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Healthy Home Economist / Archives / Videos / How to Cook Oatmeal the Right Way (+ VIDEO)

How to Cook Oatmeal the Right Way (+ VIDEO)

by Sarah Pope / Affiliate Links โœ”

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Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
  • Overnight Oats the Traditional Way
  • How to Cook Oatmeal (traditional method)+−
    • Ingredients
    • Instructions
    • Recipe Video
    • Recipe Notes
  • Detailed Video Tutorial
  • No Rinsing Required
  • Soaked Oats vs Sprouted+−
    • More Soaked Porridges to Enjoy!

How to soak and cook oatmeal the traditional way, aka โ€œovernight oatsโ€ for a digestible and nourishing breakfast that will keep you feeling full all the way to lunch!

how to cook oatmeal, overnight oats

How do you cook oatmeal the healthiest way possible? Is it acceptable toย cook it in the microwave, quickly poured out of convenient, ready to use packets? Do you think this is a healthy start to the day?

Reality Check: Ripping open a package of instant oatmeal, pouring it in a mug with some water and nuking it in the microwave for a couple of minutes is NOT a nourishing breakfast! And guess what โ€ฆ you will feel hungry again about an hour later!

Donโ€™t get me wrong here โ€“ oatmeal can and should be a healthy breakfast!

How youย choose to cook oatmeal, however, is the critical step that most people completely miss and which determinesย how much nourishment and benefit you will actually derive from the experience. It is one of the most important cooking skillsย to learn yourself and teach children before they leave home.

Preparation determines how long the oatmeal will fill you up. ย What good is a bowl of oatmeal if you are hungry again and ready for a donut fix by 10 am?

Overnight Oats the Traditional Way

Learning to prepare overnight oats as practiced for centuries by ancestral societies will take a little planning on your part. But, you will be greatly rewarded with a much more nourishing, digestible breakfast that will stay with you all the way to lunchtime!

Traditional peoples knew through observation that grains were very hard to digest and caused health problems over time for those who consumed them without careful preparation.

Throwing out those boxed breakfast cereals that are at least twice as expensive per serving and toxic to boot and replacing with a simple, nutritious bowl of porridge will also help your food budget considerably with no loss in pleasure or enjoyment particularly on chilly winter mornings!

TIP:ย  Iโ€™ve had people email me to complain that when you cook oatmeal by first soaking for at least 7 hours or overnight, it results in a sour tasting porridge. ย Iโ€™ve found that soaking in water plus lemon juice produces a delightful and slightly lemony porridge that is not sour at all and absolutely pops with flavor! If you still need help adjusting to the taste of soaked oatmeal, the linked article plus video will share an easy way to slowly adapt.

How to Cook Oatmeal the Right Way (+ VIDEO)
4.31 from 13 votes
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How to Cook Oatmeal (traditional method)

The traditional method for preparing overnight oats and cooking oatmeal the next morning that results in a bowl of porridge that is very digestible, filling and nourishing compared to modern convenience methods.

Course Breakfast
Cuisine American, Irish
Keyword overnight, soaked, traditional
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Servings 4
Calories 75 kcal
Author Sarah Pope

Ingredients

  • 1 cup rolled oats preferably organic
  • 2-3 cups filtered water
  • 1-2 Tbl lemon juice optional
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt

Instructions

  1. Mix the oats, 2 cups of water, and lemon juice in a pot. Cover and leave on the counter (NOT in the refrigerator) for at least 7 hours or overnight. If you have trouble digesting grains, feel free to soak for as long as 24 hours.

  2. When soaking is complete, add 1/2-1 cup additional filtered water to the pot. Bring to a boil with the salt. Cook oatmeal thoroughly for 5 minutes. You do not need to rinse the oats before cooking.

  3. Traditional oatmeal is best served with butter and/or cream for optimal assimilation of minerals. A natural sweetener, nuts, raisins or other fruit may be added as desired.

  4. Refrigerate leftovers.

Recipe Video

Recipe Notes

ย 

Store bought or homemade apple cider vinegar, yogurt, or kefir may be substituted for the lemon juice.

If you are just starting to soak oatmeal for breakfast, feel free to just soak with water at first and gradually build up to the 4 tablespoons of recommended acidic medium (I prefer lemon juice).

Nutrition Facts
How to Cook Oatmeal (traditional method)
Amount Per Serving (0.5 cup)
Calories 75 Calories from Fat 11
% Daily Value*
Fat 1.25g2%
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.75g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.5g
Sodium 250mg10%
Potassium 70mg2%
Carbohydrates 13.5g5%
Fiber 2g8%
Protein 2.5g5%
Iron 0.85mg5%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Detailed Video Tutorial

In this longer video below, I show you exactly how I cook rolled oats into oatmeal.

It requires the initial step of soaking the night before. Then, it cooks up quickly the next morning! ย 

Be sure to refrigerate any leftovers for a fast warm-up on the stove on subsequent mornings.

No Rinsing Required

You do not need to rinse the soaked oats before cooking. The antinutrients are deactivated, so no further effort is needed other than simmering for a few minutes on the stove!

I do not recommend soaking oat groats. The linked article explains why.

Soaked Oats vs Sprouted

If you donโ€™t think you can manage the two minutes it takes before you go to bed to put on a pot of oatmeal to soak, this article shows you how to prepare traditional oatmeal without soakingย using sprouted rolled oats instead.

This article on sprouting vs soaking explains the differences nutritionally and digestively speaking.

More Soaked Porridges to Enjoy!

If you find overnight oats to be enjoyable and more digestible, try amaranth breakfast cereal, teff porridge and buckwheat hot cereal too.

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Category: Gluten Free Recipes, Grain Recipes, Porridge, Traditional Preparation of Grains, Videos
Sarah Pope

Sarah Pope MGA has been a Health and Nutrition Educator since 2002. She is a summa cum laude graduate in Economics from Furman University and holds a Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

She is the author of three books: Amazon #1 bestseller Get Your Fats Straight, Traditional Remedies for Modern Families, and Living Green in an Artificial World.

Her four eBooks Good Diet…Bad Diet, Real Food Fermentation, Ketonomics, and Ancestrally Inspired Dairy-Free Recipes are available for complimentary download via Healthy Home Plus.

Her mission is dedicated to helping families effectively incorporate the principles of ancestral diets within the modern household. She is a sought after lecturer around the world for conferences, summits, and podcasts.

Sarah was awarded Activist of the Year in 2010 at the International Wise Traditions Conference, subsequently serving on the Board of Directors of the nutrition nonprofit the Weston A. Price Foundation for seven years.

Her work has been covered by numerous independent and major media including USA Today, ABC, and NBC among many others.

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Get aย free chapterย of my book Traditional Remedies for Modern Families + my newsletter and learn how to put Natureโ€™s best remedies to work for you today!

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Reader Interactions

Comments (260)

  1. Amy

    Sep 11, 2024 at 2:40 pm

    5 stars
    How should this be adapted for steel cut oats?

    Reply
    • Sarah Pope

      Sep 12, 2024 at 8:50 am

      https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/irish-steel-cut-oats/

  2. Margaret

    Oct 21, 2023 at 1:03 pm

    5 stars
    I made this recipe for the first time today with my sprouted oats, soaking them the night before, and I noticed a world of difference, both in taste and how soothing the porridge felt on my tummy (and continues to feel). Thank you for this wonderful recipe; I’ll never go back to cold cooking again. I also soaked some raisins, a date, and two figs overnight, and added them and some of their soaking water to the oats while cooking. Stirring in butter at the end was the icing on the cake!

    Reply
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