by Reed Mangels, PhD, RD

With cold weather on the way, I look forward to a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. But not just any bowl of oatmeal. I like to experiment with different toppings, both sweet and savory to add variety. These toppings work whether your bowl of oats take less than 5 minutes to prepare or you cook the oats for hours in a slow cooker.

1. Swirl a spoonful of peanut butter (or other nut butter) and a spoonful of fruit spread into your bowl of oatmeal.
2. Add a little plant butter to a bowl of hot oatmeal and mix in nutritional yeast flakes, salt, and pepper to taste.
3. Top oatmeal with a dollop of tahini and sprinkle with za’atar (or with Aleppo pepper for a little zippiness).
4. For a New England-style bowl of oats, drizzle with maple syrup and mix in fresh or frozen blueberries and chopped walnuts.
5. Many people eat bananas on cold cereal. For a change slice a banana onto a bowl of oatmeal, add your favorite plant milk, and sprinkle with cinnamon.
6. Check the refrigerator for condiments that could enhance a bowl of oats. I’ve enjoyed oats topped with mango chutney.
7. Add more oats to your oatmeal by sprinkling on homemade or commercial granola.
8. If you are looking for a savory bowl of oatmeal, add a spicy peanut sauce or simply mix in a spoonful of peanut butter and sriracha or other hot sauce to taste.
9. Dried fruit goes well with oatmeal because the hot oats can soften dried fruit that’s been in the pantry a while. Raisins or dates are traditional additions to oatmeal or you can try dried apples, cranberries, cherries, or even dried mango cut into bite-sized pieces.
10. You may have heard of cheese grits – why not cheese oatmeal? Mix in shredded vegan cheese or vegan cheese sauce (commercial or homemade) to taste.

All oatmeal starts as oat groats. Groats are the hulled kernels of the oat grain. Oat groats, and oatmeal, are classified as whole grains because they contain all three of the parts of a grain – bran, germ, and endosperm.

Steel cut oats are made by cutting oat groats into pieces. They can take 15-20 minutes to cook once the pot of oats comes to a boil. Scottish oats are made by grinding oat groats into a coarse meal. They cook in 10 minutes once their cooking water boils.

Old-fashioned oats, or rolled oats, are made from oat groats that are steamed to soften them and then passing the softened oat groats through large rollers so that they are flattened. Then they are lightly toasted. Old-fashioned oats take 10-20 minutes to cook on the stove or 3-5 minutes in the microwave.

Quick oats are made similarly to old-fashioned oats but are rolled thinner so that they cook faster. They take a couple of minutes to cook on the stove or in the microwave.

Instant oats are chopped more finely than quick oats so that they cook in 1-2 minutes in the microwave or can simply be mixed with boiling water.

If you like oats but don’t want to take the time to cook them every morning, you can make a large pot of oats on the weekend or in the evening, refrigerate them, and use the microwave to heat up the amount you want to eat for breakfast.

Oats are a good source of soluble fiber, a type of fiber that can help you feel full longer as well as helping to lower blood cholesterol and blood glucose. According to USDA’s FppdData Central, a cup of plain cooked oatmeal has 154 calories, 5.3 grams of protein, 2.6 grams of fat, and 4.1 grams of fiber. It has about 9% of the Daily Value for iron and 14% of the Daily Value for zinc.

For other ideas for vegan oats see:

Vegan Overnight Oats

Peach Passion