How To Cook Rolled Oats: Tasty Recipe Ideas

Rolled oats are both a delicious and healthy snack. They’re a common breakfast food around the world – however, the challenge is that most people tend to know only one or two recipes with this ingredient, and they quickly grow tired of it.

This is a shame because rolled oats are an important part of numerous recipes. If you’re looking for more ways to incorporate this grain into your meal plan, don’t worry – here are some tasty recipe ideas you can try!

5-Minute Oatmeal Recipe

When most people hear rolled oats, they think oatmeal. And it is with oatmeal you should start when experimenting with this ingredient. Though it may seem like a bland, boring recipe, it is extremely delicious and easy to make when done right.

For this recipe, you will need:

• 1 cup of rolled oats
• 2 cups of unsweetened milk. Any milk works, so you’re okay to use a nut milk like almond milk if you’re vegan
• 1 mashed banana
• ½ a teaspoon each of ground cinnamon and vanilla extract
• 1 banana sliced and a handful of blueberries (optional)
• Salt to taste

To make this recipe, you will need to:

• In a saucepan, add the rolled oats and mashed banana. Pour in the milk, and mix.
• Mix in the cinnamon, vanilla, and salt.
• Bring the mixture to a boil.
• Once the mixture has been brought to a boil, turn down the heat to medium and stir.
• Continue to stir for 3-4 minutes. You should visibly see the oatmeal cooking and thickening.
• Once the oatmeal is at your preferred consistency, take it off the heat and allow it to cool a little.
• Transfer to a bowl. Garnish with the sliced banana and blueberries, and serve.

Lemon Ginger and Coconut Granola

When making rolled oat-based breakfasts, you don’t have to be limited to oatmeal.

This granola is the perfect way to experiment with oats for the first time. It’s sure to be a crowd pleaser, so we recommend buying bulk organic oats and making a large batch at once. You can then either share with your coworkers or store it and have it as breakfast or a midnight snack for the next few days.

For this recipe, you will need:

• 2 cups rolled oats
• ¼ cup pre-cut ginger chips. If you cannot find any, you can cut crystallized ginger and use that instead.
• Lemon zest of 2 lemons
• ¼ cup unsweetened coconut chips
• ½ cup unsweetened butter. You can use any butter for this, including vegan nut butter like almond butter.
• ¼ cup maple syrup or honey
• 1 cup unsalted walnuts, pecans, or another nut of your choice
• 3 tablespoon melted coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• Salt to taste

If you choose to use a nut butter, the dish will be both vegan and gluten-free (as long as you’ve ensured that all the ingredients are gluten-free as well).

Once you have the ingredients, you should:

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
• Mix all the dry ingredients (rolled oats, nuts, ginger chips, lemon zest, and salt) in a bowl. If you’re looking for very lemony granola, add in the zest of a third lemon.
• In a different bowl, mix all the wet ingredients (butter, maple syrup/honey, melted coconut oil, and vanilla extract) together. You can further boost the lemony flavor of the granola by squeezing in and mixing the juice of one lemon with the wet ingredients.
• Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the mixed wet ingredients. Mix together until they are properly combined.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and pour the ingredients onto the paper.
• Use a spatula to ensure you have a thin, even layer of granola mixture on the parchment paper.
• Press down on the mixture firmly so that it sticks to the parchment paper.
• Bake for 10 minutes and pull it out of the oven. Rotate the baking sheet and bake for another 20 minutes.
• Pull the baking sheet out of the oven and allow it to cool for 20 minutes (or until the granola is cool).
• Once the granola is cool and safe to touch, break it into chunks with your hands or with a spoon/spatula. Add in the coconut chips to the broken granola chips.
• Your lemon ginger and coconut granola is ready. You can now enjoy it any time (until it’s over). You can store the granola for up to 2 weeks. However, the recipe will produce only 4 cups of granola, so you’ll likely finish it before there’s any worry about shelf life.

Oats Upma

Looking for something truly unique? A staple of Indian breakfasts, upma is a delicious (and different) way to eat your rolled oats for breakfast. Though it is generally made with wheat, semolina, or rice flour, you can also make it with oats.

For this recipe, you will need:

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup water
• 1 finely chopped onion
• Salt to taste
• 1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice
• 5 tablespoons of oil
• 1-2 green chilis (optional, depending on your spice tolerance)
• 5-0.75 cups of mixed vegetables (optional, the vegetables can be of your choice as long as they aren’t too watery. Some popular options include beans, carrots, and peas. Tomatoes should be avoided.)
• 2 tablespoons grated coconut (optional)
• A sprig of chopped coriander leaves
• 1 sprig of curry leaves
• ½ teaspoon each of grated ginger and turmeric
• ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds
• ½ teaspoon of cumin
• 2 tablespoons peanuts

Once you have the ingredients:

• Dry roast the oats for about 5 minutes. Make sure to use a wide pan or saucepan, and ensure the oats don’t crisp up too much.
• In another pan, pour the oil and bring it to low heat. Add in the cumin, mustard seeds, and peanuts. Stir until the peanuts turn golden brown.
• Add the ginger, slit green chilis, and curry leaves to the pan. Stir over the heat until the leaves crisp up.
• Add the onion to the pan and sauté until it turns golden brown. Add the mixed vegetables and stir for about 2 minutes.
• Add in a few drops of water, and cover the pan. Cook until the vegetables have turned soft (but not mushy).
• Add in the salt, turmeric, and water.
• Mix well and taste the water until it tastes slightly salty. Once it tastes salty, bring it to a boil.
• Add in the roasted oats and gently mix until the water is incorporated into the oats. Cover and cook on a low heat for about 2 minutes.
• Take it off the flame. Add in the coriander leaves and mix well.
• Allow the upma to cool. Once cool, add in the lemon juice and mix. Garnish with the grated coconut.
• Serve as is, or with yogurt.

As you can see, there are numerous recipes you can make with rolled oats. These three options are only the start – there’s a whole world of oats recipes out there, and all of them taste just as amazing as your favorite oatmeal!