Looking for something to brighten a cold, dark morning? How about a bowl of oatmeal with brûléed bananas? Or slow cooker steel-cut oats made with buttermilk and apricots? DIY instant oatmeal you can blend up and keep in your office drawer for quick snacks? This is porridge at its best — rich, thick, hearty, and tailored to your own schedule. Read on for 10 hot porridge recipes to warm your winter mornings, plus tips for better oatmeal and hot cereal.
Sure, oatmeal and porridge sometimes have a bad rap, when prepared poorly, but a really good bowl of steel-cut oats will quickly banish any memories of gruel. Take a look at all these recipes — some are chunky with roasted nuts or sweet with vanilla — others are easy to make ahead in the slow cooker.
TOP ROW
• 1 Fancy-Schmancy Oatmeal Topping! Brûléed Bananas - Brûléed bananas, sweet and crispy, for your oatmeal.
• 2 Slow Cooker Spiced Porridge for a Crowd - A delicious porridge that cooks overnight in the slow cooker.
• 3 Baked Pumpkin Steel Cut Oatmeal - Baked oatmeal - make it the day before and reheat in the morning.
• 4 Oatmeal in Jars: Make a Week of Breakfast in 5 Minutes - How to make a week of breakfast in just a few minutes.
• 5 Overnight Oatmeal with Apricots and Buttermilk - Another slow cooker recipe for sweet and tangy oatmeal.
BOTTOM ROW
• 6 Heavenly Porridge - A simple morning porridge made with oat bran.
• 7 Enriched Cream of Wheat with Egg and Vanilla - Old-school Cream of Wheat, made thicker and pudding-like by adding an egg. Serious comfort food.
• 8 Congee - Simple, savory good food.
• 9 How To Make a Quick Bowl of Polenta in the Microwave - Polenta is a wonderful breakfast food. Here are some ideas for topping it.
• 10 How To Make Your Own Flavored Instant Oatmeal - Want to have a jar of nearly instant oatmeal mix on hand? Make it yourself - here's how.
A Few More Tips for Making Better Oatmeal & Porridge
• Why Does My Oatmeal Always Boil Over?
• What's the Difference? Steel-Cut, Rolled, and Quick Oats
• Slow and Easy: How to Cook Perfect Steel-Cut Oats
• Beyond Oatmeal: Exploring the Breakfast Soup
• The Savory Breakfast: Gomasio on My Porridge!
• Quinoa for Breakfast! 5 Sweet & Savory Ideas with Quinoa
• How To Cook Steel-Cut Oats for Breakfast the Night Before
• Steel-Cut Oats with Dates, Coconut, Cinnamon and Pecans
More Winter Breakfasts: 10 Hot Breakfasts for Cold and Busy Mornings
(Images: See linked recipes for full image credits)
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I love oatmeal for breakfast! Great round-up. Here are my seven favorite ways to eat it: http://www.confessionsofachocoholic.com/healthy/oatmeal-7-ways
I love me some hot breakfasts! I made a giant crockpot of my favorite whole grain porridge the other night with apples, cinnamon, and chopped dates. With a drizzle of maple syrup and lots of milk in the morning it makes a very satisfying, pretty low-calorie breakfast.
I've been wanting to try Deborah Madison's cornmeal porridge with vanilla for a while now, and I just saw this delicious recipe for baked oatmeal with rhubarb the other day that looked wonderful. Can't wait for rhubarb season again!
And that oat bran recipe looks pretty interesting. Man, I need to make a trip to the co-op again to stock up on bulk grains!
Very cool. #2 sounds and look super delicious!
We've also got some amazingly delicious user submitted recipes here: http://PimpMyOatmeal.com
I love oatmeal! Thanks for the extra inspiration. I've never tried it with walnuts. That really does sound yummy. The photos are devine.
Hey Faith! Quite timely. Frequently thought of as "gruel" , you make these look and sound delish!
I wanted to add that you can substitute hot rice cereal for alot these for those who are wheatfree. I also found that if I over create the recipe and put in the fridge, uncovered- it creates this polenta like patty that can be turned into a base for a million delicious leftover ideas. Savory with fresh chevre and spinach or yum yum with broiled apple and cinnamon as a dessert.
Thanks for all of the great posts of lately.
Best,
Suzi
http://www.suziwest.com
Mmm, My husband and I are such fans of oatmeal that we gave steel cut oats and our favorite recipe for them as wedding favors.
I like muesli for breakfast in cold weather, a smoothie in hot weather, but I often make a big batch of oatmeal with raspberries or pears and freeze it in individual ramekins. When I need an extra special breakfast, I pull one out, warm it up in the microwave, put sugar over it and broil the top for a creme brûlée'd oatmeal. Scrumptious.
I'm a new fan of oatmeal, who knew. I add dried cranberries and raisins and cook mine in the micro. with milk. I have problem plumbing so need all the nutrition I can manage.
i ONLY like hot cereal. bruleed bananas....mmm
Thanks! I was deploring the lack of variety in my oatmeal breakfast just this morning-- the usual mix of dried fruit and nuts isn't cutting it anymore.
Check out the Oatmeal Project -- these guys came up with a month of different variations of oatmeal that I would have never imagined:
http://www.tastespotting.com/features/tag/oatmeal-project
Also, Heidi Swanson featured a make-ahead oatmeal recipe with a week's worth of variations in "Super Natural Cooking" that was really great.
I don't know if it's just my kids, but they love it when I make oatmeal in chicken broth and then sprinkle it with grated parmesan cheese. It sounds weird, but it's actually quite delicious. Sort of like risotto for breakfast.
Great ideas. I mean... bruleed bananas! And nice timing—I also just posted about oatmeal (my 5 favorite ways to make it spectacular). Great minds, I suppose. :-) I'm also glad to have found the oatmeal project on tastespotting. can't wait to browse, browse, browse! Thanks, Faith!
Good ideas for dressing up oatmeal. I hate to say it, but this post was pretty disappointing. Oatmeal is not the beginning and the end! Coming from a Jamaican family, I can tell you there are sooo many more porridges -- cornmeal, plantain, rice and peanut for starters. Step away from the Quaker.
I'm making baked oatmeal right now (it's not too hard to whip up at 6am, and you can just leave it in the oven while you go about your morning preparations) - as it's in the oven at the moment, I can't attest to its taste, but it smells divine. Blueberries, bananas, and pecans, using this recipe: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/01/baked-oatmeal-with-blueberries-and.html (I used almond milk, as it's what was in the fridge).
I eat any type of grain on hand in the morning, with a bit of milk, honey, fruit and nuts.
As a busy grad student, I usually opt for a no-brainer breakfast of oatmeal, steel cut or quick oats, with a little bit of soy sauce, sesame oil, sesame seeds, and chili garlic sauce stirred in. This is the minimum. If I have time, I'll add a handful of greens like arugula and/or an egg, which cooks by the time I've heated up the oatmeal (either on the stove or in the microwave). My version of comfort food!