I first discovered steel cut oats approximately 5 years ago. Following the instructions on the back of the pack, I cooked them for 30 minutes and it was love at first chewy bite. In fact, I loved them so much and was so obsessed with cooking them every morning that I even included a recipe for creamy, honeyed, steel cut oats in my cookbook. Then last night, I slow cooked them for 8 hours in my slow cooker and when I woke up to the smell of apple pie this cold, frosty morning, I felt a tingling in my taste buds that I hadn't felt in a while. I was even ready to denounce my customary cup of coffee for the oats.
When I eventually sat down to breakfast an hour later, I was blown away. Slow cooked steel cut oats are something else. And if you haven't tried them cooked in this manner before, you are truly missing something. Especially if you are a porridge fan and love apples and spices and foggy windows in the morning as your kettle steams up your whole kitchen.
After being inspired by the first recipe in Paulene Christie's new cookbook Slow Cooker Central 2, I was extremely eager to prep this last night for today's breakfast. I even started dinner early, making stock from scratch and slowly simmering a pot of creamy pumpkin soup. But then something unusual happened and quite strange if you ask me. So strange that even Google had no documentation on it.
At around 8pm, I ventured out into the garden in the dark to snip some herbs to flavour the soup in the final lead up to the dinner bell. I picked some rosemary and some thyme, gave it a quick wash and chucked it in the pot. Covered the soup and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. When I took off the lid, I was surprised to see a reddish pink stick like object on top amongst all the herbs. I pulled it out with a spoon and behold - it was a cooked stick mantis. I guess it must've been on the woody stalk of the rosemary and cleverly camouflaged to trick me. But I suppose the joke was on him.
Anyways, I started blending the soup and then had a strange thought. What if it was full of toxins and I had cooked those toxins into the soup? Bush people are strangely paranoid about spiders and snakes and hairy caterpillars and exotic insects spewing toxin with their bites. So I googled it and of course this was probably the first incident of its kind because Google had nothing for me - nothing!
After getting excited about the fact that in this vast world of a billion stories and a gazillion instances of strange things happening, I had somehow hit the jackpot of a unique story all by myself; I returned to reality and together as a family we made the grim decision of draining the soup in the sink. Because Google said some stick insects release toxins when they are dying and we were not prepared to risk our lives for a pot of soup.
So another pot of soup had to be made and dinner was over two hours later than usual, but we all lived and I managed to prep the oats in the slow cooker. The oats tasted even sweeter the next morning, when we realised that we were not the first family to drop dead at our dinner table from the toxin of a praying mantis who left the comfort of the Australian bush and decided to go for a swim in our pot of soup.
For this oats recipe, I made applesauce in the blender and used that as the bulk of my sweetener. The porridge sat in its own little ceramic container in a water bath created in the slow cooker. The base porridge itself is not very sweet, because we like it that way. We make up for that by topping it with fresh sliced apples and a drizzle of date sauce or maple syrup. Every mouthful is like fluffy clouds, warm fluffy clouds! If you make this, don't forget to share it with me on Instagram @cookrepublic or leave your feedback and rating in the comments below. Cheers!
Recipe
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Ingredients
for the applesauce
- 2 (250 g) medium apples, peeled and cored
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- pinch of salt
for the oats
- 1 cup (180 g) steel cut oats
- 250 ml applesauce
- 2 tablespoons salted butter
- 4 cups (1000 ml) whole milk (or milk of choice)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- fresh apple slices, to serve
- pecan nuts, to serve
- fresh cream, to serve
- maple syrup or honey, to serve
Instructions
- Place all the ingredients for the applesauce in the jug of a blender and process until smooth. The above recipe yields 250ml applesauce.
- Place oats, applesauce, butter, milk and cinnamon in a deep 1.2 litre ceramic bowl that fits inside the pot of your slow cooker. Place this ceramic bowl inside the pot of your slow cooker and fill the slow cooker with water until it comes about halfway up the ceramic bowl containing oats.
- Place the lid of the slow cooker on and cook the oats on low for 8 hours.
- To serve, scoop porridge in a bowl. Arrange apple slices around the porridge, top with a generous dollop of fresh cream, drizzle with maple syrup or honey and sprinkle pecan nuts.
Notes
- If you don't have steel cut oats, use rolled oats and reduce cook time to 5-6 hours on low.
- Do not use instant oats for a slow cooking recipe.
- To eat, simply reheat or warm in microwave and serve with toppings.
BROWSE – APPLE RECIPES
BROWSE – BREAKFAST RECIPES
ONE YEAR AGO – CHOCOLATE BIRCHER MUESLI CUPS + TOASTED MARSHMALLOWS
TWO YEARS AGO – DATE WALNUT CHIA AND ROSEMARY COOKIES
THREE YEARS AGO – COCONUT AND MATCHA TEACAKES
FOUR YEARS AGO – CHICKEN AND PINE NUT SLIDERS
FIVE YEARS AGO – POWERHOUSE CHICKPEA AND LENTIL CURRY WITH POMEGRANATE
SIX YEARS AGO – MARBLE SHEET CAKE
Hi,
After a great read.Long story short,put it to work and wife and kids were very hesitant but ended up being an overwhelming winner.Thanks so much for the great content.
Take care.
What a comforting breakfast and I was going to make something similar on a weekend away with friends. I ended up putting it off instead but now I wish I hadn't!
Hi there!
I just wanted to let you know how delicious I thought this recipe was. I have a 6 month old bubba and every time I was up feeding her through the night, the smell wafting from the oven was better and better...I couldn't wait for brekky! Just thought I'd mention too that I don't have a slow cooker so I just cooked them in the oven, covered, on 120 deg, bain-marie style. It worked a treat. Thank you 🙂
Oh, these oats look SO delicious, Sneh. LOVE. <3
I am so excited by this!!!
We are a bit obsessed with steel cut oats in our house!!!
And it is soooooo cold here in Western Australia at the moment. I can't remember the last time it was as cold as this!!! Below zero in WA!!! Unheard of!!!
So a big bowl of this would be very welcome. And waking up to it ready in the slow cooker, WINNER!!!
p.s a mantis in your soup!!! You could go on the new series of survivor!
Hahahah stick mantis soup is NOT what you want! I imagine it's the kind of situation that is funny now, but was not funny at all at the time when you had to make another soup!
Absolutely fallen in love with bircher muesli for breakfast lately so feel like I should branch out to other forms of oats but don't have a slow cooker...what do you think the best way of making something similar without one would be? Hope your week is going well!
Oh no! I have a smaller (3.5l) slow cooker and can't find a ceramic bowl that fits! Can I put the mixture straight into my slow cooker if I grease it appropriately? Thank, gem x
Gem, you will need the water bath otherwise the heat from the slow cooker is high enough to burn the oats and make them very dry as opposed to creating a soft, creamy, pudding like porridge (same concept as custard based desserts when they are cooked in a water bath in the oven).You could create a water bath in the oven (deep tray or Dutch oven filled with water, ceramic container with oats placed inside it and then sealed with a lid or aluminium foil) cooked on low temp 110C for 4-6 hours. x
Oh thank you Sneh. Always so generous with your responses. I'll try that (and currently researching larger slow cookers!) xx
Steel cut always sounds so hearty and delicious, but I admit, I never make them nearly enough! The laze of the microwave always gets me 😉
Hi! As an absolut porrigde fanatic this sounds a dream!
Do you think it could be made in a dutch oven as well or would putting it in a water bath in the oven perhaps be better? (the trouble of not owning a slow cooker!)
Caroline, you'd have to monitor it and stir it constantly in the Dutch oven but the oven and water bath idea sounds fantastic. On a very low temperature over a period of a few hours, it would be equivalent to cooking in the slow cooker. x
How about half serve of steel cut oats, would that mean half cooking time? Sorry if silly question, only need 2 servings.
Hi Violeta, to make 2-3 servings, reduce oats to 1/2 cup, milk to 2 1/2 cups and make applesauce using just one apple and 2 tablespoons maple syrup. Also reduce butter and cinnamon by half, cooking time to 5-6 hours on low. Hope that helps. x
That sounds delicious! Those overnight oats look very tempting.
Cheers,
Rosa
hello Sneh! im def trying this tonight, quick question thou, is the apples cooked previous to blending for the sauce.?
Alicia, no it isn't. It is a raw blend. x
Hi Sneh,
Do you think this would work ok with regular rolled oats? as usual your recipe looks delicious!
cheers Elise! Steel cut oats are very tough and take a long time to cook (much much longer than rice). So rolled oats would be softer when cooked as opposed to steel cut oats that go light and fluffy like pudding. So to sum it up, yes I think it will absolutely work with rolled oats too maybe reduce it to 5-6 hours on low?
Thanks Sneh. I'll try it tonight and let you know.
Omg, that suicidal mantis....
Btw these overnight oats seems so creamy and delicious - you make me want a slow cooker pretty badly 😀