Bready or Not Original: Slow Cooker Apple Steel Cut Oats

These Slow Cooker Apple Steel Cut Oats are not the most photogenic of foods, but they are delicious, healthy, and good, and probably one of the most convenient meals in my cooking repertoire.

I’ve been cooking this recipe for over five years now, tweaking it here and there, making it better. What I present here is really a foundation. This recipe can be customized all kinds of ways–either when the food is being assembled, by adding in different spices or apples, or by tweaking it at serving time.

I love using Gala, Honeycrisp, or Pink Lady apples, but go for any good baking-type apple or a variety thereof. You don’t want the apples to go to mush. Or maybe you do? That might not be a terrible thing here.

I typically use unsweetened vanilla almond milk or cashew milk, but any plain or vanilla nut, soy, or oat milks would work, or you can opt for dairy milk.

This isn’t an overnight slow cooker oats recipe. I’ve tried that. Even on low and warm settings, the oats just plain overcooked for my preference. The consistency goes brick-like and the pot requires some intense scraping if you don’t use a removable liner. I prefer to make this during the day, and then portion out the oats to go in the fridge and freezer. They reheat beautifully.

PrintBready or Not Original: Slow Cooker Apple Steel Cut OatsThese convenient slow cooker steel cut oats cook up in under 4 hours and can be portioned out to enjoy for a full week–or longer, if you freeze some! This is a hearty, healthy breakfast food if ever there was one.Course BreakfastCuisine AmericanKeyword apple, maple, oats, steel cut oatsAuthor Beth CatoEquipmentlarge slow cookerIngredients2 cups steel cut oats no substitutes2 cups nut milk or oat milk, regular or vanilla, sweetened or unsweetened2 cups water2 medium apples peeled and chopped1/4 cup brown sugar packed1/4 cup pure maple syrup2 teaspoons ground cinnamon1/4 teaspoon sea salt2 teaspoons vanilla extractInstructionsPlace all ingredients in slow cooker and stir to distribute. Place lid on pot and put heat level to LOW. Cook for 3 hours before lifting lid again. Stir and taste to test doneness. Continue to cook for 30 minutes to an hour more, dependent on the desired texture for the oats. The longer it cooks, the thicker it will be.Serve oats fresh, or stash in fridge to reheat in microwave over the next week. These oats are great to portion out and freeze for later. If desired, add more spices, fresh fruit, or extra milk when serving–the customization possibilities are endless!*OM NOM NOM!*