Creamy Crock Pot Oatmeal {Steel Cut}

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Are you looking for a fail-proof way to have a piping hot breakfast ready and waiting for you in the morning when you wake up? This Creamy Crock Pot Oatmeal Recipe is the perfect Steel Cut Oatmeal Recipe and couldn’t be easier.

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How to Make Creamy Oatmeal in a Crock Pot

Cris here.

I LOVE steel-cut oatmeal in a slow cooker. Our Apple Cinnamon Crock Pot Steel Cut Oatmeal is one of my favorite crock pot meals of all time. (Here is a great video of that recipe…)

However, I don’t always have apples on hand, so this recipe for Creamy Crock Pot Oatmeal comes in very handy. I altered this recipe from one I found in Gooseberry Patch’s Slow Cooking All Year Round (Psst… enter to win a copy).

I find a lot of people tend to shy away from breakfast crock pot recipes and specifically oatmeal. Many say it is due to a really bad flop. After a little investigation, I have come to the conclusion that crock pot oatmeal recipes flop for two main reasons… Wrong ingredients and burning.

Using the Right Ingredients

Steel Cut Oats are not the same as Old Fashioned or Long Cooking Oats. The recipes I enjoy cRockin’ all use Steel Cut Oats. They look and cook very differently from other types  and withstand the long cooking times in a slow cooker a lot better than other forms of oats. Steel Cut Oats also use a lot more water to cook than the other types.

My advice? Always look for a Slow Cooker recipe that calls for Steel Cut Oats and follow it closely. Recipes that simply call for oats or long cooking oats may turn out mushy, gluey or have too much water in them.

Safeguard Against Burning

As I share in my Tips for Avoiding Crock Pot Disasters (Part 1 & Part 2), all slow cookers are not created equal and  you really need to know from experience how evenly and how hot yours cooks. In my opinion, most slow cookers from the last few decades cook WAY hotter than a lot of recipes allow. The newer models from the last few years are greatly improving this issue (here are some of my favorites), but it still means a lot of the slow cookers out there are throwing curve balls to your overnight recipes especially.

My advice?  Use a glass bowl inside your slow cooker and fill water half way up the side (also known as a double boiler) to keep your contents from burning while you sleep. I use the largest bowl from this set found on Amazon for many breakfast recipes and also in lieu of a coffee can for breads and cakes. (Psst… I also use the medium bowl from the set quite a bit as well for smaller recipes.) I use this method with all my slow cookers for breakfast recipes.

What You Will Need for Creamy Crock Pot Oatmeal- Steel Cut

Ingredients Needed

• 1 cup steel cut oats, uncooked
• 4 cups water in the glass bowl, you will need additional water to pour into the insert outside the bowl
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 tablespoons vanilla or almond extract
• Optional: Favorite fruit topping

Equipment Needed

• Glass mixing bowl that will fit in your slow cooker insert and hold all of the ingredients of the recipe
• Measuring cups
• Measuring spoon
• Stirring spatula
• 6 quart crock pot

Time Needed

• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Cooking Time 8 hours on low

General Notes

• Looking for more recipes? Our Recipe Finder can help you find exactly what you need.
• As with any of our recipes, carb counts, calorie counts and nutritional information varies greatly. As a result, your nutritional content depends on which products you choose to use when cooking this dish. The auto-calculation is just an automated estimate and should NOT be used for specific dietary needs.
• All slow cookers cook differently, so cooking times are always a basic guideline. Recipes should always be tested first in your own slow cooker and time adjusted as needed.

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