Instant Pot Oatmeal

Instant Pot Oatmeal: How to cook old fashioned oats perfectly in the pressure cooker. Ideas for toppings, and flavor combinations as well. 

If you asked my kids what they eat most often, they would tell you hands down oatmeal.

Since they were babies, oatmeal has been a staple at our house. I have always loved oatmeal and even have a whole list of recipes made with oats.

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Oats are a great source of fiber, whole grains and help to regulate blood sugar.

When we were gluten-free, dairy-free, and egg-free due to food allergies, oats were our “safe” go whole grain choice.

And bottom line, we LOVE oatmeal–whether Overnight Banana Peanut Butter Oatmeal, Hot Cocoa Oatmeal, or Apple Pie Oatmeal.

I love to make a large batch of overnight slow cooker oats like Strawberries and Cream Oatmeal or Maple Cinnamon Oatmeal and have breakfast waiting for us.

But I have found a new way of making oatmeal that is quickly becoming the preferred method at our house and that is with my Instant Pot.

Instant Pot Oatmeal

While waking up to a slow cooker full of steel cut oats is dreamy, and grabbing a jar of overnight oatmeal from the refrigerator is a great start to a hot summer morning, I am in love with Instant Pot Oatmeal for a few reasons.

In less than 25 minutes from start to finish, I can make a large batch of oatmeal that can be customized a million different ways to please everyone in my family–so the person who doesn’t like bananas can have raisins and walnuts instead.

And yes, 20ish  minutes may seem like a long time when you can boil old fashioned oats on the stove and cook in 5 minutes—Rememeber you still have to bring the water to a boil and then you have to constantly stir your oats while cooking.

In the Instant Pot, making homemade oatmeal with old fashioned oats is COMPLETELY hands off.

So I can set everything up for oatmeal in the pressure cooker when I wake up and by the time I have gotten my kids out of bed and dressed, breakfast is ready to be served.

I also love making Instant Pot Oatmeal on a Sunday while meal prepping and then letting cool and refrigerating to reheat portions on busy school mornings.

How to Cook Old Fashioned Oats in the Instant Pot

Making old fashioned oats in the Instant Pot is incredibly simple.

RIDICUOSLY SIMPLE.

Step One: Place your trivet in your inner pot of your pressure cooker and pour in 1 cup cold water.

Step Two: In a heat safe bowl (I use a 7 cup pyrex glass dish), mix your oats and liquid together with a bit of flax seed. The flax seed is optional but adds omega fatty acids and fiber.

I choose to use half water and half dairy of any kind (coconut milk, cows milk, almond milk, etc). You can use all water or all dairy. In my experience all water is incredibly bland and using all dairy/non-dairy as your liquid dosen’t result in oats breaking down into a creamy texture.

It is important to note if you are using a high fat dairy (like coconut cream or whole milk) you MUST use only half full fat dairy product with half water so the fat in your dairy will not separate.

Another important thing to remember when cooking oats in your instant pot, much like rice, you will NOT need as much liquid as you do when cooking on the stove top. This is because, when you cook oats on the stove, liquid is evaporated (even if your pan has a tight fitting lid, but in the pressure cooker, no liquid is evaporated.

Step Three: Put the lid on your instant pot, turn your valve to “sealed” and set your pressure cooker to cook on high pressure for 8 minutes.  I have found it takes anywhere from 5-10 minutes to come to pressure.

Step Four: Allow your oatmeal to sit in the Instant Pot for 5 minutes before doing a quick release of remaining pressure–see my tips on doing a quick release in my Instant Pot 101.

I would not release pressure right away, because this may cause your oatmeal to spill out of your pot in pot.

Step Five: Serve warm with any desired toppings.

Flavor Varieties for Instant Pot Old Fashioned Oatmeal:

There are as about as many varieties of oatmeal as there are people.

One of the main reasons I love to make a big batch of plain Instant Pot Oatmeal is so that each person can flavor their oatmeal exactly as they desire.

Here are a few of my favorite Instant Pot Oatmeal serving ideas. Each recipe is for one serving of oatmeal.

• Vanilla Maple: 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1/2 tablespoon maple syrup
•  Chocolate Peanut Butter: 1 tablespoon cocoa powder, 1 tablespoons peanut butter,  and 1/2 tablespoon maple syrup.
• Almond Joy: use coconut milk as your dairy or top cooked oatmeal with a bit of coconut milk before serving and top with mini chocolate chips, shredded coconut and toasted almonds
• Pumpkin Pie: mix in 2-3 tablespoons pumpkin puree, 1/2 tablespoon maple syrup, 1/2 teaspoon each of cinnamon, nutmeg and 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger.
• Raisin Nut: top oatmeal with a dash of cinnamon and 1-2 tablespoons each of raisins and chopped walnuts.
• Apple Pie: top oatmeal with chopped fresh apple, cinnamon, and honey or maple syrup.
• Honey Nut: stir in 1 tablespoon honey and top with toasted nuts of any variety.
• Pina Colada: top oatmeal with pineapple chunks, toasted coconut and sliced bananas. Serve with a splash of coconut milk.
• Savory Sausage and Cheese: add in 1/4 cup cooked crumbled sauasage and 1/4 cup shredded cheese.
• Savory Bacon and Egg: top oatmeal crumbled bacon and a fried egg
• Berries and Cream: stir in 1/4 cup fresh berries. 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 1/4 cup yogurt

More delicious breakfast recipes

 Tips on Instant Pot Oats:

• In order to make gluten-free oatmeal be sure to use certified gluten-free oats.
• In order to make these Instant Pot Oats vegan use non-dairy milk.
• If you want to use quick-cooking or instant oats in place old fashioned oats, adjust cooking time to 5 minutes on high pressure and decrease liquid by 1/2 cup in oatmeal mixture.
• If I am planning on serving a sweet variety of Instant Pot oatmeal, I will often add in up to 1/2 cup liquid I have leftover from soaking dates for Homemade Chewy Granola Bars or the juice from canned fruit in 100% juice. It is a frugal tip to add sweetness naturally to your morning oatmeal (for as much liquid as you add, take that much water away from the recipe. If I were to use 1/2 cup juice, I would only use 1/2 cups water instead of 1 cup of water.)
• Do you have to cook this oatmeal using the pot in pot method? No, you don’t have to. I would grease your inner pot with butter or coconut oil and then use only water–no milk or non-dairy milk or you may have the milk burn on the bottom of the inner pot of your pressure cooker.

How to make Instant Pot Oatmeal

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Instant Pot Oatmeal

How to cook old fashioned oats in your pressure cooker for creamy, perfectly cooked oatmeal. 

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Keyword Instant Pot Oatmeal

Prep Time 2 minutes

Cook Time 8 minutes

Total Time 10 minutes

Servings 6

Calories 160 kcal

Ingredients

• 2 cups old fashioned oats
• 2 cups water DIVIDED
• 2 cups dairy of choice
• 1 tablespoon flaxseed

Instructions

1. Insert steamer rack inside inner pot of Instant Pot. Add in 1 cup of water to inner pot. 

2. Inside a 7 cup heat safe bowl, mix together the oats, 1 cup water, dairy and flax seed.

3. Place bowl on top of steaming rack and put lid on Instant pot. 

4. Set Valve to "sealed" and set manual or time to 8 minutes on high pressure.

5. Allow to naturally release for 5 minutes before carefully releasing any addtional steam by using a wooden spoon to turn valve to vent. 

6. Remove bowl carefully from pressure cooker and then serve with desired toppings or allow to cool and store in fridge to reheat as needed. 

Recipe Notes

Total Time: 10 minutes to come to pressure + 8 Minutes Cooking Time + 5 Minutes Release= 22 total minutes. 

See recipe for variety of flavors

Nutrition Facts

Instant Pot Oatmeal

Amount Per Serving

Calories 160 Calories from Fat 45

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 5g 8%

Saturated Fat 1g 5%

Cholesterol 8mg 3%

Sodium 41mg 2%

Potassium 218mg 6%

Total Carbohydrates 22g 7%

Dietary Fiber 3g 12%

Sugars 4g

Protein 6g 12%

Vitamin A 2.6%

Calcium 11.3%

Iron 6.9%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

You May Need the following to make Instant Pot Oatmeal

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