Power your day with these 5 easy vegan plant-based breakfasts with minimal cleanup for van life and camping.
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If you’re on the lookout for tasty, healthy meals that are easy to whip up in a van, in this blog post I share my go-to plant-based breakfasts for van life (or car camping). These vegan breakfast “recipes” are simple, quick to prepare, and help you avoid too much clean up if you’re trying to conserve your water supply in your camper van. I call them “recipes” because you can easily adapt them to the ingredients you have on hand or to suit your personal preferences.
Check out my favorite plant-based breakfast recipes for van life below!
Easy Vegan Van Life & Camping Breakfasts
Non-Dairy Yogurt Bowls with Fresh Fruit& Granola
This is a well-balanced plant-based breakfast that provides fiber and carbs to fuel your day. Throw on some hemp or flax seeds for a boost of protein and omega-3s.
Non-dairy yogurt (I prefer Silk Vanilla Almond Milk Yogurt or Forager Cashew Milk Yogurt, which is available at most grocery stores)
Fresh berries (strawberries, blueberries, or whatever is in season)
For my plant-based breakfast quinoa bowls, I like to make a big batch of quinoa (2-3 cups uncooked). Then when it’s breakfast time, I throw some in a pot with some non-dairy milk and reheat on low. You can buy quinoa at any store (including Costco) and cook according to the directions on the package. If you don’t want to use quinoa, you can also make this with rolled oats, where all you have to do is add a little bit of boiling water and let it sit for a couple of minutes.
Most van lifers don’t have a toaster in their van, including me. However, I’m an absolute sucker for a good bagel, so I had to find a way to make one of my favorite plant-based breakfasts sans toaster.
This isn’t the healthiest option on the list, so I treat this breakfast as a treat. All you have to do is melt some vegan butter in a pan (or spread it on the bagel first), then grill it butter side down in a frying pan. Watch the heat as some of the vegan butters burn easily.
Optional: top with vegan cream cheese (Miyokos Vegan Cream Cheese is the best I’ve found so far) or avocado and a sprinkle of nutritional yeast
Green Smoothies
These green smoothies are super easy to make and great for any time of the day….no Vitamix needed. We have the personal serving Ninja blender, and it works perfectly. Adapt with your favorite fruit (frozen gives it a nice texture without needing ice), and don’t forget to top off with a big handful of spinach.
See my Favorite Van Life and Camp Cooking Gear Here
Vegan Breakfast Sandwiches
This plant-based breakfast we save for really special days when we decide we want to have a lazy morning at camp and want something a little heartier. For these delicious breakfast sandwiches, we utilize vegan substitutes for the egg, sausage, and cheese, and even meat-eaters will be impressed. Ryan typically cooks the sausages first and then reuses the same pan to cook the eggs after coating the pan with a little bit of olive oil. Serve on your favorite bread or bun (we typically use hamburger buns since we always have them in the van) with your favorite condiments.
Hope these plant-based breakfasts for van life give you some inspiration. What are your favorite vegan breakfasts to eat while camping? Leave a comment below!
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Pumpkin seeds (also called pepitas) are boiled and then blended with seasoning into a batter. Then just pour it into a hot pan and cook it up! This makes a vegan scramble that is fluffy, creamy, and super delicious. It's also low in calories and high in protein.
The healthiest breakfast foods include a protein, healthy fat and source of carbohydrates, according to Smolen. For a healthy breakfast, consider eating foods like oatmeal with nut butter, avocado toast with an egg, chia seed pudding or a greek yogurt parfait with nuts and berries.
Van Horn says lean cuts of beef, pork, veal, and lamb are usually less fatty and don't contain scads of sodium or artificial garbage like your average hot dog does. All of those factors add up to unprocessed meat being far less risky.
Avocado toast is a classic healthy breakfast, but adding chickpeas majorly ups the protein—and still doesn't require any cooking. This recipe really brings it on the fiber front too, adding spinach and tomatoes to the mix.
The best things to eat for breakfast include oatmeal, eggs, lean bacon or turkey, whole-grain toast, peanut butter, smoothies, and yogurt with muesli. If you decide to try high protein breakfasts, play around with food combinations on your calorie tracker.
Milk and Cereal: One container of each and you're ready to go for several days! Yogurt and Fresh Fruit: Easier to customize for just how much you'll need. Protein Bars, Cereal Bars, or Granola Bars: Great for keeping on hand for snacks, too. Hardboiled Eggs: You can often find these ready to go in the fridge section.
A vegan diet includes only plant foods—fruits, vegetables, beans, grains, nuts, and seeds. People who follow a vegan diet don't eat any animal foods, including dairy, eggs, and honey.
“I think there has to be one best breakfast,” reveals Dr. Shireen Kassam, “which is oats. Whether they are cooked and hot, or overnight cold soaked oats, go for steel cut whole oats eaten with some sort of fruit like berries and additions like flax seeds or hemp. You can't go wrong.”
The bottom line. Most types of peanut butter are free of animal products and can be enjoyed as part of a vegan diet. However, some varieties are made in facilities that also process animal products or contain refined sugar that was produced using bone char or non-vegan ingredients like honey or fish oil.
There are plenty of healthy vegan coffee swaps. Try vegan turmeric lattes, healthy hot chocolate, dandelion root tea, matcha, or warm lemon water. Smoothies are also a great way to kickstart the day as a coffee alternative that serves as meal, too!
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