10 easy, protein packed breakfasts for kids that they can make themselves

Breakfast eh? The most stressful meal of the day - everyone under pressure to get out the door for school, preschool or work. But you need something quick, easy and nutritious for breakfast for your toddler. Or you need a healthy breakfast for your 8 year old. Or you’ve run out of breakfast ideas for your 4 year old.

You want some easy breakfast ideas that are high in protein to keep their bellies full. Well here’s a list of easy, protein packed breakfast ideas for you that will take all the thinking out of breakfast for you!

1. Cereal - the ultimate easy breakfast. Stick to cereals like Weetabix, Shredded Wheat or porridge to reduce the sugar cravings later. To up the protein, add chia seeds, chopped nuts or Greek yoghurt on top.

2. Wholemeal toast with peanut butter, blueberries and chocolate chips - this needs no recipe but it’s a fav in our house. The peanut butter is packed with protein - we love Kelkins crunchy peanut butter. The blueberries add a burst of sweet ness in every bite and chocolate chips …. just because! A simple breakfast the kids can make.

3. Wholemeal toast with boiled egg and chopped tomato. You can do the boiled egg in your air fryer if that’s easier.

4. Scrambled egg with wholemeal toast and chopped cucumber. An easy one the kids can make when they’re a bit older. Scrambling eggs takes the same amount of time as toast does so don’t say you haven’t the time in the mornings for this simple, protein packed breakfast!

5. Easy spinach and cheese egg muffin thingys - these take a little bit of prep but you (or the kids) can make these the night before. Again, protein packed from the eggs and you can substitute spinach for anything you might have handy- ham, red onion, sweetcorn, diced pepper etc. Check out a recipe here from my kids cookbook, Chop, Cook, Yum

6. Overnight oats. The kids can make these the night before and enjoy the fruits of their labour in the morning! These are incredibly adaptable and you can pack them full of protein with chia seeds, Greek yoghurt and top with nuts etc. Check out this recipe from Aisling Larkin or this one that we made. It might take the kids a while to get used to the texture of it but mine quite like it now.

7. Baked porridge - this is deeelicious. This is a complete fav in our house too for breakfast and it can double up for after school snacks or school lunches ! Again, there is some prep needed as this can take about 40 mins to cook but I always make this the night before - often on a Sunday night. For protein, there are chia seeds, eggs and milk in this and then you can top with Greek yoghurt and more nuts/seeds as well. This is another recipe from my cookbook, Chop, Cook, Yum and you can grab the recipe here.

8. Egg and banana pancakes - these are the EASIEST pancakes you will ever make. They take literally 2 minutes to prep - the kids can do this part! You will probably need to cook them but my older kids can do this by themselves now too. All you need is one egg and one banana! Check out the recipe here .

9. Tasty smoothies - make your smoothies count in the morning by adding some form of protein to them. This could be anything from nut butter to chia seeds to Greek yoghurt. This is our favourite protein packed smoothie - banana, cacao powder, peanut butter and milk - delicious.

10. Baked beans on wholemeal toast - what could be better! Protein from the beans and you can add extra protein by topping the beans with cheese. I have a lovely recipe for home made baked beans in my children’s cookbook Chop, Cook, Yum

What are your favourite protein - packed breakfasts?