Cardamom and Tea

Savory Oatmeal

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Think of this savory oatmeal sort of like a creamy bowl of grits. Anything you can put on grits you can also put on oats. Cheese with butter and chives? Yes. Shrimp with bacon bits and butter? Absolutely yes! Or if you don’t feel like going grocery shopping, my standby is 1 fried egg + salty scallions sautéed in oil. That’s what’s in this post’s recipe, but the sky’s the limit.

This analogy doesn’t stop at toppings. Since no one wants a stodgy blob under a heap of toppings, we also have to make our oats with a grits-ey technique.

Jump to the recipe to hit the ground running, or read on to learn how and to get more savory oatmeal topping ideas.

savory oatmeal
savory oatmeal

How to give your oatmeal a grits-like texture

With grits, you would never just add equal parts water, milk, and grain, heat, and serve. That would set up into something more like fried polenta. That’s great as an antipasto, but not so great if you’re looking for a creamy bowl of grits. That 1:1:1 ratio is pretty standard for oatmeal, but it’s not ideal for achieving a grits-like texture.

I’m personally a creamy-oatmeal nut, but for savory oatmeal, I split the difference between creamy and chewy. The texture in this recipe wins everyone over, whatever texture oatmeal they love.

Instead of 1:1:1, the key is to use 1 cup oats : 1.5 cups water : 1.5 cups milk. Then we want to simmer it long enough (stirring occasionally) for the starches to swell and thicken the whole thing. It will look like it’s never going to happen and you’ve made a horrible mistake, and then eventually it will cross over into perfectly-cooked.

savory oatmeal
savory oatmeal

Savory oatmeal toppings

The formula I use for coming up with a great bowl of savory oats: Think of another savory dish you love and replace the carbs with oats. A few suggestions:

  • Butter corn ramen: Butter, sweet corn, soft boiled egg, black pepper, and salt
  • Diner breakfast: Scrambled eggs, breakfast sausage, and maybe some garlicky spinach
  • Shrimp and grits: Cajun shrimp, scallions, bacon, cheddar, and hot sauce
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Savory Oatmeal

savory oatmeal
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  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 2 large servings

Ingredients

For the oats:

  • 1 cup old fashioned oats [100g]
  • 1½ cups water [350g]
  • 1½ cups your milk of choice* [360g]
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

For the topping:

  • Neutral oil (e.g., avocado or canola)
  • 2 eggs**
  • Salt
  • 1 bunch scallions (or ½ of an onion), thinly sliced

Instructions

  1. Preheat a skillet over low to medium-low heat so it is ready when the oats are almost done.
  2. For the oats: Bring the oats, water, milk, and salt to a simmer in a small saucepan** over medium heat, stirring every minute or so. Once it comes to a simmer, reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the liquid thickens and the oatmeal softens. It will start out watery, and at a certain point it will noticeably thicken (e.g., the bubbles will get bigger), while still remaining pourable and creamy. Leave it uncovered the whole time, and be careful not to let it bubble over.
  3. For the topping: Drizzle some oil into the preheated skillet, use tongs to swipe a paper towel around. It should not smoke—if it smokes, the skillet is too hot. Drizzle a little more oil into the skillet, raise the heat to medium, crack in the eggs, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook for your desired amount of time (about 4 minutes for the whites to cook through). Remove the eggs to a plate, and immediately add the onions to the still-hot skillet. Season with salt and paper to taste and stir around for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat once they’ve wilted.
  4. Once the oatmeal is done, remove to 2 bowls. Top with the fried eggs, scallions, and a little more salt and pepper to taste.

Notes

* I recommend using whole milk or unsweetened soy milk, and I recommend against using oat milk or rice milk here. Almond milk sort of depends—creamier ones work better than waterier ones here.

** To veganize this, instead use half a brick of tofu, fried or roasted. This is my favorite recipe, which works perfectly here.

*** If you’re using a wide pan instead of a small saucepan, you may need to add a bit more water as it cooks (more water will evaporate from a wide pan).

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Note: From April 2018 through July 2026, this post was slightly different. It had a slightly thicker oatmeal base + the following 2 topping suggestions (one which is very similar to the recipe in this post). I’ve since streamlined the post, but I just wanted to include them here for anyone who used to make the old version:

Breakfast at Nana’s

Basic oatmeal (above)
Bacon (optional)
Cooking oil
Eggs
Salt
Green onions, chopped
Garlic, crushed through a garlic press
Za’atar
Crushed red pepper

  1. While the oatmeal is cooking, microwave some bacon until it’s crispy, and then cut it into small pieces.
  2. Once the oatmeal has cooked, turn off the heat, and leave it on the warm burner so it doesn’t get cold.
  3. Heat a small skillet over high heat for at least 3 minutes, until it’s very hot.
  4. Add about 1 or 2 tablespoons of oil to the pan, swirl it around, and immediately crack an egg wherever the oil is pooling. Be very careful—it will splatter violently.
  5. While the egg is cooking, season it with some salt and (carefully!) baste it by spooning hot oil onto the whites to help them cook faster. The egg is done once the whites are set and brown on the bottom and around the edges (just about 2 minutes). Remove to a plate and repeat if you’re making multiple servings (replace some of the oil as you go).
  6. Once you’re done with the eggs, carefully dump out the remaining oil and replace with about 1 teaspoon of fresh oil. Add some green onions and garlic to the still-hot pan and stir for about 2 minutes. Season to taste.
  7. Serve the oatmeal and top with the bacon, crispy egg, and onions and garlic. Sprinkle with za’atar and crushed red pepper.

Buttered corn oatmeal

Butter
Salt
Corn (fresh or frozen)
Scallions, chopped
Freshly ground black pepper

  1. While the oatmeal is cooking, melt a generous portion of butter in a skillet over medium-low heat. Once it’s melted, add some corn, salt to taste, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the corn warms through (about 3 minutes for fresh).
  2. Add some scallions to the corn and season it with a little black pepper. Stir and cook for about 1 minute.
  3. Spoon the corn and scallions over the oatmeal, and drizzle to taste with the remaining butter. Feel free to add a fresh pat of butter if there’s not enough melted in the pan.

Cherry Muffins

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These cherry muffins are fluffy and tender with a moist, slightly custardy crumb. If you’re looking for something more like a coffee shop/bakery-style muffin (with a bready texture and crumbly streusel top), these are not the ones for you. These muffins are more cake-like than scone-like. If that sounds like the muffin for you, jump to the recipe to hit the ground running. To read more about what makes this particular recipe my favorite, read on.

cherry muffins
cherry muffins

What I love about these cherry muffins

1. Their tender crumb

These cherry muffins have a very tender, moist crumb, and that’s because this recipe is made with an extra egg where you’d otherwise use sour cream. The extra egg gives them a wonderful custardy flavor and a texture that’s hard to beat. If you like French toast, egg tarts, and soufflé pancakes, you’ll love it.

2. They just happen to be dairy-free

I created this muffin batter in pursuit of a really good dairy-free muffin recipe (with no butter and no milk products), but it soon became my favorite muffin batter of all time, and now I just use it even when the recipe doesn’t need to be dairy-free. I strongly prefer it over muffins made with yogurt, buttermilk, or sour cream. So if you can’t eat dairy, I highly recommend using soy milk in the recipe below. Whether or not you avoid dairy, you will not be disappointed.

3. You can use either fresh or frozen berries.

Just make sure you don’t thaw before adding to the batter.

One of the downsides of using frozen in a typical recipe is their tendency to stain batter greenish gray. But that won’t happen with this recipe, since we are not using baking soda. Berries giving off juices + an alkaline environment is what causes that greenish tint. We all know baking soda is a very alkaline ingredient, so omitting it is a good start. But many baking powder brands are also somewhat alkaline (not neutral, as you might expect!), so it’s also important not to overdo it on the baking powder. This recipe has you covered on both counts.

4. Simple ingredients + method.

This is the easiest way to make cherry muffins in one bowl. You don’t need a stand mixer or any equipment more specialized than a muffin tin. In fact, using a stand mixer would risk over-mixing them, which is the one thing you should avoid.

cherry muffins
cherry muffins
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Cherry Muffins (one-bowl, fresh or frozen)

cherry muffins
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Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup (105g) oil*
  • 2/3 cup (130g) granulated sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup (120g) whole milk (or soy milk)
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp almond flavor (optional)
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1 3/4 cups (225g) all purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 1/2 cups (190g) pitted cherries** (plus more for decorating)
  • Optional: coarse sugar (like demerara, turbinado, or sanding sugar)

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 425°F [220°C]. Line a muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners.***
  2. Combine the oil, sugar, eggs, milk, vanilla, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Stir together until the sugar begins to dissolve and you no longer see flecks of egg white or yolk. It should be very homogenous.
  3. Place a fine mesh sieve over the wet ingredients (careful that it does not touch them). Measure your flour and baking powder right into the sieve. Sift directly into the wet ingredients.
  4. Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, stopping when there are still visible streaks of flour. Add the cherries and switch to a spatula. Fold together until the cherries are evenly distributed and there are no longer visible pockets of flour. Do not overmix.
  5. Spoon the batter evenly into the 12 lined muffin tin wells. If using, sprinkle with a few additional cherries and a little coarse sugar.
  6. Bake for 10 minutes at 425°F [220°C], then lower the temperature to 350°F [180°C] and bake for another 10 minutes (20 minutes total). They are done once you can insert a toothpick in the center and it comes out clean.

Notes

* For this recipe, use any oil that is a liquid while at room temperature. I used canola to develop it, but it also works great with olive oil (either light or extra virgin if you enjoy the flavor in baked goods—I love baking with extra virgin olive oil, but it’s a personal preference). Remember that whatever oil you use, its flavor will come through, so use a neutral one or one whose flavor you want.

** You can use either fresh or frozen here. If you use frozen, don’t thaw them first—just add them to the batter frozen. Also watch out for pits—frozen ones aren’t always pitted perfectly (and for that matter, neither are ones you pit yourself!). I recommend using a dedicated cherry pitter for the task. I’ve tried other cherry pitting hacks, and most of them make a big mess.

*** If you don’t have cupcake liners, you can easily make them out of parchment paper. I don’t recommend simply greasing the muffin tins here—this batter tends to stick. Liners are advised!

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