Anti-Inflammatory Breakfast Bowl I Can’t Stop Making

Start your day off on the right foot with this Anti-Inflammatory Breakfast Bowl. It’s packed with legumes and veggies that have a wealth of health benefits to help fight inflammation. Quinoa, along with a jammy egg on top, delivers plenty of protein to keep you full and energized. It’s the perfect cool-weather weekend breakfast to make when you have guests in town. And if you can’t get around to making it in the morning, it can double as a nourishing dinner. Read on for our best advice for making this delicious breakfast grain bowl, including ingredient swaps you can make. 

Tips from the EatingWell Test Kitchen

These are the key tips we learned while developing and testing this recipe in our Test Kitchen to make sure it works, tastes great and is good for you too!

• We use two baking sheets to cook the vegetables in this recipe because the squash and beets need a longer time in the oven to roast. To make keeping track of the cooking easier, start roasting the broccoli when the squash and beets have 15 minutes left. That way, the broccoli and the root vegetables will all finish up at the same time.
• If you have leftover roasted veggies from dinner the night before, use them in place of the ones here. 
• We love what we call a “jammy” egg in this recipe. The whites are completely set, but the yolk is soft and spreadable. If you like a harder yolk, cook the eggs for an additional two minutes.
• Swap out the acorn squash for any other winter squash in this recipe. If you don’t care to work with red beets, yellow or chioggia beets work well, too. If you want to swap out the broccoli for something else, cauliflower or Brussels sprouts are both good options.
• You can make quinoa using our Basic Quinoa, or use any leftover quinoa you may have on hand. Just reheat it in the microwave right before you’re ready to assemble the bowls so it stays hot. 

Nutrition Notes

• Black beans (or any beans!) are a great addition to this bowl and your diet overall. They’re loaded with heart-friendly plant protein, and they provide resistant starch, a unique fiber linked to better gut health. A healthy gut can also help reduce systemic inflammation in the body. 
• Beets’ dark red color isn’t just stunning. It’s also an indicator of their antioxidants called betalains. These red pigments may reduce body-wide inflammation to protect against chronic illnesses like heart disease and cancer.
• Acorn squash is packed with nutrients for better blood sugar. In addition to digestion-slowing fiber, this winter squash is a fantastic source of magnesium, which plays a pivotal role in glucose metabolism. 
• Broccoli could be the ultimate vegetable for better bone health. This member of the cruciferous vegetable family delivers multiple nutrients that help bones stay strong and sturdy, like vitamin K, calcium and potassium.