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.
oh my heavens…just tried it….this is delicious! I really enjoy the lemony taste and find I don’t even need a sweetener with my oatmeal this way. Yum! I’ll be making this over and over :o)
I tried unsuccessfully to find your article about granola, so I will use this one to ask my question. I think you mentioned in that post that even if you soak oats and dehydrate them, they still need to be cooked sufficiently and that NO granola is healthy. I found some sproutable oats, sprouted them, and dehydrated them, and roll them for breakfast oatmeal. Now I’m wondering how much cooking constitutes enough? Will baking them in cookies (or granola) where there isn’t much or any liquid be enough cooking? Do they need to be cooked in a liquid? Thank you!
I would appreciate a reply to : Should Soaked Oats be rinsed? It seems that getting rid of the anti nutrients is the idea and consuming them by recooking the oats in the same water is not good???
I also add Spelt flour to help the process.
Love the site!
Steve K
So, what do you think about this article:
It addresses many things including soaking oatmeal…
Interesting article, thanks for sharing.
So coming back to oatmeal, it seems the main reason to soak is for the change in texture (or to shorten the cooking time). I grew up eating cold oatmeal and prefer the chewy feel of dry oats. I have soaked oats in filtered water overnight when I’ve run out of raw milk or homemade almond milk, but I was unsure whether there was any benefit to the soaking.
I was just wondering why u don’t refrigerate the oats ? And do you also do this with quinoa also ? Thanks
I added salt to my soaking oats!! Is that bad?
I tried soaking oatmeal using yogurt but eating oatmeal prepared this way gave me the worst gas pains I’ve ever had in my life. Twice. Am I doing something wrong? I put the oatmeal in water on the counter with a spoonful of yogurt overnight and cooked it in the morning.
Love oatmeal… Can’t get enough. I love steel cut oats but don’t always have the time in the morning so will bring them to a boil for 1 minute at night and remove them from the heat and cover, then in the morning just heat up and it’s ready to go in just a couple of minutes. Quicker than instant Quaker Oats, and much healthier… Thanks for sharing ๐
Tried this for breakfast… my girls and I think it’s quite sour. I’m also not so thrilled with the texture. Could I cook it with less water, so it’s a thicker consistency? Also, could I use half the lemon juice, or would it not be enough to properly soak the oats?
Like you, Kerin, I didn’t care for the texture of oatmeal made with soaked oats. When I started rinsing them before cooking, it was perfect! Also, I use apple cider vinegar in the soaking water and add cinnamon and raisins as the oats cook.