5 Parfait Recipes in Under 10 Minutes

If you’re like me, you don’t like to cook, or bake, or do any type of food preparation that requires effort. I’m a working girl! I don’t have time for that. That being said, I do occasionally get inspired to save a little money and whip up something delicious instead of ordering out, as long as it takes me no more than 15 minutes to prepare. One of my favorite dishes? Parfaits! Perfect for breakfast, a mid-afternoon snack, or dessert. Here are five quick-and-easy to prepare delicious parfait recipes that almost anyone can make.

The Lazy Girl Breakfast Parfait – a Jillian Original
Super simple to prepare, healthy and delicious, with a minimal number of ingredients involved, this is my favorite breakfast parfait, which I typically spend five minutes preparing the night before, pop in the fridge, and it’s ready to eat in the morning.

In a glass, I add:
• One layer of plain, low-fat vanilla yogurt
• One handful of granola
• Several berries
• Sprinkling of flax seeds and/or chia seeds
• One more layer of yogurt
• Another handful of granola
• More berries, or banana slices
• One more sprinkling of flax seeds and/or chia seeds
• Repeat steps as necessary to fill glass
*To make this a vegan parfait, just substitute the low-fat vanilla yogurt with nondairy yogurt, and to make it a gluten-free parfait, use a gluten-free cereal or granola, like Gluten Free Chex™.

That’s it! Doesn’t get much easier than that. Now, onto some equally easy-to-prepare, but a little more inventive parfaits . . .

Cottage Cheese Parfait
Source: Delish.com c/o Martha Stewart
Ingredients:
• 1 navel orange
• ½ cup whipped low-fat cottage cheese
• ½ cup raspberries
• 1 piece whole-wheat toast
Directions:
• Slice off both ends of orange
• Following the curve of the fruit, cut away peel and white pith
• Halve orange from top to bottom; thinly slice crosswise
• Pile half the orange slices and half the raspberries in the bottom of a glass or bowl
• Top with cottage cheese, then remaining orange slices and raspberries
• Serve with toast
The fancy orange cutting is probably unnecessary, especially if you are making this for yourself only, so to save even more time, peel the orange and then cut it any which way you want.

Cookies and Cream Parfait
Source: WomansDay.com
Ingredients:
*Please note: The recipe listed on the site calls for you to prepare your own pudding and cream, but since this is all about delicious parfaits that take the least amount of time to make, I’ve made some adjustments.
• Pre-made chocolate pudding
• Whipped cream (the kind that comes in the can or tub at the grocery store)
• Chocolate cookies
Directions:
• Put 1⁄4 cup pudding into glass
• Add 2 Tbsp of whipped cream
• Crumble half cookie – I recommend using the whole cookie – on top
• Repeat steps 1-3 until the glass is full
• If you really wanna trea yo’self, add a chocolate candy on top as garnish. I recommend a Hershey’s Kisses.

Sorbet Melon Parfait– A Fancy Adult Parfait

Source: AllRecipes.com
Ingredients:
*Please note: Modifications were also made to this recipe to ensure maximum simplicity
• Chunks of melon – watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew (you can usually find these pre-packaged in your local grocery store, or, you can buy the melon yourself and chop it up)
• Chilled sparkling wine, or champagne
• Your favorite flavor sorbet
• Mint sprigs – optional
Directions:
• Arrange melon chunks in wine glass or goblet
• Scoop about 1/4 cup sorbet atop melon
• Pour about 2 tablespoons sparkling wine/champagne over sorbet and melon
• If you want to be fancy, garnish with mint sprigs
• Serve immediately
I prefer to add more sparkling wine/champagne and less fruit and sorbet, but to each their own!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake Parfait – Another Jillian Original
All of this reading about different parfait ideas has inspired me to come up with another one of my own, which I may just try this holiday weekend . . .
Ingredients
• Plain pound cake or loaf cake. You can make your own at home, or, purchase one at the store. Entenmann’s is one of my personal favorites – low-cost, and delicious!
• Peanut Butter
• Nutella or Hershey’s Chocolate Spread
• Chocolate Chips
• Vanilla ice cream/frozen yogurt
Directions:
• Crumble cake in your hands and put in glass
• Add a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream/frozen yogurt
• Spread a spoonful of peanut butter on top
• Spread a spoonful of Nutella or Hershey’s Chocolate spread on top of that
• Add chocolate chips
• Repeat until glass is full

What are your favorite easy-to-prepare parfait recipes?