Monday Mission: Soak Your Oatmeal (2024)

Simple things. What can I do that is simple and will increase my nutrition?

I’m often asked that question, and the folks who ask it don’t know that it’s the question I ask myself all the time. When I read about soaking grains for the first time, I was pleased to find out that it’s really a fairly simple process. It takes some planning ahead, but if you’re already menu planning, adding the soaking step is a cinch.

Your mission, if you choose to accept, is to soak your oatmeal for breakfast sometime this week.

Why Would I Want Soaked Grains?

Here’s a short science lesson to help you understand why you might want to “soak” your grains:

• Grains are seeds.
• Seeds are meant to pass through the system relatively undigested so they can be planted elsewhere (think in nature).
• To make it possible for seeds to pass through undigested, there are some anti-nutrients built in to make them difficult to digest.
• Seeds also need to be preserved until the time is right for sprouting, so they have certain compounds that stop the active enzyme activity of germination.
• These compounds also serve to hinder active enzyme activity in your digestive system.
• “Soaking” whole grains can make them more digestible and help your system obtain all the nutrients in the food.

Read a more in-depth explanation of the science behind the process here.

This soaking process is recommended by Sally Fallon in Nourishing Traditions, but you won’t find it many other places. I’m not 100% convinced that it’s the only way to go, and neither is Laura.

That being said, soaking your oatmeal is not difficult, doesn’t take any more time than not soaking it, can’t hurt you, and definitely changes your digestion. My mom is not the only one who notices a difference when her oatmeal is soaked. She has told me she’s certain she feels fuller when it’s soaked, and her digestion seems more ‘regular’ based on the end result.

RELATED: Steel Cut Oats Cooked in the Instant Pot

How to Soak Oatmeal to Reduce Phytic Acid

• Combine 1 cup rolled or steel cut oats with 1 cup water with 1 Tbs lemon juice or whey in it. I do it right in the pot.
  • Straight from the mouth of Sally Fallon, the water should be warmer than room temp at the start. You’d need to gently warm it in a teapot or in the pot to ~110 degrees or so, since it’s not recommended to consume warm tap water because of lead leaching issues. {Sigh. That makes this process just slightly more complicated.}
  • Megan reminded me that oats are low in the enzyme phytase, needed to neutralize the phytates. She found the information at Amanda Rose’s outdated free eCourse, now the Phytic Acid White Paper. The takeaway? Add a Tbs or two (10%) of wheat flour to your soaking oats, too.
• Leave at room temperature 24 hours (or at least 12). I usually think of it the night before, but the best for oatmeal is to let it go 24 hours.
  • Tip: Just get oats soaking for tomorrow’s breakfast as you’re cleaning up today’s, as breakfast will be on your mind.
• Add another cup of water in the morning, bring to a boil and cook a few minutes until thick.

Couldn’t be easier! Here is how to get whey easilywhen you just need a bit to use for soaking grains.

Another favorite way to have soaked oatmeal in our house, although it takes a bit more time, is Kelly’s Baked Oatmeal.

Because the chopping of fruit takes some time, I like to soak the oatmeal two nights before I want to eat it for 24 hours, then prepare the entire dish the night before and store it in the fridge until morning, when I put it in a cold oven and add 10-15 minutes to the bake time to compensate for it going in cold. (It tastes like oatmeal raising cookies, I kid you not.)

Will you try soaking oatmeal? Do share if you notice a difference in digestion/satisfaction!

Need More Baby Steps?

Here at Kitchen Stewardship, we’ve always been all about the baby steps. But if you’re just starting your real food and natural living journey, sifting through all that we’ve shared here over the years can be totally overwhelming.

That’s why we took the best 10 rookie “Monday Missions” that used to post once a week and got them all spruced up to send to your inbox – once a week on Mondays, so you can learn to be a kitchen steward one baby step at a time, in a doable sequence.

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