Skip to content

8 Best Breakfast Foods for Healthy Skin

|
October 31, 2025
Unsplash

There’s no question that what kinds of foods we consume can have effects on how we feel and what we look like on the outside. Some foods help debloat an upset stomach others can assist with preventing hair loss. There are also foods you can include in your diet that may help achieve gorgeous, radiant skin and a healthy glow. It’s true! Certain foods are rich in nutrients that may promote glowing, radiant skin. Sure, makeup and cosmetics can do wonders for the skin, but diet can also play a huge part in skin health. Here are some delicious, nutrient-packed breakfast foods to give your skin a healthy glow and jump-start your day.

Related: Sign up to receive delicious recipes, expert advice, and shopping tips in your inbox!

1. Avocados

Avocado Unsplash
Credit: Unsplash

Time to eat all the avocado toast.  Avocados are rich in monounsaturated fats along with vitamins A and C, which help maintain skin tissues and prevent skin dryness. Because avocados are rich in vitamin C, there is also reason to believe that avocados can help with skin strength. In fact, a 2022 study found evidence that daily avocado consumption may result in improved elasticity and firmness of facial skin.

2. Walnuts

Benefits of Walnuts, Unsplash
Credit: Unsplash

Feel free to top off your smoothie bowl or Greek yogurt with some walnuts. Walnuts are full of protein, healthy fats, and vitamin E — all of which can help contribute to a dewy, glowing face.

Walnuts also contain a specific form of vitamin E called gamma-tocopherol. Gamma-tocopherol has shown evidence of helping the regeneration of skin as well as preventing skin damage. The popular nut is also full of omega-3s. Omega-3 fatty acids are an essential nutrient for maintaining skin health by keeping the face from drying out.

3. Green Tea

Breakfast Foods for Healthy Skin Green Tea Unsplash
Credit: Unsplash

Research has shown that green tea may help protect skin from damage as well as aging. Green tea contains an antioxidant called catechins. A 2020 study showed evidence that the high antioxidant activities in catechin can help protect the skin from the sun’s UV rays.

Further research has shown that drinking green tea daily could reduce redness in the face from sun exposure by up to 25% as well as improve the moisture, roughness, thickness, and elasticity of the skin. Instead of a mocha latte or hot cup of joe in the AM, an iced or hot green tea could have lasting benefits for clear, glowing skin.

4. Strawberries

Breakfast Foods for Healthy Skin Strawberries Unsplash
Credit: Unsplash

No breakfast smoothie is complete without the sweet and tart flavoring of delicious strawberries. Not only is the popular berry tasty and one of the most nutritious berries in the bunch, but it could also help contribute to healthy skin.

Strawberries are rich in antioxidants. The role of an antioxidant is to, literally, prolong life. They counteract deterioration, or oxidation, in foods.

One study published in Anais Brasileiros de Dermatologia, the official publication of the Brazilian Society of Dermatology, showed that oxidation can lead to aging skin. Since strawberries are so rich in antioxidants as well as vitamin C, they are a great addition to a breakfast meal to help promote film, healthy, glowing skin.

5. Kale

Kale Unsplash
Credit: Unsplash

Switching up the spinach in an egg white breakfast omelet for some kale could help promote glowing, healthy skin. Kale, rich in carotenoids, vitamin C, and glucoraphanin, can help decrease inflammation.

Collagen and elastin levels improve when taking a carotenoid-rich curly kale extract, according to a 2017 study.

6. Oatmeal

Oatmeal Healthy Pantry Breakfast Foods Unsplash
Credit: Unsplash

A warm, comforting bowl of oatmeal in the morning for breakfast will not only give you a great energy boost to start your day, but you’ll also be doing your skin a favor.

Oatmeal is low on the glycemic index, which means it’s a food that will not spike up blood sugar levels and follow up with an energy crash. Foods with a low glycemic index are favorable over those with a high glycemic index because those foods can cause blood sugar levels to spike, causing stress, inflammation, and potentially leading to pimples and acne.

7. Egg Whites

Eggs and Mushrooms Google Images
Credit: Google Images

Eggs provide protein, vitamins, and nutritious minerals that all pack a powerful punch to get your morning going. Egg whites are also high in the amino acids lysine and proline. Hundreds of skin care products tout the power of amino acids, but a couple of scramblers in your breakfast routine could help just the same. Proline is one of the two amino acids that synthesize collagen in the human body.

8. Chia Seeds

Chia Seeds Unsplash
Credit: Unsplash

Add some chia seeds to your smoothie or prep some chia pudding overnight for breakfast; your skin will thank you for it. Chia seeds are one of the richest sources of omega-3 fatty acids, which, as we know, help regulate oil production on the skin to help hinder breakouts, reduce dryness, and minimize signs of aging.

Read next: 7 Immune-Boosting Breakfast Recipes Nutritionists Love

Read More on Clean Plates

Breakfast Foods for Healthy Skin More Unsplash
Credit: Unsplash

5 Best Breakfast Foods to Boost Your Metabolism, Say Experts

7 Diet Habits Derailing Your Skin Health

5 Clean Beauty Products That Give You Glowing Skin

What our editors love right now

Good food brings people together.
So do good emails.