Homemade instant oatmeal saves many a hectic morning in our house. In less than 20 minutes over the weekend, I can make enough homemade oatmeal to last us for a couple weeks. It’s fast, healthy, comes in endless flavors and is seriously better than anything you can buy at the store.
Homemade Oatmeal is Cheaper
When Frank and I were coming back from Thanksgiving in Virginia with Molly and Clara in tow, we found ourselves at some random airport looking for a quick, reasonably healthy mid-morning snack. When we stopped for coffee, I was tempted to buy this adorable pre-packed cup of oatmeal that said the barista could just add hot milk or water. I was tempted…until I noticed that those single serving oatmeal cups were six dollars. For oatmeal.
On the spot, I ran some quick numbers and estimated that our homemade instant oatmeal costs less than 50 cents per serving. So there’s that.
But here’s the thing.
Homemade Oatmeal is Better
Frank and I have, over the past couple years, sort of become oatmeal snobs. I pretty much love all oatmeal and still sometimes buy it when I’m out for breakfast (begrudgingly when it has a six dollar price tag), but still Frank and I agree that our homemade instant oatmeal is the best.
It’s the best because we make it exactly the way we like it. Our homemade oatmeal base includes brown sugar, chia seeds, and ground flax. The chia seeds and ground flax are not just there for all their nutritional goodness. Chia seeds turn creamy in hot water, so they add great texture to the oatmeal. Ground flax seeds taste slightly toasty and give the oatmeal a flavor similar to all those fancy oatmeals with toasted oats without the extra work.
Add Your Favorite Flavors
When it comes to flavor combinations in our homemade instant oatmeal, the sky really is the limit. Cranberries and pecans are a classic that we like to top with honey. Dried blueberries and almonds remind me of summer. Powdered peanut butter and chocolate chips can turn any kid (or adult) into an oatmeal convert. Goji berries and cacao nibs are my new guilty pleasure.
Though guilt is relative because a hearty serving of the homemade oatmeal base clocks in at under 250 calories.
Easy Storage = Easy Breakfasts
Pack these in mason jars to just add water when you’re ready to serve.
Or pack them in plastic bags and stash them in your desk at work. Homemade oatmeal deliciousness ready to go.
Or pack big bags in a care package and send them to a college student who may or may not be eating the best breakfasts (this batch is on its way to my sister Rachel at college in Virginia!)
You’ve got to try this – we think you’ll be hooked!
Homemade Instant Oatmeal with Brown Sugar, Chia and Flax
Ingredients
Oatmeal Base:
- 10 cups / 32oz / 900g Rolled Oats (use gluten-free if needed, see note)
- 1 cup / 7oz / 200g packed Brown Sugar
- 1/2 cup / 3oz / 82g Chia Seeds
- 1/3 cup / 3 oz / 84g Ground Flax Seeds (sub double the amount if using whole flax seeds)
Add-Ins (pick and choose your faves):
- 1 cup Dried Fruit (goji berries, cranberries, blueberries, raisins, chopped apricots, chopped dates, mango, freeze-dried apples / bananas / strawberries)
- 1 cup Nuts (pecans, walnuts, slivered almonds, chopped hazelnuts)
- 1/2 cup Extras (toasted coconut, cacao nibs, chocolate chips)
- 1 Tbsp Flavoring (powdered peanut butter, cinnamon, ground ginger, cocoa powder)
Instructions
- Put oats in the bowl of a food processor and pulse about 10 times, until most of the oats are chopped to roughly half their original size. (Adjust this to your preference - if you prefer a more creamy oatmeal, pulse more; we like some of the oats to be in larger pieces.)
- In a large mixing bowl (do this in batches if it won't easily fit), combine the oats, brown sugar, chia seeds, and ground flax. Toss with your hands until everything is evenly mixed, breaking apart the brown sugar as you go.
- If preparing individual servings, place a heaping half cup of oatmeal base into mason jars or plastic bags. Top each serving with add-ins of choice.
- If preparing one large batch, combine oatmeal base with any combination of add-ins in the amounts listed and toss. When ready to serve, place a heaping 1/2 cup of oatmeal in a bowl.
- To serve, add 1/2 cup very hot water or milk to the oatmeal and stir until smooth. Enjoy!!!
Notes
2) For added flavor and less of a raw taste to the oats, lightly toast the oats at 350 F for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring halfway through cooking. (Thanks so much to reader Cindy who sent this great tip!)
Nutrition
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Bonus that Molly and Clara love oatmeal. They’re in a phase where they’ll choose oatmeal over pancakes. Now that’s saying something. They also love the mess….
Looks great, my steel oats will love the improvements.
I just love your recipes and blog in general, not to mention keeping up with Clara & Molly! I learn something frequently…who knew there was “powdered PB” ?
Oh my goodness, if you haven’t tried powdered PB, I highly recommend it! I was skeptical, but they extract the oils from it and leave you with all the flavor and a ton less fat. But I really love it because you can add it to any recipe without changing the recipe at all, so I fold it into oatmeal, cookies, and brownies all the time – extra tasty peanut butter flavor in any recipe!
Whoa, chocolate coconut and macadamia nut oatmeal sounds more like a dessert than a breakfast – I definitely want to try that one! Apparently, when I was little, I’d ask my mom to make oatmeal for breakfast, because I got to watch TV while she was getting breakfast ready and I knew that oatmeal took longer than cold cereal or eggs. Despite my sneaky reasoning, I’ve become an oatmeal fan for life!
Oh I am so on board with that strategy – if a few minutes of cartoons buys me a lifetime of oatmeal love for my kids – seems like a very worthwhile trade!
This is great – my daughter LOVES those instant oatmeal cups and they’re expensive and full of “stuff” that I would rather avoid – we were just saying we could probably do better making our own, and this just appeared! LOVE!!!
I love making them with whatever we want, Erin – the flavors from the store now seem boring!
I found your site today. I am late to the party! I can’t wait to make many of your recipes and I’m sharing on Pinterest and Facebook. Also sending this one to my grandchildren! I can’t rate yet because I haven’t tried it.
Marsha – I’m so glad you found us as well! That homemade instant oatmeal is a total staple in our house – with the weather cooling off, I just made another big batch of it. Hope you all enjoy it as much as we do!
Love this idea, but really like the whole oats. Does it work with the whole ones, or do I need to process them in order to get the water to absorb properly?
Anna – sorry I’m late getting back to you. Perhaps you’ve already given this a try, but I thought I’d chime in. I HAVE made this with whole rolled oats because I quite like the chewy texture of whole oats. Just like you pointed out though, the whole oats don’t absorb water nearly as well as they do after they are processed so the texture won’t be quite as smooth and creamy with whole oats.
Question- what are the amounts for add-ins and flavorings for the individual size packets? it seems like 1 cup of nuts and 1 TBSP of flavor wouldn’t go far enough for the whole big batch… but would be WAAAYY too much for the little bag servings? REALLY wan t to try these with my kiddos… but not sure on those amounts! Thanks!
I used equal parts of oatmix and toppings.
Correction: toppings is 1/2 of oatmix amount.
Oh I’m having this right now topped w almonds & chocolate chips w soymilk – it’s wonderful wonderful wonderful. I’m in oatmeal heaven~ I forgot to prepare my overnight oats last night and was craving my oats and then I saw your recipe. This is definitely a keeper. Thank you so much!
Great! Thanks so much for letting us know, Joyce!
This is something I definitely need to try to make.
Good morning, I pinned your oatmeal recipe awhile back because it sounds intriguing. I’m taking a trip at the end of the month with a lengthy flight and thought this would be the perfect time to try it!
After trying the recipe I found that I didn’t care for the raw taste of the oats so I experimented a little and found that if you toast the oats before putting them in the food processor, it gives them a pleasant nutty flavor:)
Thanks you for sharing this recipe 🙂
Hi Cindy – that’s such a great point. I absolutely love toasted oats. I’ll add that as a tip to this recipe because I’m sure others would love to try that. Thanks so much for the recommendation!
I just found your recipe. I’m gluten free and the prepared packs of GF oatmeal are getting quite expensive not to mention ingredients I can’t pronounce scare me (and the fact I just used my last packet today and don’t feel like shopping). A big tub of certified GF oats is much cheaper and I love your addition of chia and flaxseed. I actually have all the ingredients for once. A friend uses coconut sugar (with a little bit of maple syrup when cooking them)..so I’ll try both sugars and compare. Thank you for all the tips also. PS and I can’t wait to get my hands on PB powder. Absolute heaven!
Can I use steel cut oats? This is a great recipe for camping. Thank you!!
Hi Sara – steel cut oats require much longer to cook, so the recipe would definitely have to be adapted to account for that. I’m not sure how it would turn out, but if you try it please let me know!
I just did an adaptation with steel cut oats using 5 cups steel cut, that I put in the food processor to pulse a bit. Added 5 cups rolled oats along with the flax and chia. My husband is diabetic, so I omitted the brown sugar. 1/2 cup mix with 1 cup water/milk. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring after each minute. Let set for 1 minute.
Hi! Just wondering how long you think these will keep in jars without any extra toppings? Thank you!
Hi Virginia! Honestly, without the toppings, this will keep for a long time. I’ve probably had it in my pantry for a month or more if I’m not eating it every day. I wrote an older post where I have pictures of the way I used to store large batches – in a big glass jar. I just scoop out a bit every day – https://inquiringchef.com/homemade-instant-oatmeal/
I have been looking for a while for instant oats. Needed to prepare some for an elderly relative who isn’t cooking for herself. I took the suggestion of toasting the oatmeal before putting it into a food processor.
Thank you so much for this recipe. So much more economical not to mention environmentally friendlier since those single serve packages are so wasteful.
I’m so glad this was useful! Thanks so much for your note.
Hi….I just made this and love the flavor. The only problem I had was when mixed with 1/2 cup of hot water was that it was too thick . I was just wondering if I did something wrong. The flavor is perfect though.
Hi Jess, I just made the base and am excited to try it. For 1 serving of the base how much dried peanut butter would you recommend?
Thank you!
Erin
I usually do 1-2 tsp per serving. That strikes the right amount of PB flavor for me!