Overnight steel cut oatmeal made in a slow cooker is an easy breakfast that will keep everyone full! Adding dried cherries and vanilla helps give this slow cooker oatmeal a boost of flavor.
I’m not a big fan of oatmeal. I grew up eating the instant packets of oatmeal, but they weren’t my favorite breakfast. As an adult I discovered steel cut oats and I do like those better, but they can take a while to cook up on the stove top. Ain’t no one got 30 minutes to cook oatmeal in the morning!
So then I tried baking oatmeal and I love my Chocolate Peanut Butter Baked Oatmeal Recipe. But again, it takes time to make in the morning.
I finally tried making slow cooker oatmeal hoping that I’d be able to wake up to breakfast in the morning. It totally worked! If you are a late sleep, watch the timing. The oatmeal will dry out the longer it cooks. I like mine nice and creamy.
If your slow cooker doesn’t have a timer, try using a programmable light timer. Most of the smaller slow cookers aren’t programmable so I always uses this trick to make sure they food doesn’t over cook.
I love the flavor of this vanilla cherry oatmeal. I have a huge container of dried cherries in my pantry that I used. But you could definitely use dried cranberries or any other dried fruit in this recipe.
This recipe made enough for my husband and I to have 1 cup servings for three mornings and it re-heated really well on the stove with just a bit of extra milk added.
Cherry Vanilla Overnight Steel Cut Oatmeal in the Slow Cooker
Cherry Vanilla Slow Cooker Oatmeal
Ingredients
- 2.5 cups water
- 2.5 cups milk
- 1 1/4 cup steel cut oats
- 1/3 cup dried cherries, chopped
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Stir together all ingredients in a small slow cooker.
- Cook on low for 7 hours. Stir and serve immediately.
- If you think you'll need an hour or more to sleep, add a bit more liquid so the oatmeal doesn't dry out.
Recipe adapted from Weight Watchers
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