In this quick stovetop oatmeal recipe, rolled oats are simmered in a creamy mixture of brown sugar & spice with fresh apples. Top with with crunchy pecans before serving! Oatmeal is packed with nutrition, antioxidants, fiber, and all the B-vitamin energy to get through the day!
An Easy Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Recipe
Just 3 easy steps to prepare this breakfast recipe! Prepare a double batch at the beginning of the week to have healthy breakfasts all week long. Pop leftovers in a muffin tin and put them into the freezer for individual portions ready anytime.
Ingredients
Oats – Use old-fashioned oats (also called rolled oats). They have a firmer texture than quick oats. If you’d like to use steel-cut oats increase the liquid and cook them partway. Add the apples 15 minutes before they are ready so the apples don’t get mushy. Milk – A splash of milk added to the cooking water adds a creamy texture to this oatmeal recipe. Non-dairy milk works perfecto too. Add-Ins – Granny Smith is our first choice for how it holds its shape and adds a nice tart flavor. Raisins are added for sweetness but swap them out for cranberries (or other dried fruits) if you don’t love raisins.
Variations
Swap the granny smith apple for another kind of apple. Gala, fuji, honeycrisp, or your favorite apple will all work. Change the milk for a dairy-free milk, such as almond milk, and butter for coconut oil to make it vegan. The following are the water:oats ratios. We substitute some of the water for milk for creamier oats but this is optional.
For old Fashioned/Rolled Oats, use 1 cup water to 1/2 cup oats.
Add a topping of chopped pecans, sliced almonds, chopped walnuts, or mix in other dried fruit. For a touch of sweetness, try adding cinnamon sugar or topping with maple syrup or honey! Frozen berries or frozen bananas are great to stir in before serving (and help cool the oatmeal to serve to kids!).
How to Make Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal
Oatmeal is so warm and comforting, and it’s super easy to make a hot and healthy breakfast with this easy recipe. Top with nuts, whipped cream, extra brown sugar, fruit, or fruit preserves.
Tips for Perfect Oatmeal
Cook the oats in a combination of water and milk for a creamy consistency. Swap out the cinnamon for apple pie spice, pumpkin pie spice, or sprinkle in some nutmeg. For this recipe, it’s best to use old-fashioned (or rolled) oats. Quick oats or easy oats will become too soft. If your oatmeal thickens too much, stir in some milk, cream, or even applesauce to thin it out. The apples and raisins add more texture, but feel free to add nuts or coconut.
More Oatmeal Dishes
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title: “Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal” ShowToc: true date: “2024-10-18” author: “Jeff Meyer”
It served me well during my postpartum period, when I was looking for something warm, quick, and filling for breakfast. I found myself prepping it in advance for future breakfasts and feeling thoroughly nourished after every bowl!
What I Mean By “TCM Twist”
TCM, or Traditional Chinese Medicine, often uses food to help heal the body. Though we aren’t TCM experts or doctors, we do have knowledge that has been passed down from older generations. As I myself get older (I’m staring down the barrel of 34 this year), I’ve begun taking all the “old wives” tales, advice, and guidance my mom and grandma have shared over the years more seriously! (That is, I’ve gone from completely ignoring it in my childhood and teen years to faithfully adhering to such rules as: not going to bed with my hair wet, wearing socks or slippers in the house—avoiding bare feet, especially in the colder months—and drinking ginger date tea when I feel a cold coming on.) So when I recently had a baby and went through my 1-Month Post Childbirth Confinement, I knew I wasn’t exactly supposed to be downing bacon and eggs every single morning. Let me pause here to tell you that I am generally NOT an oatmeal fan. It’s just never been my go-to, and every time I’d eat it, I would wonder why I—or anyone else—bothered with such a boring food. But darn it, after I had Ethan, I was craving the stuff! I think I was just looking for something steamy and warm and maybe just a little bit sweet to coat my insides after what turned out to be a stressful (and SHIVERY—no one told me how much shivering there’d be) emergency C-section. ANYWAY, I decided to go with that most classic of oatmeal combinations: apples and cinnamon. I also added:
Chinese red dates: sweet and delicious, but also for healing, building blood, and reducing fatigue (believe you me…I had fatigue in spades.) Goji berries: an antioxidant-rich superfood gaining more popularity in the West and used in Chinese cooking to promote circulation and boost the immune system Walnuts: to expel cold and in regular nutrition-speak, provide healthy fats and protein Chinese Black Sugar: to warm the body.
Plus, cinnamon is also thought to warm the body and promote circulation! Oats are also a warming ingredient. Sense a pattern here? All the ingredients in this oatmeal were basically designed to help take my cold, depleted body and warm it back up! As a bonus some believe that oats support lactation, so if you’re a breastfeeding parent, that’s yet another reason to try this.
Just a Good Breakfast
All that aside, this is just a tasty, wholesome bowl of warm oatmeal, and it’s easy to boot. I always felt a bit better after eating it in the morning, and despite my previous oatmeal aversion, I found myself really enjoying it! There’s a lot of flavor here, from cinnamon, nutmeg, the dried fruit, apples, vanilla, and the Chinese black sugar (you can use brown sugar too, if you can’t find the Chinese stuff). From there, you can add additional flavorings:
One of my favorite additions was a dollop of plain yogurt for creaminess. A dab of peanut butter or almond butter isn’t bad either. If you’re looking for more sweetness, you can add more brown sugar to taste, or a drizzle of maple syrup. You could also experiment with nuts or other fruits.
The moral of the story: this recipe is endlessly customizable. An oatmeal recipe may not scream The Woks of Life. But it played such a big role in my life for a month, I had to document it here. Whether you’re healing from something, looking to make breakfast time a bit healthier, or you’re an ardent oatmeal fan who can’t fathom the shade I just threw at it, this recipe is for you!
Sarah’s Special Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal: Recipe Instructions
Bring water to a boil in a pot. Immediately stir in the oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, dates, goji berries, and apples. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for 15 minutes. I guess she’s right. This is the ratio that I enjoy. But if you want more oat in your meal, you can increase the oats by ½ cup, and increase the water to 3½ cups. You may need an extra spoonful of sugar and perhaps another dash of cinnamon to even it out. Just follow your kitchen instincts and make this recipe your own. Uncover the pot, and stir in the Chinese sugar and vanilla. Cover once again, and let sit for another 5 minutes to thicken. If the oatmeal is too thick for your liking, you can add water. If it’s not thick enough, cook it a little longer. (The oatmeal will thicken as it sits, so you can always stir in additional water if needed.) Sprinkle with nuts, and top with any optional ingredients if desired. Serve!
