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Those of us with grandparents born prior to World War II may well remember that they made a practice of soaking oats in a pot of warm water overnight before cooking it up the next morning.
In fact, prior to the 1950’s, Quaker Oats used to include an overnight soak in the instructions printed on the box!
Somehow, this healthy, traditional practice was gradually abandoned as the popularity of convenience foods such as quick oats and microwave oatmeal packets gradually took hold with Baby Boomers and later generations.
The truth is that soaking oatmeal overnight before cooking it up in the morning makes it infinitely more digestible and nutritious as the practice helps to break down toxins and anti-nutrients like phytic acid. These anti-nutrients are present in all grains and very effectively block mineral absorption in the gut and can cause gastric distress or bloating in sensitive individuals. Oats contain the highest amount of phytic acid of any grain, so proper preparation is very important.
The thing I most enjoy about a bowl of soaked oatmeal in the morning is that it fills you up all the way until lunchtime, unlike those enticing and so incredibly convenient microwave oatmeal packets or a bowl of quick oats which (have you noticed?) leave you hungry and looking for a doughnut fix by about 10 am.
Boxed breakfast cereal even if organic is not a healthy option for those seeking a convenient alternative to traditionally soaked oatmeal. To make boxed breakfast cereal in the factory, the grains first have to be subjected to such intense pressure and heat that they actually liquify into a slurry. Â This slurry allows the grains to be quickly and easily shaped into the puffs, flakes, and other shapes that make each cereal distinct.
The manufacturing process used to make boxed cereal is called extrusion and it is so violent and denaturing that the proteins in the grains are actually rendered toxic and allergenic by the process.  This is why organic boxed breakfast cereal is more toxic than nonorganic – because organic boxed cereal is whole grain and thereby has more protein in it!  The more protein, the more toxic the boxed cereal!
For those making progress toward the reincorporation of wise preparation methods of generations past, remembering to put the oats on to soak before turning in at night can seem like a simple enough task.  However, I receive many emails from folks who just can’t seem to remember to do it and are truly having a difficult time establishing this regular habit.
Until the habit of soaking oatmeal is established, my recommendation is to keep a bag of sprouted rolled oats in the pantry as Plan B.
Sprouting grains functions in a similar fashion to soaking as it breaks down anti-nutrients such as phytic acid and renders the grain much more digestible and satisfying.
Sprouting has the added bonus of increasing a number of nutrients substantially such as beta carotene and certain B vitamins. China is credited with developing the method for germinating seeds many centuries ago and on long ocean voyages, Chinese sailors used sprouted mung beans as a source of vitamin C for preventing scurvy. Vitamin C is produced in significant quantities when you sprout grain. On a side note, ascorbic acid in isolation is not true Vitamin C – it is lab created, synthetic, and usually GMO.
Preparing Sprouted Oatmeal
Sprouted oatmeal is cooked up exactly the same as regular rolled oats you buy from the store. Â You just put the desired amount in a pan, add water, a bit of sea salt and cook up for a few minutes on the stovetop.
I keep a bag of sprouted oats in my pantry even though I’ve been soaking my oatmeal for well over 12 years! A bag of sprouted oatmeal comes in handy in case the family wakes up with a hankering for oatmeal when no one seemed interested the night before when I was available to put a pot on to soak.
Where to Find Sprouted Oatmeal
If you are interested in investigating whether a bag of sprouted rolled oats makes sense for your food budget, this is the brand I use. Â It is both organic and gluten free. Sprouted steel cut oats are also available now!
While you can definitely make sprouted oatmeal yourself, trust me on this one – it is a rather laborious process! Sprouted oatmeal is particularly time consuming as the additional step of flaking the dried, sprouted oat groats.
If you prefer the homemade sprouted grains method, I sprouted my own grains for years and teach you how to do it in the linked video. If you prefer a written recipe about how to sprout grains, the linked article tells you how.
Despite the ease of buying a bag of sprouted oatmeal, I do recommend going the soaked oatmeal route as much as possible because this is the most budget friendly way to go. Sprouted oatmeal is obviously going to command a premium price due to the time intensive process required to produce it.  However, keeping a bag of sprouted oatmeal in the pantry for that occasional need is a reasonable food expense for most households in my experience.
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Unless you are rolling your own groats or can find a source of raw rolled oats I believe there’s no point soaking it overnight since all normal store bought rolled oats are steam processed specifically to deactivate the enzymes in order to prolong the shelf-life. Or are there any other benefits to soaking?
Yes, there are still benefits to soaking. Try it yourself … notice how much more filling and digestible soaked oatmeal is versus non-soaked.
After reading up on porridge on a fermenting site, our family now soaks the oats for at least two days with whey or raw milk added. It is a bit tart but I have noticed that the store oats are more digestible with my young diapered children.
Hi Sarah!
Here is a link to the sprouted oats from my Amish farm in Ohio (where we got most of our food when we lived up there). So yummy!!!
http://www.cottagecraftworks.com/bulk-organic-cereals-amish-organic-sprouted-rolled-oats-p-1412.html
Thank you! Excellent.
I do not care for cooked cereal but love to make granola from oatmeal. How can I do this if I need to soak it? Of course, while making it, I toast it in the oven.
Unfortunately the light toasting of granola does not deactivate the anti-nutrients effectively which is why no granola is good granola (unless it doesn’t include oats). I have an article on this linked above.
Sometimes I take soaked oatmeal, cook it, and spread it on a dehydrator sheet covered with parchment paper, about 1/8″ thick, dehydrate, run through the food processor just long enough to make the right sized chunks, and use that to make crunchy granola bars. It’s messy and time consuming so I only do this once a year or so, but the bars turn out awesome with coconut and chocolate bits. The recipe comes from kitchenstewardship.com. To make it easier to spread out the porriage, I put parchment paper under and over and roll with a rollong pin. As it dehydrates the top paper comes right off without wasting half of the porriage. Just talking about it motivates me to go make some right now. Maybe pumpkin…
Wouldn’t using the sprouted oatmeal solve this problem and make homemade granola a good granola?
No, because even sprouted oatmeal needs to be thoroughly cooked just like soaked oatmeal. Toasting just isn’t enough.
I make soaked granola on occasion. I converted my favorite recipe. I soak the oats, and the nuts/seeds overnight. The next morning I drain and rinse the oats well, then drain and coarsely chop the nuts/seeds. I mix the two together, and add coconut. Then I mix everything with a coconut oil/ honey mixture and dehydrate it. When dry, I break it up and stir in dried cranberries and raisins. When fully cooled, I store it in an airtight jar. If you don’t have a dehydrator, you could do the same thing using a low temperature oven. It sounds like a lot of work, but not much of it is actually hands on, and the granola is awesome!
Thans for the article!
How do you make your soaked oatmeal, please? And where do you get it from?
I don’t understand how can this sprouted oatmeal you recommend be free of gluten?
Thanks!
Oats are naturally gluten free … the only time they might not be gluten free is if they are processed in a factory where gluten containing grains are also processed which would potentially contaminate them with gluten residue.
Sarah – would you recommend Bob’s Red Mill gluten free wheat free Old Fashioned Oats? Quick Cooking Oats? The only ingredient is oats and it claims no preservatives. Is this a brand to stay away from? Thanks!
The old fashioned oats would be great. Yes, that’s what I use (organic ones) for when I soak oatmeal (as opposed to buying the sprouted oats for a pinch).
We buy a 25 lb bag of groats at a time, hand roll/flake a cup, then soak overnight w/ lemon juice & pink salt…easy-peasy!
This has been on my mind a lot lately. When I make oatmeal, I use whole oat groats and do them overnight in the crockpot. But then I got an Instant Pot, and now I set it up to pressure cook on a delayed timer, which has the added advantage of soaking. I actually have a pot right now set up for tomorrow. Here are my questions: Do you not need to rinse the oats before cooking them? I set mine on a timer to be ready right when we get up, so they soak and then the Instant Pot turns on and they cook in that same water. Also, is there a minimum soaking time? Tonight I got them in the water by 7:30. Other nights it might be 11:00.
I also make my own granola and have been wrestling with how to deal with soaking the grains, so I’m thrilled to find out about sprouted oats! My granola is the only cereal my kids get, and now it can be even better. I already use local, raw honey, coconut oil, etc., to make my granola. This was the missing piece. Thanks!
I make soaked granola on occasion. I converted my favorite recipe. I soak the oats, and the nuts/seeds overnight. The next morning I drain and rinse the oats well, then drain and coarsely chop the nuts/seeds. I mix the two together, and add coconut. Then I mix everything with a coconut oil/ honey mixture and dehydrate it. When dry, I break it up and stir in dried cranberries and raisins. When fully cooled, I store it in an airtight jar. If you don’t have a dehydrator, you could do the same thing using a low temperature oven. It sounds like a lot of work, but not much of it is actually hands on, and the granola is awesome!
This is the brand I use:
Thanks for sharing!
When soaking oats overnight do you discard the water in the morning before cooking ?
No, the anti-nutrients are deactivated. No need to rinse before cooking.
As a cheaper option, I have soaked oats for 24 hrs, then dehydrated them & kept them in the freezer. Then you can use them for granola, muesli, cookies, muffins, or more quickly prepared oatmeal.
We have soaked oatmeal a couple of times a week. I can buy a huge 50 lb bag of groats for a few bucks, roll the oat groats and have an economical, tasty breakfast. My only problem is when a cookie or muffin recipe calls for oats. It can be too time intensive to soak and dehydrate oats so to have a bag of sprouted oats would be awesome!