Sometimes busy mornings mean, skipping breakfast and rushing with a big fat cup of coffee. Our bodies are literally screaming for help (and food!). We all know and ignore the fact that there is nothing better to kickstart your day like a healthy breakfast. Be it a well-seasoned upma or a bowlful of crunchy cereal, we reviewed a whole lot of breakfast foods in throughout the year and were able to select and recommend the best breakfast foods across product categories. Here are all the breakfast foods we bought and selected during our reviews. All these products have been tried and tasted by us, and it is only after our in-depth review of each one of them that we recommended them.
Table of Contents
1) Breakfast Cereals
Quick and convenient – Breakfast cereals are perfect if you want a quick fix for your morning meal. There is a large variety of cereals available in the market that can be confusing to choose from. Oats, muesli, cornflakes, wheat flakes, honey-flavored, chocolate flavored, fruit-flavored…phew. The list is endless. Let’s guide you on how to choose your favorite cereal.
Best Oats Brand
A very popular and healthy cereal, oats have a positive effect on cholesterol, diabetes and weight management. In addition, its starch works as a digestive enhancer too. Including oats in your meals is a good choice for health. We picked 9 brands that are freely available and most used. We tested them for levels of starch, protein and soluble fiber, comparing the results against the standard national database to see their nutrition quotient. Who won?
- Quaker Oats scored highest in soluble fiber and starch.
- The starch content in Quaker Oats is also good, making it a sustained energy source that keeps you energized for longer.
8AM Cornflakes Family Pack 1kg, 92% Corn, 99% Fat Free, No Cholesterol, Trans Fat, Vitamin B3 & Iron, Crunchy & Nutritious Whole Grain Breakfast Cereal
Healthiest Cornflakes
Cornflakes are made by cooking, flattening and toasting corn kernels. They are available in a variety of flavor combinations but for the purpose of our review, we stuck to checking out the basic/classic variants only. We tasted the top 4 brands in this category for over a week for breakfast. The parameters we considered before making a top choice were – crunch, size of the flakes, and taste. Since almost all packaged cornflakes brands contain added sugar, salt and malt, the overall flavor and experience in each brand were different. The winner is…
Kellogg’s Cornflakes – Orginal
- Balanced nutrients
- Light, crunchy, toasted flakes
- Taste slightly sweet, thus eliminating adding sugar to the cereal bowl
For anyone who enjoys corn flakes every morning, the Kellogg’s Cornflakes Real Thandai Badam is an attractive variant to try. From all the classic breakfast cereals launched recently, this is amongst our favorite.
Need Something Salty? Desi Muesli To The Rescue!
If you are not a fan of the milk-cereal combination, Soulfull’s Desi Muesli Masala is the perfect breakfast choice for you. This desi muesli variant contains additional herbs and spices so that it can be enjoyed anywhere, any time.
- Flavorful
- High on fiber
- Baked, not fried
- Contains no added preservatives
2) The South-Indian Touch – Idli and Sambar
A steaming plate of sambar idli is what beautiful dreams, and delicious mornings, are made of! But in these fast-paced lives, who has the time to meticulously prepare a batter and steam up a batch in the morning? Instant idli and sambar mixes are supposed to be a quick and convenient breakfast option, that can be prepared in a jiffy. When you are short on time, these instant mixes are worthy of your attention. Our top picks are…
Haldiram’s Oats Idli
- Soft idlis
- Easy to cook
- Blend of oats and semolina
- Use of whole spices
- Flavorful, fresh and aromatic
3) Tastiest Ready To Eat Upma
Light, healthy and thanks to instant mixes – super quick, Upma is a popular anytime snack, enjoyed often for the first meal of the day too. Most people prefer eating Upma with lots of vegetables, nuts, and urad dal. Easily available in ready-to-eat packs for people on-the-go. We tasted and reviewed 6 ready to eat upma brands in our test kitchen. Most came in convenient cups and had more or less the same method of preparation. After tasting them all, side by side, we can confidently recommend our favorite.
- Looks appetizing
- Has a tempting aroma
- Curry leaves, mustard seeds, fried onions, and urad dal give the dish a nice texture.
4) Tastiest Poha For A Quick Breakfast
The diversity of breakfast foods in India is unmatched. Every region, every state has a breakfast staple but is relished by the entire country. Poha has a large fan base in India and is prepared in a lot of different ways. Some like it with potatoes, some prefer it with lots of peanuts and some like it with bhujia.
We reviewed instant pohas on the basis of nutritional value and taste. After going through 5 popular brands of ready-to-eat Poha, we concluded that the winner needed no second thoughts.
M.O.M’s Instant Poha
- Contains no preservatives
- A balanced combination of health and taste
- Fresh flavors of mustard seeds and curry leaves are unmissable.
5) Best Honey With No Added Sugar
Buying honey in a supermarket is as tough as buying a gift for your better-half. How do you know the brand does not add sugar to improve the taste? What about the moisture content? While honey is amongst the most regularly used ingredients always available in our kitchens, it is also one of the most adulterated products out there.
To find the purest honey available in the market, we chose to test brands for three markers – Added Sugars, Moisture, and HMF, as one indicator alone cannot define the purity of the sample. We reviewed 8 brands of honey and we have a winner for you!
Zandu Pure Honey
- No traces of added sugar
- Controlled and low amounts of moisture and HMF
6) Your Morning Cuppa!
We have chai fanatics, the coffee lovers and a few who swear by their green teas. No matter what category you come under, a steaming hot cup of tea/coffee can help you start your day. We absolutely love fresh ideas and new products in the kitchen and dining space! We tried a few variants and fell in love with them. Let’s have a look.
Kritea’s Cranberry Green Organic Tea
A cranberry-infused, health beverage that is full of antioxidants and too good to resist. As soon as you open the packaging, the entire room is filled with the sweet aroma of cranberries.
Love green teas? Read which green tea is our top pick and why.
Kritea Cranberry Green Tea
- Fresh and different
- Green tea and cranberry flavor are well balanced
Nescafe Gold’s Choco Mocha
If you love coffee on a daily basis and like the convenience of ready-to-mix coffee beverages, then Nescafe Gold’s Choco Mocha might be a discovery you enjoy. Add some more chocolate to this and it could even be your winter evening hot chocolate drink.
- Rich tasting with a chocolate flavor
- Frothy top with a creamy texture
Butterfly Ayurveda Desi Masala Chai
Butterfly Ayurveda’s Desi Masala Chai tea bags contain granulated black tea leaves (CTC) along with 4 spices: elaichi, kali mirch, dalchini and ginger. A new product that claims to be a remedy for cold and digestive issues.
Butterfly Ayurveda Desi Masala Chai
- Delicate flavors
- Recyclable tea bags, no staple pins
7) What A Spread!
Morning toasts are underrated. As much as we all love copious amounts of butter atop our toasts, the Indian food market is constantly evolving and giving us new options to spread joy on our bread. Here are our top picks.
Fitjars Almond Butter
Almond Butters are all the rage these days. For getting a natural boost of protein and healthy fats into your diet, there cannot be anything better than almonds. We recommend Fitjars almond butter for a dose of protein for breakfast.
- 100% natural
- No added sugar
- Nothing but almonds
Tastiest Jams
The inner child in us squealed with joy when we reviewed jams. While many new brands now sell boutique jams, made in smaller batches, with lesser usage of preservatives and stabilizers, regular old-world style jams continue to be used extensively across Indian kitchens. We picked 6 brands and picked our winner on the basis of texture, taste and nutritional content.
- The right amount of sweetness, not too little and not too much.
- It tastes good on its own, and also with bread and butter.
Peanut Butter: Best Creamy and Crunchy Brands
Crunchy or creamy, a generous slather of peanut butter on your morning toast can make your day. Yay or nay? Peanut butter tastes great on top of a toast, as a salad dressing, in your oatmeal bowl or raw with apples. We picked over 15 jars of creamy, crunchy and 100% natural Peanut Butters; after tasting, testing and sandwich-making a category that is full of popular, local and new brands we can share with you our top recommendations.
Creamy – Dr Oetker Funfoods Peanut Butter
- Creamy and has a silky smooth consistency
- Tastes of freshly roasted peanuts
Crunchy – Skippy Peanut Butter
- Great texture and flavor
- Crunchiest peanut butter we reviewed
- The non-crunchy part is also silky smooth
You can also try Nutralite’s cheesy garlic mayo for an unusual take on breakfast spreads. The spread has a distinct garlicky twist to an otherwise creamy, rich texture. But, the garlic does not overpower. In fact, the flavors come together rather harmoniously.
Now that we have given you tons of on-the-go breakfast options, if you still skip your breakfast, your mommy is right to be always worried. Get set, shop!
About The Author
Nishtha Asrani Sethi, born and brought up in Delhi, is a content writer who has previously worked with NDTV and Resolver. Her roots are deep within the food industry, thanks to her family business and a keen interest in contemporary food products. Nishtha loves to serve her articles with a side of humor. Her Bachelor’s degree in Home Science comes in handy while researching the science behind the food. When she is not trying to win a battle of fries vs fruit with her daughter, she is busy experimenting with her huge joint family with crazy recipes.
