Oatmeal is the breakfast of champions this time of year. We also love it in pancakes, muffins, cookies, scones, and bread. Anything that can be passed off as breakfast, really. But we're always a little confused when a recipe calls for one particular kind of oats, be it quick-cooking or old-fashioned. And can we substitute one for another?
All oats great and small start off life as an oat groat. A groat is simply the whole unbroken grain of oat. Before being made into any other variety of oat, groats are usually roasted as a very low temperature. This not only gives the oats their nice toasty flavor, but the heat inactivates the enzyme that causes oats to go rancid. This makes oats more shelf-stable.
Whole groats are becoming much easier to find these days. They're also processed into these common kinds of oats:
Steel-Cut Oats - We get steel-cut oats when the whole groat is split into several pieces. Simmered with water, steel-cut oats retain much of their shape and make a chewy, nutty-tasting porridge. Substitute: Whole Oat Groats
Rolled Oats - Whole grains of oats can also be steamed to make them soft and pliable, and then pressed between rollers and dried. The resulting "rolled oats" re-absorb water and cook much more quickly than whole groats or steel-cut oats. When a recipe calls for "rolled oats" or the packaging mentions it, they generally mean the thickest rolled oat, which retains its shape fairly well during cooking. Substitute: Quick oats can be substituted, but the texture will be lost
Old-Fashioned Oats - The source of much confusion, old-fashioned oats are actually the same as rolled oats. You'll usually see them called "Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats" on packaging.
Quick or Quick-Cooking Oats - These are oats that have been pressed slightly thinner than rolled oats. They cook more quickly, but retain less of their texture. Substitute: Rolled Oats or Instant Oats
Instant Oats - Pressed even thinner than quick oats, instant oats oats often break into a coarse powder. They cook the quickest of all and make a very soft and uniform mush (erm...for lack of a better description). Substitute: Quick Oats
As a final note, Harold McGee in On Food and Cooking says that all processed oats have the same nutritional value. This was a surprise to us. We assumed that the more processed the oat, the less nutrition would remain. We're happy to be proven wrong this time!
What kind of oat do you like best?
Related: Five Ways to Eat Oats
(Image: Flickr member thisvintagechica licensed under Creative Commons)
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Hey, thanks, this was really informative! I was always clear on the difference between steel-cut (aka the ones that take *forever* to cook) and "flattened," but really helpful to know about the various different flattened oats.
I learned the hard way that you can't always substitute quick oats for rolled oats. I baked two batches of ANZAC cookies that could have done duty as weaponry before I realised the quick oats were sucking up all the liquid from the dough mix. Switching back to standard rolled oats produced a lovely edible biscuit (well, probably technically a cookie, but they are always called biscuits).
Very helpful breakdown! I also didn't realize the nutritional values are the same.
Ever since this post (http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/breakfast/how-to-cook-steelcut-oats-for-breakfast-the-night-before-134185) I've been making a weekly batch of night-before-steel-cut-oatmeal. Can't believe how much I look forward to it in the morning! My only modification is to stir in a tiny bit of vanilla and 1/8 c. brown sugar after I've turned the heat off the night before.
I am a student living in a dorm and I make instant oatmeal every morning to take with me to class. It's been great on these cold mornings! I have the Trader Joe's instant blueberry and apples and cinnamon which are high in sugar.
Any suggestions for instant oatmeal that is not high in sugar? (I am in a dorm and only have an electric kettle to prepare it with).
Thank you!
I make a slow cooker batch of steel cut oats over-night once a week with a touch of brown sugar, cinnamon, and dried fruit, then reheat a serving in the microwave each morning with some slivered almonds. Having a hot and hearty breakfast this time of the year is the best.
I also thought that quick oats or instant oats were basically a nutritional void food :) interesting!! I have been wanting to try making some steel cut oats overnight in my crock pot, but every time I have picked up a box of steel cut oats I have managed to buy quick cooking steel cut oats. I didn't know that was possible, but they cook in about five to seven minutes on the stovetop. Does anyone know if they will hold up to cooking overnight in a crockpot??
One small point: it's interesting to know that instant oats have the same nutritional vlue as all the others. But most pre-packaged instant oats are flavored and have a LOT of added sugar and especially sodium. So, you're almost always better off cooking your own.
Plus, they just taste better. :)
WesternMA -- You can make your own quick-cooking oat mixes! Just buy whatever dried fruits, nuts or nut butters (Artisana and Justin's Nut Butter make packets that are super-portable and convenient), seeds, spices, or other add-ins that suit your fancy. All you have to do is assemble sandwich baggies filled with a serving of plain, quick-cooking oats and your toppings of choice.
@WesternMA12 - You can make your own instant oatmeal packets. That way, you can totally customize them. And it's fun too.
Here's a place to start - http://veganlunchbox.blogspot.com/2010/01/homemade-instant-oatmeal-packets.html
This recipe includes blending some of the oats, but you can certainly skip that step. Or maybe just use some oat flour. And I'd def. include a bit of salt too.
I eat oatmeal as part of a Choleterol-lowering diet. THe cholesterol-lowering part of oatmeal (in addition to fiber) is glucan. Sttel-cut has the most glucan, quick-oats the least.
i eat rolled oats every morning w/ soy milk, almonds, and dried cherries(or)cranberries(or)raisins. delicious.
Instant- tasteless mush
Rolled- library paste
Steel Cut, lightly toasted, soaked overnight- delicious!
I like 'em all -- yes, even the instant mush. But it can't be sweetened. If anything, I like it a little on the salty side.
One advantage of the instant packets (plain, of course) is that you can stash them in your desk and make some in the office microwave. Also, the brand I get has 60 per cent of the daily requirement of iron in just one packet.
Very helpful article. Thank you.
Any information on whole (aka uncut, unrolled) oats? I live in France and can only find quick cooking in the British foods section of our hypermarché or whole, uncut oats at the organic co-op... I'd like to give the whole ones a try but don't know anything about them!
While the nutritional value is the same between the different styles of oats, the speed in which your body digests them is different. The coarse oats, such as steel cut and rolled, take the longest to digest, keeping you full longer. Instant oatmeal digests the fastest, but won't keep you going. They also spike your insulin production sharply. Steel cut and rolled even out your insulin levels, making them healthier to eat.