Instant Pot Steel Cut Oats

At a glance

What stands out: Making Instant Pot steel cut oats is straightforward, almost completely hands-off, and creates the reliable hearty breakfast!

How long it takes: 5 minutes to prep and about 35 minutes in the Instant Pot, depending on how quickly it comes to full pressure
Equipment you’ll need: pressure cooker/Instant Pot
Servings: 8

Oatmeal For Breakfast

Creamy, warm, and comforting, we'd say that oatmeal is a reliable breakfast. A good bowl of oatmeal with a little milk and honey will stick with you until lunchtime (no growly tummies an hour after breakfast!). And because oatmeal has lots of soluble fiber, your gut will be happy too.

There are many ways to fix and eat oatmeal. Who doesn’t love crunchy granola made with oats? It’s great as a snack or for breakfast. We love to make steel cut oats in our slow cooker. Get it started before you go to bed and a warm breakfast is waiting for you when you awaken. Baked oatmeal is a fun alternative to a bowl of oatmeal and you can even cut it into fun shapes for the kids.

Instant Pot Oatmeal

Made with steel cut oats. This Instant Pot oatmeal recipe is made with steel cut oats (sometimes called Irish or Scottish oats). If a little packet of instant oatmeal is your only experience with oatmeal, you’ve been deprived of a good oatmeal breakfast. There’s simply no comparison to home-cooked steel cut oats. They are chewy, wholesome, and satisfying!

Easier than cooking it on the stove. Steel cut oats take longer to cook than rolled oats. When you make steel cut oatmeal on the stovetop, you have to stir it to make sure it doesn’t burn or stick on the bottom, and it has a tendency to boil over. Using a pressure cooker eliminates all these problems. You just combine the oats, water, and a bit of salt, put the lid on, set it and walk away!

A simple process. Combine the oats and water in your Instant Pot. It will take about ten minutes to come to pressure. Once it pressurizes, the oats will cook for 5 minutes, and then you’ll let the pressure release naturally (aka do nothing) for about twenty minutes. Remove the cover and give the oatmeal a good stir before you serve it.

Cooking Tip

Oatmeal tends to thicken as it cools. If you prefer oatmeal with a thinner consistency, add more water when you cook it. We wouldn’t recommend reducing the water much, if at all, because you’ll be more likely to get a burn notice on your Instant Pot.

Serving Suggestions & Toppings

• Cinnamon oatmeal. Try cooking the oatmeal with a cinnamon stick for a subtle cinnamon flavor. Give it a hearty sprinkle of ground cinnamon when it finishes cooking. Serve with cinnamon sugar.
• Sweeten the oatmeal. There are lots of options! We like a sprinkle of brown sugar or a drizzle of pure maple syrup. A swirl of jam or jelly is rich too.
• Add a splash of milk or cream. This will cool down the oatmeal a little bit so you’re able to eat it, and it also gives you extra protein.
• Add toppings. Fresh berries are memorable on oatmeal. Try sliced bananas, nut butters, sunflower seed butter, chocolate chips, sautéed apples, toasted nuts, or shredded coconut. Toasted pecans, walnuts, or almonds are wonderful, too. Try stirring in a little pumpkin purée and pumpkin pie spice for fall-themed oatmeal. Sprinkle on a handful of roasted pepitas. Our mom enjoys leftover cinnamon apple cranberry sauce in her morning bowl of oatmeal! For a more savory breakfast, top your oatmeal with a fried egg.

Keeping leftovers

Refrigerate: Leftover Instant Pot oatmeal will keep for about a week in the fridge so you can enjoy it all week. Cooked oatmeal is reliable for meal prepping!

Freeze: You can also freeze it (we recommend freezing in individual portions) for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge and then warm int he microwave or on the stove.

Reheat: Steel cut oats reheat well on the stovetop or in the microwave. You might find they thicken a bit, but you can thin them down with water or a milk of your choice.

• Yield: 8
• Prep: 5 minutes
• Cook: 5 minutes
• Total: 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups steel cut oats (may be called Irish or Scotch oats)
• 5 ½ cups water (see note)
• ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
• milk, brown sugar, cinnamon, berries for serving

Method

1. Combine oats, water, and salt in the bowl of a 6-quart pressure cooker (Instant Pot). Secure lid, turn valve to seal if necessary.
2. Set to Pressure Cook (or manual, high pressure, depending on your model), for 5 minutes.
3. Once cook time has elapsed, let the pressure release naturally for 20 minutes. You do this by just leaving it alone. It has a timer that will count how much time has elapsed since it finished but you can also set a timer if you think you’ll forget to check.
4. When 20 minutes has passed, carefully turn the valve to vent any remaining pressure. Once the pressure has released, carefully remove the cover.
5. Stir the oatmeal, and serve with desired toppings. Oats will continue to thicken as they set. Makes 5 to 6 cups of oatmeal.

Notes

Steel cut oats: Steel cut oats are not the same as old-fashioned or speedy oats. The oats are not rolled into thin flakes but rather cut into small pieces, which take a little longer to cook. This recipe is designed for steel cut oats and won’t work for other types of oats. You don’t need to rinse or soak steel cut oats before cooking them.

Adjusting consistency: If you prefer thinner oatmeal, use 6 cups of water. We don’t recommend using less water to make the oatmeal because you’re like to get a burn notice on your Instant Pot. Remember, the oatmeal thickens as it cools.

Storage: Leftover Instant Pot oatmeal can be refrigerated for about a week. You can freeze oatmeal (we recommend freezing in individual portions) for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge.

Reheating: Steel cut oats reheat well on the stovetop or in the microwave. You might find they thicken a bit, but you can thin them down with water or a milk of your choice.