It’s always fun to cook for special occasions. Getting to make tasty food, and share it with loved ones during the holidays is one of my favorite things, which is why I love vegan holiday breakfasts.
You can go in any direction with a holiday breakfast: sweet, savory, simple, or complex. Breakfast foods are usually fairly easy to make in larger quantities, so they’re great if you’re hosting a large group at the holidays.
Beyond that, breakfast just feels like a celebratory meal. Breakfast at the holidays means you’re starting a special day with important people, and that’s worth celebrating with some good vegan holiday breakfast recipes.
Tips for Throwing a Holiday Breakfast
Here are some of my favorite tricks for how to host a big holiday breakfast.
- Make food ahead of time. A lot of the vegan holiday breakfast recipes in this article can be prepped in advance. Sometimes that just means chopping some vegetables the day before, but other times it means getting the entire dish ready well ahead of time. The more you can prepare in advance, the smoother the holiday breakfast will go.
- Have options. There’s something really festive about having options when you eat. That doesn’t mean you need to make two or three different vegan holiday breakfasts. It just means having some options so people can customize their breakfast. If you’re making vegan biscuits, have a variety of jams and marmalades to choose from. If you’re making a savory breakfast recipe, have a good selection of hot sauces, condiments, or garnishes that people can put on their food. That will make the occasion feel much more celebratory.
- Make fun drinks. Fun drinks don’t need to be time consuming or fancy. But nothing makes a holiday breakfast shine quite like some good drinks to choose from. Whether it’s a few different kinds of juice, a mimosa bar, or a coffee stand, good drinks can elevate your holiday breakfast from tasty to festive.
- Break out the nice plates. We eat with our eyes first, and it’s worth keeping that in mind when setting up for a holiday feast. Now’s the time to ditch the paper plates, plastic forks, and flimsy napkins. Your guests will feel more celebratory when everything looks nice.
- Have fun! At the end of the day, cooking is about having fun, and so are the holidays. Whatever you do, make sure that you have a good time getting food ready for a holiday breakfast.
Vegan Holiday Breakfast Recipes
Holidays are a fun time to dust off the apron and make a special breakfast food. And there are no shortage of special vegan breakfast foods that are perfect for a celebratory occasion. These are some vegan breakfasts that work for any holiday.
Vegan Biscuits and Gravy - A Rich and Comforting Breakfast Recipe
There are few breakfasts as traditional as biscuits and gravy. With vegan sausage and vegan butter, this recipe is just as indulgent and flavorful as traditional biscuits and gravy.
In this traditional Jamaican breakfast feast, canned hearts of palms are seasoned with nori to replicate saltfish. Canned ackee, roma tomatoes, and scotch bonnet peppers round out this celebratory breakfast.
When it comes to sweet breakfasts, it's really hard to beat a classic cinnamon roll. This recipe uses a combination of vegan cream cheese and vegan butter to make a luscious frosting.
You'll have a hard time finding someone who doesn't love pancakes. These flapjacks use a combination of molasses, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg to create a spicy and irresistable breakfast.
A quiche isn't the first thing you think of when it comes to vegan food. But this recipe recreates both the flaver and texture of eggs brilliantly with firm tofu and seasonings.
Vegan Pumpkin Overnight French Toast Casserole (Gluten-Free Option!)
In this mouth-watering french toast casserole, bread is soaked in pumpkin puree, maple syrup, coconut milk, and almond milk over night. The result is a deep and rich flavor, and an indulgent and sweet breakfast that's perfect for a special occasion.
This classic french toast is oozing with pumpkin and maple syrup. It's soft, moist, and perfectly sweet.
These biscuits use a lot of vegan butter, which makes them fluffy and airy. You can top them with butter, jam, gravy, or nothing at all, and they'll be a home run breakfast.
Frittatas are normally full of eggs, but this recipe uses pressed tofu as a base. A large amount of vegetables and spices are in the dish, making it a breakfast that's both healthy and festive.
This vegan take on a fast food superstar is every bit as good as the original. Tofu is brined in pickle juice and then coated in seven different seasonings before being fried to perfection.
This recipe is easy to prep ahead of time, and a show stealer if you have a lot of people over for a holiday breakfast feast. Sweet rolls and savory vegan sausage filling are a match made in heaven. You'll have a hard time eating just one of these!
Few breakfasts can compete with a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit sandwich. This recipe perfected the way to make that classic breakfast vegan.
Scrambles are a great holiday breakfast item, because you can make them in large batches. This dish uses tofu in place of eggs, and gets rich, buttery flavor from nutritional yeast.
Who doesn't love chocolate for breakfast? Despite tasting decadent and indulgent, this oatmeal dish is pretty healthy, with an abundance of oats, bananas, and dairy-free milk.
Homemade granola is so much better than the store bought version, and this recipe is no exception. Granola is a great breakfast, because it can be served in so many ways: plain, with vegan yogurt, covered in dairy-free milk, as part of a fruit parfait, or any other number of options.
Banana fritters are a fun and unique breakfast, and great for a holiday. They're super easy to make, and more interesting and flavorful than most fried breakfast foods.
Oatmeal is a breakfast staple. And while it's usually made with cow's milk, it's just as good - if not better - with a dairy-free milk instead.
This oatmeal recipe gets in intense richness and sweetness from cooking the oats, apples, and seasonings in a slow cooker. The end result is one of the most luxurious oatmeals that you'll ever eat.
You can never go wrong with potatoes for breakfast. These crispy hash browns are restaurant quality, but are super easy to make at home in your air fryer.