Steel cut oats cook overnight with bananas, walnuts and spices to create a healthy, make-ahead breakfast that will be waiting for you in the morning.
If I had to offer one secret when it comes to reaching weight loss or healthy living goals it would be to start every day with a healthy breakfast. Of course, you’ve heard it 100 times but I also know that it isn’t so easy for everyone. People often tell me they don’t have time to make breakfast or they aren’t hungry first thing in the morning.
Listen up, friends. You must make eating breakfast a part of your daily routine. If you aren’t hungry in the morning, that likely means your metabolism isn’t running at it’s highest potential. Even if you just start with a piece of fruit or a slice of whole grain toast, try to eat something within an hour of waking up.
Breakfast literally means “breaking the fast”. You haven’t eaten in close to 12 hours and your body needs a balanced meal to get going again! If you start eating breakfast, your body will begin to crave it when you wake up. Hunger is a sign of your metabolism functioning and the higher the metabolism, the more calories you burn throughout the day – even when you’re sitting on your bum playing on Pinterest.
And for those of you who claim not to have time in the morning, I’ve taken that excuse out of the pile! Take five minutes the night before to throw together this slow cooker banana nut oatmeal and you will wake up to delicious aromas of bananas, walnuts and spices. Since the slow cooker will keep it warm, everyone can help themselves in the morning regardless of their schedule. Easy as pie…er…oats.
Your spoon is waiting.
Slow Cooker Banana Nut Oatmeal
Ingredients
- 1 cup steel cut oats
- 1 ripe banana mashed
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
- 2 cups skim milk or almond milk
- 2 cups water
- 2 tablespoons flax seed meal
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- slices banana walnuts or brown sugar - optional garnish
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a slow cooker and stir until well combined.
- Cook overnight on Low for 8 hours.
- In the morning, stir oatmeal with a fork to loosen the steel cut oats and make sure everything is fully incorporated.
- Serve warm with banana slices, chopped walnuts or a pinch of brown sugar if you wish.
Video
Recipe Notes:
Photography by Alejandro Photography // Recipe by The Lemon Bowl
kathleen
May 21, 2019 at 10:38 amNever thought breakfast means ‘breaking the fast’. That got me smiling. I love bananas and will use almond milk. Yum! Thanks for sharing.
Liz DellaCroce
May 24, 2019 at 8:56 amhahah :) Enjoy!
Kara Mathys @Wellnessgrit
March 13, 2019 at 11:54 amOh my! This banana nut oatmeal was delicious and so easy to make! Will have to try this for my family. Thanks so much!
Liz DellaCroce
March 13, 2019 at 5:13 pmI’m so happy you loved it!!!
Sumera
January 21, 2018 at 12:59 pmReally wanted this to work. I used the. Vitaclay slow cooker so took less time (2 hours). However a lot stuck to bottom and was burned. The cinnamon taste was overwhelming. Really wanted to like this. But unfortunately the taste wasn’t good. There was also an element of burned taste due to the bottom part burning.
Liz DellaCroce
January 22, 2018 at 3:08 pmHi Sumera, I’m so sorry to hear this didn’t work for you! I’ve never used one of those slow cookers but I have heard some people having success placing the oats in a bowl over about 2 inches of water. Either way my apologies that it didn’t work – we make this regularly and love it but we use a standard Crock pot.
Sumera
February 16, 2018 at 4:12 pmThanks for your response.
Kathy
February 11, 2019 at 4:18 pmI put my oatmeal mixture in a glass bowl the fits inside the crockpot and I fill the crockpot halfway with water. It keeps it from burning and sticking.
Liz DellaCroce
February 12, 2019 at 1:41 pmSo glad to hear!
Joni
May 2, 2017 at 8:52 pmI don’t have a glass container that I could put in the slower cooker. Should I spray the slow cooker with cooking spray?
Liz DellaCroce
May 3, 2017 at 6:16 pmYes that’s a great option!
Kim
April 26, 2017 at 3:31 pmMade this just now. Tastes delicious! Added in a little extra banana and 1 tablespoon of chia seeds. I have made a lot of steel cut oats in my slow cooker and knew they would be done in just two hours on low. I let mine cool and then I portioned them out (8 servings) and I plop the portions onto a cookie sheet lined with foil and sprayed with non-stick spray. They are in the freeze now. I’ll put them in a big zip close plastic bag when they are frozen. Awesome recipe. Thanks.
Liz DellaCroce
April 30, 2017 at 11:38 amAhh love the changes you made!
Gabi
February 6, 2017 at 8:09 pmI am a huge fan of all of your recipes. This one was great too. I think using almond milk didn’t get as nice a consistency, but it tasted lovely.
For all your recipes it would be really helpful to have the amount of cups or grams equivalent to one serving. It really helps with portion control and adapting recipes to Weight Watchers or similar.
Liz DellaCroce
February 7, 2017 at 1:47 pmHi Gabi – I’m so glad you enjoyed it!! I apologize for the serving size. I am working to incorporate it for all my recipes in the “Notes” section. Unfortunately my recipe plugin program doesn’t support a serving size in cups so I’m trying to work around that. If there are any specific recipes you want specific amounts for just let me know.
Cait
April 1, 2019 at 7:36 amI made this lastnight. It didn’t have much of a banana flavor, but taste more like cinnamon. The texture was weird, too. This isn’t a favorite in our house.
Liz DellaCroce
April 4, 2019 at 10:45 amHi Cait – Shoot I’m sorry this didn’t work out for you. That’s interesting – were your bananas ripe?
La'Shawn
January 16, 2017 at 10:20 pmI only had half and half. I used one and a half cups of half and half and the other two and a half cups of water to make the four cups of liquid. Since I used half and half will this curdle?
Liz DellaCroce
January 17, 2017 at 7:56 pmNope should be delicious!!
Lena
January 13, 2017 at 3:16 pmLooks like a time saver for those early mornings. I normally soak the oats with acv and rye overnight to neutralize some of the phytic acid. It also decreases the cooking time. Could I still do that with this recipe? Would I decrease the cook time?
Liz DellaCroce
January 13, 2017 at 3:33 pmI’m not sure Lena as I’ve never done that before – so sorry!
Mary Harper
November 22, 2016 at 6:01 amHi was just wondering if anyone knew the sun value of this recipe on slimming world or if there was a way of making it slimming world friendly?
Stephanie
April 24, 2016 at 12:36 amMy daughter found this recipe a few months back and I made it for the first time when the kids had state testing. I wanted to make sure they had a great warm filling breakfast. They asked for it all that week and the last month have been making it at least once a week. I have never liked oatmeal but I gave this a try for breakfast and really enjoyed it. It is just as good reheated the next morning too. I use Chia seeds in a lot of things so this is what I use instead of flax.
Thank you for a wonderful recipe
Liz DellaCroce
April 25, 2016 at 2:29 pmOh Stephanie I’m so happy to hear this!!! We make this all the time in the winter but you’ve inspired me to make it again soon! It’s one of our favorites!!
Shannon
April 8, 2016 at 12:29 pmI’m not sure what I did wrong but when I made this, the oats themselves turned out goopy and gross-looking and the mashed banana had browned and seemed like it was burned. I had my crock pot on low for 8 hours. Only things I did differently was I used classic oats instead of steel cut because that’s all I had, and didn’t have any flax seed to include. I love the idea of this but wish it had worked better. Any advice on how to fix it? Thanks!
Liz DellaCroce
April 13, 2016 at 8:16 amHi Shannon – I’m afraid this recipe doesn’t work for old fashioned oats. You’ll need to use steel cut oats as instructed in the recipe in order to get the correct consistency. Enjoy!
Autumn
December 7, 2016 at 6:08 amI used Steel cut oats and had the same problem. The banana browned and the milk curdled.
Liz DellaCroce
December 9, 2016 at 12:13 pmDoes your slow cooker tend to run hot? Maybe next time try more water – so sorry to hear that! We make it all the time and love it!
Hayley
August 23, 2017 at 11:28 amSame issue here. I even generously buttered my slow cooker and it still stuck to the sides and was browned and burned in a lot of places. Disappointing. I wonder if it would work if cooked for 5-6 hours instead of 8?
Liz DellaCroce
August 23, 2017 at 9:13 pmShoot that’s too bad!! I will say I have four slow cookers and some are stronger than others. Try it next time for four hours. WORSE case you can always microwave a bit in the morning. Start with four and go up from there. :)
Beth
February 11, 2016 at 9:06 pmDoes anyone know about soaking or slow cooking with Cream of Wheat? one of my daughters and myself prefer Bobs Red Mill Creamy Wheat/Creamy Rice farina 1/2 each. We, also, like soaking oatmeal (rest of the family) overnight and cooking to get more nutrition out of it. But, can’t see what the consistency would be for cream of wheat…just wanting to know if someone else has tried it before I possibly throw some out…:)
Liz DellaCroce
February 12, 2016 at 8:12 amOooooh cream of wheat is a great idea! Let me know what you find out!
Sally
February 9, 2016 at 10:50 amJust discovered this recipe over the weekend…it turned out amazing! 21 Day Fixer here and it works great for me. Thank you for sharing!!
Liz DellaCroce
February 9, 2016 at 10:51 amOh I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!!! Let me know what other recipes you try Sally!
Jeffrey
January 29, 2016 at 6:28 pmLooks great, I like my banana oatmeal with cardamom…Give it a try!
Jody G.
January 13, 2016 at 9:30 amDelicious and easy once I picked out all of the burnt walnuts…I must have kept it on for too long overnight. But, my family loved it. I won’t add nuts until after cooked next time I make it!
Liz DellaCroce
January 16, 2016 at 8:21 amWhat?? Burnt walnuts?? Oh no!! Did you add enough liquid?