A high-protein breakfast helps you start your day with balanced blood sugar and increases the likelihood of making healthy nutrition choices all day long. During pregnancy, optimizing the “most important meal of the day” becomes even more crucial and ensures you and your growing baby get the nutrients you need.
We get it—nausea and fatigue can make it tricky to make choices you’re proud of, whether it is because you have no interest in pregnancy superfoods or you’re too tired to prep and cook. The high-protein breakfast ideas for pregnancy below are easy to make and will suit your ever-changing cravings and aversions. Plus, a high protein diet has been shown to reduce nausea in pregnancy!
How Much Protein Do You Need During Pregnancy?
Protein needs increase during pregnancy, and exact pregnancy protein goals are unique to each person and are primarily based on pre-pregnancy weight. That said, a good starting place is to aim for at least 100 grams of protein per day during pregnancy.
If you want personalized nutrition guidance based on your body and preferences, a 1-on-1 WAG nutrition coach can help you ensure you get the nutrients you and your little one need to thrive. Get $50 off a WAG Membership with the code MINT.
High-Protein Breakfast Ideas
Without further ado, let’s dive into some high-protein breakfast ideas for pregnancy. These meals are inspired by foods especially advantageous for you and your baby.
We’ve included a variety of tastes to ensure you can find something you’re in the mood for, but don’t be afraid to get creative, swap out ingredients, and adjust based on your preferences. Most of these options are easy to throw together quickly, but we’ve also included prepping instructions to keep these healthy choices as convenient as possible.
Yogurt Bowl
Ingredients:
- Full-fat plain Greek yogurt
- Berries
- Granola
- Nut butter or peanut butter powder
Photo by Niclas Illg on Unsplash
How to prep it: Cook your granola in large batches or stick with your favorite store-bought brand—just look out for unnecessary added sugars. One of our faves is Purely Elizabeth! From there, this should be a pretty quick and easy meal to throw together on the go. Measure out your yogurt ahead of time if desired, then add your toppings before eating.
Egg Bites
Ingredients for 12 muffins:
- 7 full eggs (don’t skip the yolks!)
- Veggies of choice (zucchini, tomato, spinach, onion, garlic etc)
- Ground turkey or chopped turkey bacon
- Cheese
- Seasoning to taste
Photo by Kaitlyn Chow on Unsplash
How to prep it: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.While it heats, sauté your meat and veggies. Feel free to swap out the meat for vegetarian protein options, and add brown rice if you need a few more carbs! Put in a bowl with whisked eggs, cheese, and desired seasonings and cook for around 20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
Smoothie
Ingredients
- Avocado
- Strawberries
- Banana
- Full-fat plain Greek yogurt
- Collagen
- Greens (kale or spinach)
- Almond milk
- Crushed ice
Photo by Sara Cervera on Unsplash
How to prep it: To makeyour smoothie fresh, add all the ingredients and crushed ice into your blender and have at it! If you want it to be less icey and more “smoothie,” cut your avocado, strawberries, and banana ahead of time and throw them in a freezer bag overnight. Add frozen ingredients to your blender, top with yogurt, collagen, green, and almond milk, and enjoy.
Protein Overnight Oats
Ingredients
- Choose from a WAG Overnight Oats Recipe below, then add collagen powder or your protein powder of choice.
- Carrot Cake Overnight Oats
- Pumpkin Spice Latte Overnight Oats
- Everything Bagel Overnight Oats
- Strawberry Vanilla Overnight Oats
- PB+J Overnight Oats
How to prep it: Put all your ingredients in a Tupperware and let them sit overnight. Top with yogurt before eating for an additional protein punch.
Egg Sandwich
Ingredients:
- Whole-grain English muffins
- Canadian or turkey bacon
- Eggs
- Cheese
- Seasoning of choice (we love Trader Joe’s Everything But the Bagel seasoning).
Photo by Duncan Kidd on Unsplash
How to prep it: Season and fry eggs separately or whisk them together and fully cook in a large pan before separating. Layer Canadian or turkey bacon, egg, and cheese on your English muffin and wrap it with tinfoil. Store in the fridge for up to four days or in your freezer. Reheat in the oven before enjoying.
Pro tip: if you have time to lightly toast your English muffins before freezing, it helps them get crispier when you reheat them!
Smoked Salmon hash
Ingredients:
- Smoked salmon
- Greens
- Sweet Potato
- Apple or fruit of choice
- Ghee or butter
- Salt
How to prep it: Bulk-roast your sweet potato in the oven beforehand so you can heat it quickly in the morning! Coat a frying pan with ghee or butter. Put your sweet potato, smoked salmon, and fruit of choice in a frying pan and heat. Add greens and let them wilt. Add more protein and healthy omega-3 fats to your hash by adding eggs.
Worried about smoked salmon? Heating it to light pink ensures it is fully cooked. You can use regular salmon if you aren’t a fan of the smoked flavor.
More Ideas & Inspiration
Grab more healthy recipes from the WAG Blog or check out WAG and The MINT Project’s Movement and Nutrition During Pregnancy Quick Start Guide, where we share need-to-know nutrition basics for pregnancy. If you want even more specialized guidance throughout such a fun and exciting time, consider hiring a 1-on-1 nutrition coach. Your coach will personalize their feedback and suggestions based on your trimester, food preferences, and aversions. They can also help you put any nutrition recommendations from your OBGYN into practice. Use the code MINT at checkout to grab $50 off your first month with a coach.
And, if you’re here, that means you know how vital movement and exercise are to a healthy pregnancy. The MINT Prjct’s pregnancy and postpartum fitness programs are designed by experts to keep your core and pelvic floor health a top priority, so you move safely and efficiently post-pregnancy. Get a discount with code WAG on our pregnancy program or postpartum programs.
This article includes affiliate links. WAG & The MINT Prjct only recommend products and resources we’ve tried and loved!
Guest Post
By Ali Macy, Director of Marketing & WAG Coach
Working Against Gravity
