South African Breakfast Meals and Recipes

Breakfast is an essential meal of the day. It provides the energy needed to start your day. On days that you skip breakfast, you may not be very productive at work or school.

But it’s not only about eating something in the morning. You must also ensure your breakfast is both nutritious and healthy.

Are you almost running out of breakfast ideas and need new South African breakfast recipes? This article contains the information you need. 

This article presents four traditional South African meals that are often served in the morning. If you’re outside the country, some of these meals will remind you of home. But worry less as you can easily make most of the recipes wherever you are. What goes into most of them are everyday ingredients that can be found even in international stores abroad.

Now let’s dive into the four traditional meals you can use as breakfast. 

4 South African Breakfast Meals

Putu Pap

Also called Putu porridge and Krummelpap, Putu pap is a porridge meal served as breakfast in South Africa. Krummelpap means “crumbly porridge,” which explains the nature of the meal.

The porridge recipe has a dry crumbly texture due to the use of very little water during its preparation. The major ingredient of the delicacy is maize cornmeal. Depending on individuals’ preferences, however, butter can be used to spice up its flavor.

You can serve Putu porridge with chakalaka sauce or Sheba sauce, which are both tomato and onion sauce recipes. In some parts of Western Cape, krummelpap is taken with milk and sugar in the morning.

As mentioned earlier, starting your day with a nutritious meal is very important. Cornmeal used in making Putupap preparation packs essential nutrients that your body needs.

Per 122 grams of serving, cornmeal contains 442 calories. Calorie is the measurement of energy your body could derive from a particular food item. This is calculated by adding all energy values provided by the three macronutrients found in foods, namely protein, carbohydrates, and fat.

If you have young kids, carbohydrates, fats, protein, and other nutrients found in the meal provide more nourishment.

Carbohydrates, for example, supply energy needed to fuel many body organs and activities. Dietary fats support cell growth. Protein promotes healthy growth, particularly during kids’ early stages of development. To enhance the protein content of Putu porridge, you can add milk when the dish is served as breakfast.

Click here to see how to make Putu Pap. 

Mealie Bread

Mealie bread is a traditional South African bread recipe made from maize or corn. In the past, the recipe was prepared by cooking corn pudding on steam. Today, most South Africans prefer their Mealie to be more of a bread consistency. Therefore, flour is now used in most preparations.

To enhance the flavor of the delicacy, you can add some basil and smoked paprika.

Because of the corn in the bread, mealie bread often tends not to hold together. You can handle this by allowing the bread to cool before slicing and make sure the slices are thick.

You can enjoy Mealie bread as is or serve it with yogurt or milk.

Per 100g of serving, corn pudding contains 131 calories. Some of the nutrients found in corn pudding are saturated fat, protein, vitamin D, calcium, potassium, and carbohydrates.

Saturated fat and calcium promote healthy bones. To build strong, healthy bones, kids and adults need calcium.

Protein, another nutrient in a corn pudding, helps with early growth and development in kids. To maintain strength and muscle mass, protein is also useful for older adults.

Other nutrients such as potassium, carbohydrates, and vitamin D found in Mealie bread are also important for the smooth running of the body systems. 

Whether you have young kids or adults in your household, adding Mealie bread to your family breakfast meals will complement other sources through which they get nourishment.

Click here for Mealie bread recipes. 

READ ALSO: 10 Popular African Breakfast Food Ideas

Pot Bread

Also known as potbrood, Pot bread is a traditional South African bread recipe that many enjoy and often take as breakfast.

The delicacy is prepared from bread flour, sugar, cold butter, and margarine. First, the flour is mixed and kneaded into a dough. Afterward, the dough is baked in an oven.

You can enjoy the delicacy as a pud with coffee, perhaps for breakfast. You can also treat yourself with this local South African bread recipe if you have a sweet tooth. 

Potbrood is rich in carbohydrates, protein and contains a handful amount of fat. When served Pot bread is served with milk as breakfast, its protein content gets enhanced.

Per 80 grams serving, Potbrood contains 325 calories. Calorie-dense foods are especially useful for those who want to gain weight the healthy way. Though other factors such as genetics play a role in weight changes, you need to consume more calories than your body burns if you want to gain more weight than you have right now.

Even if you consider yourself to have a “skinny build,” increasing your intake of foods like potbrood, which pack considerate amounts of calories, will help you put on more weight.

Whether you are trying to add more pounds healthfully or looking for something hearty and nutritious, potbrood is one meal you can incorporate into your diet. You can even add it to your list of breakfast meals.

Learn how to make Pod Bread here.

ALSO READ: 10 Popular South African Dishes 

South African Spiced Shakshuka

South African Shakshuka is both a brunch and breakfast dish. You can even retain it as your weekend breakfast specials.

Shakshuka is a hearty and healthy meal made with eggs poached in a well-spiced tomato-based stew. Other ingredients found in the preparation are garlic, onion, and bell pepper. For a heartier meal, you can add spinach, shrimp, fish, eggplant, ground beef, or lamb.

While the food is believed to be native to Tunisia, the origin of the dish is debatable. However, Shakshuka has gained much more popularity in South Africa. 

Eggs in the preparation pack protein and other essential vitamins. Other constituent ingredients such as fish, shrimp, and garlic found in the delicacy also provide many health and nutritional values.

Here is how to make the South African Spiced Shakshuka

Conclusion

South Africa is home to many hearty, healthy, and nutritious foods. If you are looking for breakfast meals that are nutritious, hearty, and pleasing to the taste, we hope you find something desirable from the above 4 South African traditional dishes.