, onion, and garlic, but I prefer to just keep it simple.  You'll notice that the wrap on the right-hand side of the picture had barbeque sauce and the wrap on the left had salsa - both are good, but I preferred the salsa version.

Here's the recipe!

Black Bean, Egg, & Avocado Wrap

Serves 1

1 whole wheat tortilla (or 2 small)

1/2 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed

1 egg

1 ripe avocado, sliced

Handful of shredded cheddar cheese

Salsa or bbq sauce for topping

Heat tortilla(s) by covering with a damp paper towel and microwaving on high for 30 seconds.  Heat black beans in a small saucepan until warm.  Transfer to center of tortilla(s).  Whisk egg then cook in a small pan over medium-low heat, stirring often, until scrambled.  Transfer to tortilla, on top of black beans.  Top with shredded cheese, sliced avocado, and salsa or barbeque sauce.  Wrap and eat warm.

Note that all amounts are approximate and can be adjusted to your liking.  You could easily make this serve two people by doubling or tripling the amount of eggs.

And in case you aren't feeling inspired yet, here are even more creative ideas from other blogs:

More Breakfast Ideas using Avocado:

Savoury Breakfasts:

California omelette with avocado, tomato, mozzarella, pesto from Once Upon a Cutting Board
Avocado egg salad with tomatoes and goat cheese from Green Cilantro
Avocado breakfast paninis from BrokeAss Gourmet
Guacamole omelette from Poor Girl Eats Well
Southwestern eggs benedict with black bean spread, avocado & salsa from Cookin' Canuck

Avocado Smoothies:

Avocado kale smoothie from Kiran Tarun
Strawberry avocado smoothie from Cara's Cravings
Blueberry avocado smoothie from Live Love Laugh
Avocado and melon breakfast smoothie from avocado.org

Avocado Baked Goods:

Chocolate avocado pancakes from Mother Thyme
Avocado pop tarts from Scarletta Bakes
Vegan avocado scones from Family Fresh Cooking
Double chocolate avocado muffins from Eat Me, Delicious

Other:

Avocado oatmeal from The Chic Life
Avocado breakfast pudding from The Kitchn