This is what I’ve been eating for breakfast every morning for the past month. It’s total comfort food and makes me feel amazing, even after a night of little sleep. I don’t know about you, but when I find something that I love, I have to have it every. single. day. until I’m sick of it and then I’m onto the next thing for a while. It’s a good thing I have this blog or I’d probably eat the same 3 meals on rotation! This wouldn’t surprise my mom. As a child, I used to only want to wear one outfit over and over. My poor mom had the challenging task to convince me to put on a different outfit before school each day. I remember one of those outfits fondly – a neon pink and green spandex short and tank outfit. Probably with a snap bracelet. Who wouldn’t want to wear that every day? I knew what I was doing back in the 80’s, let me tell you!
Now that I have a newborn, I’ve found myself with short “window of opportunities” for personal tasks (shower! eat! get crap done!). I have to move more efficiently then ever and I’m doing most things in half the time. This probably explains why I left the house wearing 1 earring the other day (“new fashion trend?” is what the cashier asked me). After I feed Adriana in the morning, I’m ready to chew my own arm off (unless I have some of my favourite breakfast cookies on hand!). So, rather than raiding the fridge and digging into my dark chocolate macaroon torte at 8am (yup, that happened), I came up with this hot oatmeal that only requires a quick zap of heat. It’s virtually instant! And I’m not talking about those powdery instant oatmeal packets I used to eat in highschool and university. This is real deal oatmeal at a fraction of the time, but you’d never know it. And it’s been working so well for my new routine that I knew I had to share it, as simple as it is. Everyone can appreciate an almost-instant breakfast, right?
The magic of this breakfast starts with making vegan overnight oats before bed. I live off of vegan overnight oats (and smoothies) all summer long, but it’s cold and snowy outside and I want something piping hot! My solution? I started making my vegan overnight oats before bed as usual, but now in the morning I throw the soaked oat mixture into a pot and heat it up for a couple minutes. That’s all it takes! Since we’re already soaking the oats and chia seeds overnight, the work is done for you as you sleep. Now all we have to do is heat it up for a minute or two. Then I scoop it into a bowl and throw on some toppings. In 5 minutes flat, I have an incredibly satisfying, nourishing bowl of oatmeal ready to start my day. It looks like a fancy bowl of oatmeal fit for a crunchy breakfast cafe. And that makes me very happy.
My favourite toppings are…
soaked raw almonds
pepita seeds (you can soak those too)
dried cranberries or dried cherries
raw or toasted almond butter (just a drizzle so it doesn’t overpower)
cinnamon + ground ginger + allspice (lots of cinnamon and just a tiny sprinkle of the last two – try it!!)
toasted flaked coconut
Keep these toppings close by so you can just throw them on like nobody’s biz-nas. Oh and sometimes I will put a pat of coconut oil or vegan butter on top when I want to crank up the comfort another level. This is a breakfast that makes those wintry cold days just a bit more bearable.
Serve with tea or coffee and get COZY!
5-Minute Oatmeal Power Bowl
Yield
1 bowl
Soak time
overnight
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
My favourite bowl of hot oatmeal, ready in less than 5 minutes! Soaking the oatmeal mixture overnight cuts down the cook time the morning of—all you have to do is heat it on the stove for a minute or two. Don't forget to mix the ingredients the night before. For a fall twist, add a pinch of cinnamon, ground ginger, and allspice on top of each bowl. Total fall comfort food!
Ingredients
- 1 ripe banana, mashed (the riper/spottier the better)
- 2 heaping tablespoons chia seeds
- 1/3 cup rolled oats (use certified gluten-free if necessary)
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2/3 cup (160 mL) almond milk
- 1/3 cup (90 mL) water
- 1 tablespoon ground flax (optional, see note)
For Garnish:
- Soaked almonds
- Pepita seeds
- Hemp hearts
- Cinnamon
- Toasted coconut
- Nut butter
- Spices (cinnamon, ginger, allspice)
Directions
- The night before: Grab a medium bowl and mash the banana until smooth. Now stir in the chia, oats, cinnamon, milk, and water until combined. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
- In the morning: Scoop the oat mixture into a medium pot. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat immediately to medium-low, and stir frequently until heated throughout and thickened. At the end of cooking, stir in flax, if using.
- Pour oats into bowl. Garnish with your desired toppings. Get cozy!
Tip:
- The ground flax is optional because it creates a bit of a strange texture (almost like a flax egg) in this oatmeal. I don't mind it, but some people might. If you think you will, just leave it out or sprinkle some ground flax on top instead.
- I love topping my oats with spices—a pinch of cinnamon, ground ginger, and allspice create my perfectly spiced bowl.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
Happy breakfast-ing this fall!
You guys are awesome! I got word that The Oh She Glows Cookbook has made it into the FINAL round of voting in Good Reads Choice Awards! I would love your support (last time I have to ask, thank goodness!!). Thanks for helping us get this far. You can vote here.
Could you just heat this is the microwave in th morning? I don’t have access to a stove at the moment!
yes you certainly can! enjoy
Love the idea is overnight oats, but hate that they are cold on a winter morning! Great idea to warm up the entire mixture in the am!
Loving all your oatmeal recipes! I can’t wait to try the zucchini bread oatmeal and the boozy pineapple baked oatmeal! I would love to see a tea oatmeal or something….
I’ve made this oatmeal a couple of times now and I love it. It’s super easy to make and keeps me full for a long time. I didn’t add the dried fruit, just fresh fruit and some nuts. Thanks so much for the healthy, tasty recipe. I just found your blog and I’m very excited to try more recipes and get your cookbook. Thanks again!
Wow, fast! It is so good… yammi ! I like your recipe.
why rolled oats? Could you use steel cut oats instead? Is there a difference?
Wow, I just put similar ingredients in the refrigerator. However, I don’t plan on cooking the oats to reduce removing some of the nutrients.
Mmmmmmmmmmm and the tea with it is a double mmmmmmmmmmm.
Great recipe. I made it with oat bran and I didn’t even let it sit overnight. It was great!
This looks a great recipe, I can’t wait to try it! But I’m just wondering – I can’t have almond milk due to an allergy… What could I use instead?
I just discovered your website and made this oatmeal this morning (in the middle of a snowmageddon in Boston) with a sprinkle of shaved chocolate, a dash of sea salt, and dried cranberries, and it was the best!! Will be saving this and making it every other day during the winter.
I have mixed organic ingredients and I’m eating that every day in mornings for breakfast. Now I feel healthy.
I just wanted to say that I LOVED this recipe! It was filling, but it didn’t sit in my stomach like a brick. I put crunchy peanut butter, pepitas and hemp seeds on mine, washed it down with a homemade matcha latte, and I was energized for the day! Love your recipes! Keep being you!
OMG just tried this recipe. Thank you! I have a 2 year old and a 9 month old and my mornings are a small slice of insanity. This made my life so much easier. Everyone including the baby loved this oatmeal!
I am mixing 1 tbsp. peanut butter together with the mashed banana for the extra peanut-flavour-kick. It’s so good and highly recommend to all the peanut butter lovers out there.
Does anyone know what the carb/calorie content on this oatmeal is?
High protein? Where? I noticed there was not a Nutritional listing. Let’s look at the banana: ALL sugar. Rolled oats: ALL carbs. There is protein from the nuts and some from the milk. But this breakfast – oatmeal alone – is certainly NOT high protein. As a diabetic I do pay close attention to such details.
The above picture is just a mere snapshot into the bliss that I discovered IS chocolate oatmeal. Sure, I’d heard around town that adding a little cocoa http://dailycome.com/a-serious-bowl-of-oats-pregnancy-happenings/
Does anyone know if steel-cut oatmeal would soak well over night? I prefer it so much more than rolled oats, but it takes so long to cook in the morning…
Hi Shannon,
I haven’t tried subbing steel-cut oats in this recipe, but I do know that soaking steel-cut oats overnight drastically reduces the cook time in the morning. It might be worth a shot. The only thing I’m not sure is if the liquid amounts would change. Hope this helps!
Correct me if I am asking something wrong, but can anyone suggest a savory version of this recipe?