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This Simple Oatmeal Combo Is A Guaranteed Breakfast Upgrade

During the winter, there's nothing like a warm, hearty bowl of oatmeal to get the day started right. You don't need to get fancy with it — making the perfect oatmeal is as easy as 2 parts water, 1 part oats, and a dash of salt. However, if you want to upgrade the textures of your morning bowl, British chef April Bloomfield has a simple combination in her book of recipes and stories, "A Girl and Her Pig": steel-cut and rolled oats together!

What makes this simple trick work amongst so many other delicious oatmeal upgrades is that it provides extra texture while still keeping it about the oats. For the steel-cut oats to be ready to eat, you have to cook them for 20 minutes. Granted, that's longer than it would usually take to make oatmeal. While cooking both at the same time will make your rolled oats a bit mushier, the added firmness from the steel-cut oats will keep the dish interesting. Her other addition is making your oatmeal with a half-milk and half-water mixture, adding a creamy richness to your breakfast.

Steel-cut versus rolled oats

The difference between steel-cut and rolled oats is how they are processed. They are the same thing — oats with the hulls removed — but the different processes they undergo affect the flavor and the amount of time needed to cook them.

Rolled oats are the oat grain, or groat, softened with steam then rolled flat. Afterward, they are kiln-dried so that they last longer and get a toasty flavor. The kiln-drying process stops the enzyme lipase from breaking down the fatty acids in the oats and making them rancid. This is why, if stored properly, dried oats can last a long time!

Steel-cut oats undergo less processing — they are simply the whole oat cut into two or three little pieces. This gives them a nuttier flavor and a firmer texture compared to rolled oats. These oats don't last as long since the enzyme in them that breaks down the fatty acids is still active. The larger size and different process means that they need more time to cook, typically 20 to 30 minutes. One trick to making steel-cut oats for breakfast is to prep them ahead of time, saving you valuable morning minutes!