Cook it Fresh

Homemade Maple Brown Sugar instant oatmeal on the left, Quaker Maple and Brown Sugar instant Oatmeal on the right

Since finding a recipe for granola that I actually like, we have granola for breakfast a lot in our house.  It’s a healthy, filling breakfast that everyone likes and is easy to prepare.  However, when the weather begins to turn cooler I prefer to eat something warm in the morning and a bowl of granola just doesn’t cut it.  This is the time of year when we begin to eat oatmeal instead of cold cereal and, with a small child who wakes up early demanding breakfast, instant oatmeal is usually our hot cereal of choice.  As I was looking at the ingredients in instant oatmeal, I was amazed at how much sodium, sugar, oil and preservatives one of those little packets contains.  I decided to see if I could make homemade instant oatmeal that contains less of the “bad stuff” but still has some sweetness and flavor (because unflavored oatmeal is just gross).  I wanted to find a way to infuse the oatmeal with flavors (such as maple or vanilla) that are found in packaged instant oatmeal without having to add some kind of extract to the oatmeal at the end.  Then I realized that this was the perfect application for some flavored sugars I had picked up at  Savory.  With maple or vanilla or vanilla spiced sugar you can add flavor to the oatmeal along with the sweetener and have a flavorful, dry oatmeal mix.  Here is the master recipe I used for instant oatmeal mix plus two flavored versions:

Basic Instant Oatmeal  (unflavored)

makes about 6 servings

Ingredients:

1 cup oat flour or quick oats that have been ground to powder in a food processor

2 cups quick cooking oats

1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix all the ingredients together n a large bowl and store in an airtight container in a cool dry place.  To prepare oatmeal:  to 1/2 cup dry mix, add approximately 1/4 cup hot water or milk and let sit for 1 minute until thickened.  Add extra liquid as needed to reach the consistency of oatmeal you prefer.

Maple Brown sugar Oatmeal

The maples sugar (and vanilla sugar in the next recipe) really adds a great flavor to this oatmeal mix, but if you don’t have flavored sugar on hand (as I often don’t), just add extra brown sugar in its place.

makes about 6 servings

1 recipe Basic Instant Oatmeal (see above)

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 Tbsp. Maple sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl and store in an airtight container in a cool dark place.  To prepare oatmeal:  to 1/2 cup dry mix, add approximately 1/4 cup hot water or milk and let sit for 1 minute until thickened.  Add extra liquid as needed to reach the consistency of oatmeal you prefer.

Cinnamon spice Oatmeal Mix

Makes about 6 servings

Ingredients:

1 recipe Basic Oatmeal Mix (see above)

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 Tbsp. vanilla sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl and store in an airtight container in a cool dark place.  To prepare oatmeal:  to 1/2 cup dry mix, add approximately 1/4 cup hot water or milk and let sit for 1 minute until thickened.  Add extra liquid as needed to reach the consistency of oatmeal you prefer.

When we compared these homemade mixes directly to Quaker instant oatmeal packets, I was surprised by how similar they tasted.  These recipes were full of flavor and sweet enough to make the oatmeal palatable, without the overwhelming sugar rush of store bought instant oatmeal.  I have one disclaimer about the preparation, I never make instant oatmeal in the microwave and when we did this comparison I used hot milk as the liquid.  Therefore, I’m not sure how the homemade mix would fare in a microwave test, but let me know if you try it out!

The one big difference between the homemade and store bought instant oatmeal was the texture.  The homemade instant oatmeal is made with quick cooking oats which are smaller flakes of oatmeal than regular oats, so the texture is a bit softer and smoother than regular oatmeal.  I’m not sure what kind of oats are in store bought instant oatmeal, but they are definitely bigger and a rougher cut than the quick oats I buy. As a result, the homemade instant oatmeal had a bit of a smoother texture than store bought and took less liquid to prepare, but overall they tasted much the same.

You can see the difference in texture between homemade oatmeal mix on the left and Quaker mix on the right

There is a little more effort that you have to put into mixing up a batch of homemade mix, but it is the easiest thing to do and afterwards, the time it takes to make a bowl of oatmeal from the mix is the same as using a store bought packet.  The last positive attribute about homemade instant oatmeal is that there are so many different flavors you could try!  I am planning on adding nuts or dried fruit to future variations and you could also try different flavored sugars or spices.  Please let me know in the comments if you have any ideas for new and improved flavors!

Bottom Line: Homemade instant oatmeal is so easy to prepare and much cheaper than store bought.  The flavors were very similar to the store bought varieties and there are so many great ways to customize them.  However, the homemade version is smoother and the oats are smaller than in store bought instant oatmeal.  Thus, if you are picky about the texture of your oatmeal, you may still prefer instant oatmeal from a packet.