How to get lots of protein in your kids breakfast? High protein waffles! My kids love them, they’re super nutritious, and great with fresh fruit or peanut butter and honey.
High Protein Ingredients
Whole Wheat Flour vs All Purpose Flour
Whole wheat flour contains 11-15% protein while All Purpose flour contains 9-12% protein. In other words, 1 cup of whole wheat flour contain about 16 grams of protein and all purpose flour contains about 13 grams of protein. Three grams may not seem like a big difference but it does add up with each cup.
Almond Flour
Almond flour contains about 24 grams of protein. This is almost twice as much as all purpose flour. So when making a high protein breakfast that your kids will enjoy, use almond flour.
Split Pea Powder (or another protein powder)
Split pea powder/flour is a great source of protein. 1 cup contain about 25 grams of protein. The protein amount is about the same as using almond four but much cheaper. Just take dried split peas and blend them in the blender or coffee grinder into powder. On the down side split pea powder/four can taste a little bitter. Almond flour has a delicious flavor but is expensive. Split pea powder/flour flavor is not great but its cheap. I use both in my recipe to save some money and keep my waffles tasting wonderful.
If you don’t like the split pea powder you can use more almond flour or another source of protein powder.
Eggs
Eggs are another great source of protein. Each egg has about 7 grams of protein. There are four eggs in this recipe adding another 28 grams of protein to this recipe.
How Much Protein in Each Waffle?
I’ve approximated about each mini waffle contains about 5 grams of protein. Eggo waffles contain 2 grams of protein per waffle. This more than doubles the protein count per waffle.
More High Protein Breakfasts
- Greek Yogurt. Add 1/2 a cup of Greek yogurt is 12 grams of protein.
- Eggs. 2 eggs for breakfast is about 14 grams of protein.
- Oatmeal. 1/2 cup cooked oatmeal is 6 grams of protein. Add an egg into your oatmeal and make it 13 grams.
- Protein Smoothie. Protein Smoothie’s including greek yogurt, protein powder, chia and flax seeds make a great source of protein. For 10 oz smoothie (kids size) you could easily get 15 grams of protein. A 16 oz smoothie could easily contain 30 or more grams of protein with the right ingredients.
Low Protein Breakfast To Avoid
- Cheerios. 1 cup of original Cheerios contains about 3 grams of protein… no need to mention other sugar cereals…
- Eggo waffles contain 2 grams per waffle…
- Nature Valley Breakfast Bars contain 3 grams per bar…
- Yoplait Strawberry Yogurt has less then 5 grams protein per 1/2 cup (not all yogurts are equal)…
How Much Protein Do Kids Need?
According to the internet…
- Ages 1-3 need 13 grams of protein a day
- Ages 4-8 need 19 grams of protein a day
- Ages 9-13 need 34 grams of protein a day
- Ages 14-18 need 52 grams of protein a day
- Average adult women need 46 grams
- Average adult man needs 62 grams
This is a guide line but truly the amount of protein you need is dependent on your body’s size and how active you are. For kids, they may need more as they are going through growth spurts. For women and men they made need more if they are trying to loose weight or gain muscle.
The better way to measure how much protein you need is to multiply .8 by how many kilograms you weight or .36 by how many pounds you weight. This will give you a better estimate of how much protein you need each day.
How To Make Protein Waffles
Plug in waffle maker and preheat. I like the mini waffle maker so that I can freeze the waffles and later heat them up in the toaster for a quick breakfast.
Make split pea powder. Take 1 cup of split peas and blend till powder in a blender or coffee grinder.
Mix together dry ingredients, whole wheat flour, almond flour, split pea powder, baking powder, salt, sugar and cinnamon.
Mix wet ingredients, eggs, milk, pumpkin or banana.Mix batter together.
Oil your waffle maker with your favorite baking oil. Pour into waffle maker and let cook for 4-6 minutes.
Protein Waffles
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1 cup split pea powder/flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup pumpkin puree (or smashed bananas)
- 1/2 cup milk
- 3 tablespoons sugar or honey
Instructions
- Plug in waffle maker and preheat. (I like the mini waffle maker so we can freeze the waffles and heat up in the toaster)
- Make split pea powder. Take 1 cup of split peas and blend till powder in a blender or coffee grinder.
- Mix together dry ingredients, whole wheat flour, almond flour, split pea powder, baking powder, salt, sugar and cinnamon.
- Mix wet ingredients, eggs, milk, pumpkin or banana.
- Mix batter together.
- Oil your waffle maker with your favorite baking oil.
- Pour into waffle maker and let cook for 4-6 minutes.
Store in refrigerator for 5-7 days or in the freezer for about 3 months.
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