Vegetables for Breakfast: 8 Delicious Ways to Start Your Day

Along with delicious, perfectly portioned meals and snacks that are easy to prepare, Nutrisystem members lose weight by eating non-starchy vegetables—at least four servings per day. These nutrient-rich foods help our goal-crushing success stories fill up on fiber, a nutrient that helps with digestion and fights cancer while keeping you full.

Eating four servings does much more than just fill you up, though. Studies have shown that people who eat more vegetables have healthier-looking skin in just six weeks.

And it could help mental health, too. In an eight-week study published in 2023, scientists found that people who ate fresh vegetables had better moods overall than another group that were not given extra vegetables to eat during the same time period.

Getting those skin-brightening, mood-busting, belly-filling vegetable servings is easier when you start early. While vegetables for breakfast might not be your normal jam (on toast), they’re a delicious way to power your morning. Here are eight tasty ways to start your day with some plant power and squeeze veggies into your breakfast.

1. Eat a Bowl of Carrot Cake Overnight Oats

For folks who find the morning too dizzying to prepare a meal, overnight oats are a grab-and-go godsend. Just mix the ingredients in a jar the night before and wake up to a satisfying homemade meal that’s ready to eat.

While most overnight oats recipes feature peanut butter or chocolate, this one mimics a different dessert favorite—carrot cake! With a mix of shredded carrot, crunchy nuts, spices, protein from Greek yogurt, and sweetness from honey, our Carrot Cake Overnight Oats recipe is a filling morning bowl you’ll love.

2. Top Your Bagel and Cream Cheese with Cucumber and Red Onion

Turn your morning bagel into a gourmet treat. After you’ve swiped on some low-fat cream cheese, top it with cool cucumber, tangy red onion, and a secret ingredient—everything bagel seasoning! With this trio of toppings perched on your cream cheese, you’ll be in a.m. heaven, and well on your way to four servings of non-starchy.

Looking for another breakfast bagel idea? Try our recipe for a Veggie Delight Breakfast Sandwich! The Nutrisystem Honey Wheat Bagel is topped with fat-free cream cheese, fresh cucumber and bell pepper slices for a creamy, crunchy morning meal.

3. Have a Power Bowl

Power bowls are filling and delicious. These bountiful breakfasts are loaded with flavor and nutrition from an array of veggies and seasonings, then topped with the protein power of egg.

Try the harvest time flavor of the Sweet Potato Hash Power Bowl, featuring sweet potato, red pepper and creamy avocado. Or surprise yourself with a Cauliflower Hash Breakfast Skillet, which tops filling cauliflower rice with peppers and onions, turkey bacon, eggs, and—if you choose—some melty cheese.

4. Go Cheesy with a Broccoli and Cheddar Quesadilla

We all love broccoli and cheese. So why not start the day with those amazing flavors?

This quesadilla does just that, combining sauteed spinach with frozen broccoli and egg whites to mingle with melty cheddar inside a low carb tortilla. The result is a crispy, crunchy, melty, delicious breakfast you’ll come back to again and again.

Sound like too much morning work? Here’s a time-saving tip: Prep the spinach and broccoli the night before, storing them in a container so the morning chore is simplified. Just assemble, heat and crunch!

5. Make a Breakfast Salad

Who says you can’t have salad for breakfast? Be bold. Be daring. Make your own rules! If you like something sweet in the morning, top some spinach with blueberries, strawberries and some balsamic vinegar for a sweet-and-green start to your day.

Or if you’re an egg lover, try turning the egg-to-veggie ratio of an omelet on its head! Take all the vegetables that make a great loaded omelet—like spinach, onions, tomatoes and bell peppers—and toss them into a salad. Then top that with an egg for your very own custom omelet salad.

6. Try a Unique Take on a Breakfast Bake

If you love a savory breakfast, this one’s for you. This egg dish features mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes and herbs like thyme and rosemary.

And it’s got a surprising ingredient: quinoa. This protein-packed grain adds a nutritional punch to a dish that’s already loaded with filling protein from eggs and cottage cheese.

Make this six-serving dish to share for a Sunday breakfast with family or save it all for yourself. You can bake it on the weekend and have slices to take to work all week.

7. Dig into a Breakfast Burrito Bowl

We’ve all had breakfast burritos. We’ve all had burrito bowls. How have we never thought of a breakfast burrito bowl before?

Consider that oversight corrected: This satisfying recipe turns a frozen Nutrisystem Breakfast Burrito into a filling, fork-friendly breakfast. Open the breakfast burrito and use its delicious insides to top cauliflower rice, spinach and turkey bacon. Then top it all off with an egg and sliced avocado for a decadent, delectable morning meal.

8. Bake a Batch of Mini Egg Muffins

Cook these once, and you’ve got breakfast for a week! Mix some assorted vegetables into eggs and pour them into a greased muffin tin. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, and you’ve got ready-to-grab, veggie- and protein-packed breakfasts filling your fridge to last all week.

Try this version that’s filled with broccoli and cheese, or go fully loaded with this version featuring five different veggies!