When I cook dinner in my slow cooker, I clean it out immediately and plan on overnight oatmeal for breakfast the next morning. Cooking oatmeal while you sleep makes for a quick and easy start to the morning. On Thursdays I arrive at work ready to see clients in Boston at 7:30 AM sharp (and I am not a morning person!) so overnight oatmeal makes my early morning rising a bit more pleasant.
I like steel cut oats. They taste a little nutty to me and have a firmer texture. The difference between quick or old-fashioned and steel cut oats is simple, the quick and old-fashioned oats are rolled and flattened while steel cut oats are cut into two or three pieces by steel.
The steel cut oats on on the left and the rolled oat on the right, see the difference?
I add a bit of extra water to the recipe to be sure the oats are not dry and lumpy with the extra night time cooking.
I jazz my oats up with 1/2 sliced banana, fresh strawberries and sliced almonds.
Crockpot Overnight Oats
Ingredients
- 1 cup steel cut oats
- 4 1/2 cups water
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon (optional)
Instructions
- Place ingredients in crockpot and give a quick stir.
- Turn crockpot on low right before bed (or have the last person in the house to go to bed to turn on crockpot!)
- Stir on arising, and serve with fruit and nuts
Sometimes for an alternative, I use Old Wessex Ltd 100% Whole grain 5 Grain Cereal-a mixture of oats, rye, triticale, barley and golden flax which has a bit more fiber and different textures from the variety of grains and can be cooked easily right in the microwave or overnight too!
jaclyn
Hi Kate,
Does it work for the FODMAP elimination diet to do overnight oats by soaking oats in liquid in the fridge overnight? How about oat bran? Or, do the oats have to been cooked either on the stovetop or in the microwave for them to work? Thank you so much for all your support and answers in this process!
katescarlata
You can do overnight oats but the FODMAP cut off is just 1/4 cup oats (dry) so keep that amount in mind when preparing. Not sure the oats expand as much when prepared this way. Oat bran has a small cut off so adding a tablespoon to the mixture might be a way to boost fiber. And, no, oats do not have to be cooked.