The Best Chinese Diabetic Breakfasts From A Dietitian

Whether you’ve just been diagnosed with diabetes or you’ve been living with it for a while now, finding balanced recipes to add to your meal rotation can be tricky.

One of the more challenging aspects of sticking to lifestyle changes is doing so while honoring the cultural dishes you grew up eating.

In this blog post, I’ll be going over what to focus on when building a balanced Chinese diabetic breakfast, what to limit, and some of my favorite go-to dishes to prepare!

What Is A Typical Chinese Breakfast?

A typical Chinese breakfast can look very different depending on the region on China you are talking about.

For example, in the North, there is a heavier emphasis on wheat. Steamed buns and fried dough sticks are very common, with soy milk being a popular choice of beverage.

People in southern China, on the other hand, opt for rice-based dishes because rice is more abundant in those areas. Congee, rice noodles and rice cakes are fan favorites.

How To Eat A Traditional Chinese Diabetic Breakfast

Focus On Protein And Vegetables

The focus on protein and vegetables is the same regardless of what cuisine you are eating. Protein provides a buffer to the carbs in your meal and aids in overall satiety. Vegetables give you that much needed fiber to prevent spikes in your sugar.

Limit The Amount of Carbs

In a typical Chinese breakfast, carbs are everywhere you look. And it isn’t that you can’t have carbs, but you’ll definitely want to limit the amount that you have so that you can keep your blood sugar steady.

For example, you may not be able to have unlimited you tiao (fried dough) but you can have one or two sticks! Or, you can have your favorite bao, but you’ll have to order some veggies with it.

Here is a list of my favorite Chinese diabetic breakfast ideas:

1. Steamed Eggs

Eggs are a diabetic’s best friend, and for many reasons! In addition to being packed with protein, eggs also have minimal effect on your blood sugar. They’re also easy to prepare and relatively inexpensive.

Steamed eggs are popular in China, Korea and Japan. While they can be eaten for breakfast, they can also be eaten at other times of the day and are a popular side dish with lunch and dinner.

This recipe by Made With Lau is one of my favorites! I like to pair steamed eggs with a bowl of rice and vegetables (like gai lan).

2. Congee

Now, I know what you may be thinking: isn’t congee just rice? Won’t that spike my blood sugar?

Surprisingly, congee can actually be very high in protein and low in calories, making it a good option for people with diabetes!

You just want to make sure that you’re portioning out a reasonable amount and adding nutritious toppings. I would opt for scallions, sliced ginger, mushrooms, chicken, jammy eggs, and even thousand year old eggs.

The recipe that I use is very similar to this one by Cuckoo. I just substitute the water for additional broth, add more meat (usually whatever I have on hand), and replace chives with scallions. I also use leftover rice so that I have some resistance starch working in my favor.

3. Bitter Melon Soup

Bitter melon is a great Chinese diabetic breakfast idea. But I’m going to be completely honest: I am not the biggest bitter melon fan. My mom always said that it is an acquired taste and that I will most likely come around when I am an adult. I am unfortunately still waiting for this to happen for me.

I say unfortunate because there are so many health benefits to consuming bitter melon. Particularly with type II diabetics, bitter melon has been shown to improve A1c levels and blood sugar levels.

This bitter melon soup recipe by Woks Of Life is definitely the most authentic recipe I have found. I like to enjoy it with some rice and vegetables.

4. Bitter Melon Stir Fry

Another popular way Chinese people enjoy bitter melon is by stir frying it with eggs. Though it typically is enjoyed at night during dinner, it can also be prepared in the morning for breakfast.

I like this recipe by Woks Of Life.

5. Watercress Soup

Watercress soup is my childhood in a bowl. I have very vivid memories of my grandma offering me a bowl before dinner while I was working on my homework. It would always be the pick me up that I looked forward to when I found my mind wandering.

This soup is also incredibly nourishing! Watercress is high in vitamins K, C, and A while the pork helps make the broth more savory and hearty. Carrots are a common addition to this soup and provide additional nutrients!

My favorite recipe is from Wok and Kin. I like to enjoy this soup with some rice, light soy sauce on the side for dipping the pork bones, and lots of watercress in the soup!

6. Dan Bing

Dan Bing is a very popular Taiwanese breakfast that literally translates to “egg pancake”. It is crispy on the outside and slightly chewy on the inside from the tapioca flour in the batter.

As the name suggests, all varieties of dan bing come with egg. The most popular variety of dan bing is filled with pork floss and scallions. Another popular variety is ham, cheese and corn.

You tiao is also a really popular filling, but I would not recommend carb on carb breakfasts for diabetics.

My recommendation would be a dan bing with ham, cheese, and scallions. That way, you get a good amount of protein and fat, without having too many carbs.

I like this recipe I found from Youtube. Some modifications that I do is replace the corn starch with tapioca starch/tapioca flour and add scallions to the batter.

Jian Bing VS Dan Bing

From my understanding, jian bing is considered more of a breakfast food, while dan bing can be eaten throughout the day.

Jian bing also does not have that chewy interior like dan bing does because it doesn’t use tapioca flour/corn starch. This may be why I prefer dan bings over jian bings.

There are also more options for customization for dan bings than jian bings. Both can be modified to fit into a diabetic’s meal plan.

7. Peanut Butter Toast

Peanut Butter Toast is a classic Hong Kong snack that I have eaten for breakfast many times before!

With some modifications, peanut butter toast can be a great breakfast option for diabetics.

To start, you’ll want to pick a bread that has some fiber, such as Dave’s Killer Bread 21 Whole Grains and Seeds or Ezekial Bread.

You’ll also want to choose a peanut butter that doesn’t have added sugars, such as Crazy Richard’s or Smucker’s Natural.

Finally, I would recommend going light with the condensed milk, or opting for a sugar free condensed milk. I have tried the brand Nature’s Charm and really like it!

I like to loosely follow this recipe from Food52 for my peanut butter toast.

8. Liangpi

Though not a dish I personally grew up with (mostly due to my dislike for cold noodles), liangpi was always very popular where I grew up!

Liangpi, or cold skin noodles, is a famous street dish in Northern China. There is a springy consistency to it that, when paired with vegetables, people find unique and refreshing!

Admittedly, I have never tried to make liangpi at home as I have always viewed it as slightly labor intensive. However, my friends have tried this recipe from Red House Spice that they can recommend!

Traditionally, liangpi is served with cucumbers, cilantro and fresh chilies. However, I would also add some tofu or seitan if you have some handy.

9. Dumplings

The Sam’s Club by us just started carrying the MiLa brand of soup dumplings and I have really liked making these for breakfast for me and the kids.

Like everything else mentioned in this list, it is all about pairing your carbs. I usually have about five to six dumplings, which is a little less than 30g of carbs.

If I have time to make a vegetable, I stir fry some napa cabbage to go along with the dumplings. But if I am pressed for time, I pair my dumplings with some kimchi that is ready to go right out of the refrigerator.

A Note On Baos

This may not be the best Chinese diabetic breakfast, but I thought to incude it because of how much of a staple it is to my culture.

There have been too many mornings to count where I was running late to school or needed a quick lunch and the cheapest, most readily available thing to me was a bao.

If you’re Chinese, it is inevitable that you will eat baos in your life. Even if you just got diagnosed with diabetes and are swearing off carbs forever.

And again, it’s not a matter of avoiding the food, but how to make it fit in your lifestyle.

One thing I would suggest is planning ahead of time. If you want to eat your bao for breakfast on Wednesday, purchase it on either Monday or Tuesday and let the resistant starch develop.

I would also walk for 10-20 minutes after eating the bao.

And while I would recommend eating the bao with some vegetables, I know that might not be feasible if you’re grabbing and going (IE what I used to do). So just try your best, and know that it’s okay if not every number is within range.

A Note On Dim Sum

No Chinese diabetic breakfasts list would be complete without mentioning dim sum.

I was going to include some dim sum dishes on this list, but as I was writing I felt that it was worthy of an entire post of it’s own.

As a general rule, I would emphasize eating protein (spare ribs, pepper spare ribs, chicken feet, beef balls) and vegetables (choy sum, bokchoy). I would also limit the fried food offerings (egg rolls, deep fried shrimp balls) and baos.

Conclusion

I hope this blog post about Chinese diabetic breakfast ideas gave you some cooking inspiration to try something new in the kitchen!

Further Research

Have you ever tested your blood sugar in the morning and it came back high? Wondering if that is an indication to skip breakfast? You may like this blog post, which will help you learn how to navigate breakfast after getting a high fasting blood sugar result!