Best Ever Crock Pot Oatmeal, without the Mess

Name: Best Ever Crock Pot Oatmeal, without the Mess
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 9 h
Total time: 9 h 5 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 1 cup steel-cut oats (yes, you do need the steel-cut kind); 3 cups water; 1 cup non-dairy milk, like unsweet almond milk; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 1 tsp cinnamon; optional: 2 TBS brown sugar (alternatively, you can add toppings later); TOPPINGS: sliced fruit, chia seeds, yogurt, chocolate chips, etc

by Ashley Keating September 7, 2021

Best Ever Crock Pot Oatmeal, without the Mess

Do you love breakfast?

Do you love hearty, filling breakfasts that can be made ahead of time and keep you full for hours? Slow cooker oatmeal is probably going to be your new favorite thing. Throw in some powerful, superfood steel-cut oats, sleep for 7 or 8 hours, and wake up to the most delicious smelling house. Then tuck into a bowl of chewy, nutty oatmeal, topped with anything that sounds amazing to you-- sliced fruit, chia seeds, chocolate chips, sprinkles, might as well go crazy!

Crock pot Oatmeal

It's no secret that we love oatmeal around here. We also love super easy, budget-saving, kid-friendly, make-ahead meals that can be decked out with toppings! Crock pot oatmeal is all of these things. (We recommend that you give this Apple Pie Slow Cooker Oatmeal a try!) What do we NOT love about oats in the Crock-pot? Cooking all night often leads to a crusty, dry oatmeal ring around the Slow Cooker. While it doesn't affect the taste or the awesomeness of the oats, that stuff is HARD to wash off. In my house, it normally means soaking the Slow Cooker with soapy water for a few hours before popping it in the dishwasher.

I don't love it when one half of my sink is taken up by a soaking appliance. This was the price I had to pay for a great morning, I thought. I was wrong. Introducing: the best ever way to make Crock Pot oats. This amazing method keeps your oats from drying out AND it keeps the crock pot much cleaner. Some might say, cleaning would be almost non-existent with this method. Are you excited yet?

Steps for the Best Ever Crock Pot Oatmeal

Here are the steps:

Find an oven-safe bowl that is big enough to hold your ingredients and small enough to fit inside your Crock pot.
Add your ingredients (see the recipe: steel-cut oats and liquid). Then fill the bottom of the crock pot with water, almost up to the level of the top of the bowl. (You don't want the water to get into your oats.) The bowl with the water acts as a kind of double boiler. Pop on the lid.
Cook on low for 7 to 8 hours. Remove lid, spoon into bowls, and enjoy with toppings!

See how easy? I'm dying to know what you think! (Please tell me in the comments! Did this change your life too??)