Creamy Instant Pot Steel Cut Oats (2024)

These Instant Pot steel cut oats are ready in less time than stovetop, are perfectly creamy, nutritious, and easy to customize with your favorite toppings. With just four simple ingredients, you can have easy reheat breakfasts for the week.

The Instant Pot has transformed how I cook. Ingredients like spaghetti squash or chickpeas, which typically take longer to cook, are now ready quickly and with very little effort. The same goes for steel cut oats: no more babysitting the pot, making sure they don't burn and stick to the bottom of the pot. Perfect oats, each and every time!

No mushy oatmeal here! Both creamy, yet slightly chewy, steel cut oats convinced me that I actually am 'an oatmeal person'. In fact, I make this recipe on a weekly basis (sometimes twice!).

With a slightly nutty flavor that gets a boost from cinnamon, vanilla and maple syrup, this recipe is customizable in about a million ways (find 7 oatmeal flavors here!)

The pressure cooker makes cooking steel cut oats quick and convenient, using ingredients you probably already have on hand. They are so easy to prep you can do it while holding a baby (I can say this from experience), and they can be stored in the fridge or freezer. Basically, this recipe is going to be your breakfast superhero.

Recipe video

A visual guide is always helpful! Watch this 1-minute video to see how easy it is to make this oatmeal recipe! I skipped the toasting step in this video, but see a visual guide below. You can find more recipe videos on my YouTube channel.

Don't forget to pin this post to save it for later!

What are steel cut oats?

Steel cut oats are very close to the natural harvested oat grain, and have simply been cut into 2-3 pieces using a steel blade. Compare this to rolled oats, which are first steamed, then rolled flat.

Because they are thicker than rolled oats, steel cut oatmeal requires a longer cook time than rolled oats, however you are rewarded with a delicious, chewy texture for your efforts.

In addition to this, steel cut oatmeal has a lower glycemic index, meaning that they are slower to digest, releasing sugar into your bloodstream at a slower rate. Translation? They are more likely to fill you up for longer, and less likely to spike your blood sugar levels.

Cooking oats in the Instant Pot

Note that the toasting step (1-3) is optional and may be skipped in favor of a quick prep.

1. Using the sauté function, melt a tablespoon of butter in the insert of an Instant Pot.
2. Add the oats, then toast for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. The oats are toasted through when they turn golden and emit a nutty aroma.
4. Add water.
5. Add cinnamon.
6. Add vanilla.
7. Cook on high pressure for 2 minutes, followed by a full natural pressure release (20-25 minutes).

To toast or not to toast

If you take the time to toast your oats before pressure cooking them, you will be rewarded with an even deeper, nuttier flavor. I will be honest and say that I usually skip this step in favor of ease of prep, but in the rare circ*mstances that I take the time to do so, I have been very pleased with the flavor.

To toast your oats, melt a tablespoon of butter or coconut oil using the sautee function on the Instant Pot. Add your oats and toast for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. The oats are toasted when they are golden and you can smell a nutty flavor. At this point, turn off the sautee function and add in the rest of your ingredients.

Water ratios

Typically, when we cook steel cut oats on the stovetop, we use a ratio of 1 cup oatmeal: 4 cups water. As the oats cook, some of this liquid evaporates, leaving us with thick and creamy oatmeal. When cooking in the Instant Pot with a full natural pressure release, no evaporation occurs, therefore we use a ratio of 1 cup steel cut oatmeal: 3 cups water.

Cook time

I have played around with the cook time for this recipe from a 1 minute cook time all the way up to 12 minutes, and honestly? It's very forgiving. Even after 12 minutes, the oats are creamy + chewy and not mushy.

Here's what I've settled on:

• 2 minutes high pressure (it takes around 15 minutes to come to pressure) + full natural pressure release (25-30 minutes)

The key is to let the pressure naturally release (ie: don't touch the instant pot until the pin drops on its own) so that the oatmeal has time to absorb the liquid and get nice and creamy.

Important- when you first open the Instant Pot after a full natural pressure release, the oats will look very liquidy and soupy (see image below). As the oats cool, they thicken up to the perfect, creamy texture.

steel cut oats will be soupy when the lid is first removed (1), but will firm up and thicken as they cool (2)

Customize the chewiness

If you want to play around with different levels of chewiness, add or remove time from the natural pressure release (the time after the pot beeps, when we let the pot sit until the pin drops)

1. creamy oats- pressure cook for 2 minutes with a full natural pressure release (25-30 minutes)
2. chewy oats- pressure cook for 2 minutes with a 15 minute pressure release

Double it up

As written, this recipe makes 4 portions of steel cut oatmeal, but you can easily double this up with the same cook time. A good rule with the Instant Pot is to not fill more than halfway full.

I have made this recipe in both 6 and 8 quart Instant Pots.

Prep ahead for easy breakfasts

Instant Pot steel cut oats are SO PERFECT for meal prep! The chewiness of the oats holds up in the fridge or freezer for days/weeks/months.

Here's how to store the cooked oatmeal:

• fridge- portion out into meal prep containers and store for up to 4 days
• freezer- you may freeze in meal prep containers OR portion out into muffin tins, then transfer to a freezer bag

To re-heat:

1. thaw completely (if frozen)
2. heat in the microwave until steaming hot
3. add a splash or almond milk or your favorite milk to help loosen up the oats
4. add maple syrup, peanut butter, or your favorite toppings
5. stir it up and enjoy!

Variations

You can add so much flavor to these oats with a few add ins. I recommend waiting until the oats are fully cooked through to add thick liquids like applesauce or pumpkin puree, as they can lead to the dreaded burn warning.

• apple cinnamon- add 2-3 chopped apples in to cook with the oats; feel free to increase the cinnamon as needed
• pumpkin- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon ground cloves, 1 cup pumpkin puree at the end of the cook time.
• peanut butter- stir in 2-4 tablespoons peanut butter after cooking
• chocolate- add in 1-2 tablespoons cocoa powder before cooking; serve with mini chocolate chips
• citrus: add in some citrus zest- you can do this before cooking so the oats infuse with tons of citrussy flavor
• change up the fruit; add in some apples, pears, kiwis, bananas, really anything you can think of!

Find 7 steel cut oatmeal flavors here!

More Oatmeal Recipes

• Baked Oatmeal Recipe
• Baked Oatmeal Muffins
• Spiced Pumpkin Steel Cut Oats
• Maple Apple Steel Cut Oats
• Chocolate Chia Pudding