Love steel cut oats but hate how long they take to make? Ugh, me too. Thanks to the slow cooker, you can have warm, cinnamon maple steel cut oats (gluten-free of course!) ready and waiting for you in the morning!
There’s a new love in my life. And it goes by the name of Slow Cooker Overnight Steel Cut Oats.
Have you ever had steel cut oats made in the slow cooker? LIFE CHANGING. I’ve been making this stuff on the regular, and it may have even elicited an all-too-loud and all-too-early Buddy the Elf style “I love you, I love you, I looooove you!” a time or two in our household. I’m sure our neighbors LOVE me at 5:30 am.
But really: is there anything better than waking up knowing that a big, cinnamon-y, maple-y steaming bowl of steel cut oats is just waiting to fill and warm your belly?
If there is, I must know about it. Because I’m 99.999% sure this is the best ever first-thing-in-the-morning realization (and food).
I do need to apologize for bringing this to you at the very end of winter/cusp of spring, but there was just no holding out on you until next year. PLUS, mornings are still going to be crisp for at least another month or so (at least here in the northeast where it’s SNOWING today!!!) SO there’s plenty of time for enjoying this hearty breakfast.
….and by plenty of time, I mean I’m 110% going to be eating this mid-July when the sweltering days begin at 85 degrees. My newfound (refound?) love for steel cut oats is unstoppable.
If you’re anything like me, you wake up hungry, and have zero patience for anything that requires more than 3 minutes of time/effort/thought. Dilemma: you love steel cut oats for its fiber-giving, belly-filling, blood sugar-stabilizing ways, BUT they take approximately 30-35 minutes to make. Ain’t nobody got time for that!
Infinite thanks to the genius invention called the slow cooker (seriously, I need to buy stock in Crock-Pot or something) there is zero waiting. Yes, ZERO.
With a whopping 3 minutes of prep the night before, you can wake up and face plant straight into a glorious bowl of hot steel cut oats.
There is just one wee little downfall of using the slow cooker to make steel cut oats: they LOVE to really crust on to the crock. To avoid scrubbing the inside of your slow cooker for DAYS (← no exaggeration… seriously…) I suggest one of two things:
1. Buy some slow cooker liners (another genius invention!) and line your slow cooker before you make the oats
OR
2. Prepare the steel cut oats in a casserole dish that fits inside of your slow cooker. Simply place the casserole inside of the slow cooker to cook, and fill the bottom of the slow cooker up with water until it’s about an inch away from the top of the casserole dish.
Maybe my favorite thing about oatmeal in general? It’s a beautiful blank slate. Add in literally WHATEVER sounds good to you.
Me? I prefer some raisins, a sliced banana, a handful of my peppered candied pecans (!!!!) and a healthy drizzle of honey.
Anthony? He likes a big dollop of peanut butter (what WON’T that man slather it on?!) and extra cinnamon. Yes, the two are delicious together.
My Daddy-o – the man that taught me that no good day starts without oatmeal – is a brown sugar and milk purist.
No matter which way you choose top your bowl, these slow cooker overnight steel cut oats are perfection. The only thing that wouldn’t work here is going for straight savory steel cut oats (I’m not hipster enough to be on that bandwagon just yet) as these do have a touch of sweetness from the maple syrup. That being said: maple and bacon go exceptionally well together 😉
OH! And did I mention that not only are these gluten-free, but they’re dairy-free AND vegan as well? BREAKFAST FOR EVERYONE!
Seriously, what’s not to love?
Slow Cooker Overnight Steel Cut Oats
Total time
- 1 cup certified gluten-free steel cut oats
- 2 ½ cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- 1 cup water
- ⅓ cup real maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- In a large bowl, whisk together the almond milk, water, maple syrup, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and salt.
- Line your slow cooker with a liner, or place an oven-safe casserole dish inside of the slow cooker, filling the slow cooker with water just until it’s an inch below the top rim of the casserole dish. Place the steel cut oats into the slow cooker or casserole dish. After this, Gently pour the wet ingredients over the top of the oats.
- Cover the slow cooker, and cook on low for 8 hours.
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