So, a while back I posted my Overnight Crockpot Oatmeal recipe. To my embarrassment a bunch of readers had absolutely horrible results.
Oops.
So I decided to figure out what was going on. I enlisted the help of some erstwhile volunteers-Daniel, Candi and Allison*. We all started out with the original recipe:
1 cup steel cut or regular oats (NOT Quick Oats!)
4 cups water
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 TBS butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
Combine all in crockpot and cook on low for 8hrs. Serve with milk & cinnamon sugar.
There is a big difference between steel cut oats:
Steel Cut Oats
And regular (old fashioned, not quick) oats:
Regular Oats, sometimes called "Old Fashioned" Oats
Version 1: As written with steel cut oats
Here is V1 in the Crockpot
V1-Looks good to me!
The results on this were unanimous. When cooked with Steel Cut Oats this produced great oatmeal. Well, Allison & I thought it was great, Daniel (who’s blog isn’t named “fussy” for nuthin) said it was acceptable. Candi did not have steel cut oats, so she skipped this one.
Version 2: As written with regular oats
V2-Pretty Runny
V2-Blech.
Yeah, we all got goop on this one.
Version 3: Decreased water to 3C instead of 4C, used steel cut oats.
Daniel did this variation. He felt it was slightly more watery than his usual method of making steel cut oats, but acceptable.
Version 4: Decreased the water to 3C instead of 4, used regular oats.
Candi tried this and still felt that hers was soup. I did the same and felt it was too runny, but still edible-and it firmed up in the fridge overnight so when I reheated it in the microwave it was an acceptable, if not great, texture. I buy
my regular oats at the bulk food store-I wonder if there is a quality difference between the regular oats that you buy in a canister at the store and the bulk food ones. If the bulk food ones are even less processed, they may have retained more fiber, thereby providing more ability to absorb water. But that is just a guess-no data to back that up folks!
Version 5: Increased regular oats to 2C, left everything else as written.
V5-Reduced water & used regular oats.
V5 Looks like Oatmeal to me.
Allison and I both tried this variation. This produced a nice pot of moist and flavorful oatmeal.
Conclusions:
If you are using regular oats, the 2C of oats to 4C water & 1/2C milk seems to be the best proportions. Both Allison and I felt that it was a great quick breakfast, especially useful for schoolday mornings or feeding a house full of guests. I will go back to the original recipe and edit it to include that information.
If you are using steel cut oats, the recipe as written works well if you prefer a moist oatmeal. If you prefer a bit dryer oatmeal then you should use Daniel’s recommendation and reduce the water by a cup.
Candi was happy to have helped out, but probably won’t make the recipe again: “I will not try again and here is why: If I increase the oats it will make WAY to much to feed two people (even keeping it in the fridge). If I decrease the water any more, it will scorch due to a lack of liquid in the crock pot total and I used my smallest crock pot. I do not see a way to fix this recipe and make it work in my home.”
Thanks to Candi, Daniel & Allison for being willing to eat WAY too much oatmeal in order to help me with this project. You can see the full details of Allison’s experiment on her post “Overnight Slow Cooker Oatmeal” at Alli ‘n Son, and Daniel’s experiment, as well as a tasty variation where you toast the oats, on his post “Soothing Irish Oats” at Fussy Little Blog.
Want some more great ways to prepare oatmeal? How about these!
Baked Oatmeal
Oatmeal Fruit Bars
Banana Oatmeal Drop Cookies
Homemade Instant Oatmeal Packets
Note: A few more volunteered as well-lets hope they post their results in comments
I was reading somewhere else about this method and it seems results vary widely even with the steel cut oats. Some people had trouble with it overcooking or getting too stuck to the crock. I was too scared to try it! LOL I didn’t want to waste my oats. What I did was put 1 cup steel cut oats and 4 cups of water to boil in a pot. As soon as it was boiling well, I cut off the burner and put the lid on. By the time the morning came around they were perfect. I’ll definitely try it that way again! Not quite the same but it worked too.
I’m so glad you got some good results! I love making oatmeal in the crockpot, but I’ve never done it overnight. I’m always afraid that it will scorch. So it makes a great breakfast-for-dinner when it is just the toddler and me at home.
Thanks for sharing your experiment!
Thanks for including me in your post. I’m glad that the second batch worked, it sure is tasty!
Kudos to the participants and to Jenn for all the testing. I usually make my oats in the microwave or on the stovetop. I like the steel cut oats and Aldi’s had them in stock a couple of weeks ago. I have tested a method of microwaving the water and putting it into a small thermos for my lunch at work (lunch is about 8:30 am, it is breakfast) I had plesing results so far, you have to mix it well before you eat. Have a great night all!
-Heather
just loved your receipe. bought the steel oats and make last night..perfect…will make again and again…thanks so much…oh, just for your info the crock pot i make it in was one of my older ones. i know you had mentioned that could have a difference in the outcome…i used my older model because of the smaller size..thanks again, if will be spreading the good word to all my friends.
Geri-I’m so glad it worked well for you! The steel cut oats really do make a difference, plus they are so good for you. Glad you’ve found a new favorite way to make oatmeal 🙂
Excited to try this recipe out!
I’m attempting version 5, I’ll find out how it went in the morning!
(Thanks for all you guinea pigs; I’m glad to not have tried the original mush version, as I do not have steel cut oats on hand right now.)
The whole house loved it! (Next time though, I think I would add a bit less water)
yay! I tell ya, every time someone says they are going to make this I cross my fingers & hold my breath.
I just mixed up a batch. Version 1 with seal cut oats. I’m using a mixture of original almond milk and water. I’ve been making oatmeal completely with almond milk in the microwave for a week. I’m looking forward to not having tofix itin the morning! I’ll let youknow how it comes out.
I use the crockpot liner bags by Reynolds…. cleanup is easy. I add cinamon, nutmeg, vinilla and raisins in the morning when I wake up. By the time I am out of the shower the raisins are perfect and not overcooked.
If you put the mixture into a 8cup glass measuring cup or other glass bowl that will fit into your crockpot, then add water to the crockpot so it comes 1/2 way up outside of the bowl. Cover the bowl with foil and put on low overnight. It doesn’t scorch on the bowl and works great!
Great tip Bev
Steel-cut oats come in different grades depending on the size of the pieces: pinhead (the largest), coarse, medium and fine.
maybe the size makes a difference too
not sure what size i bought, but will be trying this tonight
Hope it works well for you!
it did! i didn’t get it on until about 1 a.m.
i used a heaping cup of steel cut oats and a lil more than 1/3 cup of milk
was out of brown sugar, so i used honey (will make again when i get some brown sugar)
and added a couple of apples to it.
than had hubby to it to “keep warm” when he got up (around 6 or 7 am)
it turned out great (would have been much better with the brown sugar though)
I can’t easily get steel cut oats where I am, but with regular oats I put them to soak (in the cooking pan) overnight and they are lovely and smooth after five or ten minutes on the hob in the morning. As a bonus the pan is slightly easier to clean than the crock of my slow cooker.
Jill-that’s a great idea. You could have it ready even faster if you tossed it in the microwave to warm up.
This sounds great, so I am making it now for my sat morning breakfast. I used bob’s red mill extra thick rolled oats and followed version 5. I added chopped apples and some maple syrup and a touch of honey. Hope it turns out ok!
Just put together, can’t wait for morning. My only worry is it will wake everyone up in the middle of the night. It smells good already, I added apples and cinnamon to mine, really wishing we had raisins in the house too.
I want to say how much I love this oatmeal! I’ve been making it for over a year now and it’s become my husband’s favorite breakfast. That is coming from a person who previously wouldn’t touch oatmeal with a 10 foot stick. I followed some of the comments and reduced the water to 3-1/2 cups and 1/2 cup of milk. Thank you!
I’m so glad it’s a keeper for your family!
How much does this normally make?
A crockpot full 🙂
I followed the directions except for 2 cups water and 2 cups milk, everything else was the same. It was the best steel cut oats in a crock pot recipe I have found so far. My kids ate it and there were no leftovers this morning. Yay! I used the tip of putting it in a bowl inside the crock pot and poured water around the bowl. I cooked it on low for 8 hours. Next time I would probably add more cinnamon for my personal taste.
Thank you, this is a keeper.
Thanks for this recipe! A friend of mine made someone else’s version of overnight oatmeal and I didn’t like it, partly because it was so soupy, but loved the potential. When I saw yours, I decided to try it with double the oats (Old Fashioned) despite having not read this post. I found it worked well too! Now though, I make this recipe on a pretty regular basis and I double everything but the liquid (I do double the vanilla). So flavorful! I also serve it with chopped bananas. Yum! Thanks!
So glad you enjoyed it and found a variation that works for you!