10 Healthy Porridge Toppings For The Whole Family

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

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.

Hopefully these 10 porridge topping ideas all become regular staples in your household. We love them all, and with 10 different porridge toppings in our breakfast rotation, porridge is always exciting in the morning.

With 10 different topping ideas, porridge will always be an exciting breakfast

What are your favorite porridge toppings?

10 Heathy Porridge Toppings

5 from 15 votes

Print Recipe

Serves: 1 bowl

Prep: 1 min

Cook: 5 mins

Total: 6 mins

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)

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• 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. 
• Serve into bowls and top with your choice of toppings (see below). 

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

Course: Breakfast, Oats and Grains

Special Diet: Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Vegan, Vegetarian