Let’s be honest, following an elimination diet is hard enough as it is, and becoming creative with elimination diet breakfast recipes is often the most challenging part of the entire process!!
As a team, we have each been through numerous forms of elimination diets, and we definitely panicked when it came time for breakfast due to being unable to have eggs, peanut butter, wheat, and dairy!
Like many of you, we were raised on the SAD (Standard American Diet); therefore, peanut butter, wheat, and dairy comprised 90% of our meals.
How does one live without sandwiches and toaster strudels?
Fear not. We have great news as we have completed many elimination diets and now we are here to show you the ropes.
Don’t waste any more time on funky-tasting recipes.
Don’t waste any more money on fancy ingredients.
Don’t unintentionally starve yourself because you have nothing on hand and are unsure what to make.
The topic of elimination diet recipes is so important because, more often than not, the practitioner instructing you to follow an elimination diet likely does not have time to sit and review recipes with you during a medical visit. How do you know where to begin and what to eat without spending hours on Google?!
Let us take the guesswork out of the process. You are the reason we wrote this piece.
This post will focus on the best elimination diet breakfast recipes of all time. Grab a spoon and dig in!
Table of contents
- What is a Good Breakfast for an Elimination Diet?
- What is the AIP Diet?
- Can These Recipes Be Eaten on an AIP Diet?
- Can You Eat Bacon on an Elimination Diet?
- The Best Elimination Diet Breakfast Recipes
- 1. Carrot Cake N’Oatmeal
- 2. Super Smoothie
- 3. The Classic Breakfast Power Bowl
- 4. Berry Coconut Cream Chia Parfaits
- 5. Cinnamon Banana Porridge
- 6. Dinner for Breakfast
- 7. Pancakes of Champions
- 8. Cranberry Orange Muffin Tops
- 9. Sweet Potato Toast/Sliders
- 10. Superfood Quinoa Breakfast Porridge
- 11. Delicious Simple Breakfast Sausage
- Summary
What is a Good Breakfast for an Elimination Diet?
Besides taste, when making a great elimination diet breakfast, we want to give you a healthy dose of anti-inflammatory foods and steady energy. To make an elimination diet breakfast meal plan, it is essential to:
- Eliminate the top eight foods that most often cause allergies and immune system reactions: eggs, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, fish, shellfish, and wheat.
- Be sure to include enough protein- and yes, even at breakfast! You will feel poorly, and blood sugar will plummet. This is the biggest mistake we see as clinicians coaching clients on an elimination eating plan.
- Shop in advance and cook in bulk. When eliminating multiple food groups, preparation is KEY to truly succeed.
What is the AIP Diet?
The AIP diet stands for the Autoimmune Protocol Diet. The AIP diet was designed to significantly reduce inflammation and associated symptoms in individuals suffering from autoimmune disease and autoimmune-related symptoms like pain and fatigue.
This eating regimen emphasizes high-quality fats, colorful fruits, and veggies, as well as high-quality animal protein like wild-caught fish and grass-fed beef. The AIP diet eliminates eggs, nightshade vegetables, caffeine, alcohol, grains, legumes, dairy, processed sugar, nuts and seeds.
Can These Recipes Be Eaten on an AIP Diet?
All of the recipes in this post can be eaten on an AIP diet except for the breakfast porridge and the breakfast bars.
The AIP allowed options include:
Carrot Cake N’Oatmeal, Shake Template Recipe (use coconut milk), The Classic Breakfast Power Bowl, Berry Coconut Cream Chia Parfaits, Dinner for Breakfast, Pancakes of Champions, Cranberry Orange Muffin Tops, Sweet Potato Slides (with avocado topping) and the Breakfast Sausage.
Can You Eat Bacon on an Elimination Diet?
Yes! Unless your healthcare provider specifically requests you not to eat pork, you are in the clear with bacon.
Bacon is especially OK if it is pasture-raised. An interesting fact we’ve learned as clinicians over the years: Sometimes, individuals react to red meat because of the funk that resides within the meat because of the animal’s living conditions vs. the meat itself actually being an issue.
Elimination diets are more geared towards top allergens and pork does not fall in that category.
The Best Elimination Diet Breakfast Recipes
1. Carrot Cake N’Oatmeal
While gluten-free grains are traditionally kept on a standard elimination diet, many individuals are unable to tolerate grains as a result of their current health condition or, their elimination diet recipes must abide by the rule of Paleo eating. The solution? N’oatmeal!!
No, that’s not a typo, N’oatmeal is a real term used to describe a porridge with an oatmeal-like consistency that does not contain any grains or oats!
Instead of a grain-rich bowl of food in the a.m., this nut and seed concoction mimics the thick creaminess of oatmeal, minus the sluggish feeling that some individuals experience.
Carrot Cake N’Oatmeal
Ingredients
- 1 13.5 oz Can of canned coconut milk
- 3 medium ripe bananas
- 1 10 oz bag of shredded carrots tastes best when carots are shredded finely in a food processer
- 3/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 2 TBSP pure maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp all spice optional
Instructions
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1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients until evenly mixed.
3. Scoop the mixture into a glass 9×13 dish.
4. Pat with hand or spatula to ensure the mixture is even.
5. Cover pan with foil and baker for about 55 minutes or until the n’oatmeal is moist.
6. Let cool for 5-7 minutes then scoop out and enjoy!
7. Top with your favorite toppings such as more shredded coconut or raw cacao nibs.
By the way, if this sounds like a lot of effort to you, and you’d like to buy this pre-made, check out Birota’s N’oatmeal. It was created by a sports dietitian and all you have to do is add liquid!
2. Super Smoothie
While we would not recommend smoothies every single morning, (chewing helps to stimulate our digestive system), these delectable drinks are the best when it comes to a quick, easy, and filling breakfast solution.
And no, we are not talking about throwing juice, yogurt, and fruit in a blender. We are talking about a lean, mean, balanced meal from a machine. We encourage you to get creative with your favorite flavors, but here is our shake template as well as our favorite flavor combos!
Elimination Diet Breakfast Shake Template:
Ingredients
- 25 gram scoop of protein powder (Our recs: plant based protein or 2 scoops of collagen peptides)
- 3/4 cup frozen fruit
- 1/2 cup frozen green veggies of choice
- 8-12 oz nut or seed milk
- 1-2 tsp anti-inflammatory spice
Best Flavor Combos Using the Above Template:
- Protein of choice + almond butter + frozen cherries + cacao powder + spinach or dark leafy green of choice + almond milk
- Protein of choice + coconut oil or MCT oil + frozen mango and frozen pineapple + turmeric + spinach or dark leafy green of choice + coconut milk
- Protein of choice + sunflower butter + frozen banana + cinnamon + spinach or dark leafy green of choice
- Protein of choice + canned coconut milk + ¼ cup pumpkin puree + 1 small frozen banana + cinnamon + spinach or dark leafy green of choice + vanilla coconut milk
By the way, for those who are really in a hurry, check out these individual serving collagen peptides protein packets which are NSF for Sport.
Interested in seeing a quick video on how to make awesome smoothies? Check out the video below which we recorded for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
3. The Classic Breakfast Power Bowl
Let’s not overthink things my friends, an old-school classic breakfast can still fit the bill!
Why not cook your favorite chicken or turkey sausage (We like Applegate Farms) then chop, season, and roast sweet or purple potatoes along with your favorite roasted veggies? Throw together in a bowl, maybe add a little hot sauce and call it a day?!
This is one of our favorite veggie/ potato hash recipes if you’d like a little extra guidance!
Are you struggling to find a place to get clean, anti-inflammatory smoothie ingredients all in one place and shipped right to your front door?
If so, try where we buy all our smoothie ingredients, Thrive Market. It is without a doubt, the best place to buy all your anti-inflammatory foods, spices, and snacks.
After all, who doesn’t love fairly-priced all-natural food delivered to your door within 3-5 days!?
We’ve been using Thrive Market for years now and have saved a ton of money by doing so. We love ordering specialized groceries like nut butter, toxin-free cleaning products and soap, clean protein bars and snacks, and even our children’s diapers (they’re the best we’ve found!).
Plus, if you do not order enough throughout the year to make your membership fee worthwhile, Thrive Market will actually credit you back what you did not use as a bonus for the following year.
Sign up using our link to 👉choose a FREE gift, up to $24 value, when you purchase a Thrive Market membership now!👈
4. Berry Coconut Cream Chia Parfaits
Special shout out to all of our yogurt lovers out there! We see you! So, please don’t panic when you are asked to remove dairy. We have you covered. Check out our tasty coconut cream parfaits below.
Berry Coconut Cream Chia Parfaits
Ingredients
- 1 13.5 oz can full-fat canned coconut milk
- 1.5 TBSP pure maple or honey
- 1 tsp gelatin
- 1 TBSP chia seeds
- Zest 1 lemon
- 1-2 cups berries For topping later!
Berry Topping
- 1 cup frozen raspberries (or any berries you have on hand!)
- 1.5 TBSP honey or pure maple
- Juice from one lemon
Instructions
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Open canned coconut milk and stir with a spoon until oil and cream are well mixed.
2. Remove ⅓ of the canned milk and pour in a pan. Heat until just boiling and divide into two small bowls.
3. In one bowl, sprinkle in the gelatin until it blooms (AKA starts to ripple and take shape.) After 3-4 min, whisk together until dissolved and slightly frothy.
4. In the other bowl, stir in sweetener and lemon zest.
5. Combine the two bowls of split coconut milk and then the remaining coconut milk from the can.
6. Lastly, add the chia and stir well until seeds are evenly dispersed. Refrigerate for at least 1 hr and 15 minutes. (You could always make the base the night before and the compote fresh the next morning for breakfast.)
Berry Topping
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Combine all ingredients in a saucepan on low to medium heat until water has evaporated and berries are soft and broken down.
2. Take fresh berries and dump evenly across four small glasses (6-10 oz). A few inches is great.
3. Divide entire batch of coconut cream across four glasses.
4. Top cream with warm berry topping and additional fresh berries.
Feel free to add additional crunch if you have it on hand such as cacao nibs, hemp seeds, flax, nuts, or elimination diet approved granola. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Recipe Notes
If you are unfamiliar with collagen gelatin, we like to use the grass fed + pastured raised collagen gelatin from Vital Proteins.
By the way, we know this recipe might seem a bit tedious at first, but once you make it a few times, you will have all of these steps memorized and the process will be a breeze.
5. Cinnamon Banana Porridge
This is one of our favorite elimination diet recipes of all time.
Who doesn’t love some tasty breakfast porridge?
So, simple, and so delicious. I developed this one a few years ago when many of my clients wanted something hearty but sweet in the morning, but they could not tolerate grains or many other foods on the elimination diet.
It’s time to say hello to FWDfuel’s Cinnamon Banana Porridge!
Ingredients:
- ½ cup almonds
- ½ cup walnuts (or macadamia nuts)
- 1 ripe banana
- 1 can of unsweetened coconut milk
- 1 overflowing spoonful of cashew butter (or almond!)
- 2 tsp cinnamon
Directions:
- Soak nuts in water overnight then drain.
- Use a blender or food processor to blend nuts, banana, canned coconut milk, cinnamon and nut butter.
- Pour into a small pan on stove top and eat on low.
- Divide batch in half. Makes two servings.
Cinnamon Banana Porridge
Ingredients
- ½ cup almonds
- ½ cup walnuts or macadamia nuts
- 1 ripe banana
- 1 can of unsweetened coconut milk
- 1 overflowing spoonful of cashew butter or almond!
- 2 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
-
Soak nuts in water overnight then drain.
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Use a blender or food processor to blend nuts, banana, canned coconut milk, cinnamon and nut butter.
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Pour into a small pan on stovetop and eat on low.
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Divide batch in half.
You can certainly enjoy this cold, but we suggest taking the extra step to make it warm!!!
6. Dinner for Breakfast
Alright, just a friendly little reminder here…
We know many of you enjoy eating breakfast for dinner, but please don’t forget how beneficial a balanced dinner can be for breakfast!!
Hands down, you will feel better eating that pot roast from last night vs. a bowl of cereal. Remember, healthy fat and protein burn slowly, stabilizing blood sugar and hunger. A perfect way to start the morning!
You will feel more satisfied, accompanied by more stable energy levels mid-morning. We guarantee you will not be as ravenous come lunchtime if you consume chili or even grilled chicken, broccoli cooked in olive oil, and rice for breakfast!!
Posts To Help you Cook This Recipe:
>>>Best Cookware for High-Heat
>>>Best Oil and Size for Cast Iron Skillets
Our Top Elimination Diet Dinner for Breakfast Combos:
- Pot roast: grass-fed beef, potatoes, carrots, onions
- Chicken + quinoa + spinach lightly sauteed in olive oil
- Salmon + rice + broccoli roasted in coconut oil
It may seem awkward at first, but we have quite a few athletes who feel so much better taking this approach that they refuse to go back to their old ways of oatmeal and muffins. Try it!
7. Pancakes of Champions
You need eggs to make a great pancake, they say. LIES! In fact, some of the best tasting pancakes and the best elimination diet recipes do not contain eggs.
There are actually a number of options to replace egg in a recipe such as making your own flax egg, chia egg, using apple cider vinegar, purchasing an egg substitute mix or in this situation, gelatin. We thought collagen gelatin might be easier since we have it in other recipes in this article.
Elimination Diet Pancakes of Champions
Ingredients
- 1 TBSP Vital Proteins Collagen Gelatin
- 3/4 cup coconut flour
- 1/2 cup cassava flour
- 1/2 cup coconut milk Or any nut or seed milk of your choice.
- 3 TBSP hot water
- 3 TBSP 100% pure maple syrup
- 1-2 tsp cinnamon
- Coconut oil for cooking
- Toppings of choice for pancakes We love berries, warm nut butter and cacao nibs!
Instructions
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1. Add hot water to a small, glass cup and sprinkle gelatin on top.
2. Combine both flours and cinnamon in a medium sized bowl.
3. Add the coconut milk, maple, gelatin mixture and whisk well. (Sometimes heating the milk before mixing can help to keep the mixture warm which makes for a smoother blending process.)
4. Heat your favorite non-toxic pan to medium low heat then add a spoonful of coconut until evenly melted. Take an ice cream scooper to scoop a few portions of batter across your pan.
5. Let cook for 3-5 minutes then flip and cook for another 2-3.
6. Pancake should harden a bit in texture and turn slightly light brown. Set on plate and enjoy!
7. Top pancakes with whatever excites you most on your pancakes, almond butter and berries, 100% pure maple syrup, cacao nibs, hemp seeds etc.!
This elimination diet recipe will make roughly 6-8 mini pancakes.
8. Cranberry Orange Muffin Tops
Let’s be real with ourselves, who doesn’t love a soft, delicious muffin from time to time in the morning, or even for a midday snack!?
Now is a muffin an ideal or balanced breakfast? Absolutely not. But, sometimes variety is truly what keeps us going when following an elimination diet that is fairly restrictive.
We actually recommend that you take a muffin, cut it in half horizontally, and then generally spread your favorite nut butter in the middle, then reconnect both pieces to make it a more balanced breakfast “sandwich!!”
Cranberry Orange Muffin Tops
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup cassava flour
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup melted coconut oil
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 cup dried unsweetened cranberries
- 2 TBSP orange zest
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 and grease your favorite non-toxic cookie sheet.
2. In a medium bowl combine both flours, baking soda, orange zest and salt.
3. Gently stir until evenly mixed. Mix in honey, applesauce, coconut oil until a well mixed, thick batter is formed.
4. Fold in cranberries.Use an overflowing tablespoon to scoop out about 16 mounds of batter across your cookie sheet.
5. Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until firm and golden brown. Enjoy once completely cooled!.
Pro Tip: Make these on a weekend for an easy reheat during the week. Our Cranberry Orange Muffin Tops freeze really well for ultimate convenience!
9. Sweet Potato Toast/Sliders
Did you know that you can slice raw sweet potatoes and toast them for a few minutes in the toaster to mimic bread? It is so easy and so nutrient-dense, we really hope that you will incorporate these little guys into your weekly routine one way or another!
Sweet Potato Toast and Sliders
Ingredients
- 1 large sweet potato
- Your choice of toppings
- Hint: You can go sweet with options like peanut butter, banana and cinnamon or almond butter and cacao nibs or you can opt for savory like smashed avocado with sea salt and pepper or hummus an smoked salmon or even a fried egg! (This is Kylene’s favorite go-to espresso infused almond butter that her professional athletes LOVE!)
Instructions
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1. Take the sweet potato and slice it lengthwise into approximately ¼ inch thick pieces.
2. Toast for 4-6 minutes in your toaster. (It may take a little longer for it to be cooked through depending on the power of your toaster.)
3. Top with desired toppings.
4. Place an extra slice on top if you are more of a sandwich fan or leave it open-faced like traditional toast. Either way, enjoy!!
10. Superfood Quinoa Breakfast Porridge
Who doesn’t love some some breakfast porridge? Isn’t even better when its an elimination diet breafast recipe porridge?
In our house we love smoothies and porridge We like to balance the carbs from the oats and quinoa with hemp, chia, flax, and coconut. Additionally, the cinnamon will help reduce a bloog sugar spike if you add too much honey or maple syrup.
If you’re looking to further boost your protein intake, which we often are, especially after long runs, we have 2 suggestions. We often add some collagen peptides and vanilla beef protein powder. These are both available on Fullscript for a discount hwen you use our link to create your accont.
You may need to add a bit more liquid to get the considtencey right, but, you won’t notice the collagen and. the vanilla beef protein powder tasts greatt, just don’t add more than a scoop.
Superfood Quinoa Breakfast Porridge
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup raw quinoa
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 2 1/4 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- 1 tsp Ceylon cinnamon
- t tsp vanilla extract
- 2 TBSP pure maple syrup
- 2 TBSP hemp seeds
- 2 TBSP flaxseed meal For optimal nutritional value, is best to start with whole flaxseed and grind/blend them immediately before use.
- 1.5 TBSP chia seeds
Instructions
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Add quinoa, oats, almond milk, water, vanilla and cinnamon into a small pot.
Stir together and bring the liquid to a boil. Reduce to low and simmer the porridge until the oats are soft and most of the liquid has been absorbed. This usually takes about 10 – 15 minutes.
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Remove the porridge from the heat and stir in maple syrup, flaxseed meal, chia seeds, and hemp seeds.
If it thickens more than you prefer, add an additional splash or two of almond milk
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Divide the porridge equally between two bowls and top with your favorite toppings.
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Suggested toppings: Sliced banana , fresh berries, overripe mango, slivered almonds, pumpkin seeds, coconut cream, drizzle of honey or pure maple syrup, peanut, almond or cashew butter warmed with a little coconut oil for the ultimate drizzle.
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Dig in and enjoy!
11. Delicious Simple Breakfast Sausage
Deliciously Simple Breakfast Sausage
This elimination diet-friendly breakfast recipe tastes best with pork but can be made with chicken or turkey. These are a savory dish that may be baked or sauted and freeze well to easy reheating when needed.!
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Grond pork may substitute turkey or chicken
- 2 TBSP 100$ pure maple syrup
- 2 tsp salt use Pink himalayan or Celtic salt to increase consumption of trace minerals
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp dried sage
- 3/4 tsp fennel seed may also use crushed red pepper flakes, Italian seasoning, or garlic powder
Instructions
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Add raw meat to a large mixing bowl
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In a separate small bowl, mix together maple, salt, pepper, sage, and your favorite seasoning (we used fennel seeds)
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Pour seasoning in the mixing bowl with the meat and mix together by hand.
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Preheat oven to 400℉
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Grease a baking sheet with an anti-inflammatory oil such as organic avocado oil, coconut oil, or beef tallo. (Optional: cover and let sit overnight to improve flavor profile!)
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Grab small amounts of mixture shaping it into 12 patties and place onto a cookie sheet.
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Bake for 10 mninutes then flip and bake for an adidtional 7-10 minutes.
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To saute: Let patties sit for 10 minutes as they will cook more evenly at room temperature. Put a pan on medium heat and add a small amoutn of anti-inflammatory oil such as organic avocado oil, organic coconut oil, or beef tallow. Sautee for 4-5 minutes on eacehside or until cooked all the way though.
Many of us feel best when we consistely meet our recommended protein intake requirements. My husband is one of them and with his lifting and marathon training he conssitely feels stronger and more energized when he meets his protein requiremnets.
One way to start your day on the right foot is with some clean elimination diet-frinely breakfast sausage that will keep your blood sugar stable and help you chip away at your daily protein goals.
>>Read more: What Happens if You Don’t Get Enough Protein While Working Out
If you’re an athlete doing intense training, finding tasty ways to consistently consume protein is essential. We promise you this will be a recipe in regular rotation for you!
Summary
See, you can have an amazingly tasty breakfast while following a strict elimination diet. The elimination diet breakfast recipes listed above are not only delicious but simple to make. After all, you deserve to be satisfied and energized.
Please stay tuned as we will continue to supply you with our tried and true elimination diet recipes, and sign up for our FREE, Elimination Diet 3-Part Video Series today!
100$ maple syrup 🤣
These look yum!
glad to find this site but i have a few questions. there are eggs and nuts/nut butters in these recipes and i though these were not allowed in the elimination diet?
Hi Isadora, eggs are not in the recipes and nuts are often OK if they’re not roasted in peanut or other inflammatory oils. Peanuts are not included in the above recipes.
Very nicely written. Impressed with the fantastic recipes! Have been using a few of them in my practice already 🙂
Thank you so much, Manveen!!
Love this!! And all your posts. Amazing how you guys combine the best of functional medicine with sports nutrition.
Thanks Monica! We’re excited to hear you enjoy your content and see that the functional world can be combined with the sports nutrition world!
Thanks Monica!