What Is Oatmeal and How Can I Use It?

Oatmeal is easier to cook with than it looks. Here's how to choose, use, and store it, what to substitute, and 296 recipes to get you started.

Key Points

Oatmeal means both the cooked porridge and the rolled-oat flake used in baking.
Steel-cut cooks 20 to 30 minutes and stays chewy; rolled cooks in about 5.
Old-fashioned rolled oats are the all-purpose default most recipes assume.
Do not swap quick oats for old-fashioned one for one; cookies turn cakey and flat.
The germ's oil goes rancid in about a year; a sharp smell means toss them.

What is oatmeal?

Oatmeal is what you get when oats are processed enough to cook into something soft. That means a hot breakfast porridge, or the flake folded into cookies and breads.

In most American kitchens the word covers the flake itself, the old-fashioned rolled oats in the round canister, as much as the cooked bowl.

That overlap matters because the same box does double duty. The flakes that simmer into porridge are the same ones that give an oatmeal cookie its chew and a loaf of Raisin Oatmeal Bread its hearty crumb.

Oats come in a few cuts, and the cut decides both cook time and texture. That single choice is the thing most recipes are really asking about when they say oatmeal.

The Three Cuts You'll Meet

Steel-cut oats are whole groats chopped into gritty pieces. They cook slowest, 20 to 30 minutes, and stay chewy and nutty, which makes them the choice for a porridge with real bite. They do not work in cookies, where they stay hard.

Old-fashioned rolled oats are groats steamed soft and pressed flat. They cook in about 5 minutes and hold their shape, so they are the all-purpose flake: porridge, oatmeal cookies, granola, and the Hardy Oatmeal Bread crowd.

Quick oats are rolled thinner and sometimes chopped, so they cook in a minute or two and turn softer and more uniform. Handy for fast porridge, but they melt into baked goods rather than standing out.

When in doubt, reach for old-fashioned rolled oats. They are the cut most recipes assume when they just say oats or oatmeal.

Cooking and Baking With It

For a stovetop bowl, the workhorse ratio is 2 parts water or milk to 1 part rolled oats. Simmer 5 minutes, stirring now and then, until creamy; steel-cut needs 3 to 1 and closer to half an hour.

A pinch of salt in the water is not optional. Unsalted porridge tastes flat no matter how much you sweeten it after.

In baking, oats bring chew and a toasty flavor along with structure. They soak up moisture as a cookie bakes, which is why oatmeal cookies stay soft in the middle, the trait behind the Unbelievable Oatmeal Cookies.

Toasting raw oats in a dry pan or a 350°F (175°C) oven for 8 to 10 minutes before they go in deepens their flavor noticeably. Worth doing for granola and crisp toppings.

That one step is the difference between flat granola and good granola.

The common mistake in baking is swapping quick oats for old-fashioned one for one. Quick oats absorb faster and disappear, so a cookie meant to be hearty turns cakey and flat. If a recipe names a cut, use that cut.

Substitutes

Within the oat family the cuts swap with adjustments, not freely. To use quick oats where a recipe wants old-fashioned, expect a softer result.

Going the other way, pulse old-fashioned oats a few times in a food processor to mimic quick. For porridge, steel-cut and rolled are interchangeable if you fix the liquid and time: more water and more minutes for steel-cut.

Outside the family, oat flour (oats ground fine) replaces some wheat flour for tenderness but cannot give the visible flake. To make your own, blitz rolled oats to a powder.

In a streusel or crisp topping, chopped nuts or a coarse cereal can stand in for crunch, though neither brings the same chew.

Buying and Storing

Buy plain rolled or steel-cut oats rather than the flavored instant packets, which are mostly sugar and cost more per serving. The big round canister of old-fashioned oats is the best value and the handiest cut to keep around.

Oats are shelf-stable but not immortal. The germ holds oil that slowly goes rancid, so stored oats last about a year, less once opened. Keep them in an airtight container in a cool, dark cupboard, away from heat and moisture.

Trust your nose. Fresh oats smell faintly sweet and toasty; a sharp, paint-like or bitter smell means the oil has turned, and no amount of cooking brings them back. For long storage, the freezer keeps them fresh well past a year.

Oats turn up in well over a thousand recipes here, from the simplest Porridge to loaves and cookie tins, which is reason enough to keep a canister within reach.

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 1/2 cup (1 NLEA serving) (40g)

Amount per Serving

Calories 133Calories from Fat 9

% Daily Value *

Total Fat 1.0g 2%

Saturated Fat 0.2g 1%

Trans Fat ~

Cholesterol 0mg 0%

Sodium 1mg 0%

Total Carbohydrate 29.4g 10%

Dietary Fiber 5g 19%

Sugars 0.2

Protein 4.5g

Vitamin A 0% Vitamin C 0%

Calcium 1% • Iron 7%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your caloric needs.

recipeland.com/nutrition

Quick facts

Food group: Oatmeal is a member of the Breakfast Cereals US Department of Agriculture nutritional food group.

In Chinese: 燕麦粥
British (UK) term: Oatmeal
en français: flocons d'avoine
en español: harina de avena

How much does oatmeal weigh?

Amount	Weight
½ cup (1 NLEA serving)	40 grams

Breakfast Cereals

All-bran cereal 36 Bran flakes cereal 78 Granola 39 Cereal 54 Crisp rice cereal 128 Corn flakes 109 Oatmeal 296 Grits 37 Grape nuts cereal 24 Oats, quick cooking 270

Recipes using oatmeal

There are 296 recipes that contain this ingredient.

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