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Waking up can be difficult. Whether you have to go to school or make that long commute to work, everyone has experienced that moment of dread when you don’t want to get out of bed.
You know what makes those days a little easier? Waking up to an amazing breakfast. We here in the United States have long been innovators in the way of breakfast. If you live in the United States, you know that American breakfasts are an entirely different kind of cuisine to lunch and dinner. In some other countries, they eat the same things for all three meals. However, regardless of what state you live in, United States residents take their breakfast foods very seriously.
While our friends across the pond have their classic English breakfast, there really isn’t an American breakfast equivalent simply because we have so many variations on what kinds of foods we like to eat for breakfast.
American breakfast ranges from super healthy to extremely indulgent foods that will have you crawling right back into bed. We draw inspirations from other countries, making our breakfast plates just as much melting pots as the United States itself is.
If you aren’t hungry now, you probably will be by the end of this article. I’m going to go through some of my personal favorite American breakfast foods, give a little insight into how to prepare each one, and explain why they’re so great. Get your forks and knives ready and get that coffee pot going! These are seven American breakfast foods to make your mouth water:
Avocado Toast
Avocado toast can’t really be considered a classic since it’s just recently come into popularity among Millennials. However, it’s still an undeniably delicious dish, even if it can come off a little pretentious at times.
Sure, if you buy avocado toast from a Manhattan brunch restaurant, it’s going to cost you $15, which, you know, is a total rip-off. But if you take a trip to the store and buy a few avocados and a loaf of wheat bread, you can have delicious and healthy breakfasts for like $5 a day.
There are so many ways to prepare avocado toast that there are many ways to experiment. Personally, I like to sautee some cherry tomatoes and put them on top, squeeze some lime juice on there, and finish it off with Cholula hot sauce. You can also experiment with some sesame seeds, cilantro, chopped onion, or even tahini. The possibilities are limitless!
Quiche
This breakfast offering comes to the United States from our friends in France, but it’s still an extremely popular American breakfast food, and with good reason. Quiche, similar to avocado toast, is incredibly easy to make and offers ample room for experimentation. You can go with the classic quiche Lorraine, which includes bacon, cheese, and onion, or you can make up your own personal quiche recipe with whatever you like.
If you want to get really fancy and are willing to spend a good bit of time on your quiche, you can make your own pie crust. If you just want to make a quick and easy quiche for the family, you can buy a pie crust from the store. Then, you just fill it with eggs and whatever else you want to include and pop it in the oven.
Pancakes and Maple Syrup
Many countries around the world have their own variation of the pancake, but here in the United States, we like ours fluffy and doused in maple syrup. Pancakes and maple syrup is an absolute classic here in the United States, so much so that it’s probably the first food people think of when they think about an American diner.
These puffy pancakes are delicious, unhealthy, and will make you feel lethargic for the rest of the day. But if you’re planning to have a lazy day anyway, there’s really nothing better.
Making pancake mix involves eggs, flour, baking powder, sugar, and milk. Mix all those things together and then add some bits of fruit in for additional flavor, and I promise you won’t be disappointed.
If you want to really go for it, top your pancakes off with strawberries and whipped cream. You probably shouldn’t be eating pancakes every morning, but every once and a while, it can really hit the spot.
Breakfast Burrito
One of the best things about the United States is the way that different cultures can come together in such amazing ways. Nothing is more representative of that than the breakfast burrito.
Thought to have been invented in the southwest of the country where there is a ton of Latin American influence, the breakfast burrito takes a traditional Mexican dish and puts an American breakfast spin on it that is absolutely delightful.
Making a breakfast burrito is just like making any other burrito, except instead of stuffing it with chicken and rice and beans, you toss in some scrambled eggs, salsa, bacon, cheese, and maybe even some hashbrowns.
A breakfast burrito definitely takes a little longer to make than some of the other foods on this list, considering you have to cook all of the foods individually and then wrap them in a tortilla, but the result is surely worth the effort.
Cinnamon Roll
While the cinnamon roll is believed to have its roots in Sweden, it’s become a super popular pastry in the United States as well. After all, Cinnabun, the fast-food chain that’s become famous for its cinnamon rolls, was started in the United States. While taking a drive over to Cinnabun is probably the easiest way to get a cinnamon roll, making your own is also extremely satisfying and isn’t even that tough.
Sometimes you just wake up in the mood for a sweet and sticky pastry. You can prepare for when that day comes by making yourself some cinnamon roll dough and keeping it in your refrigerator.
Then, when it’s time to bake it, you can just cut it up, throw it in the oven, top it off with some icing, and you’re looking at a legendary American breakfast! Cinnamon rolls also pair phenomenally well with a hot cup of coffee.
Bagel and Cream Cheese
If you happen to be on the east coast of the United States, you’ll find that the most talked-about American breakfast in that region is bagels and cream cheese. Why? Because people in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut are convinced that their bagels can’t be compared with any other American breakfast out there. I must say, they’re pretty darn good.
Part of the beauty of a bagel with cream cheese spread is the simplicity. It’s really just bread and cheese, right? But there’s something about the textures, the comforting richness, and the obvious love that was put into it that makes this American breakfast truly special.
If you want to get funky with the cream cheese or the bagel itself, go with an everything bagel or some strawberry cream cheese. Still, it’s hard to argue with a plain bagel and classic cream cheese.
Biscuits and Gravy
The regional favorite of the southern portion of the United States is biscuits and gravy. Be warned: you’re not looking at a very productive day after scarfing down biscuits and gravy early in the morning; this is one of the richest foods imaginable. With that being said, biscuits and gravy is one of the most classic American breakfasts and that’s because it’s absolutely delicious.
Now, making your own buttermilk biscuits and then whipping up some bacon gravy isn’t very hard to do. But my suggestion? Take a trip down to Georgia or South Carolina and get some biscuits and gravy from someone who’s been making them their entire life. There’s some sort of southern magic that they put into their biscuits and gravy that make them unlike anywhere else in the world.
