Here you go. 60 Make Ahead Breakfast Ideas to give us a boost as we kick off the school year! All of these are made with real food ingredients and will hopefully save our mornings from being too hectic.
The beauty of these ideas is that they make mornings easier whether your kids have to get out the door for school in the morning or you homeschool and want to get your day off to a productive start without spending too much time putting breakfast on the table. (For that matter, these ideas are great even if you aren’t in the kids-in-school season of life!)
I love getting breakfast foods made ahead of time so that my kids can easily help themselves in the morning. Often we’ll also scramble or fry eggs to go with our meal and we always get out fresh fruit. My teenage boys often also crave protein at breakfast, so I try to have something meaty available for them to cook for themselves. Hmm, it sure does sound like we eat a lot around here. Truth: We eat a lot around here.
So 60 Make Ahead breakfast ideas. Here we go!
Recipes and Ideas You Can Make Ahead for a Fast Breakfast
All of these recipes can be made the day before and served right away in the morning!
- Breakfast Cake
- Breakfast Cake Muffins
- Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies
- Crock Pot Breakfast Casserole
- Giant Breakfast Cookies
- Honey Whole Wheat Bagels
- Oatmeal Breakfast Bars
- Peanut Butter Breakfast Cake
- Poptarts
- Pumpkin Breakfast Cake
- Simple No-Bake Granola Bar Bites
Homemade cereal recipes you can make ahead and serve right away in the morning
Some mornings are cereal mornings, so there. Here are some homemade cereal options we enjoy!
- Instant Oatmeal Packets
- Granola
- Granola ~ 5-Minute Stop-Top Version
- Grape Nuts Cereal
- Dark Chocolate Almond Granola
- Homemade Peanut Butter Captain Crunch
Recipes that freeze well and can be thawed and reheated easily
If you have these in your freezer, you can thaw and rewarm in the oven or toaster oven!
- Breakfast Burritos
- Breakfast Sandwiches
- Ham and Egg Breakfast Bowls
- Pancake Muffins
- Pancake and Sausage Muffins
- Whole Wheat Waffles
Recipes that Can Be Made Easily with Whole Wheat Quick Baking Mix
Fun Ideas to Enjoy Stir-n-Pour Bread
This super easy Stir-n-Pour Bread takes practically no effort, but turns out a delicious loaf of bread. When I have this on hand, we can slice it and make:
- Peanut Butter Honey Toast
- Fried Eggs on Toast
- Cinnamon Toast
- Scrambled Egg Sandwiches
- Simple Buttered Toast – maybe even with jelly :)
Drink Your Breakfast
Most smoothies are pretty quick to make and can be filling if you include peanut butter or cottage cheese. Add fresh spinach for an extra punch of nourishment.
- Warm Chocolate Soother – warm and filling
- Warm Pumpkin Custard – warm and filling
- Warm Vanilla Soother – warm and filling
- Pineapple Mango Smoothies
- Pineapple-Orange Slushies
- Creamy Orange Cooler
- Strawberry Peach Slushies
- Green Machine Milkshakes
Muffins, Muffins, Muffins!
I’ve learned to love freezing muffin batter, which you can read about here. What a time saver! I’ve also learned that silicone muffin cups are fantastic. More about that here.
- Almond Flour Muffins (gluten free/dairy free)
- Bacon Cheese Muffins
- Banana Muffins
- Blueberry Streusel Muffins
- Breakfast Cake Muffins
- Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Chocolate Swirl Muffins
- Coconut Flour Muffins (gluten free/dairy free)
- Coconut Flour Banana Muffins (gluten free/dairy free)
- Cornbread and Cornbread Muffins
- Cream Cheese Pumpkin Muffins
- Eggnog Muffins
- Honey Cinnamon Muffins
- Orange Muffins
- Pancake and Sausage Muffins
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Snickerdoodle Muffins
- Strawberry Cream Muffins
- Sweet Potato Streusel Muffins
- Vanilla Muffins with Cinnamon Crumb Topping
- Whole Wheat and Honey Zucchini Muffins
Make it Ahead, but Cook it in the Morning
- Mix up Overnight Waffle Batter before bed so that all you have to do in the morning is cook the waffles and serve.
- Make Turkey Sausage in large batches and freeze it in meal sized portions. Make Freezer Biscuits, and thaw only the amount you’ll need in the morning for a meal. Make a quick meal of a big treat – Biscuits and Gravy – when you’ve done the prep work ahead! Here’s my Sausage Gravy recipe.
- Follow the freezing muffin batter idea mentioned above, set some out at night before bed, then bake them in the morning.
- If you want to serve pancakes, mix the dry ingredients the night before so that all you have to do in the morning is add your liquids and cook. This isn’t as fast as other ideas shared here, but it does make the pancake process a little easier in the morning! Here’s our favorite Whole Wheat Pancake recipe.
I have several new breakfast ideas in the works, so be on the look-out for those. Sign up here for our free weekly newsletter to be sure you don’t miss a post!
I like to make overnight oatmeal in the fridge the night before and it is so easy, quick, and filling. My husband likes to take it for breakfast.
Warm Soothers?!?!?! Where have I been? I’ve never even heard of such a thing. I’m going to have to try these pronto! Thanks for the idea.
Kristi, her warm soothers are probably the recipe I’ve made the most of! Sooooo good! (Although I only JUST saw that she has a pumpkin one! Trying it now!)
Made your waffles, YUM! I’m trying to fill empty tummies after school and the waffles did the trick! (My four Girls still ate several helpings of dinner also, I think we are reaching the teenager ‘consume lots of food stage’) thanks for sharing!
Hey!
Thanks for putting all of these recipe links in one email. I needed the quick mix, but haven’t had time to find it. You rock!
Cheryl Whitfield
So many great ideas! I am a huge fan of freezing muffins, but we don’t have any breakfast stuff made up right now. Time to make muffins, instant oatmeal, and granola! :)
Thank you for such a fantastic list. I’ve been making your granola bars for several years, and we love them. Question though: is it possible to get this list in a pdf? I’d love to print it and post it for my kids to help me choose from the list each week. Thank you so much.
I think this is a great idea – and I will try to make this happen within the next few weeks!!