6 High-Protein Breakfasts That Aren't a Protein Shake

At 36g of protein per serving, the full English is quietly the highest-protein breakfast on this list, which is not the reputation it usually has. Bacon, sausages and eggs stack up fast, and the baked beans add a little more on top.

The mushrooms and grilled tomato are what keep it from feeling like a plate of pure meat, and frying the bread in the pan juices is the part nobody regrets. If you want the protein without quite so much of the richness, grill the bacon and sausages rather than frying them and keep the fried bread as an occasional thing rather than a default.

Sausage meatballs sit in a spicy tomato sauce with eggs cooked directly into the top, all in one pan. It gets you 30g of protein for 420 calories, which is a better ratio than almost anything you will drink.

Because it is a single skillet, there is no juggling of pans or timing, and the sauce holds its heat while the eggs finish setting. Leave the yolks soft so they loosen the sauce as you break into them. It is also the kind of breakfast that works perfectly well at nine in the evening, which is worth knowing.

Kedgeree is a proper British breakfast dish that most people only ever meet at a hotel buffet, which is a shame. Flaked smoked haddock, boiled egg and curry-spiced rice come to 28g of protein a serving.

Smoked fish and eggs together make this one of the most protein-dense things you can put in a bowl before work, and the curry powder keeps it from tasting austere. It reheats far better than you would expect, so it is worth making the full batch on a Sunday and eating it across the week. It also works as a very good supper.

Crab meat and a soft-boiled egg on toast reaches 28g of protein in about 25 minutes, and feels considerably more luxurious than that effort deserves. Greek yogurt loosens the crab instead of mayonnaise, which adds a little more protein again.

Lemon and parsley cut through the richness, and the hot sauce is not optional so much as structural. Use tinned or fresh crab depending on the day and the gap in cost is larger than the gap in taste. This is the one on the list to make when you want breakfast to feel like a small event.

Soft-boiled eggs sitting in thick Greek yogurt with chilli oil and honey poured over is a Turkish idea, and it is one of the smartest high-protein breakfasts going: the yogurt and the eggs both count, so you reach 26g without any meat at all.

Sweet, hot and tangy all at once, it reads as far more interesting than the sum of its parts. Use full-fat Greek yogurt rather than a low-fat one because the thin kind turns watery under the eggs. Crispy onions and dill on top are what make it look like something you ordered rather than assembled.

Crisp corn tortillas simmered briefly in green chilli salsa, topped with shredded chicken and sour cream: 26g of protein and a genuinely exciting plate of food for 460 calories.

The trick is the timing. The tortillas want to soften just enough to take on the salsa while keeping some bite, so this is a dish to serve the moment it is ready rather than letting it sit. Shredded chicken from a roast the night before makes this a fifteen-minute breakfast instead of a thirty-five-minute one, which is the version worth planning for.