Spend five minutes preparing this easy Overnight Apple Steel-Cut Oatmeal the night before and wake up to a healthy, delicious breakfast!
Friiiieeeeennnnddddsss! Oh how I've missed you so.
How was New Years Eve? I want to hear alllll about your cray cray resolutions! Are you gonna drink ten green smoothies a day and have easy overnight steel cut oats for brekkie every morning until 2015?? OMG me too!
Sooo the oatmeal fairy came last night. Have you tried my Overnight Steel Cut Oatmeal recipe?
Would you believe it if I told you that if you mixed together a bit of this and a bit of that and brought it all to a boil for a couple minutes and let it sit overnight that you'd have perfectly cooked oaties waiting for you in the morning? Believe it, sista!
Steel cut oats are the closest thing to whole oat groats. They're less processed than old fashioned oats and much less processed than instant oats. That's all fine and dandy until you realize that these little beauties take thirty minutes to cook and you're all like, "I'm sorry, I must not have heard that right. Come again?"
Instead of waiting three days to get your oat fix tomorrow morning, take five minutes tonight to prep and mentally prepare yourself for oatmeal heaven in the a.m. Let me tell ya, I don't hate waking up to the smell of sweet apple cinnamony goodness and breakfast waiting on the stove.
It's the new year. It's a fresh start. The time has come to say goodbye to the packaged crapola and make your own!
Everyone has five minutes. No excuses.
Print
Overnight Apple Steel Cut Oatmeal Recipe
- Prep Time: 8 hours
- Cook Time: 5 mins
- Total Time: 8 hours 5 mins
- Yield: 3-4 servings
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Spend five minutes preparing this easy Apple Cinnamon Steel-Cut Oatmeal the night before and wake up to a healthy, delicious breakfast!
Ingredients
- 3 cups water
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1 cup steel cut oats
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 medium apple, cored and diced (I used Honeycrisp)
- 2 tbsp ground flaxseed
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a medium pot over high heat, bring water and milk to a boil.
- Once water is boiling, add oats, salt, apple, flaxseed, cinnamon and maple syrup. Boil for about two minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent overflow.
- After two minutes, remove pan from heat. Stir in vanilla. Cover pot and allow mixture to sit overnight at room temperature.
- In the morning, heat pot over medium heat to warm through. Top with additional cinnamon and maple syrup, if desired.
Noelle says
We made this for a David Fast at the start of the new year. Love it so much we keep making it. We have made some modifications. We add about 1/2 c raisins and 1/3 c dried cranberries. Skip the maple syrup altogether. Warm it up in the morning and top individual bowls with chopped pecans. Store remaining in the refrigerator and scoop out what we want the next day warming in the microwave. Love it.
Alexis Joseph, MS, RD says
Yummm thanks for letting me know, Noelle!
Bonnie says
I’m confused, you never mention the milk in the instructions?
Alexis Joseph says
With the water, sorry about that! This recipe is a decade old and definitely needs an update 🙂
Anna says
Made this 2 weeks in a row for breakfasts-easy and so delicious! I subbed the flax seeds for chia seeds because it’s what I had on hand, came out wonderfully. Love that you can make it at night and let it sit, come morning you have breakfast ready!
Alexis Joseph says
Yayyy thanks so much Anna!
Christy says
Can I put this in individual jars for meal prep? If so would you recommend doing so same night of cooking or next morning?
Kitty says
Can you substitute honey for maple syrup
Alexis Joseph says
Yep!
Megan says
Do you need flax seed? I want to make it tonight but have no flax seed. Thanks!
victoria says
Hey girl, question about the toppings. When you add berries that are frozen, do you defrost them first or just add them straight? AND do you heat up these oaties in the morning or eat em cold?
Alexis says
I defrost frozen berries in the microwave or I use fresh berries. I heat up the oats in the morning 🙂
Margaret says
A thought came to me after reading your awesome recipe, which was to pre-soak the oats seperately overnight to remove the phylic acid, which a lot of people seem to advocate these days. Then drain and rinse them well the next morning before adding the rest of the ingredients and proceeding with the directions as indicated, simmering until the apple is mushy. It would take longer to make the recipe, which kind of misses the whole point, but the cooking time might likely be cut down quite a bit since the oats are pre-soaked. Sorry I haven't tried it yet to report, but it's on my to-do-list.
Alexis says
That's an awesome idea, Margaret! Let me know if you try it out!
Monica B. says
I made this last night for this morning. It was super easy and tasty! I used gluten-free steel cut oats and filtered water. The apple held up nicely; it had a nice texture in the morning--not mushy. I added fresh blueberries, almonds, and a dollop of coconut milk yogurt to my morning meal. My meal was a nice blend of wholesome goodness and a subtle sweetness. I shared this breakfast with guests, and they liked it as well. I have enough left over for a couple more breakfasts. Thank you for this!
Alexis says
Mmmmm loving your add-ins!!
April says
I love this recipe and overnight oats. Any other ideas/suggestions for flavor combos to switch it up?
Alexis says
Thanks, lady! Lately I've just been bringing a cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk + 1 cup water + a pinch of salt to a boil. Then I add 1/2 cup steel cut oats and boil on medium high for 2 min, then remove from heat and let it sit (covered) overnight. In the morning I add a tbsp each of chia seeds and ground flaxseed. And THEN I add berries and almond butter....SO good. If you want a sweeter version, add 1/2 cup of blueberries (frozen is fine) in the second minute of boiling. Once you take it off the heat, stir in some unsweetened coconut (2 tbsp?) and some vanilla extract (1/2 tsp?). You could also use coconut milk as the liquid!
Lacey says
Another winner with this recipe! Such an easy breakfast for the week!
Alexis says
Fabulous, Lacey!! Glad you liked it 🙂
April says
Helloooooooo! OK, I had an eventful weekend as you saw allll over Insta/FB. Anyways, here is my report: The easy homemade granola is amazing. The first time I made it a week or so ago, I burnt it. Boo. This time I did muuuch better. I may have been a smidge generous with some ingredients (like brown sugar & coconut oil), but I'm okay with that. Those vegan PB date balls = deeeeelish, but a slight hazard to my crappy blender. I made it work, Tim Gunn style and it was totes worth it. Blueberry walnut muffins, OMGGGGGG. So beautious, fluffy and crazy good. Wowzas. The kale quinoa salad I had for lunch today = way tastier than I had ever imagined. I added in some dried cranberries and scarfed it down during a meeting. Last night I got bold and decided to make this oatmeal b/c it was already way late and apparently I wasn't going to make my 6am workout (gotta get better at time management). I used 1/2 almond milk, 1/2 water. After a kitchen hazard where the boiling milky water w/flaxseed overflowed onto my stove with a vengeance, I still somehow pulled it off. IT SMELLS SO GOOD I couldn't stop sticking my face into the pot this morn for a whiff. I was a very happy girl eating it for breakfast, too. I guess I need to workout later. 🙂 THANK YOU for giving me the confidence to try some of this stuff! I feel very accomplished. More to come!
Alexis says
Did you know that you're the best commenter EVER!?! I'm so proud of everything you made this weekend! That was some serious food prep. I haven't had those blueberry walnut muffins in sooooo long so thanks for the reminder! I feel ya on the balls--they're super bitchy to make unless you have a food processor :/ Great call on doing half almond milk for the oatmeal! So creamy and fabulous, right?! Grab and go breakfast for liiiifeeeeee. I'm so sorry to hear about your boiling probs, but props for pulling it off anyway! That's mah gurl. It makes my day that you're having so much fun (and success) in the kitchen. You go girl!
April says
It's okay, I can super bitchy sometimes, too. I still love ya, PB/date balls. In the end, we are both sweet & worth the work. Or so I like to think. I also was cracking myself up (in my head) making the balls. I had plenty of DATES and lots of BALLS! Who needs a stinkin' boyfriend, anyways?! Haha, I am such a nerd. Anyways the oatmeal was even MORE delicious this morning, as if that is even possible. It is just the perfect combo of flavors, and an amazing way to start the chilly day. I've got kale salad a-waitin' for lunch, a blueberry walnut muffin for a snack, and a BALL for a sweet treat whenever my little heart desires. Granola on hand for spontaneous shoveling. Veggie burg for din? Obvi. Now just gotta get my workouts back on track, and with those extra endorphins, I'll be unstoppable!
Sam says
Sorry if this is a stupid question, but do you leave the covered pot out all night? Or do you put it in the fridge? This looks great! Can't wait to try it.
Alexis says
Not a stupid question at all, Sam! Yes, you do leave the pot out all night. Just remove it from the heat and keep it covered all night. Enjoy!
Sam says
Thanks! I just didn't want to give anyone steel cut food poisoning : )
Carly says
Sounds delish...but where does the apple come in?
Alexis says
Wow--I must have left my brain in bed when I wrote this post this morning! Thanks a bunch for pointing that out 🙂 I just fixed it. Happy cooking!!