How To Cook Jumbo Oats! | Quick, Easy & Delicious

I just love oats for breakfast. They’re great for keeping you full until lunch and packed with nutrients. You can’t go wrong with a bowl of oats to start your day! Today I show you how to cook jumbo oats in 3 minutes in just a couple of easy steps.

Why do I love oats so much besides being delicious and nutritious?

• Number one – they are versatile. Oats go so well with many types of fruit, nuts and spices and you can even be a little daring and add something savoury like butternut squash.
• Number two – they are incredibly cheap and fill you up.

How to cook jumbo porridge oats – an ultimate guide

Traditionally porridge is made with water, but I have always made it with milk. Even though my grandmother was Scottish I have never eaten porridge made with water!

You can of course switch the dairy milk for almond milk or soya milk too.

How to make perfect porridge with jumbo oats

Making porridge is super easy and, in my opinion, there is no need to buy pre-packaged sachets. They are much more expensive weight for weight and are really no easier, once you have learned the correct measurement for your perfect porridge.

Just buy a pack of porridge oats and measure out the quantities yourself. Find a cup or other receptacle that will hold the required amount of porridge oats. The liquid required will be roughly five times the volume of the oats.

Ingredients for 1 serving

• 40g jumbo oats
• 200ml whole milk or water

Method

1. Put the oats and the milk in a pan and bring to a boil and then simmer until cooked. Keep stirring throughout the cooking process to stop it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
2. Optionally add flavourings such as berries, bananas, steamed apples or dried fruit.

How to cook jumbo oats in the microwave

3-minute microwave porridge recipe

Microwaving is my preferred method to cook jumbo oats. It’s more convenient and it tastes just as good.

1. Add 40g of oats and 200ml of milk or water to a bowl
2. Microwave on high for 2 ½ to 3 minutes

You may need to extend or reduce the time depending on your particular microwave. Mine is only 750w and I find I need the full 3 minutes.

Depending on the size of the bowl you might find it starts to overflow. If it does that stop the power before it boils over and give it a stir before carrying on cooking.

I let my porridge stand for a minute or so after cooking before topping it with my preferred fruit or sprinkling it with sugar.

Here I have added raisins which I like to add instead of sugar.

What are jumbo oats?

Jumbo oats (especially the Quaker brand) are my favorite types of oats (note: I am not sponsored by Quaker to say that).

Somehow Quaker manages to make them extra creamy. How they do that I really don’t know!

Oats come in several different forms and it is quite confusing to figure out all the differences.

To explain, let’s go back to the beginning.

All types of oats start as oat groats.

Groats are the whole oat grain after the inedible hull is removed. They look a bit like brown rice. At this stage, the oat grain has been heated to stabilize it which stops it from going rancid and sprouting.

You can make porridge with oat groats but the cooking process will be longer and you will need to soak them first.

Most porridge oats are made by chopping up the groat, then steaming and rolling them to make different-sized flakes. The finer flakes cook the quickest. The bigger flakes are known as ‘jumbo’.

Jumbo oats make excellent porridge and are also very good for making flapjacks too.

Instead of steaming and rolling groats, you can mill them, or cut them to make pinhead (also called steel-cut) oats.

The different kinds of oats

• Rolled oats – steamed and rolled
• Jumbo oats – steamed and rolled into larger flakes
• Steel-cut/pinhead – cut groats
• Instant – steamed longer and rolled more thinly

The health benefits of oats

Oats have a lower glycemic index than other starches. This means oatmeal will not cause a surge in your blood sugar levels after eating it. Oats are known to be beneficial for everyone, but especially for those with diabetes or pre-diabetes as well as people who are looking to lose weight.

Oats contain soluble and insoluble fibers. Both of these fibers help slow down your digestion process so you get a steady release of glucose into the bloodstream at an even pace.

One cup of cooked oats contains just over 25grams of protein, add milk, and that figure more than doubles.

Jumbo oats are an inexpensive breakfast option coming in at just under 8p per serving (more if you add milk). Buy your oats in bulk and save even more. Plus, you won’t be reaching for snacks mid-morning because jumbo oats pack in 3.6grams of fiber per 40g serving, which helps you feel full for longer and gives you energy for the day.

Oats have a low glycemic index, which means they will not spike your blood sugar levels as much as other foods might.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between jumbo oats and rolled oats?

Both are basically the same. They are both rolled from the steamed groats, but the jumbo oat is larger.

Are jumbo oats gluten-free?

Oats are gluten-free. The confusion is that sometimes you will find oats marked as gluten-free inferring that regular oats do have gluten in them. The reason is to comply with legislation as oats are one of the foods that are often contaminated with gluten in the factory even though the raw ingredient does not contain gluten.

If you are sensitive to gluten contaminants, then go for gluten-free oats.