Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

Why It Works

• Optionally toasting the oats deepens their flavor.
• An optional overnight soak speeds up cooking the next day.
• Gentle, frequent stirring releases just enough starch to thicken the oatmeal without making it stodgy.

Oatmeal can be a lavish affair, laden with milk or cream, topped with flowing rivers of butter, drizzled with honey or maple syrup, garnished with fruits, and mounted with nut butters and pastes. I love oatmeal like that, and have recipes like abananas foster–inspired oatmeal with peanut butter and a rich and creamy milk-based oatmeal. But oatmeal doesn’t have to be chock full of those kinds of things to be great, and if you want proof, look no farther than the Land of Oats itself: Scotland.

I have no idea if the Scottish would agree with this moniker I’ve bestowed upon them, but unless they’d prefer I call them the Land of Fried Mars Bars, I’m sticking with it. Also, our new AI overlords agree with me: When I asked ChatGPT which country it would guess I was referring to with The Land of Oats, it replied, "My best guess would be Scotland. Scotland is renowned for its oats, which are a staple grain used traditionally in various Scottish dishes, most notably porridge and oatcakes. The climate and soil conditions in Scotland are particularly well-suited for growing oats, making it a prominent part of the country’s agriculture and culinary traditions." So, as we all know, if AI says it, it’s true.

The Key Ingredients in Scottish-Style Oatmeal

Anyway, back to oatmeal. Classic Scottish oats are made with three basic ingredients, and two of them—water and salt—hardly even qualify when playing the recipe publication ingredient counting game. So that leaves the oats as the only main ingredient, which means I could declare in a headline that These One-Ingredient Oats Are Better Than My Wildest Dreams and maybe get some attention on Google Discover. (I’d get vastly more attention if I wrote Taylor Swift Says This Ina Garten Recipe for Scottish Oats Is the Best Breakfast Ever, but they have nothing to do with this recipe so we’re not gonna go there.)

Up until this moment I’ve not mentioned the butter, but it is an optional topping, along with some beautiful flaky sea salt. I’ll be honest, though, it’s not an optional topping for me because the butter makes it. As they say quite rightly in Scotland, "Give me that pat of golden butter on my porridge or give me haggis."

Tips for the Perfect Bowl of Scottish Oats

As for the cooking method, here are the most important techniques and details to pay attention to:

1. **You do not need a spurtle for this. **A spurtle is a traditional Scottish oatmeal-stirring implement that others would identify as...a stick. I own one and I get a big kick out of it, but I’ve done side-by-side tests stirring with a spurtle and a wooden spoon and I can’t detect a lick of a difference.
2. Use steel-cut oats, not rolled oats, and toast them if desired. This oatmeal is correctly made with steel-cut (also sold as "pinhead") oats, not rolled or instant oats. They take longer to cook, but they’re nuttier and produce a much better texture. You can dry-toast them for a deeper, lightly roasted flavor; it’s a nice touch that only takes a few extra minutes. (Don’t burn them!)
3. Save time with an overnight soak. While there’s no requirement to think about breakfast the night before, you will save time in the morning by waking up to a pot full of oats that have been sitting in the water while you slept. Once fully hydrated, they cook up much more quickly, saving you a good ten to 15 minutes on the total cooking time.
4. Salt matters. Add a bit of salt to the oats and water before cooking will make all the difference in the oatmeal’s final flavor. It shouldn’t be too salty but it should taste seasoned. Finishing the oatmeal with a few large crystals of flaky sea salt is also a worthwhile move.
5. **Stir gently. **While the spurtle doesn’t matter much, how you stir does make a difference. Stir too little and you could end up with scorched oatmeal, thin and watery oatmeal, or both. Stir too rapidly, and it could turn into a pot of oat glue. That’s because the stirring motion loosens starches from the oats and disperses them throughout the pot, thickening the porridge in the process. With gentle and frequent stirring, you’ll get oats that are plump and suspended in a creamy glaze, neither thin nor cement-like.
6. *The recipe says the butter is optional, but it’s not. ***I know I already told you this, but I’m telling you again because I mean it. Eat the butter, enjoy the butter. If you must skip butter, consider a bit of cream instead.

April 2024

Keep Screen Awake

1 cup (180 g) steel-cut oats (also sold as pinhead or Irish oats; see note), such as Bob’s Red Mill

3 cups (700 ml) cold water, plus more if needed

Kosher or sea salt

Unsalted butter or cream, for serving (optional)

Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling (optional)

If you prefer a deeper, more complex flavor, dry-toast the oats in the cooking pot over high eat, stirring and tossing constantly, until lightly roasted and fragrant, then remove from heat. If making overnight oats, combine toasted or untoasted oats and water in a medium saucepan or 3-quart saucier and let stand, covered, overnight. If not making overnight oats, combine toasted or untoasted oats and water in the saucepan and proceed with cooking immediately.

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik 1.

Bring oats and water to a simmer over medium-high heat, seasoning lightly with a pinch of salt. Reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook uncovered, stirring frequently but slowly, until porridge is well thickened but still flows slightly, about 5 minutes for overnight oats and 20 minutes for un-soaked oats.

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik 1.

If oats are still too firm to your taste, stir in additional boiling water 1/4 cup (60ml) at a time and continue cooking until desired texture of oats is reached. Scoop porridge into warmed bowls and top with a pat of butter and/or a splash of cream. Sprinkle flaky salt on top, if desired. Serve.

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

Notes

Most steel-cut oats work best with the overnight method as described here, but we have found some artisan brands that have a slightly more powdery texture; those do better if you pour off the soaking water, rinse the grains lightly, then add fresh water to cook them. If your overnight oatmeal is overly thick and starchy, you may want to try that soaking-and-rinsing method instead.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
171	Calories
3g	Fat
30g	Carbs
6g	Protein

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Nutrition Facts Servings: 2 to 4 Amount per serving Calories 171 % Daily Value* 3g 4% Saturated Fat 0g 2% 0mg 0% 155mg 7% 30g 11% Dietary Fiber 5g 16% Total Sugars 0g 6g Vitamin C 0mg 0% Calcium 29mg 2% Iron 2mg 11% Potassium 163mg 3% *The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)