Slow Cooker Overnight Oatmeal Recipe
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Slow cooker overnight oatmeal is the perfect way to have a hot breakfast ready to go when you first wake up in the morning!
This delicious slow cooker overnight oatmeal breakfast will be ready for you when you wake up in the morning and you won’t have to lift a sleepy, coffee-deprived finger to do it. True story.
This bad boy will cook all night while you sleep. Yup. A full 8 hours!
Sorry, no, I can’t include the 8 hours of sleep with this recipe. I barely get that myself these days. But I can promise you a “wake-you-up-it’s-so-delicious” breakfast you’ll enjoy again and again this season. And all you have to do is throw it together the night before when you’re still somewhat conscious! How’s that for convenience?
SLOW COOKER OATMEAL
Oats are really a perfect slow cooker food if you get the ratio of oats to liquid just right. The resulting texture after cooking all night is pretty darned perfect. It’s almost like a creamy, sweet risotto that’s been made with great care. Add the right flavors and ingredients, and breakfast will be a thing of beauty.
OATMEAL BREAKFAST RECIPES:
- The Oatmeal Project – 365 Ways To Enjoy Your Oats
SLOW COOKER OVERNIGHT OATS RECIPE:
Clean Eating Slow Cooker Overnight Oatmeal
Ingredients
- ½ cup steel cut oats
- 2 cups water
- ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup raisins )R fruit juice sweetened, dried cranberries
- pure maple syrup as garnish
Instructions
- Combine the oats, water, cinnamon and vanilla extract in a small, 1 or 2 quart slow cooker. No larger. (You will need to multiply the recipe for larger slow cookers)
- Cook on low for 8 hours.
- Stir in the raisins OR cranberries and maple syrup when serving.
Notes
Nutrition
love cooking oatmeal this way. We always add a chopped up apple to the mix (golden delicious or fuji never turn to applesauce) and some flax seed. I have also thrown in farro or barley with the oats for a change and those worked out beautifully too!
Jennifer – Sounds wonderful!
I made this last night and added 1diced honey crisp apple. It was a little sour, but will try again withoit the apple. Otherwise, very good and filling.
Sonya – Ya, sometimes the type of apple makes all the difference. Try a pink lady apple or ask the grocery to recommend whatever is the sweetest in your area at the moment.
Do you have a recipe for a larger quantity?
Sue – No, but I imagine you could double or triple the recipe and use a larger slow cooker. I would try it during the day first though to be sure the liquid doesn’t need adjusting with bigger quantities.
I have made this , however I used apple juice as the liquid . That was great! Thanks for your help with this . Give us more great receipts !
Judi – Thanks for the tip!
Hi GP!
In regards to using a larger crockpot as a “double boiler” like Heather said, have you ever tried that? I only have a larger crockpot and cannot get a smaller one right now, but I would love to try this recipe, and her method sounds like a plus!
Ayanna – I haven’t tried it myself, but I do know it’s a popular method. Maybe the best way to try it is to do it during the day on your weekend the first time so you can keep an eye on it. Then if you’re comfortable, you can do it overnight.
Hi this was my first time trying this recipe, I used sultanas instead of raisins as that’s what I had in the cupboard! The recipe turned out very sweet and I’m wondering is this due to the sultanas?
Sarah – It’s possible, you can always cut back.
Adding protein is essential to healthy blood sugar levels. Oatmeal does make an amazing breakfast and I’m really glad to see your wonderful oatmeal recipes. Even though oatmeal is a very good complex carbohydrate it has a high number of carbohydrate grams. Adding sweeteners, even natural ones, brings the carb load up even higher. Whether you sacrifice a little flavor by adding (unflavored) protein powder to your oatmeal recipe or simply eat some protein on the side, in order to safeguard everyone’s (but especially diabetics’) blood sugar levels it is essential that every meal or snack have an adequate amount of protein. With nearly 50 grams of carbs per serving of this recipe the ideal amount of protein needed. in this meal in order to maintain stabile blood sugar would be around 25 grams – quite a bit higher than the 4 grams provided in this recipe. The glycemic load listed is 27 – High ratings begin at 20.
Lisa – I’m not sure I get your point. If you’re diabetic, you certainly don’t have to eat it. I do have other breakfast recipes that are far higher in protein.
This sounds good but i’ve no idea what steel cut oats are or whether there called something else here in England?
Kerridwen – It almost looks more like oats turned into a “gravel” of sorts. They aren’t flat, it’s almost more like very coarse salt.
Oh really, well it’s a new one on me, don’t think i’ve seen anything like it so might just go with oats lol
Kerridwen – Yes, the thick, traditional variety should work okay. Hope you enjoy it! 🙂
Steel-Cut oats are also called Irish oats or porridge. Maybe that’s what they’re called in the UK?
Alisa – Maybe!!!
This is something I make every Sunday night. It makes enough for breakfast for 4 or 5 mornings for my 10 year old gymnast! I love having this on hand. Quick healthy warm breakfast, which is a must for the early am practices and Michigan winter! I heat it up and then stir in some milk. She loves the reheats. I don’t do the raisins as she doesn’t like them. I do chop up two apples and throw them in with double cinnamon, double vanilla. I sweeten it with maple syrup in the am. I use a firm, crisp apple and make sure I don’t chop too small. No applesauce and my kid loves the apple chunks. I love this recipe. It is perfect for this busy, working, single mom!
Kathryn – Thanks so much! Sounds like you’ve got an active little girl there! 🙂
Irish out = steel cut. I spent 3 yrs in England for uni! 🙂
Kathryn – That’s what they call it there?
Is this 1/2 cup of steel cut oats or 1 or 2 cups of steel cut oats?
Judy – It’s a half of 1 cup.
How long is too long to cook this? I actually did 2 cups steel cut oats and 4 1/2 cups of water (plus cinnamon, walnuts, raisins). 12? or try to leave it at 8?
Elizabeth S. – It depends on how full your slow cooker is too. I would check it at 8-10 hours, but it might be okay for 12. I haven’t tried so it’s hard for me to say. Wish I could be more help…
First, gotta say, I LOVE your site! There’s so much information here for clean eating! It’s amazing and so generous of you to share what you’ve learned!
Now…about this recipe…I’ve made this 4 times now! The first time I only had old fashioned oats at home and used those – – – and it was mush the next morning. I bought some steel cut oats later that day! We’ve also added a choped up granny smith apple – delicious! I’ve shared this recipe with so many people!
Shannon – Wonderful!! Ya, the steel cut are really best for long term cooking. They hold up the best. Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Would craisins be ok to use instead of raisins? If so do you recommend a certain brand?
Rachel – You mean dried cranberries? Sure! But you would have to get the fruit juice sweetened variety for them to be clean. I get mine at Whole Foods.
I’d love to try this, but we do not like steel cut oats. Would this work old fashioned oats or quick cooking oats?
Emily – You could try it with old fashioned oats. Get the really thick cut ones though. Not quick oats. You want them to withstand the long cooking time.
I meet with my besties once a week for what I’ve dubbed as “Movie Morning” after us mothers of the group drop our girls off at school. We each bring something. It doesn’t have to be a breaky item, just whatever we feel like. Well I feel like this! Lol.
I’m very new to clean-eating, and love your recipes!
Tina – What a fun idea!! I hope you enjoy the oatmeal!! (and the movie!) 🙂
I just started this for my weekly ladies “Movie Morning ” with my besties!! We’ll enjoy it (along with the other goodies they bring) while watching part 1 of “New Moon”!
Tina – Fantastic!! Have fun! (I love those movies!)
Just found your blog and have enjoyed reading all the comments about crock-pot steel-cut oatmeal. For other (type II) diabetics, cutting the portion size to 3 per given ingredients, adding some greek yogurt instead of cows’ milk–or soy milk, which has more protein than cows’–or an egg or small serving of your favorite breakfast meat will add to the small amount of protein in the oatmeal. Because it is such a great complex carb, it will be metabolized more slowly than simlple carbs like sugar and be more likely to keep your blood sugar level from spiking, even without the extra protein. Unless you are doing heavy physical labor, 47 g of carb (and 25 g of sugar) can be a lot for one meal. Your doctor will probably have set you up with the number of carbs to consume at each meal; follow his/her advice.
Carol – Thanks!
Love learning more about clean eating.
Daphne – You’ve come to the right place then! 🙂
This was terrible. I tripled the recipe to account for the size of my slow cooker and the number of mouths I had to feed. I woke up to an amazing smell but was disappointed to find burnt oatmeal soup. It never thickened and the oatmeal just burned to the sides and bottom of the slow cooker. I tasted it anyway to see if it was salvagable at all. Its not. Tastes wayyy worse than it even looks. No sweetness whatsoever, just sour burntness. So now I’ve wasted what oatmeal we had left and the kids have no breakfast.
Erika – I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you! What type of oats did you use? What size is your slow cooker? What was the exact measurements of your oats and water?
What a terrific blog you have!! Because of dietary restrictions (Type 1 diabetes), could you provide the nutrition analysis, including carbs, sugar & fiber.
Thanks.
Lori – Thank you! And I’m sorry, but I can’t for the very reason you give here. To provide that information, I have to use online calculators which are not always correct or accurate. If somebody with a medical condition uses that data and it’s too far off, that would not be a good situation. So I have been removing all of that data from my site. But the good news is, sites like MyFitnessPal.com make it really easy for you to import that information yourself with just a url. Hope that helps!
I used golden raisins instead and drizzled with crumbled walnuts. Taste like cobbler! Yum!
Terralyn – Yum indeed!! 😀
I make oatmeal every morning and doing it overnight does sound interesting. I plump my raisins overnight in some water and in the morning add the oatmeal – increase the water depending on how generous I am with the oatmeal. When I make the recipe I’ll put the raisins in the slow cooker with the oatmeal for cooking overnight.
Sam – Sounds great! 🙂