This breakfast salad features breakfast sausage meatballs, hard-boiled eggs, sliced tomatoes, and avocado for a deliciously different breakfast that you can eat all week!

Breakfast salad in a metal bowl on a marble board

In this salad, you’ll find breakfast sausage meatballs, cherry tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, red onion, and avocado all tied together by two of our favorite ingredients – cilantro and lemon juice! The yolks from the hard-boiled eggs combine with the lemon juice and avocado to make a delicious, creamy dressing that really takes the flavor to the next level. This is a great dish to make ahead for the week to have for breakfast every day, and, if you’re finding yourself in a bit of a breakfast rut, it’s a great way to switch things up.

Why You’ll Love this Recipe

  1. It’s easy – the prep required here is super easy, so this can be whipped up in no time at all.
  2. It’s yummy – full of really delicious ingredients, this is a breakfast that I actually really look forward to.
  3. It’s nutritious – take a quick look at the ingredient list! This salad is loaded with good-for-you foods for a nutritious, energizing start to your day.

Here’s what you’ll need on hand to make this breakfast salad:

breakfast sausage meatballs on parchment paper
hard boiled eggs in a bowl
three avocados on a marble board
bunch of cilantro on a black cutting board next to a large knife
  • Breakfast sausage – when choosing your breakfast sausage, we recommend looking for one with minimal ingredients that is nitrate and nitrite-free.
  • Eggs – hard-boiled eggs are the next main component of this salad, they provide protein and so much flavor to the dish.
  • Avocados – can you ever go wrong with avocados? Here they help add a creamy consistency to the dish as well as a good boost of healthy fats.
  • Tomatoes – slightly sweet cherry tomatoes help brighten up this breakfast salad with their acidity.
  • Red onion – the red onion in this salad provides just a little bit of bite to the dish.
  • Cilantro or parsley – a generous amount of cilantro or parsley (whichever you prefer!) provides fresh flavor to this salad.
  • Lemon juice – finally, lemon juice brings everything together and mixes with the avocado and egg yolks to form a sort of creamy dressing that makes this dish irresistible.

Customize Your Salad

The sky’s the limit when it comes to breakfast salad ingredients! If there’s something on this list that you don’t like, simply omit it. In the same vein, if there’s an ingredient that you think would be especially delicious here, add it. Here are a few of our favorite breakfast salad additions:

  • Bell peppers (chopped)
  • Bacon (crumbled)
  • Feta cheese (crumbled)
  • Sweet potato (cubed and roasted)
  • Butternut squash (cubed and roasted)
  • Arugula or spinach
baked breakfast sausage meatballs on a parchment paper lined sheet pan
chopped avocado on a marble board
chopped hard boiled eggs on a marble board
chopped cherry tomatoes on a black cutting board
  1. Brown the breakfast sausage meatballs – roll your breakfast sausage into 1/2-inch balls, then cook them. You’ve got two choices here – you can either cook these in a pan on the stove, or you can place them on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake them at 400 F for 15 minutes. We’ve also had many people skip the meatball step altogether and just brown the ground sausage – it is really up to you!
  2. Boil the eggs – while the meatballs are cooking, get the eggs boiling. We’ve tested many, many methods and this one results in easy-to-peel eggs every time. Once the eggs are peeled, you’ll chop them into bite-sized pieces.
  3. Chop the remaining ingredients – with the big components out of the way, the next step is to dice your avocados, halve the cherry tomatoes, slice the red onion, and chop the cilantro.
  4. Add everything to a bowl, then stir it up – next, you’ll add all of your ingredients to a large bowl, squeeze the lemons over top, and stir everything together.
breakfast salad ingredients in a metal bowl on a marble board

How to Serve

This breakfast salad is SUPER make-ahead friendly, so whip up a big batch, then (if you’re planning on enjoying this on the go) store it in individual mason jars. When you’re ready to enjoy, grab a mason jar and get your day going!

If you plan on enjoying this at home, feel free to store the whole salad in an airtight container in the fridge, and then spoon an individual portion into a bowl morning of.

breakfast salad in a mason jar on a marble board
How long does this keep for?

This breakfast salad will stay good for up to 3 days in the refrigerator. If you want to extend its life a little longer, you can leave out the avocado and add it in with each serving.

Will the avocados brown?

The lemon juice in the recipe keeps the avocados from browning! Note that even if you do happen to notice a bit of browning, the avocados are still fine to eat.

Do you serve this hot or cold?

It’s totally up to your preference! I personally eat it cold, but many others have enjoyed it hot as well.

Is eating salad for breakfast good?

We think so! Not only is this breakfast salad tasty, but it’s also chock-full of *so* many amazing, nutritious foods, making it the best energizing, filling breakfast ever.

What greens are good for breakfast?

ANY of them! Leafy greens are SO good for you, so starting your day off with any you love most (think: kale, spinach, arugula, cilantro, etc.) is a great way to get ahead on valuable nutrition for the day.

Healthy Breakfast Salad Recipe

4.64 — Votes 11 votes
Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 20 minutes
Total: 40 minutes
Servings: 5 servings
This breakfast salad features breakfast sausage meatballs, hard boiled eggs, sliced tomatoes, and avocado for a deliciously different breakfast that you can eat all week!

Ingredients  

  • 1 pound pork breakfast sausage
  • 9 eggs hard-boiled
  • 3 cups cherry tomatoes halved
  • 1/4 cup purple onion thinly sliced
  • 2 avocados diced
  • 1/2 cup fresh cilantro or parsley chopped
  • 1/2 – 1 teaspoon kosher salt to teaste
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice or about 2 lemons

Instructions 

  • Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • Roll the sausage into 1/2 inch meatballs and place on the parchment paper, then bake for 15 minutes, until browned and fully cooked through.
  • While the meatballs are cooking, peel the eggs and cut each into 8 pieces.
  • Combine the eggs, tomatoes, onion, avocado, meatballs, cilantro, salt, pepper, and lemon juice into a large mixing bowl and stir until the egg yolks and avocado become a little creamy.
  • Spoon into a bowl and enjoy! Will keep covered for 3 days in the refrigerator.

Video

Recipe Notes

The sky’s the limit when it comes to breakfast salad ingredients! If there’s something on this list that you don’t like, simply omit it. In the same vein, if there’s an ingredient that you think would be especially delicious here, add it. Here are a few of our favorite breakfast salad additions:
  • Bell peppers (chopped)
  • Bacon (crumbled)
  • Feta cheese (crumbled)
  • Sweet potato (cubed and roasted)
  • Butternut squash (cubed and roasted)
  • Arugula or spinach

Nutrition

Calories: 489kcal | Carbohydrates: 11.6g | Protein: 31.5g | Fat: 35.6g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 423.9mg | Sodium: 862mg | Fiber: 5.2g | Sugar: 4.1g

Additional Info

Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: American
Servings: 5 servings
Calories: 489
Keyword: gluten free, meal prep, quick, salad

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Recipe Contributors

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Cassy Joy Garcia

Recipe Developer, Copywriter, and Photographer



About the Author

Cassy Joy Garcia, NC

Cassy Joy Garcia, a New York Times best-selling author, of Cook Once Dinner Fix, Cook Once Eat All Week, and Fed and Fit as well as the creative force behind the popular food blog Fed & Fit.


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65 Comments

  1. Hey! I own a meal prep business and everyone RAVES about this salad 🙂 just thought I would tell you how amazing and popular it is — kudos! I send all of them to your site for meal ideas. I use fresh dill in mine as well as some lemon zest 🙂 I love the tangy flavor! This salad just pops with so many different tastebud ticklers!! Awesome job! Keep being wonderful!

    1. Hi Erica! Thank you for the kind words, so glad you are loving it. Your additions sound wonderful as well!

  2. These are my hubby’s favorite foods. It’s definitely bookmarked. Thank you for inspiration.

  3. I had a couple eggs and some leftovers and decided to toss it all together based on your yummy sounding recipe. With a half a sweet potato, 2 eggs, a piece of dried up chicken sausage, a tomato starting to die, parsley just laying there turning yellow and a few of the ingredients in your recipe, I made a wonderful breakfast. I CAN’T WAIT to try the real deal this weekend. Thank you.

  4. Ok. My hubby hunts and kills meat. This makes Paleo meals less expensive for this large homeschooling family. SO – I ran down, grabbed a lb of boar sausage, thawed, added sage and red pepper flakes – little garlic powder, I swapped the cilantro for lettuce (more kid-friendly), and bought a bunch of avocados at Aldi for 89 cents each. It was 50 CENTS A PERSON! i am just saying… that is cheap! And ummm it was good. We ate the entire things!

    Ok -what is your opinion of the first Go To Paleo book to get healthy? Not an ebook…

    1. That sounds delicious Samantha! How lucky are you that your husband hunts!! The first paleo book that I ever read was ‘The Paleo Solution’ by Robb Wolf. It gives you the facts and science behind paleo, but isn’t really a cookbook. There are so many great paleo cookbooks out there though!

  5. AMAZING AMAZING!! My husband could not stop saying “Yum”! And honestly neither could I . This is such a wonderful change for breakfast. We get so tired and bored of pancakes or eggs and “The Usual stuff”! My husband said this is worthy of being served every weekend, he has never said that about a dish.

    1. Wow, thank you so much for the lovely compliment Sally!! Glad both of you enjoyed it!

  6. Yesss!! Vindication! Meatballs are one of my favorite things in the world and if you make them with grass-fed meat and slam them with some kind of vegetable (like you so dutifully suggested here), they are also arguably one of the healthiest ways to start your day!

    Thank you for the all the lovely recipes and inspiration : )

    -MK

  7. Hey, two things

    I noticed you had problems with your eggs. My method takes longer but results in a perfectly peel-able shell. STEAM THEM!!! I steam them for 30 minutes and its a perfectly cooked egg and no problems peeling the shell.

    How did you get your stainless sea legs? I have so much trouble cooking on mine – need to use tons of oil and its still pretty sticky. Any tips would be great!

    1. Hi Ali! Brilliant idea about steaming the eggs. I’ll give that a try! As for getting my stainless sea legs, it took a little time and practice. I’ve found that the pan has to be HOT before you add oil/meat. For cooking the meat, it will “give” when it’s ready to turn …if that makes any sense. They won’t budge before they’re cooked on that side. Hope that helps!

  8. How does this hold up for leftovers? Should I omit the avocados, add a little mayo and then throw in the avocados the morning off if I wanna prep it? Or does the lemon juice help the avocados from going brown? Thanks!

    1. Great question, Thomas! The avocados (when mixed with that lemon juice you mentioned) do hold up pretty well. You may notice some browning, but not much. If the thought of a little browning throws you off, I recommend adding the avocados the morning of. Hope that helps!

  9. This sounds YUMMY! I have a question, though. Although I LOVE avocados, I appear to have developed an allergy to them recently. =( Do you have any suggestions of a comparable alternative to the avocado?

    1. Good question, Loralee! You could add more tomatoes (for volume) and maybe a couple tablespoons of Paleo-friendly mayo for creaminess (if you have it on hand). I hope that helps some.

  10. This looks amazing! How does it hold up for leftovers? Or do you make it fresh each time? Can’t wait to try it!

  11. I made this for dinner for a date! She loved it, thanks for helping me get lucky 😉

  12. Yum!! This is my all time favorite recipe from your site. Well, maybe the meatloaf or the blueberry scones would round out my tie for first…..Anyway – wow! This is sooooo good. I made it last night and even with my less than speedy kitchen skills the salad was ready to add the sausage just in time. Thank you for this great recipe!

  13. Totally AMAZING concoction right here… After I mixed up my first batch, I had a hard time closing the lid and putting it away. just wanted to keep “tasting it”! thanks for sharing 🙂

    1. Yay! I’m so glad you liked it, Steph! It’s my pleasure 🙂

  14. I’ve been craving avocados lately and saw this on Pinterest. I made it last night and I think I could eat it all of the time. I know it’s “Breakfast Salad” but Holy Yum, Batman! There are so many flavors and textures that compliment each other so nicely, it’s fantastic.

    Moral of the story- I love it. Thanks!

    1. Haha I’m so glad you like it, Jessica!! I eat it for dinner too 🙂

  15. oh my gosh I’m so sick of trying to come up with paleo breakfast ideas. definitely doing this next week.

    1. I hear you, girl! Hope you love this dish. It’s one of my biggest sanity and time-savers.