10 Healthy Porridge Toppings to help you and your family get a great start to the day! Many of these toppings are made with pantry staples, so you can easily make these toppings any day of the week.
Porridge is such a big part of our family’s morning routine. When we are looking for a healthy and quick breakfast recipe, oatmeal porridge is often the answer.
While porridge is a breakfast that can be enjoyed year round, we are eating porridge more frequently now that the fall weather is in full swing. A bowl of warm oatmeal is our family favorite way to welcome in the chilly mornings.
These 10 healthy porridge toppings are perfect for the entire family. You can adapt many of these porridge topping recipes for a young baby. When our little one was just starting solids, the Pumpkin Pie Porridge was a favorite.
10 Healthy Porridge Toppings that you can make for the entire family
Feel free to use these healthy porridge toppings for baby led weaning – just be careful of the dried fruits and nuts. With the nuts, you can replace them with ground almonds, or finely chop them yourself.
Our toddler, now a year and a half old, loves to eat all of these porridges as is. At the same time, my partner and I also enjoy them too. These are 10 healthy porridge toppings are truly family friendly.
I hope this recipe saves you time in the mornings since you can cook one breakfast for the entire family. I’m all for breakfast recipes that are healthy, filling, and nutritious for weekday mornings to get us going.
A lot of these healthy porridge toppings are also cupboard staples, so you can also just cook up a pot of plain oatmeal, and let everyone do their own mix-ins and toppings.
I’ve included a recommended natural sweetener to each of these porridge topping recipes, but keep in mind that it’s your choice whether or not to add the sweetener, and how much sweetener to add. Sweeteners can be added last minute, so you can easily adjust to taste.
These healthy porridge topping ideas can easily be adapted to fit your family
Personally, I usually leave the sweeteners off completely for my toddler, but I secretly add a bit of sweetener to my bowl of porridge. Or as an alternative to a sweetener, I just add on a bit more fruit or spice.
Tried and tested!
Here are your 10 Healthy Porridge Toppings
1. Apple Pie
Mix-ins: ground cinnamon (1/4 teaspoon), nutmeg (pinch), brown sugar (optional)
Toppings: apple (cut into matchsticks), pecans (chopped, depending on age of child), maple syrup (optional)
Notes: for a young baby, you can replace the chopped pecans with almond flour and replace the apple matchsticks with applesauce.
2. Carrot Cake
Mix-ins: grated carrot (1/2 carrot), raisins (1 tablespoon), cinnamon (1/4 teaspoon), nutmeg (pinch)
Toppings: grated carrot, raisins, brown sugar (optional)
3. Middle Eastern
Mix-ins: tahini (1-2 teaspoons)
Toppings: sesame seeds, poppy seeds, chopped medjool dates (1-2 dates)
4. Raspberry and Vanilla
Mix-ins: vanilla powder (1/8 teaspoon), vanilla yogurt (2 tablespoons)
Toppings: fresh raspberries, chopped roasted almonds, raspberry jam (optional)
5. Pumpkin Pie
Mix-ins: pumpkin puree (2 tablespoons), pumpkin pie spice (1/4 teaspoon)
Toppings: pumpkin puree, cinnamon, maple syrup (optional)
Notes: for a young baby, you can substitute the maple syrup for a banana
Hint: Make porridge quickly in the morning with this Sistema Breakfast Bowl.
Find on Amazon.
Rolled oats: Heat 1/2 cup oats and 1/4 cup water/milk on 100 per cent power for 2. 5 minutes.
Quick oats: Heat 1/2 cup oats and 1/4 cup water/milk on 100 per cent power for 1. 5-2 minutes.
6. The Elvis
Mix-ins: peanut butter (1-2 tablespoons)
Toppings: banana slices, peanut butter drizzle, honey (optional)
Notes: you can also add chopped bacon pieces for the full version of The Elvis
7. Gingerbread
Mix-ins: molasses (2 teaspoons), ground ginger (1/8 teaspoon), vanilla powder (1/8 teaspoon)
Toppings: dried cranberries
Notes: We use blackstrap molasses. It’s the healthiest type of molasses with more vitamins and minerals, but it has a distinct taste and is not very sweet. Use dark or light molasses for a more familiar gingerbread sweetness.
8. Extra Creamy
Mix-ins: yogurt (1/4 cup) (regular or Greek)
Toppings: sliced banana, honey
9. Cacao and Avocado
Mix-ins: cacao powder (2 teaspoons), brown sugar (optional)
Toppings: sliced avocado, dust with extra cacao powder
Note: We use cacao powder, which is a raw form of cocoa powder and retains more nutrients
10. Almond Joy
Mix-ins: extra milk
Toppings: toasted coconut flakes, chopped roasted almonds, dark chocolate chips
Today, I also want to introduce you to this new range of dinnerware by BoBo and Boo from EatWell-UK. All of the dinnerware pieces in these photos are from BoBo and Boo. We love using these eco-friendly bamboo products at home.
The little one likes to use the bowls, the plates, the cups, the snack bowls and the cutlery. I like them too because they are easy to clean (i.e. dishwasher safe, and heavy enough they don’t fly around the dishwasher like some other plastic bowls and plates that we have).
The products are made from natural, renewable and sustainable materials, and are non-toxic and biodegradable. You can find out more about the exact materials used to make the dinnerware here.
10 Heathy Porridge Toppings
Ingredients
Base Porridge Recipe
- 1/2 cup jumbo rolled oats (old fashioned oats)(use GF oats for GF option)
- 1 cup water or milk, or a mixture of the two (use non-dairy milk for vegan option)
Porridge Toppings (see notes)
Instructions
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Add everything into a small saucepan. Bring to a low simmer on medium-high heat. Turn the heat to low, and simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the oats have softened and thickened. Add more milk for creamier porridge.
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Serve into bowls and top with your choice of toppings (see below).
Recipe Notes
APPLE PIE
Mix-ins: ground cinnamon (1/4 teaspoon), nutmeg (pinch)
Toppings: apple (1/2 apple cut into matchsticks), pecans (chopped, depending on age of child), maple syrup (optional)
CARROT CAKE
Mix-ins:grated carrot (1/2 carrot), raisins (1 tablespoon), cinnamon (1/4 teaspoon), nutmeg (pinch)
Toppings: grated carrot, raisins, brown sugar or honey (optional)
MIDDLE EASTERN
Mix-ins: tahini (1-2 teaspoons)
Toppings: sesame seeds, poppy seeds, chopped medjool dates (1-2 dates)
RASPBERRY AND VANILLA
Mix-ins: vanilla powder (1/8 teaspoon), vanilla yogurt (2 tablespoons)
Toppings: fresh raspberries, chopped roasted almonds, raspberry jam (optional)
PUMPKIN PIE
Mix-ins: pumpkin puree (2 tablespoons), pumpkin pie spice (1/4 teaspoon)
Toppings: pumpkin puree, cinnamon, maple syrup (optional)
Notes: for a young baby, you can substitute the maple syrup for a banana
THE ELVIS
Mix-ins: peanut butter (1-2 tablespoons)
Toppings: banana slices, peanut butter drizzle, honey (optional)
Notes: you can also add chopped bacon pieces for the full version of The Elvis
GINGERBREAD
Mix-ins: molasses (2 teaspoons), ground ginger (1/8 teaspoon), vanilla powder (1/8 teaspoon)
Toppings: dried cranberries
Notes: We use blackstrap molasses. It’s the healthiest type of molasses with more vitamins and minerals, but it has a distinct taste and is not very sweet. Use dark or light molasses for a more familiar gingerbread taste and sweetness.
EXTRA CREAMY
Mix-ins: yogurt (1/4 cup) (regular or Greek; vanilla flavored or plain)
Toppings: sliced banana, honey (optional)
CHOCOLATE AND AVOCADO
Mix-ins: cacao powder (2 teaspoons), brown sugar or honey (optional)
Toppings: sliced avocado, dust with extra cacao powder
Note: We use cacao powder, which is a raw form of cocoa powder and retains more nutrients
ALMOND JOY
Mix-ins: extra milk
Toppings: toasted coconut flakes, chopped roasted almonds, dark chocolate chips
This is a fantastic post!! Great ways from preventing boredom. Frankly, we’ve been making oatmeal the same way for too many years but your ideas give a new twist to the breakfast staple. I’m anxious to try some of your variations.
Looks delicious love this so many variations of breakfast porridge, hard to select a favorite one from the list. My favorite is apple pie, carrot cake, pumpkin one.
The video of your toddler testing out the toppings is SO cute! I love the variety in the type of toppings. Pinning this!
This is such a great post and love each and every different porridge varieties you have. We eat porridge for breakfast quite often and I would love to try some of this.
Love all the different variations what a great way to switch up the morning oats…each bowl looks beautiful and delicious!
Would have never thought of adding sliced avocado to a porridge sounds like a creative idea. The carrot cake version is also interesting. So many options.
Wow.. you have such awesome suggestions.The tahini is really interesting – never could have thought of that one.. The pumpkin is a sure choice for this fall weather. I love avocado too! Wow awesome choices.. Love them all
I am always looking for tasty ways to sort of spruce up my oatmeal. I’ve done a couple of these, so I can’t wait to try out the others.
These all look great. I need to try that pumpkin pie. Oh, but the Almond Joy. And that avocado — oh I can’t decided where to start!
There are some great suggestions here. I love oatmeal, and usually cook up a big pot so I just have to warm it up in the morning. These toppings take plain oatmeal to a whole new level. Nutrition and totally delicious.
I tend to gravitate to maple syrup, cinnamon and maybe walnuts in my oatmeal. However, I’m awfully tempted by your combinations! I may be mixing up my morning routine!
These all look delicious! I make the “extra-creamy” very often and love it!
They all look appetizing. I pick The Elvis first.
I would eat every single one of these porridge toppings, but if I had to pick a favorite. IT’s the almond joy one. Yum!!!
I eat oatmeal porridge every single morning. Thanks for your topping suggestions! Gotta try them all!
Thanks for the inspiration! They all look delicious but if I had to choose one it would be the almond joy topping.
That’s the great thing about oatmeal — it’s a blank canvas and you can come up with so many different variations to make it your own!
Such a beautiful assortment of toppings! Definitely the perfect way to start the day. The Almond Joy sounds incredible and I’m sure my kids would love The Elvis.
Like a true buffet breakfast!