This slow cooker steel cut oats recipe uses simple, inexpensive pantry ingredients to prepare a delicious healthy breakfast. Make a big batch on the weekend, store portions in the fridge or freezer for quick heat, and eat breakfast all week!
Top a bowl of warm oatmeal with fruit, nut butter, shredded coconut, or pure maple syrup for a wholesome meal that’ll keep you full until lunchtime.
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We are big steel-cut oats fans, especially my youngest daughter. I make a batch every Sunday for her to eat all week for breakfast. She loves it with a swirl of maple syrup and likes to pile on the fruit and other toppings.
Most of the time, I’ll make this easy steel cut oats recipe on the stovetop. However, on busier meal prep days, I’ll break out the crockpot and let it do all the work.
Reasons You’ll Love This Slow Cooker Steel Cut Oats Recipe
- Simple pantry ingredients – To make a basic pot of steel-cut oats, all you need are oats and water. I’ll give some other variations below, but essentially, all that’s required are two ingredients.
- It’s an inexpensive, healthy breakfast – one serving of steel-cut oats is between .40 – .50 cents. And that’s for organic!
- You can easily double the recipe – It’s easy to make a large batch of steel-cut oatmeal to feed a crowd or freeze for later.
- Easiest breakfast meal prep recipe. Steel-cut oats can be made ahead for the week or frozen into portions for a quick healthy breakfast. I’ll give more meal prep tips below.
Ingredients
Steel-cut oats (also called Irish oats). These oats are less processed than rolled oats. Instead of being steam and rolled flat to speed up cooking time, steel-cut oats are the full groat cut in half with a blade. This is why steel-cut oats take longer to cook.
However, I prefer steel-cut oats over rolled when it comes to a warm bowl of oatmeal. Cooked steel cut oats are creamy and chewy with a little bit of bite to them.
Rolled oats often result in mushy oatmeal. However, rolled oats work better in other oatmeal recipes like overnight oats, baked oatmeal cups, or breakfast cookies.
Steel-cut oats are the perfect choice for cooking in a slow cooker.
Unsweetened almond milk – You can certainly make this crockpot steel cut oat recipe using just water, but I love to add unsweetened almond or coconut milk to the recipe for extra creaminess.
You could use dairy milk, but I like to keep this recipe vegan, so I use non-dairy milk instead.
Water – I use hot tap water when making this recipe.
Pure Vanilla Extract – A couple of teaspoons of vanilla extract infuses some extra flavor into the oatmeal. However, it is an optional ingredient, so you can leave it out of the recipe.
Cinnamon – This is another optional ingredient, but it does add a nice warm flavor to the oatmeal recipe.
Salt – A pinch of salt makes all of the other flavors pop.
FAQs
You can purchase steel-cut oats at any grocery store. My favorite brand is Bob’s Red Mill, but I’ve also used many excellent store brands.
You can find steel-cut oats in the cereal section or are often sold in bulk too.
I’m going to go against popular opinion here. No, I don’t think this recipe can cook for 8 hours or longer.
Over the last ten years, I’ve made steel cut oats in the crockpot many times, and the few times I tried to cook it overnight, it resulted in mush that stuck to the sides.
In my experience, the perfect cooking temperature and time is 4 hours on low and then 2 hours on warm.
I don’t recommend cooking it over 4 – 5 hours on low because it will burn and turn into mush. Also, I never recommend cooking slow cooker steel-cut oatmeal on the high setting.
Of course, that’s been my experience using my slow cooker.
When cooking steel cut oats on the stovetop or in the slow cooker, you’ll need 4 cups of water for 1 cup of oats.
Double both when you want to make a larger batch.
I like to use non-dairy milk to add creaminess but cooking steel-cut oatmeal using just water will work fine.
Toasting the oats is an optional step, so you don’t need to do it. However, toasting the oats adds a delicious nutty flavor, so I highly recommend it if you have the time.
I’ve been preparing slow cooker steel-cut oatmeal in the ten years I’ve never rinsed the oats. So, from my experience, no, you don’t.
Cooking Notes
To prevent sticking, spray the insert liberally with cooking spray. You can also use a slow cooker liner.
Sweeten the cooked oatmeal afterward. You might notice there’s no sugar in this recipe. I do this on purpose.
I find it easier to control the calories when I add the sweetener after it’s cooked. Also, we can all control the sweetness to our tastes.
Topping ideas to sweeten oatmeal:
- Pure maple syrup
- Brown sugar
- Coconut palm sugar
- Jam or jelly
- Stevia or monk fruit
- Chocolate chips
- Banana
Add other toppings. You can enjoy a simple bowl of oatmeal or get creative and build the perfect bowl of oatmeal with your favorite toppings.
Keep in mind that if you’re trying to lose weight, then choose healthier toppings and measure out everything before adding it to the oatmeal. Even healthy calories can add up.
More topping ideas for oatmeal:
- Yogurt
- Nuts
- Berries
- Chopped apple
- Dried fruit
- Shredded coconut
- Nut butter
You can even make savory oatmeal by adding eggs and sauteed vegetables.
Stir in superfoods. Including superfoods is a fantastic way to pack extra nutrition into a bowl of oatmeal.
Superfoods to add to oatmeal
- Flax seeds
- Chia seeds
- Hemp hearts
- Goji berries
- Cocao nibs or powder
- Coconut oil
Supplies to Prepare This Slow Cooker Steel Cut Oats Recipe
How to Make Slow Cooker Steel Cut Oats
Spray the insert of the slow cooker liberally with cooking spray.
Heat 1 tablespoon of butter or coconut oil in a medium saute pan. Once the butter melts, then add in the steel cut oats.
Cook for 1-2 minutes or until fragrant and toasty.
Add the oats, water, milk, pure vanilla extract, ground cinnamon, and salt to the slow cooker. Give it a couple of stirs.
Cover and cook on low for 4 hours and then on warm for 2 hours. If you can stir it a couple of times while it cooks, it will help prevent the oats from sticking and burning.
Serve with your favorite sweetener and toppings.
Storing and Reheating Tips
Steel-cut oats store and reheat perfectly, making it great for weekly meal prep.
To store in the refrigerator, place the cooked and cooled steel-cut oats into glass meal containers. You can use a large or container or portion it out into smaller ones. To reheat the oatmeal, put it into a microwave-safe dish and heat on high for 1-2 minutes or until hot. Add your favorite oatmeal toppings and enjoy.
To freeze steel-cut oatmeal, portion out into 1-cup Souper cube trays and freeze. After the steel-cut oats are frozen, remove the blocks from the trays and place them into a labeled gallon-sized freezer bag.
You can also freeze into portions using quart-size freezer bags.
To reheat, remove the oatmeal from the plastic bag and place it into a microwave-safe dish. Heat on high for 2-3 minutes or until hot. Top with your favorite toppings and enjoy.
Slow Cooker Steel Cut Oats
This slow cooker steel cut oats recipe uses simple, inexpensive pantry ingredients to prepare a delicious healthy breakfast. Make a big batch on the weekend, store portions in the fridge or freezer for quick heat, and eat breakfast all week!
Print Pin Rate
Servings: 8
Calories: 188kcal
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter or coconut oil
- 2 cups steel-cut oats
- 6 cups water
- 2 cups unsweetened almond milk or use your favorite milk
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract optional
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon optional
- 1/2 teaspoon salt optional
Instructions
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Spray the insert of the slow cooker liberally with cooking spray.
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Heat 1 tablespoon of butter or coconut oil in a medium saute pan. Once the butter melts, then add in the steel cut oats.
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Cook for 1-2 minutes or until fragrant and toasty.
-
Add the oats, water, milk, pure vanilla extract, ground cinnamon, and salt to the slow cooker. Give it a couple of stirs.
-
Cover and cook on low for 4 hours and then on warm for 2 hours. If you can stir it a couple of times while it cooks, it will help prevent the oats from sticking and burning.
-
Serve with your favorite sweetener and toppings.
Notes
Cooking Notes
You can use all water, instead of the 2 cups of milk, in this recipe.
Storing and Reheating tips
Steel-cut oats store and reheat perfectly, making it great for weekly meal prep. To store in the refrigerator, place the cooked and cooled steel-cut oats into glass meal containers. You can use a large or container or portion it out into smaller ones. To reheat the oatmeal, put it into a microwave-safe dish and heat on high for 1-2 minutes or until hot. Add your favorite oatmeal toppings and enjoy. To freeze steel-cut oatmeal, portion out into 1-cup Souper cube trays and freeze. After the steel-cut oats are frozen, remove the blocks from the trays and place them into a labeled gallon-sized freezer bag. You can also freeze into portions using quart-size freezer bags. To reheat, remove the oatmeal from the plastic bag and place it into a microwave-safe dish. Heat on high for 2-3 minutes or until hot. Top with your favorite toppings and enjoy.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cup | Calories: 188kcal | Carbohydrates: 42g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 2g | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 27g
Other slow cooker oatmeal recipes
Have you tried this slow cooker steel-cut oatmeal recipe? If so, I’d love for you to rate this recipe and leave a comment below. We all learn from each other’s experiences. Also, it would be awesome if you could share a picture on Instagram and tag it #organizeyourselfskinny. I can’t wait to see it!
