Vegetarian Recipes

Slow Cooker Steel Cut Oatmeal

I’m not sure there’s anyone who loves steel cut oatmeal more than I do! This Slow Cooker Steel Cut Oatmeal is a great option when you want to make a big weekend breakfast for your family or if you’re like me and love meal prepping your breakfast for the week. The creamy, thick texture of the steel cut oats holds up very well in the fridge, so it’s perfect to grab in the mornings, add your favorite toppings and enjoy!

Overhead view of slow cooker steel cut oats in a crockpot with a spoon.

Easy Slow Cooker Steel Cut Oatmeal Recipe

Steel cut oats are one of my favorite breakfasts because they’re hearty, packed with fiber, and keep me full for hours…but they can take a while to cook on the stovetop, and I don’t always have time to stand there stirring. That’s why I love using the slow cooker! It makes the whole process (almost!) completely hands-off, so I can get on with my morning or meal prep a big batch without any extra effort.

I kept the flavors of this oatmeal warm and simple with just a little bit of cinnamon, vanilla, and brown sugar. The flavor is similar to our overnight oats base recipe, but with a more hearty and chewy texture. It’s perfect for building on with extra toppings like fresh fruit and berries, jams and spreads, or your favorite nuts and seeds. I love it, and I hope you do, too!

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Slow Cooker Steel Cut Oatmeal Recipe

Make meal-prep a breeze with this easy Slow Cooker Steel Cut Oatmeal recipe. It’s a hearty, fiber-packed breakfast that will keep you full until lunchtime!

Course Breakfast

Cuisine General

Total Cost ($1.73 recipe / $0.43 serving)

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 2 30

Total Time 2 40

Servings servings

Calories 230kcal

Author Marsha McDougal

Equipment

4-6 Quart Slow Cooker

Ingredients

1 cup steel cut oats* $0.99
3 cups water $0.00
1 cup milk $0.21
¾ tsp salt $0.03
½ tsp ground cinnamon $0.05
1 tsp vanilla $0.30
2 Tbsp brown sugar $0.08
½ Tbsp butter (for greasing) $0.07

Instructions

Gather all of the ingredients together. Grease the bottom and sides of a 4-6 quart slow cooker with butter.**
Add the steel cut oats, water, milk, salt, cinnamon, vanilla, and brown sugar to the slow cooker. Stir everything together until combined and sugar is dissolved.
Cover and cook on high for 2.5 to 3 hours or on low for 5 to 6 hours. Stir the oatmeal halfway through and quickly return the top to finish cooking. Serve immediately with maple syrup and your favorite toppings***.

See how we calculate recipe costs here.

Notes

*Steel cut oats require a lot more liquid than regular old-fashioned oats to cook. I used a combination of water and milk to give the oatmeal a creamy texture. For this reason, I don’t recommend swapping the steel cut oats for any other kind of oat in this recipe. Quick-cook or old-fashioned (rolled) oats are much softer and can become mushy in the crockpot.

**It’s important to grease your crockpot well. Otherwise, the steel cut oats can stick during cooking.

***Top with any of your favorite toppings! I love maple syrup and an extra sprinkle of cinnamon, but diced apples and chopped walnuts are a close second. Some other topping ideas include bananas, berries (fresh or frozen and thawed), strawberry jam, pumpkin butter, slivered almonds, dried cherries or cranberries, granola, or sunflower seeds.

You can easily double this recipe if you’re making it for a larger family or to meal prep your breakfast for the week.

Nutrition

how to make Slow Cooker Steel Cut Oatmeal step-by-step photos

The ingredients for slow cooker steel cut oatmeal.

Prep your slow cooker: Gather all of your ingredients. Using ½ Tbsp butter, grease the bottom and the sides of a 4-6 quart slow cooker. This will help avoid any sticking as the oatmeal cooks.

Oats and water in a slow cooker, with milk being poured in.

Add the ingredients: Pour 1 cup steel cut oats, 3 cups water, 1 cup milk, ¾ tsp salt, ½ tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp vanilla, and 2 Tbsp brown sugar into your greased slow cooker

Mix to combine: Give everything a stir until the sugar dissolves and the ingredients are evenly combined.

A wooden spoon mixing slow cooker steel cut oats in a crockpot.

Cover and cook: Add the slow cooker lid and cook on HIGH for 2.5 to 3 hours, or on LOW for 5 to 6 hours. I recommend stirring the oatmeal halfway, before quickly returning the lid to finish cooking. Once ready, serve it with all your favorite toppings!

Overhead view of crockpot steel cut oatmeal in bowls, one bowl is topped with maple syrup and cinnamon and the other is topped with chopped apples and walnuts.

How to Store & Reheat

I always double-batch this crockpot steel cut oatmeal recipe as it reheats well and lasts for about 4-5 days (more than enough time for my whole family to enjoy it!). Store your steel cut oatmeal in individual, airtight containers in the fridge. For reheating, I pop it in the microwave for a minute or two, stirring occasionally to evenly distribute the heat, and add a splash of milk or water if needed. You can also reheat it on the stovetop, adding a little bit of liquid and stirring until heated through.

Muesli

$2.54 recipe / $0.32 serving

Overhead view of overnight oats with various toppings

Overnight Oats (Base Recipe plus Variations)

$0.42 serving

Breakfast Cookies

$5.32 recipe / $0.35 serving

Savory Oatmeal

$1.51 recipe

The post Slow Cooker Steel Cut Oatmeal appeared first on Budget Bytes.

Cheesy Vegetarian

Easy Mediterranean Lentil Meatballs

Don’t you just love it when a recipe is as simple as ‘mix + bake’? No pre-cooking, no unnecessary extra steps – just mix together all of the ingredients, and pop it in the oven. And that’s just the case for these vegetarian lentil meatballs (lentil balls? vegeballs? meatlessballs?). They couldn’t be easier.

Other easy ‘mix and bake’ recipes → easy nut roast; baked fajita rice; Boursin pasta.

Vegetarian Mediterranean lentil meatballs served with spaghetti and tomato sauce.

I served my lentil balls with spaghetti and tomato sauce – spaghetti and meatballs is such a classic that’s hard to improve on. If you prefer, you could equally serve these vegetarian meatballs with couscous and tzatziki, stuffed into pitta bread, or even just eaten straight from the oven (no judgment here). They’re packed with Mediterranean-inspired flavours, and they’re super versatile.

Mediterranean lentil meatballs on a baking tray.

What’s in these Lentil Meatballs?

The basic recipe for these lentil meatballs is canned lentils + flour + egg (the same base I used for my cheesy lentil burgers). Once you’ve got that far, you can jazz things up however you like. I added:

black olives
sun-dried tomatoes
parmesan-style cheese
fresh basil
garlic

If you like, you could easily switch things up to bring a different flavour profile to your meatballs – maybe you could make a Tex-Mex version, or use some Indian spices, for example.

Cheesy Vegetarian Bakes ebook on an ipad screen.

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Ingredients

Here’s what you’ll need to make these vegetarian meatballs. See the printable recipe card below for detailed ingredient quantities.

cooked lentils. I used lentils from a can, because they’re so convenient – just drain them well, and they’re ready to use. If you can’t get canned lentils, you can boil dried brown or green lentils until they’re soft, then continue with the recipe as written. I would not recommend using red lentils for this recipe, as they will not give quite the same end result.
eggs
plain flour (I used wholemeal for extra fibre)
sun-dried tomatoes
black olives
parmesan-style cheese. ‘Real’ parmesan isn’t vegetarian, but there are plenty of vegetarian alternatives, which are very similar. Often, supermarkets sell a generic ‘Italian hard cheese’, which is usually vegetarian.
fresh basil
garlic granules

Spaghetti with tomato sauce and Mediterranean lentil meatballs.

Printable Instructions

Mediterranean Lentil Meatballs

Easy vegetarian lentil meatballs, made extra tasty with Mediterranean-inspired ingredients. These are so simple – just mix and bake!

Course Main meal

Cuisine Italian, Mediterranean

Diet Vegetarian

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 20

Total Time 35

Servings meatballs

Calories 216kcal

Author Becca Heyes

Ingredients

2 x 390g tins green lentils, thoroughly drained (470g, or ~ 2 2/3 cups, in total when drained)
2 eggs
2 Tablespoons sliced black olives, roughly chopped
5 pieces sun-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
50 g (~ 1/2 cup) finely grated vegetarian parmesan-style cheese
1 teaspoon garlic granules
Few sprigs fresh basil, roughly chopped
85 g (~ 2/3 cup) plain flour (I used wholemeal)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 190°C (Gas Mark 5 / 375°F). Add all of the ingredients, except for the flour, to a large mixing bowl. Use a fork to mix the ingredients thoroughly. It’s fine if the lentils get a little mashed up.
Add the flour, and mix well to combine.
Lightly grease a baking sheet. Use clean hands to form the mixture into ball shapes, and place them on the tray. The mixture will be quite sticky – they don’t have to be perfect balls. I managed to get 25 balls from the mixture.
Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes, until the lentil balls are slightly crispy and just firm.
Serve with spaghetti and tomato sauce, if desired.

Nutrition

Recipe FAQs

Can I prepare these lentil balls in advance?

You could certainly mix together the ingredients in advance, and then store the mixture in a sealed container in the fridge for a day or so, until you’re ready to shape and bake the balls. The meatballs are tastiest when freshly baked, but if needed, you could even bake them in advance, and then reheat when you’re ready to eat them.

Can I freeze these lentil meatballs?

I didn’t experiment with freezing these balls, but it’s the sort of recipe I have had luck with freezing in the past, so I definitely think it’s worth a try.

How should I reheat leftover vegetarian meatballs?

The easiest way to reheat these lentil meatballs is in the microwave. They do dry out a little and lose their crispiness when reheated, but they’re still tasty. Alternatively, you could re-crisp them in the oven or air fryer.

How should I serve vegetarian lentil balls?

I served my meatballs with spaghetti and tomato sauce, which worked beautifully. You could alternatively serve them stuffed into pitta bread with some tzatziki, or alongside some mashed potato.