Quick answer: This avocado toast has 31 grams of protein and 494 calories per serving, and takes about 15 minutes. Two eggs and smoked salmon take a normally protein-light breakfast to over 30 grams. Serves 1. It also carries 1,652 mg of sodium — the highest of any recipe in this collection — almost entirely from the smoked salmon. There’s a full section on that below, because at this level it’s worth knowing before you make it, not after.
Avocado toast gets a fair amount of criticism as a breakfast that leaves you hungry an hour later, and on its own that criticism is earned — avocado carries just 2 grams of protein per 100 grams. A slice of toast with mashed avocado and nothing else is closer to a snack than a meal.
Two eggs and a serving of smoked salmon change that completely, taking the same toast from around 10 grams of protein to 31. The trade-off is sodium, and it’s a real one — worth understanding rather than glossing over.
Why This Toast Has 31 Grams of Protein
| Source | Per serving |
|---|---|
| Eggs (100g, 2 large) | 12.6 g |
| Smoked salmon (60g) | 11.0 g |
| Sourdough (70g, 2 slices) | 6.3 g |
| Avocado and everything else | 1.2 g |
| Total | 31.1 g |
Eggs and salmon together carry three-quarters of the protein, and avocado — despite being the ingredient in the name — contributes barely more than a gram. That’s worth knowing if you’re tempted to make this without one of the two: leave out either the eggs or the salmon and this drops well below 25 grams.
A Full Note on Sodium
This is the highest-sodium recipe in the entire high protein breakfast collection, at 1,652 mg per serving — about 72% of the World Health Organization’s 2,300 mg daily recommended limit, in a single meal.
| Ingredient | Sodium | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Smoked salmon (60g) | 1,128 mg | 68% |
| Sourdough bread (70g) | 378 mg | 23% |
| Eggs (100g) | 142 mg | 9% |
| Avocado | 4 mg | under 1% |
There’s no added salt in this recipe. Two-thirds of the total comes from one ingredient.
The reason is curing, not seasoning. Cold-smoked salmon is preserved with a salt cure before smoking, which is what gives it its texture and shelf life — the sodium isn’t a seasoning choice that can be adjusted away, it’s structural to how the salmon is made. Cold-smoked salmon runs around 1,880 mg of sodium per 100 grams, among the higher figures for any commonly eaten food.
What actually helps: reducing the portion from 60 grams to 40 grams brings the sodium down by 376 mg and costs 3.7 grams of protein — a real trade, but the most direct lever available. Beyond that, there isn’t much room: the bread and eggs are already moderate contributors, not the driver.
What doesn’t help: switching bread types. Even a lower-sodium loaf would only meaningfully move the 378 mg the bread contributes, not the 1,128 mg from the salmon, which remains the dominant figure regardless.
If sodium is a genuine concern, this isn’t the recipe to reach for regularly. The Greek yogurt breakfast bowl carries almost the same protein at 87 mg — a difference of nearly 19 times. This toast is better suited to an occasional weekend breakfast than a daily one, and it’s worth balancing the rest of the day’s sodium if you do make it.
What You Need
- 2 slices sourdough bread (70g)
- 2 large eggs (100g)
- 60g cold-smoked salmon
- ¼ avocado (60g)
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice (5g)
- Pinch of black pepper (0.5g)
Notes on the ones that matter:
Cold-smoked, not hot-smoked salmon. They’re prepared differently — cold-smoked stays raw in texture and drapes easily over toast, while hot-smoked is fully cooked and flakes. Either works here nutritionally, but cold-smoked is the more traditional pairing for this style of toast.
A ripe avocado. This recipe uses a smaller portion than most avocado toast recipes, specifically because avocado is doing almost no protein work here — it’s there for texture and flavour, not nutrition.
How to Make It
- Toast the sourdough until deeply golden.
- Poach or fry the eggs to your preference while the bread toasts.
- Mash the avocado with the lemon juice and a pinch of pepper.
- Spread the avocado over the toast, drape the smoked salmon over top, and finish with the eggs.
Fifteen minutes, mostly hands-on.
Tips
Don’t add salt. This is the one recipe in the collection where it’s worth saying outright: the smoked salmon is already carrying more sodium than almost anything else you’ll eat that day. Taste before assuming it needs more.
Buy smoked salmon in the smallest package that gives you 60g, rather than a large one you’ll use across several days. Freshness matters more with cured fish than with most other proteins, and it doesn’t keep as long once opened.
A really ripe avocado matters more here than usual, since it’s a small portion doing a specific job — texture and richness rather than bulk. An underripe avocado in this quantity barely registers.
Substitutions
Every figure below is per serving, calculated from the same USDA data as the main recipe.
| Swap | Protein | Calories | Sodium | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reduce smoked salmon to 40g | −3.7 g | −23 | −376 mg | The single most effective sodium reduction available. |
| Reduce sourdough to 50g (1½ slices) | −1.8 g | −52 | −108 mg | Smaller effect than the salmon, but still meaningful. |
| 2 eggs → 3 eggs | +6.3 g | +72 | +71 mg | Raises protein well past 35g without touching the salmon. |
| Add 30g feta | +4.3 g | +79 | +335 mg | Adds protein but compounds the sodium problem — not recommended here. |
What actually addresses the sodium meaningfully: reducing the salmon portion is the only lever that moves the needle by more than a few hundred milligrams. Everything else is a smaller adjustment layered on top.
Storage
This is a make-and-eat recipe. Assembled avocado toast doesn’t hold — the bread softens, the avocado browns, and the egg overcooks if reheated.
What can be prepped ahead: nothing here benefits from advance preparation in a meaningful way. Toast, egg and avocado are all best fresh, and smoked salmon needs no cooking at all.
If you have leftover smoked salmon: it keeps for the time indicated on its package, typically 5 to 7 days unopened or a few days once opened, refrigerated. It doesn’t freeze particularly well for this kind of preparation — the texture changes noticeably.
Avocado Toast With Egg and Smoked Salmon
Ingredients
Method
- Toast the sourdough until deeply golden.
- Poach or fry the eggs to your preference while the bread toasts.
- Mash the avocado with the lemon juice and a pinch of pepper.
- Spread the avocado over the toast, drape the smoked salmon over top, and finish with the eggs.
Nutrition
Per serving (recipe makes 1):
| Calories | 494 |
| Protein | 31 g |
| Carbohydrates | 43 g |
| Fiber | 6 g |
| Fat | 22 g |
| Sodium | 1,652 mg |
These figures are calculated ingredient by ingredient from a USDA-sourced nutrition database and divided by the serving count. They’re calculated values rather than laboratory-tested ones, and they’ll shift with your brands — smoked salmon sodium in particular varies by producer and curing method, and it’s by far the largest variable in this recipe. Carbohydrates include fiber, following the US convention, so net carbs are about 37 grams per serving.
At 1,652 mg, this carries the most sodium of any recipe in the collection by a wide margin — nearly triple the next-highest recipe. It’s published here in full rather than rounded down or left out, consistent with how every recipe in this collection handles nutrition that isn’t flattering.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much protein is in avocado toast?
Plain avocado toast — mashed avocado on bread with no additions — carries roughly 8 to 10 grams of protein, most of it from the bread rather than the avocado, which contributes only about 2 grams per 100 grams. This version reaches 31 grams by adding two eggs and 60 grams of smoked salmon, which together supply about three-quarters of the total.
How do you add protein to avocado toast?
Eggs and smoked salmon are the two most effective additions, since avocado itself contributes very little protein. Two eggs add roughly 13 grams; 60 grams of smoked salmon adds about 11. Cottage cheese spread under the avocado is another option that avoids the sodium trade-off that comes with smoked salmon.
What bread is best for avocado toast?
A sturdy bread with a tight crumb, like sourdough, holds up better under mashed avocado and toppings than a soft sandwich loaf, which tends to go soggy quickly once the avocado sits on it. Toasting it until deeply golden also helps it hold its structure longer.
Is avocado toast a good breakfast?
It depends entirely on what’s on it. Plain avocado toast is closer to a snack than a full breakfast, given its low protein content. Adding eggs, smoked salmon or another protein source changes that significantly — this version reaches 31 grams of protein, though it comes with a real sodium trade-off worth knowing about if that’s something you track.
More High Protein Breakfasts
This is one of fifteen recipes in the high protein breakfast collection, grouped by savory, sweet and make-ahead, with protein, calories and sodium compared across all fifteen.
If sodium is a concern, the Greek yogurt breakfast bowl reaches nearly the same protein number at a fraction of the sodium.
For a similar weekend-breakfast feel without the smoked fish, high protein French toast uses Greek yogurt in the custard for 30 grams.
Made this? Leave a rating — and if you try it with less salmon, let me know how the balance holds up.
