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All About Savory Oatmeal
While oatmeal is often considered a sweet breakfast dish, oats themselves are not sweet at all. In fact, if you look at the nutritional information on a bag or container of oatmeal, plain old oats have 0 g of sugar.
If you couldn’t already tell by our Instagram feed, we love ourselves some breakfast food for any meal. We also eat our fair share of gluten-free oats (like in this apple cobbler or in these granola bars). However, as much as we might do waffles for dinner, we don’t do many savory breakfast dishes. In many places around the world, savory breakfasts are often the norm.
That got us thinking about how we could venture into this savory breakfast world with one of our standby foods: gluten-free oats. Could we make a savory oatmeal? Would it taste any good? Would we want to eat it first thing in the morning?
The answer to all these questions, we found, was “yes.”
Why Savory Oatmeal?
While one of us loves oatmeal in pretty much any way possible, the other really doesn’t. Funnily enough, this doesn’t apply to oats all around but just oatmeal cooked and served in a bowl (i.e. porridge). Otherwise, oats are a pretty big staple of both of our diets.
That’s when we tried out this savory oatmeal. It took a couple of tries to figure out how to make it the best it could possibly be, but even our first try of savory oatmeal was pretty great.
This is something that both of us seemed to like a whole lot. So, if typical sweet oatmeal isn’t your jam, then savory oatmeal might just be. Granted, we both wound up loving this recipe.
The Benefits of Oats
It’s really hard to go wrong with oats in your diet. They contain fiber and protein, and they lack sugar. They help keep you full for a long day (especially paired with eggs, like in our savory oatmeal), and they are pretty versatile.
Not only that, but oats are low-oxalate (which is a new concern for us). Oats take up the bulk of our savory oatmeal recipe, although some of the other add-ins (like onions) do contain some oxalates.
Making this a Gluten-Free, Lactose-Free Recipe
We do have to make sure that we get gluten-free oats for Isabelle which can sometimes up the cost, but we just head to Trader Joe’s and stock up there because they’re quite a bit cheaper than elsewhere. While not every place in the world has gluten-free oat options because of varying regulations, we are able to access them pretty easily. If we want quick oats, we just pulse them in the food processor a few times.
In terms of keeping our savory oatmeal lactose-free, we just make sure to choose goat or sheep’s milk cheeses. There are lactose-free cow’s milk varieties available if you can eat them, but we stick to goat cheddar or manchego cheese due to Isabelle’s sensitivities. We have a more detailed breakdown of lactose-free cheeses here.
Is Savory Oatmeal a Breakfast Dish?
We have eaten this savory oatmeal for a variety of meals. If you prefer sweet breakfasts, then maybe this is more of a lunch or dinner for you.
However, there aren’t any rules that say breakfast has to be sweet. We eat breakfast for dinner, so why not cheesy veggie oatmeal first thing in the day?
If you’re feeling stuck in a breakfast rut, then maybe it’s worth trying this out in the morning. If you’re looking for an easy and quick dinner, then this is also a great option.
How to Make Easy, Cheesy, Savory Oatmeal
Easy, Cheesy, Savory Oatmeal
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup uncooked oats gluten-free; quick or rolled, depending on preference
- 1/4 yellow onion chopped
- 1/4 cup shredded cheese goat cheddar or other lactose-free cheese
- 2-4 sweet peppers chopped
- 3/4 cup water can use more or less, depending on preference
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat 1/2 of your olive oil in a saucepan on medium heat. Add peppers and onion once heated.
- After the onions and peppers have softened, add the dry oats. Stir the oats with the veggies for a minute or so.
- Add the water and turn the heat up to high or medium-high until the water boils. Then, turn down the heat until you have a low simmer. Cook for another 5-10 minutes.
- While the oats are cooking, heat up the remaining oil in a separate pan. Cook two eggs in the style of your choosing. We prefer over medium for this recipe.
- Add your cheese to the oats and stir through until it is melted. Add salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve your oats in a bowl. Place your cooked eggs over the oats and eat immediately. The eggs will continue to cook while over the hot oatmeal.