Oatmeal Pancake!

Oats!
My favourite breakfast! :-) And from the frequency with which I eat them (and love them) quite possibly my favourite food of all. Having favoured convenience food during my teen years I rediscovered the joy of a oats for breakfast around five years ago and have eaten them almost every day since!

Oats are a pretty versatile medium when it comes to toppings; honey, jam, peanut butter, raisins, banana!, apple, nuts, seeds, spices (cinnamon), mix it up! Whatever you like works. Even savoury! But when it comes to cooking them you can become trapped with a limited choice of texture; runny or stodgy. Not very exciting.

Enter: The Oatmeal Pancake!
100% oats. Awesomely healthy!

Lets get rocking!

Materials:
Non-stick frying pan (with a good non-stick coating)
Spoon or Spatula
Jar
Measuring cups (not essential)
Funnel (also not essential)
Plate
Knife and fork! (alternatively, eat with your fingers, way more fun)

Ingredients:
Oats
Water

Toppings:
Whatever takes your fancy! Just make sure its edible...
(I chose banana, honey, cinnamon and sunflower seeds)

On to step one.....

Step 1: Soaking the oats.

This is a fairly hassle free breakfast but it does require 2 minutes prep the night before.
In order for the oats to cook up properly and in a decent amount of time you'll want to soak them for a good few hours before.

Place your oats into the jar with the desired amount of water for cooking and give them a little stir.
Here I use a 2:1 ratio. So, 2/3 cup water - 1/3 cup oats. (adjust as necessary-eg, 1/2cup Oats - 1cup water)

Place the jar into the fridge and forget about it until the morning.



Background on soaking grains.
Soaking the oats is actually a pretty important step for health reasons too! The hulls (skin) of grains contain phytic acid which if consumed can combine with vitamins and minerals in the gut preventing their absorption. Soaking the oats for a good 7hours before consumption will help break down the phytic acid. This process will work best in a lactic acid solution, so stirring a teaspoon of bio-active yoghurt into the oats (or grains) the night before will enhance the process.

An added bonus of soaking not just oats but all dry grains is that it will boost their nutrient content by fooling them into beginning their germination process. So, its good to get into the habit!
Follow links for more info. Also, if you're interested do your own research, you'll find out way more information than what's contained in these few links.

Saoking oats - health benifits - short anecdotal article

Phytic Acid - Wikipedia - check the food science entry

Comments

[LadySapphira]

Thanks for this idea! I tried it out this morning - my nonstick pan is not so nonstick so it was a bit difficult at the end but it worked and I had a lovely breakfast. I might try flipping it or a different pan next time.


Again thanks much!

[Kinnishian]

By the way, have you had any results with the blender method since you posted this? (Blender meaning just blendering the oats after they've soaked). Thanks, just wondering.

[Kinnishian]

One thing. metal fork on nonstick pan :O.

This is a bad policy.

I *really* want to try your recipe, but I think I will wait until I have more access to a kitchen / grocery store.

[milothefultz]

I just tried making one and there are a few things that went wrong, and I'm not quite sure why:

1. Didn't seem like enough oats to fill the pan; I did 1/3 cup with 2/3 cup water.
2. It didn't get super bubbly like your picture did, just started to boil around the edges and not in the center.
3. After stirring, it didn't ever cook until I could pick it up like a pancake/omelet, just started to fall apart as I brought it off the burner.

It seems like more oats could possibly solve these problems, however, I'd rather have input from the master, so any help would be appreciated. Otherwise, fantastic idea because I got bored with oatmeal glop a long time ago.

[Everlong]

Hi milothefultz!
Ah, You're totally right, looks like I've put in a pretty small measurement by mistake! Changed it to 1/3cup measurements with adjustments. Thanks! :)
It gets a little tricky on the other points. First off, if its bubbling around the edges it sounds like you may have the burner up a little too high, ie, water heating around the edges faster than the centre. But thats totally a guess, experimentation is your best bet. (or maybe a smaller burner?)
As for the falling apart, it sounds like it might need a little more time to cook. The goal is to cook up the oats and then slowly dry them out to form the pancake, so once again I think you might want a lower heat.
If you give it another shot good luck! :)

[milothefultz]

Do you refrigerate your oats overnight? Or just leave them out on the counter?

[Everlong]

If you're soaking them over night its best to refrigerate them. If not, if you soak them at room temp for half an hour - one hour in the morning they'll be great!

[sires6]

Mm No, you should soak them overnight (12-24 hours) to break down the phytic acid. Less than that and it won't be gone. You can leave them on the counter. It won't hurt them to sit on the counter... or you!

[StiltGuyJoe]

That looks really good. I'll have to give it a try.

[Sophst]

omg than you thank you thank you!! :D ive been trying to find a healthy pancake recipe so i can feel not so guilty of eating them with nutella ahah

[dodo91]

AWESOME!!!!!! im soo doing this tommowor!!! THANKS!

[Everlong]

Sweet! :D Hope you like it!

[dodo91]

i did! i ate it for 3 breakfasts in a row!

[xSLICKVICx]

WOW! I tried this recipie because i was tired of eating gooey oatmeal. Let me tell you this unique way of making oatmeal is very tasty and not so gooey. Thanks alot Everlong

[robzilla]

Teflon is a rare and precious jewel here in Nepal where we live, so I tried just a little sunflower oil in a good ol' stainless steel sauce pan. It worked great! Not so much bubbling, just as much deliciousness.
Thanks for your contribution to the world!

[fuzzjp]

Ok so I've tried to do this for the past two days and failed. I've paid EXTRA close attention to the bubble levels so I stirred at the right time but it just sits there and bakes onto my pan! D: It might be my pan or I'm doing something wrong... How long do you stir once you see the bubbles covering it?

[Everlong]

Hi fuzzjp! Sorry to hear your trials haven't been too successful. I managed to burn a load myself yesterday morning, left the heat on way too high while talking to a friend... it sounds like this could also be part of your problem so lowering the heat might help. The only thing to worry about with the stirring is firstly whether the oats are gooey enough (if not, more stirring will help), and secondly, once they are, stop stirring so it all gets a chance to set. Try cooking them up almost like a regular batch of oats but stop stirring just before the point you'd normally serve and let it slowly cook off. But most importantly, don't worry too much about timings and directions, if it feels like its going to go wrong just try something different! It'll probably be an improvement! :-p Good luck and let us know if you have any success! :)

[fuzzjp]

Well I halved the recipe and I used a VERY light coating of PAM and it worked! (WOOT) Awesome Instructable!

[bubbalubba]

Going to try this in the AM. Oats are soaking in the fridge now. PS: I hope Mum won't mind if you scratch her non-stick pan with the metal fork?! My wife is always after me about that.

[lsyeow]

hi thanks for the great idea! I was always wondering what else i can do with the oats in the morning besides boiling it. I have tried it this morning and its yummy! I'm gonna eat this every morning!

[Everlong]

Hey Isyeow! Awesome, thanks for the feedback! Glad you liked it :)

[seaurchin01]

Looks delicious! Can you use "quick" oats or just regular oats?

[Everlong]

Hey! I've been using jumbo oats for quite a while now and haven't given this recipe a go with quick oats but I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work. Since they break down much faster than jumbo oats you might end up with a much smoother pancakie texture. If you give it a go let us know how it turns out :)

[Wicken]

Awesome! I can't eat wheat or most grains, but I can eat oats, and I <3 them. This looks so good. I wonder if this technique would work with brown rice. I will have to try. :)

[Everlong]

Hey Wicken! Thanks for the comment! And awesome idea with the brown rice. I can imagine if it was cooked enough, almost risotto style it would work pretty well. Gonna have to give that a go too :)

[steampunk_rocker]

This looks delicious! Hooray for a new and exciting way to eat oats for breakfast.

Would it be a disastrous, sticky mess to try to cook the pancake on both sides, do you think?

[Everlong]

Hey! Thanks for the comment! Flipping the pancake totally works!! I think the only precaution too keep in mind is how solid the underside is before flipping. I tried this a few days ago and it worked out well. If you check further down the thread you'll see a couple of photos that I posted for a previous user. Good luck :-p and thanks again for the comment! :)

[titopablito]

OAT SCONES in the Traditional Ulster fry. My mouth is watering now thinking about the pan fried "oat scones" that comes with a traditional Ulster Fry Breakfast. Fry slab bacon then use all that grease to fry some eggs then a piece of stale bread followed up by the oat scones that are merely silver dollar sized oat pancakes. All that protein, starch and grease is then washed down with a nice slow pour Guiness.

[little-scale]

This looks like a great idea. I will have to try this out on the weekend. Thanks for posting!

[farflungfloyd]

Outstanding recipe. gonna try this tomorrow!

[Lindie]

Interesting! Have to try it!

[pattyaitch]

TY for this, my husband's Aunt always fried the leftover Oatmeal for lunch, a habit I picked up readily. I always just put salt and pepper on it~~~sometimes sauteed a bit of onion first. Now i am going to try this idea. I use steel-cut oats often (which I soak overnight) and will try this recipe with steel-cut oats one day. Thanks again. Patty

[kobefanatic2289]

Wow, looks great. I'll have to try this sometime, thanks for the recipe.

[Kinnishian]

Awesome, I love that. In retrospect sometimes when I don't use enough water in my overnight slowcooker oatmeal, it makes a pancake-y oatmeal. Just a heads up if you didn't know, using any hard (especially metal forks) just lightly on the nonstick surfaces will mess it up really quickly. But as long as you avoid that (abrasive sponges are bad too), then they rock.

[merijnvw]

Thanks for the recipe!

[archerj]

I'm drooling--I love oats, too. Never have tried them like this. Do you ever turn them over like you would a pancake? I think I would like it toasty on both sides. And raisins cooked in it. Thanks for posting this.

[Everlong]

Thanks for the comment. Ha! I didn't even think to mix in dried fruit but now you mention it, it seems totally obvious! Thanks for the inspirado! :D Yeah, I tried flipping it one other day, it was actually pretty nice, crisp on both sides and still gooey in the centre.

[wazzup105]

My way of making oatmeal pancakes 200 gram buttermilk 100 gram oatmeal 1 egg a bit of bicarb Blend with a blender (possibly add flavoring like cinnamon, raisins, whatever you want). Rest (or not) Make pancakes eat with a little bit of honey = the awesome :)

[Everlong]

Hey! Thanks for checking out the instructable. Your recipe sounds good, I'll have to give it a go!

[ChrysN]

I usually like oatmeal for breakfast; but this looks pretty good especially with the bananas on top, will have to try. I remember reading about about phytic acid with regards to nuts and seeds, they recommend toasting them before you eat them to get rid of it.