12 Smart Breakfast Hacks to Speed Up Your Morning

Waking up is hard to do, but your first meal of the day will be easy with these super-smart tips

GLAM UP YOUR PANCAKES

Courtesy Joanna Siemek

Joanna Siemek from blog Bite Delite posted this fun tutorial on how a squeeze bottle can turn a classic breakfast into a work of art (or, in her case, a work of heart). In terms of what to draw, you’re only limited by your imagination – spirit animals, team logos and pithy notes to your breakfast companion are all fair game.

USE YOUR COFFEE MACHINE FOR OATMEAL

Getty

Rather than dither around with your stove or microwave, just pop a small bowl filled with instant oats onto the base of your single-serve coffee machine and select the six-ounce setting. This is a great way to let kids make their own breakfast with minimal potential for danger. For the best flavor and texture, be sure to let the oatmeal steep for a few minutes.

SEPARATE EGGS WITH A WATER BOTTLE

Courtesy Chelsea Choi

Meringue-baking hasn't been the same since this video went viral a few years ago, and we're big fans of this Spoon University blog post on exactly how to make this trick work. "Not only is this method practical and makes use of materials pretty much right at hand, it's also pretty fun (and an impressive trick to show friends)," writes author Andrea Willimetz.

BAKE EGGS IN AVOCADO HALVES

Courtesy Lean It UP

Eggs are good. Avocados are good. Ergo, this Eggocado recipe, which involves swapping the pit for an egg and baking them together, is an obvious choice for breakfast. "It's a quick way to throw a fresh twist on the monotonous, colorless egg creations you've likely been whipping up for years. Plus, it's an easy way to fit more avocado into your life," writes Bryan DiSanto, editor of the health-focused site Lean It UP.

MAKE DOUGHNUTS WITH BISCUIT DOUGH

Courtesy Marie LeBaron

If you only use refrigerated rolls of biscuits for their intended purpose, you've been seriously missing out. Give this handy ingredient a chance to live up to its full potential by trying blogger Marie LeBaron's semi-homemade doughnut recipe. She uses a small, circle-shaped cutter (a kids' medicine cup or a bottle cap work well) to make both classic doughnuts and holes before pan-frying them.

BAKE YOUR BACON

Courtesy Monica Matheny

You've cooked bacon in a pan. Fried it on a griddle. And done the microwave thing. It's always delicious (who can argue with a freshly cooked pork product?) but all too often it's sitting in a telltale grease puddle. Enter Monica Matheny of blog The Yummy Life and her handy roasted bacon method. You'll be spared grease splatters, you can make an entire batch at once and it's healthier (the fat is drained away rather than absorbed back into the strips). We're sold.

PUT BACON IN YOUR CINNAMON ROLLS

Courtesy Stephanie Parker

There's no need to choose between a sweet or savory breakfast when you steal this hack of winding bacon inside cinnamon rolls from Stephanie Parker of blog Plain Chicken. She suggests either using precooked bacon or microwaving the meat for a few minutes so it stays crispy inside the roll.

MAKE ONE-MINUTE PANCAKES

Courtesy Danny Macdonald

"Maybe it's just me, but when I roll out of that bed in the morning I am ferociously hungry. I mean scarf-down-the-nearest-donut-and-10-others kind of hungry," writes Danny Macdonald on his blog, Boy amp the Rabbit. His solution: Whip up these blueberry pancakes in a jar using just the microwave and a few ingredients.

COOK EGGS IN COOKIE CUTTERS

Courtesy Ilene Chen Feng

Not only are these slow-cooked eggs from the blog Come On Ilene adorable, they require hardly any work (other than checking for doneness). Blogger Ilene Chen Feng says she was inspired to use cookie cutters after spotting a heart-shaped silicone egg mold in a store but not wanting to buy yet another gadget.

FROTH LATTE FOAM IN THE MICROWAVE

Courtesy Lauren Brisbo

Sometimes you want a little latte in your life without having to schlep to the coffee shop and part with five bucks. If you don't own an espresso machine or milk frother, you can still get your fix by following this easy method from Lauren Brisbo at blog All Things Simple. To make a foam topper for an earl grey latte, she first shakes the milk in a mason jar and then microwaves it to stabilize it. "It's just enough to give your morning routine a little extra pizazz," she writes.

ADD BAKING SODA TO BOILED EGGS

Courtesy Amber Brady

Who hasn't experienced the frustration of peeling a hard-boiled egg and having a big chunk of the white stick to the shell? This can happen due to the acidity in fresh eggs. To raise the pH of the water, Amber Brady of blog Dessert Now Dinner Later adds baking soda when she cooks her eggs. Here's her full explanation along with some handy tips for peeling.

PREP SMOOTHIES EN MASSE

Courtesy Lindsey Rose Johnson

Blending smoothies is easy, but the prep work (especially first thing in the morning) can drag you down. Busy working mom Stephanie Gerber of blog Henry Happened came up with this ingenious solution for making a month's worth of produce-packed drinks in about an hour. She preps her fruits and veggies and freezes them so each day all she has to do is toss a single serving of ingredients into her blender and add liquid. To save money and reduce waste, she reuses her freezer bags several times. Happy sipping!