Build Your Own Chia Breakfast Bowl

April 1st, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Breakfast

This is one of the current meals in my breakfast rotation.  I call it a “Breakfast Bowl” because it’s not cereal or oats, it’s just a bowl full of stuff.  And it’s for breakfast.

Today it was a Strawberry Coconut Banana Chia Breakfast Bowl, but your choice of toppings/adjectives is completely up to you.

Tailor this to suit your own tastes –  there are lot of ways to make it a little different each morning too.  Today’s chia breakfast bowl base:

Coconut Chia Breakfast Bowl

(I usually estimate ingredients but measured today for the sake of this post.)

1/4 c yogurt (I used plain whole milk greek yogurt, but you could use sweetened yogurt, or kefir, or replace the yogurt completely with extra milk instead)
1/4 c milk (I went with whole milk, but any non-dairy milk would work too.)
1 tablespoon chia seeds
1 tablespoon shredded coconut
1/2 banana, sliced and quartered (optional, but nice – I used banana to help sweeten it up just a bit because of the plain yogurt)

If you combine these ingredients about a half hour before eating (the night before would work too, or put together in a container with a lid and make it “to-go”) the chia seeds will gel and the consistency of the mixture will thicken.

The chia seeds are the one ingredient that this breakfast revolves around – it’s the chia gel that’s holding this breakfast together.  Literally.  If you were to tip the bowl upside down after the chia seeds have done their gel thing, everything would still stay in the bowl.  (Probably not for long, I don’t recommend testing this while holding it upside down over your prom dress or fancy new suit.)

If you don’t like coconut, leave it out!  You could use ground flax seeds, hemp seeds, sliced almonds, sunflower seeds, walnuts – anything that might give it a texture and flavor you like.

Then top with some fresh fruit – like strawberries (on sale right now!), other berries or the other half of your banana.  The other half of my banana was given to the man child today.

Topped with Strawberries

These coconut flakes are the real reason I’ve been making chia breakfast bowls.  I’m really just looking for any excuse to throw them on top of something.  They’re meaty and slightly sweet, they go great with sliced almonds for some crunch.

Chia Breakfast Bowl Toppings

I built the base while I was making coffee early this morning, then after nearly 40 minutes of Hip Opening Flow action in my living room (that was cut short, but this is how yoga at home goes with kids) it was time to decorate my breakfast bowl with fruit and nuts and dig in.

Strawberry Coconut Chia Breakfast Bowl

Since I measured each ingredient today, I figured out that this breakfast clocks in at 350 calories, 20 g of fat, 34 carbs and 13 g of protein, 18 g of sugar.  (Almost all of the sugar comes from the fruit.)

Eaten this morning wearing yoga pants, not my prom dress.


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