Horchata Steel Cut Oatmeal with Almond-Raisin Crunch
Ali Clarke and Santos Loo
November 1, 2023
Oatmeal is one of our favorite breakfasts to have, but we don’t love stirring oats for what seems like forever in the mornings. Instead of making instant packets, which would mean missing out on the creamy, delicious texture you get from slowly cooking oats from scratch, we turn to the Anova Precision Oven. The oven makes it easy to cook steel cut oats almost entirely hands-free. Plus we can use it to make a sweet and crunchy topping. You can flavor the oats in many different ways but we loved the idea of using horchata ingredients to add lots of flavor to our breakfast!
Notes: Using 4 tablespoons sugar in the oatmeal will give you a breakfast with similar sweetness to pre-flavored packets. Reduce it to 2 tablespoons if you'd like a less-sweet oatmeal. Add different spices or sweeteners to flavor your oatmeal however you’d like! You can also use all whole milk, for an ultra-creamy texture, or all rice milk, for a dairy-free version. (Sub coconut oil for the butter for a dairy-free topping.) This recipe uses Diamond Crystal kosher salt.
Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
Add the almonds, raisins, sugar, and cinnamon to a medium bowl. Toss to combine. Add the cold butter and use your fingers to mash the butter into the ingredients so that everything is evenly coated. Spread out evenly on the prepared pan and bake until the butter and sugar lightly caramelizes and the almonds are toasted, about 8 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with salt, and let cool.
Sous Vide Mode: Off
Steam: Off
Temp: 350°F
Heat: Rear, Top
00:08 Timer
3. Prepare the Rice Milk
While you're baking the topping, add the rice milk and cinnamon sticks to a blender and blend on high speed until the cinnamon is finely ground and evenly combined, about 1 minute. Set aside. (If using ground cinnamon instead of the cinnamon sticks, you can skip this step and add the rice milk and cinnamon to the pot in step 5).
4. Adjust the Oven
Rack
Change the placement of the oven rack to position 2.
Sous Vide Mode: Off
Steam: Off
Temp: 350°F
Heat: Rear, Top
5. Cook the Oats
Rack
To a 2-quart pot with a tight fitting lid, add the whole milk, oats, sugar, vanilla, salt, and blended rice milk. Stir to combine. Place the lid on the pot, transfer to the oven, and cook the oats until they're just turning tender, about 30 minutes.
Sous Vide Mode: Off
Steam: Off
Temp: 350°F
Heat: Rear, Top
00:30 Timer
6. Add the Chia Seeds
Rack
Remove the lid from the oatmeal and stir in the chia seeds.
Sous Vide Mode: Off
Steam: Off
Temp: 350°F
Heat: Rear, Top
7. Thicken the Oats
Rack
Place back in the oven, uncovered, and continue to cook, stirring half way through, until the oatmeal is tender and thickened, 15 to 30 minutes.
Sous Vide Mode: Off
Steam: Off
Temp: 350°F
Heat: Top, Rear
00:15 Timer
8. Serve
Spoon the oatmeal into serving bowls and add the crunchy topping. Serve immediately.