Slow Cooker Steel-Cut Oatmeal
I love most hot cereals in the morning. OK, maybe not flaxseeds in my teeth at 8:00 a.m. But otherwise, most.
Naturally, I adore steel-cut oats. But I just can't stand how long they take to get tender. I'm not getting out of bed to stir for an hour. Not for oatmeal.
Yes, I've tried that other method: heat them the night before, let them sit, rewarm them the next morning. But I've always felt the texture was, to say the least, blech.
Enter the slow cooker, that church-supper fix-it machine. Did you know you can make whole grains in a slow cooker? And that because of its 1) exceptionally low heat and 2) moisture-rich environment, the whole grains will come out of the machine creamier and more tender than you'll ever get them on the stove.
Sold? Here's the shtick:
The night before, stir all of this in a 5- to 6 1/2-quart (4.75- to 6.175-liter) slow cooker: 3 cups (700 ml) low-fat or fat-free milk; 2 cups (475 ml) water; 1 1/4 cups (200 grams) steel-cut oats; 2 large apples, peeled, cored, and chopped; 1/2 cup (70 grams) chopped dried cranberries; 1/2 cup (120 ml) maple syrup; 1/2 teaspoon (4 grams) ground cinnamon; 1/2 teaspoon (4 grams) salt; and 1/4 teaspoon (2 grams) grated nutmeg.
On those apples: use baking apples, sturdy ones that won't break down into mush--like Ida Reds, Empires, Macintoshes, or even the ubiquitous Granny Smiths.
Set the lid in place and cook on low for 8 hours. Enough time for a good night's rest. Make sure your slow cooker flips to a keep-warm setting so the oatmeal will be warm and comforting when you crawl out of bed. I ask you: could there be anything better? (Well, OK, as you can see from the top picture, I do add a little half-and-half to my bowl. Hey, we've all got our vices.)
Mark Scarbrough | Posted on Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at 10:02AM | in Breakfast, Comfort Food, Grains, Vegetarian
Reader Comments (21)
A lot of your recipes call for dried cranberries -- does this mean sweetened or unsweetened? I've found it nearly impossible to find unsweetened even in very nice grocery stores (haven't checked Whole Foods, but I only shop there reluctantly when I need to). I don't like the idea of added sugar sneaking into these dishes without my control, but the only alternative is to use whole berries...
thoughts?
Yummm!!!!!!! Completely inspiriing- love hot creal!
Yum! This would be great for a ski weekend up in VT. Servings for 4 or 2 very hungry people?
Lizbeth: I'd say more like 6 to 8 servings. It's a big pot of oatmeal.
Steve: I KNOW you love oatmeal.
S: Yep, you're right about the dried cranberries. Unsweetened are VERY difficult to find--although Bruce has a stash in the pantry he got online. That said, I always look for the ones without corn syrup--and with the lowest sugar possible. But you can always swap those dried cranberries in this recipe for just about any dried fruit: golden raisins, regular raisins, dried currants, you name it.
M.
Steel-cut oats in the slow cooker has never worked for me; it is always way overcooked in the morning. I tried it because I love the idea of getting up having steel-cut oatmeal waiting and ready for me, but mushy sweet lump so disappointing. My alternative is to pour boiling water (2/3 of total liquid needed) on the oats, cover, let sit overnight, then the next morning add milk (1/3 of the total liquid needed), simmer 10-15 minutes with whatever fruit desired and voila lovely nicely textured steel -cut oats in the time it takes to get dressed to face the day.
To each her or his own! That's what makes the world go around. (Well, that and gravity.) I much prefer the creaminess of the oats from the slow cooker.
M.
5 to 6 1/2 CUP slow cooker? Not QUART? Not trying to be snarky, just checking, because I have both a 6 qt and a 2 qt cooker I could use.
Meg: Shoot. 5- to 6-quart. My mistake. Mea culpa. Changed appropriately. (And thanks for that, Meg.) Also blew the metrics here. Added that, too. (Too much happening today--writing one book, negotiating a new one, an article due on, yes, slow cookers. My mind, my mind. My kingdom for a mind.)
M.
I also like to keep the sweetened dried berries to a min. I replace the cranberries with dried unsweetened cherries for a lot of recipes. They are kind of ugly dark red when you find them without all of the preservatives and sugar but they taste great and really easy to cut back on the sugar in the recipe.
I may become a fan of hot cereal after reading this
Just finished breakfast -- dish is worth it if only for the way your kitchen smells when you wake up. A few comments:
1) Mine came out a little soupy, so next time I might add 1/4 cup more oats
2) Adding a splash of cream is a good suggestion, it gives it some body to the dish and brings out that mellow taste of dairy that I like in the morning
3) Err towards 7 hours rather than 8. Maybe my crock pot runs a little hotter than advertised, but any longer and things might have started to burn. Also, if you wake up in the middle of the night, maybe sleepwalk over to the pot and give it a few stirs to keep the oats from getting stuck to the sides or bottom and burning.
Excellent breakfast.
Hey Mark & Bruce~My husband will nod his head back & forth as if I've gone insane when he sees me cooking breakfast before bed this Friday night.....looking forward to waking up Saturday morning to the smell of cinnamon and apples. Thanks!
Susan: Excellent suggestion! I was for a while addicted to the dried blueberries at a certain "trader" grocery store. Then I read the package: corn syrup and (yep) oil. Nope. Gotta read those ingredients.
Deb: Or "cooked cereal," as Bruce calls it.
S: Yes, there was a little browning/burning around the sides of our slow cooker. To be dead honest, I liked that part best. But I'm the guy digging the browned bits of hard rice out of the rice cooker. Still, it was the creaminess that got me. Re: adding more oats. Try 2 tablespoons first. Those things soak up liquid in copious amounts. (So glad you liked it.)
Kay: See above! Excellent suggestions and comments! I love this. I've been waiting for this to happen. Love lots of opinions and thoughts. (And I can't wait to hear how it goes.)
M.
I ADORE this idea! In an effort to eat my oats, I often pre cook steel cut oatmeal on the weekend and then re-heat in the microwave, but this idea is so much better. I never really thought about breakfast in the slow cooker before but am now beginning to see it as the perfect thing. I'm going to make this on Sunday night all ready to start my week off right!
Just wait until you see what's up tomorrow, Lyndsay. (Let's just say it involves frying and maple syrup.)
M.
From Bruce
This was so easy to make and the house smells like cinnamon before you even fall asleep. We had a little argument over my wanting to put in half & half, but in the end, Mark was right - the low fat milk and water combo was just perfect. Now, for a killer treat... wait until you see what I did with the leftovers.
The dried cranberries at Trader Joes are unsweetened and they don't have added sulfites or sulfates. If you have a TJs in your area - go there. I use 'em in salads, baking, to make sort of a trail mix snack-y thing.
This oatmeal looks great. Thanks for taking the time to share it, and for such a great picture.
I like oatmeal in the crockpot, but kept having a problem with it being a little overcooked and stuck to the crock in the morning. Somewhere online I read a method for solving this by using the cp as a bain marie. You simply put an inch or so of water in the crock, then combine the oatmeal/water/fruit mix into a heatproof bowl small enough to fit inside the crock. By placing the bowl into the water and cooking it that way, you create a water bath that keeps the oatmeal creamy. I use this method all the time now with great success.
Such a great idea--although again, I like the ultra-creaminess plus the slightly browned stuff at the sides. What can I say? But your method would solve all the problems.
M.
Mark - This oatmeal is AWESOME!! I have been eating it for the last three days and with each day it gets even better. Like you, I HEART the brown bits and am sure to get a little bit in each bowl. I also followed your lead with a splash of half & half (although I used fat free...the full fat version would just make this too good!!) and a teaspoon of brown sugar. I will definitely be making this on a weekly basis. Thanks for the post!
FABULOUS!!! I woke up this morning to this wonderful treat and loved it, including the crunchy bits (yes, I'm one of those people too). I can still taste it in my mouth. The only hard part about it is not going back for piggy seconds. :)