How to soak and cook oatmeal the traditional way, aka โovernight oatsโ for a digestible and nourishing breakfast that will keep you feeling full all the way to lunch!
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 โฆ you will feel hungry again about an hour later!
Donโt 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 Iโve 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 Iโve 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 (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.
Ingredients
- 1 cup rolled oats preferably organic
- 2-3 cups filtered water
- 1-2 Tbl lemon juice optional
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
Instructions
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Refrigerate leftovers.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
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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).
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 donโt 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.
I think I’ll try this, but with some Organic Steel Cut Oat Groats from Goodness Gracious! Granola http://t.co/n4yUtJhv
I still have a ton of instant oatmeal. Can i soak that as well or do i need to throw it out?
I have been soaking oats following the recipe in Nourishing Traditions. She says to soak in warm water. You didn’t mention warm. Does that make a difference?
Just a tip, if you own a rice cooker you can prep everything in it the night before and set it for the time you want it ready the next morning. We do this regularly in the winter and it’s nice to wake up to a hot breakfast.
Sarah,
Would you please comment on Kate’s post above? Is it necessary to add wheat or buckwheat to help reduce the phytic acid? Is yogurt ineffective because calcium impedes the process?
No it is not necessary to add wheat or buckwheat. A simple soak as I show in the video is sufficient. Yogurt is fine if it is used with water … yogurt by itself doesn’t work as well.
It is important not to complicate this stuff too much. A simple soak with an acidic medium is what our grandparents did and it was fine. People have gotten away from this with instant oatmeal and such. Trying to achieve perfection in reducing anti-nutrients in the soaking process is not necessary. Phytic acid is not the only anti-nutrient .. there are many other benefits to soaking besides reduces phytate content.
Thanks for this concise response Sarah. After reading Cure Tooth Decay I felt a bit overwhelmed as so much of his info on grains seemed contrary to what Dr. Price found. Also it seems every ‘real food’ blog has a million and one things to say on grains and none of it is the same. I appreciate this blog so very much!!
Loving your blog and information! I am pregnant and cant believe that I have thought my diet was best for the baby, especially since we eat almost all organic.
I am wondering one thing. It has been a week or so of switching to raw milk, raw butter and more eggs, etc. Is it normal to feel kind of, well, crappy? Its really hard to wake up, and I feel really groggy and foggy. I feel better sitting or lying down, because standing makes my head feel pressured. Is this detoxing from all the processed foods? Do I need more sleep to help my body through the change? Should I be switching over while I am pregnant?
Any help is appreciated!
How far along are you? If you are in your first trimester, it’s very natural to feel icky, regardless of diet (in fact, my mother always swears that the sicker she was the first three months, the larger and healthier the baby was born).
If not, you may be detoxing. When we switched over to raw milk, we felt all the better, but we had already eliminated processed foods from our diet a while before.
Also, your body may not be adapted to all of the fat, especiallt if you have previously been eating a low-fat diet.
You could be getting some die off symptoms from the probiotics in the raw dairy. I switched to raw dairy while I was pregnant .. just go slow ๐
Thanks for the info. I am in my second tri, and never got morning sickness in the first, so I know its not that. I will go slower. Feeling better already too.
I’m so excited to let you know that we received our new oat roller yesterday and To Your Health Sprouted Flour Co. will now be offering our sprouted oats rolled and ready for making oatmeal, granola, or cookies. No need to soak prior to cooking!
Peggy, I was just about to ask my question regarding sprouted oats when I read your post! I came into possession of some whole grain raw sproutable oats by Legacy Valley. I have sprouted and dehydrated them and they are ready to use, but I noticed that the grains are very small, and I’m not sure how they will roll out. Legacy Valley suggests cooking them whole, just like rice (they are about that size) for about 45 minutes. Do you have any advice about this, and/or are you familiar with these particular oats? Thanks for your (or Sarah’s or anyone else’s) feedback here.
Well, I just rolled a serving of the sprouted oats, and cooked them up and they are so delicious! After rolling I only needed to cook about 10 minutes or so, maybe less (I didn’t time it, I was busy doing other things). They rolled out very crumbly, looking much like your store-bought instant oats, but if I use the next larger opening on my flaker, the grains just slip through whole. I don’t mind though; these oats have lots of good chewy texture.
Hi Peggy, thanks for chiming in! Your products ROCK!
Peggy – I’ve used your sprouted grains in the past and they were (are) a suburb products and you’re awesome to talk to, too!
My understanding is that most oats have been heat-treated, so soaking by itself may not do much good to degrade the phytic acid. I really don’t make oats much anymore, but I used to grind a small amount of buckwheat in a coffee grinder and add to my oats before soaking, to ensure that adequate phytase was present. Then I followed the same soaking method as Sarah. My oats always turned out great, especially with lots of butter and cream and a little honey!
We love our oats, but I can hardly get the kids to eat them if they are soaked. I grew up with old fashioned oats cooked only for three minutes and foam skimmed while cooking. So we like our oats to have a lot of tooth to them still. I found I could almost get away with soaking if I used the thick cut rolled oats that Bob’s sells. Does skimming foam give us any benefits? (It has to remove some impurities.) I can’t stand gummy, soft oats but I do like baked oatmeal. I’m the only one though, *sigh* I’ve toyed with the idea of soaking the thick oats and then dehydrating and using like quick oats to see if I can keep them firm. Do you think that would work? Otherwise, I just cook our thick oats for 5 minutes, skimming, and serve with coconut oil and raw milk.
When you soak your oats with an acidic medium, does it matter what type of pot you soak it in? I can’t remember why but I always soak mine in glass and then transfer to the stainless steel pot in the morning. I have tried whey, kefir and yogurt and buttermilk, our favorite is lemon. The oats come out smooth and fluffy…WAY better than any oatmeal I have had.
I would never use stainless steel to soak anything with an acidic medium. I’d soak in glass and cook in glass (I also bake everything in glass.)