Oatmeal?  Underrated.  For the past several months, I’ve been loving my steel cut oats.  They’re inexpensive and easy to make, they’re healthy and versatile, and best of all, they’re delicious!  My favorite kind to buy is McCann’s Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal, imported from Ireland straight to my local Trader Joe’s.

There are a number of different ways to make steel cut oats.  You can make ’em on the stovetop in the morning, which can take about 30 minutes. (Who even has time for that before work?)  You can bake ’em.  But my personal favorite method?  Cooking a big batch of them overnight and heating them up in the morning.

It’s easy.  When you’re just about ready to head to bed, bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan, add 1 cup of steel cut oats, and let everything boil for exactly one minute.  (Careful, it can start to boil up right around the minute mark.)  After 60 seconds have passed, remove the oats and water from heat, cover the saucepan, and let ’em sit overnight.

In the morning, uncover the oats and let them cook on low heat for 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Eventually, you’ll start to learn how cooked you’d like your oats to be.  Cooking them for a shorter period of time keeps them chewier, while cooking them for a few extra minutes makes them a bit more tender.

Once they’re just about done, you can also add a few tablespoons of almond milk to the oats to thicken them up a bit and to give them a warmer, nuttier flavor.

Alright!  So your steel cut oats have turned magically turned into oatmeal overnight with minimal effort.  Now it’s time to build an even tastier masterpiece.  Sliced almonds, brown sugar, and cinnamon make one heck of a bowl of oatmeal.  I mean, it’s basically dessert for breakfast.

Overnight Steel Cut Oats with Sliced Almonds, Cinnamon and Brown Sugar

Prep Time: 1 minute + time for the oats to soak overnight
Cook Time: 10-12 minutes
Makes:  4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 cup steel cut oats
• 4 cups water
• 8T raw, unsalted sliced almonds
• 4T brown sugar
• Dash of cinnamon for each serving

Instructions

1. Before going to sleep, bring 4 cups of water to boil in a medium saucepan.  Add 1 cup of steel cut oats to the boiling water.  After 1 minute, remove the saucepan from the heat, cover, and let sit overnight.
2. The following morning, cook the oats uncovered over low heat for 10-12 minutes until warm and cooked through.  Stir occasionally.

Note: Leftovers can be stored and refrigerated for up to one week and reheated in the microwave for about 2 minutes.