Cooking oatmeal seems like it should be straightforward. You’ve got your oats, maybe some water or milk, either a microwave or a pot, and bing, bang, boom, breakfast is ready—right? Well, not quite. Sure, instant oats can be that simple, but even those are a little too easy to mess up. When you get into that steel-cut, overnight, rolled oats business, things get even trickier.
But oatmeal is a dish that’s definitely worth perfecting. All on its own, it’s full of protein, fiber, and complex carbs, which are three vital satiating and energizing nutrients. Plus, when done well a bowl of oats can taste pretty darn amazing (let’s not forget Goldilocks, OK?).
To make your oatmeal experience the absolute easiest, SELF got the full oat-cooking scoop from two oat-making experts—Abbey Sharp, R.D., owner of Abbey's Kitchen, and Samantha Stephens, head chef and owner of New York restaurant OatMeals. Here’s everything you need to know about making any kind of oat.
Rolled or classic oats
According to our experts the ratio of liquid to oats for rolled or classic oats is 2-to-1 (Sharp likes to cook 3/4 cup oats in 1 1/2 cup water). They also don't take very long to cook—just four or five minutes after you've already boiled your water. To make them, bring water to a boil, then add the oats. Then, bring the water back to a boil—once it’s begun to bubble again, reduce the heat to medium and simmer for about five minutes, stirring occasionally. Then, remove it from the heat and let it sit covered for two minutes.
Instant oats
Stephens tells SELF that instant oats have gotten kind of a bad rap, because many options are packed with added sugars, but she says “there are plenty these days that aren’t.” And if you can find a sugar-free variety (double check that nutrition label!), she says they’re definitely still worth your time. “If you have more time, other [oats] are tastier, but what matters is that you’re getting nutrient-dense oats into your diet.”
You can either make them on the stove or in the microwave (depending on how much clean-up you want to deal with). Most instant oat packages come labelled with instructions. If they don’t, the cooking method will be similar to that of rolled or classic oats but you only have to cook them for 1 to 3 minutes after boiling.
Steel-cut oats
I don’t know about you, but it feels like I’m always messing up my steel-cut oats. Somehow, whenever I make this variety—which tends to be creamier than the other oat varieties—I always end up with oats caked to the bottom of my pan. According to Stephens, the reason for my error is because I’m trying to cook it too fast. Unlike instant or rolled oats, steel-cut prefer a slow and low cooking method, meaning you’ll have to cook them with a larger liquid-to-oat ratio, and for a longer amount of time, and that longer cooking time means creamier oats.
