Healthy Oatmeal Recipes
Using Healthy Oatmeal Choices

These healthy oatmeal recipes can be made in minutes in the microwave or on the stovetop.

Learn about which oatmeal choices are healthy, and which ones you should avoid in your healthy diet.

Hot healthy oatmeal recipes are delicious on a cold morning. Oatmeal is high in fiber, low in fat, and contains protein and iron. It is a very inexpensive alternative to cold cereal. Add some extra protein to it such as milk and nuts, (that added protein tells your body’s hunger hormones that you are full) and you have a great start to the day.

I never considered consuming oatmeal on a warm summer morning, until I fed my first child baby oatmeal. She devoured cold oatmeal on hot mornings, and I thought she was onto something.

I tried eating the unheated oats with milk and discovered my palate is different than that of a one year old. Now I heat my oatmeal in the summer and mix in frozen berries to cool it, adding walnuts and milk for extra protein.

For a good cold oatmeal recipe, try:

Cold Oatmeal Yogurt Muesli Recipe

For some other delicious hot healthy oatmeal recipes, try:

One Minute Microwave Apricot Pecan Oatmeal

10 minute Apple Cinnamon Rolled-Oat Oatmeal

One Hour Steel Cut Oatmeal with leftovers for the week

What are the best healthy oatmeal choices?
What about instant oatmeal packages?

Some varieties of instant oatmeal target children, women, or calorie counters. Some of the oatmeal marketed as “lower sugar” has artificial sweeteners, and some children’s oatmeal with the fun shapes contains partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Even the “all natural product” can contain too much sugar, so check the nutrition label carefully.

Quaker Oats just came out with Cinnamon Swirl High Fiber Instant Oatmeal. It has 10g of fiber, 7 gram of sugar, and is fortified with other vitamins. It's worth a try if you want an instant oatmeal.

What are the best healthy oatmeal choices?

Instead of the expensive instant oatmeal packages, I found three choices that work well in healthy oatmeal recipes: Quick Cooking Oats, Rolled Oats, and Steel Cut.

To understand the choices, here’s how oatmeal is made: oat grains are hulled and steamed. These whole grain “groats” are the inner part of the oat kernel and are cut in different ways to make the different kinds of oatmeal.

Quick Cooking Oats:
Quick cooking oats are groats that are cut into pieces and rolled finer to reduce cooking time. They take about one minute to cook on the stove and one minute in the microwave.

Rolled Oats:
Old fashioned or rolled oats are oat groats that are steamed and rolled flat. Rolled oats cook in five minutes on the stove and three minutes in the microwave

Steel Cut:
Considered by some to be the tastiest oatmeal, steel cut oatmeal contains groats that are cut into pieces using steel blades. Steel Cut oatmeal takes about an hour to cook from start to finish and is made on the stove top. Try making a pot on the weekend and refrigerate individual portions to eat during the week.

Healthy Oatmeal Recipes

1 pg instant plain oatmeal or 1/2 cup instant oats
1 cup water or milk
3 chopped dried apricots
2 tablespoons chopped pecans
1 teaspoon brown sugar (adds 4 grams of sugar)
½ tsp cinnamon
½ cup low fat or fat free milk

Put oats, milk and apricot into bowl. Microwave at high power for one minute. Stir. Sprinkle brown sugar and pecans over oatmeal. Stir. Pour milk on top.

10 minute Apple Cinnamon Rolled-Oat Oatmeal

Note: You can make this in the microwave in less time, but use a bigger bowl so the contents don’t bubble up over the sides of the bowl. This is one of my favorite healthy oatmeal recipes.

Serves 2
1 cup rolled oats (old fashioned oats)
1 chopped apple (we like Fuji and I leave the skins on)
½ cup walnuts
¼ cup raisins
1 tsp cinnamon
1 ¾ cup water
½ cup milk

Combine oats, water, apple, and raisins in saucepan on stove. Bring mixture to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 6 to 8 minutes until thick. Remove from heat, stir in cinnamon and walnuts. Top with milk and enjoy.

One Hour Steel Cut Oatmeal with leftovers for the week
Makes 8 servings – enough to refrigerate and reheat in the microwave during the week

8 cups water
2 cups steel cut oats

1. Bring water to a boil.
2. Slowly stir in steel cut oats.
3. Reduce heat when oatmeal begins to thicken (about 5 minutes)
4. Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve with molasses, golden raisins, almonds, cinnamon, and milk (or any other toppings you prefer). Put unused portions in single serving tupperware to reheat in microwave during the week.