What Does Giada Eat for Breakfast? A Deep Dive into Her Morning Routine

October 14, 2025 •

3 min read

Before indulging in a savory bowl of grains, Giada De Laurentiis starts her day with a warm cup of chicken bone broth and collagen powder. But what does Giada eat for breakfast after that? Her go-to meal is a simple, savory, and satisfying twist on a classic breakfast staple, a habit she's maintained for years.

Quick Summary

The celebrity chef's preferred morning meal is a simple bowl of warm grains, like oatmeal or buckwheat cereal, topped with extra-virgin olive oil and salt, a departure from traditional sweet breakfasts. She focuses on balanced nutrients and avoids eggs until later in the day.

Key Points

Savory Grains: Giada's preferred breakfast is a bowl of warm, savory grains like oatmeal or buckwheat cereal.
Drizzled with Olive Oil: She tops her grains with a generous amount of high-quality extra-virgin olive oil and salt for flavor and healthy fats.
No Eggs for Breakfast: She deliberately avoids eggs in the morning, saving them for lunch or dinner instead.
Collagen Broth Starter: Her day begins with a warm cup of chicken bone broth and collagen powder for gut health.
Sustained Energy: This high-fiber, healthy-fat breakfast provides sustained energy, preventing the sugar crashes caused by sweet breakfast foods.
Travel-Friendly: When on the road, she adapts by getting plain oatmeal from Starbucks and adding her own olive oil and salt.

Giada's Morning Ritual: More Than Just Breakfast

Giada De Laurentiis's approach to the first meal of the day is a reflection of her broader healthy-eating philosophy, which emphasizes balance, simplicity, and wholesome ingredients. Her morning routine, which she has refined over the years, focuses on nourishing her body from the inside out and listening to its needs. Before consuming any solid food, she starts with a warm cup of bone broth mixed with collagen powder. This practice is part of her commitment to maintaining good gut health and boosting her immune system. She fasts for 12 hours between dinner and breakfast, allowing her digestive system to rest and reset.

The Savory Staple: Grains with Olive Oil

After her nourishing broth, Giada's breakfast is almost always a bowl of warm, savory grains. Her preference often shifts between oatmeal and buckwheat cereal, prepared in a very non-traditional way. Rather than adding sugar, maple syrup, or fruit, she tops her grains with a generous drizzle of high-quality extra-virgin olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt. She has been known to enjoy her breakfast "swimming in olive oil". This savory combination provides sustained energy and satiety from the healthy fats, preventing the sugar crashes that often follow a sweet breakfast.

Why a Savory Breakfast?

Giada’s rationale for a savory breakfast stems from her desire to avoid the sugar spike and subsequent crash associated with typical sweet breakfast foods. A balanced combination of complex carbohydrates and healthy fats keeps her full and energized throughout her busy day. The healthy fats from the olive oil are also known to have anti-inflammatory properties. This is an eating style that aligns with her Italian heritage and the principles of the Mediterranean diet.

Giada's Topping Variations

While the basic olive oil and salt combination is her go-to, Giada sometimes adds other ingredients to customize her morning meal. These variations add different flavors and textures to keep her routine from becoming monotonous.

Classic Savory: Extra-virgin olive oil, flake salt.
Nutty Crunch: Toasted almonds, olive oil, and salt.
Herbal Infusion: Fresh thyme or other herbs for extra flavor.
Travel Hack: A packet of plain instant oatmeal from Starbucks dressed up with her own olive oil and salt.

Savory vs. Sweet Breakfast Comparison

To highlight the difference in her approach, here is a comparison of Giada's typical savory breakfast with a traditional sweet American breakfast.


Feature	Giada's Savory Breakfast	Traditional Sweet Breakfast
Core Ingredients	Oatmeal or buckwheat cereal, extra-virgin olive oil, sea salt, optional nuts/herbs	Sweetened instant oatmeal, cereal, or pancakes with sugar, syrup, and dried fruit
Key Flavor Profile	Earthy, rich, salty	Sweet, sugary, fruity
Energy Release	Slow, sustained energy from complex carbs and healthy fats	Rapid energy spike followed by a sugar crash
Satiety	High, keeping her full and satisfied longer	Often leads to cravings shortly after eating
Inflammation	Anti-inflammatory fats from olive oil	Can potentially increase inflammation due to high sugar

The Brown Rice Breakfast Bowl

For a period, Giada's morning staple was a simple bowl of brown rice with olive oil and salt, a habit she adopted from her mother's farro tradition. She would make a pot of it and enjoy it warm with plenty of olive oil. While she has since transitioned to oatmeal and buckwheat, this shows her long-standing preference for warm, simple, grain-based breakfasts seasoned with healthy fats and salt.

The Role of Lifestyle in Giada's Diet

Giada's food choices are part of a larger lifestyle that prioritizes health and well-being. She emphasizes that eating well is not about strict dieting but about making mindful choices. Her breakfast choice of simple grains with olive oil is a testament to this philosophy. By sticking to a routine, she eliminates decision fatigue and ensures she starts her day with a nutritious, energy-providing meal that makes her feel good. You can find more of her healthy living tips and recipes on her blog, Giadzy [https://giadzy.com/blogs/tips/rehab-your-breakfast-routine-with-giada-s-go-to-oa].

Conclusion

What does Giada eat for breakfast? The answer is a surprising but consistent savory bowl of warm grains. Starting with collagen-infused broth and following up with oatmeal or buckwheat cereal dressed in extra-virgin olive oil and sea salt, she prioritizes sustained energy over sugary highs. Her breakfast is a testament to her balanced and mindful approach to eating, proving that simple, wholesome ingredients can be both delicious and incredibly nourishing.

Frequently Asked Questions

No, Giada De Laurentiis does not eat eggs for breakfast. She has stated that she saves protein-heavy meals like eggs for lunch or dinner, preferring carbohydrates and healthy fats in the morning.

Giada starts her day with a cup of warm chicken bone broth to which she adds a scoop of collagen powder. This is her first food/drink of the day, consumed before her main breakfast.

Giada adds olive oil to her oatmeal to make it savory instead of sweet. This provides a source of healthy fats that keeps her full and gives her sustained energy throughout the morning, avoiding sugar crashes.

Giada primarily eats either oatmeal (including plain instant oats when traveling) or buckwheat cereal. In the past, she has also enjoyed brown rice prepared in a similar savory way.

Giada used to drink espresso in the morning but has since switched to bone broth after finding that the acidity was irritating her stomach. She now has her Italian coffee later in her morning routine.

To make her breakfast savory, Giada seasons her warm grains with a good amount of extra-virgin olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt. Sometimes she adds toasted nuts or fresh herbs.

Giada practices a form of intermittent fasting where she waits 12 hours between finishing her dinner and eating her breakfast the next morning. This allows her body to rest and supports her digestion.