The creamiest warm almond butter oatmeal breakfast bowl

 This super creamy warm almond butter oatmeal breakfast bowl features Bob’s Red Mill oats. Thank you to Bob’s Red Mill for sponsoring this post.

Oh oatmeal, how I love you. For several years, I ate nearly the same cold oatmeal breakfast every single day in the form of overnight oats. Those cold and hearty breakfasts were waiting for me in the fridge and were always so satisfying. I loved them. I told everyone about overnight oats and how convenient and tasty they were and how there was no need to ever heat your oats up or do any cooking at all. 

Well, I’m going to be bold here and say that these days, I’m starting to think that warm oatmeal trumps cold oatmeal, especially in the winter months. For the last few weeks, I’ve been eating my oats warm, and I’m a changed woman.

I think perhaps the reason I didn’t ever love to cook my oats, is because I was never doing it right. Until now.

What I’ve got for you today is the CREAMIEST way to make oatmeal. Because if you don’t make your oatmeal right, it’s bound to taste drab and make you think you’re not a fan of oats (or cooked oats, like I wasn’t).

The creamiest warm almond butter oatmeal breakfast bowl

In this super simple recipe, I’m using Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Organic Extra Thick Rolled Oats, (long name, right?) because they are full of fiber, iron and protein and are whole grain too. And the extra thickness makes them totally the best oats ever.

You can tell by looking at them that they are different. 

The key to making your oatmeal creamy

So how do you make sure your oatmeal is super creamy and not drab? In addition to choosing quality oats as your base, the other thing you’ll need to make this recipe work is the coconut milk. And I realize you may have dairy, almond or soy in your fridge, but the coconut milk is what brings the best creamy factor. It’s thick. It’s flavorful. I buy the organic coconut milk cans from Trader Joe’s, but you can also find coconut milk in the can at other grocery stores (sometimes in the ethnic food aisle, by the way). Don’t skip this step.

When it comes to almond butter, you can definitely swap out for your favorite nut butter. I’ve also used peanut and sunflower butter, and both work great. Here’s my total line-up of ingredients …

• 1/2 cup Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Organic Extra Thick Rolled Oats
• 1/2 cup Trader Joe’s organic canned coconut milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 sprinkle sea salt
• 1-2 tablespoons nut butter of your choice
• OPTIONAL: 1 tablespoon chia seeds 

A few notes about the recipe and nutrition

This is an easy recipe for sure! Now, beware, it will take you about 15 minutes from start to finish. But the good news is that about 10 of those minutes you can mostly be away from the kitchen doing whatever it is you need to do. (For me, that’s usually bouncing Brady and cooing and babbling back to him, because he is very chatty with various baby noises first thing in the morning.)

I’m giving you the measurements for one serving for one person. And this is a hearty serving, but not so much that you won’t want lunch in about four to five hours. And yes, this is the exact amount that I make and eat in one sitting. I don’t know the calories or the macros though, because I don’t count either on a daily basis. You could very easily throw these ingredients into My Fitness Pal if you were concerned or wondering though. I will mention that there are 7 grams of protein in the half cup of oats and about the same in the almond butter.

Instructions for cooking

First … take half a cup of the coconut milk, half a cup of water and a sprinkle of sea salt and bring all of that to boil in a pan on high heat. Once it’s boiling, turn down the heat to low, then add a half a cup of Bob’s Red Mill oats. 

And by the way, a half of cup of oats doesn’t look like much, but they totally expand once cooked, and you’re left with a much more visually appealing amount of food in front of you. Coming from an eater like me, you can quote me on that.

Then there’s the waiting game.

After stirring a few times, you basically have about 10 minutes of free time to pet your dog, file your nails or scroll Instagram (say hi, if you do!). Then, you return to the simmering pan of oatmeal. By now, it should be thickening up, so you stir it a few times again. At that point, you can add just a tiny bit of nut butter and stir that around too for the additional almond butter flavor.

Once you think your oats have reached your desired consistency, which is usually around 10-12 minutes of simmering time, pour them into a bowl. And it doesn’t look super exciting yet, but just wait …

Because then, you can add the toppings of your choice to spruce it up. I always add a tablespoon more of nut butter, a teaspoon of chia seeds, a sliced-up banana, some peanuts and sometimes other things like goji berries, if I’m really feeling festive. You could also add fresh blueberries or pumpkin seeds or basically anything you want. And once the toppings are on, your bowl is starting to look real nice …

Then, you sit down and enjoy every bite of those tasty oats, soaking up the creaminess. And once you’re done, you can decide if you think warm oatmeal is worth the effort or if cold oatmeal is your jam. 

While I’ll always keep overnight oats and even overnight oats in an empty PB jar as a breakfast staple in the spring and summer, I think these cooked almond butter oats are my current fave.

Here’s to a healthy and filling breakfast to start the day! Perfect for the whole family! 

Thanks to Bob’s Red Mill for sponsoring this post. I received compensation and complimentary product, but all thoughts are my own. And by the way, you can order Bob’s Red Mill products online, or find them at most major grocers, like Whole Foods, Safeway, Sprouts, even Target and more.

And if you’re a Pinterest user, just hover over the following image to save to your recipe board …

Questions of the day

How do you like your oats?

What did you have for breakfast today?