All About Oats

What Oats Are The Best?

Today, it is no secret that oats are a health­ful break­fast option. Oats area deli­cious and packed full of fiber, iron, phos­pho­rus, and more! This whole-grain is ver­sa­tile and can be used to make oat­meal, home-made gra­nola bars, ​“ener­gy bites”, stuff­ing, and overnight oats. How­ev­er, there are many dif­fer­ent types of oats in the gro­cery store, and this can be con­fus­ing for some­one who has nev­er used oats before. Here are some tips on how to choose which oat is best for you and your cook­ing needs.

Groats

– Groat is anoth­er name for a grain ker­nel. Mean­ing, groats are the result of har­vest­ing oats, clean­ing them, and remov­ing the ined­i­ble out­er hull. This type of oat is the most min­i­mal­ly processed oat in the gro­cery store and can be used in soups or as a sub­sti­tute for rice in savory dish­es. How­ev­er, this type of oat takes the longest to cook.

Steel Cut Oats

– When you cut groats into two to three pieces with a sharp met­al blade, you are left with steel-cut oats. This is where they get the name ​“steel cut”. Because of the small­er size, steel-cut oats will cook slight­ly faster than groats but may require some soak­ing before­hand. This type of oat has a nut­ti­er, chewier tex­ture than rolled oats and can be used in por­ridge, stuff­ing, or meatloaf.

Old Fash­ioned (Reg­u­lar or Rolled) Oats

– This type of oat is made when groats are steamed and then rolled into flakes. Doing so sta­bi­lizes the oats so they stay fresh longer, and allows for the oats to cook faster. This type of oat is com­mon­ly used in gra­nola bars, cook­ies, muffins, and oth­er baked goods. Some no-bake options for this type of oat include ener­gy bites and overnight oats for some sim­ple and fast break­fast options.

Quick (Instant) Oats

– These oats are steamed longer and rolled thin­ner than old fash­ioned oats. While the nutri­tion stays the same, the tex­ture will change (which can be good or bad depend­ing on your pref­er­ence!). Instant oats can be used in place of rolled oats, but the cook­ing time will be less and the final dish may have less tex­ture. How­ev­er, many instant oats may have extra added sug­ars, so read your nutri­tion facts label to see if instant oats are the best option for you.

While the dif­fer­ent vari­eties of oats men­tioned above have had dif­fer­ent lev­els of pro­cess­ing, result­ing in dif­fer­ent tex­tures and cook times, they are all nutri­tious. No mat­ter which oat you pick, they are all made from whole oat groats. The bot­tom line is: your choice should be based on your pref­er­ence because all will pro­vide your body with good nutri­tion. Hap­py oat shopping!

No-Bake Ener­gy Bites

Ingre­di­ents:

• 1 cup (dry) oat­meal (I used old-fash­ioned oats)
• ¹⁄₂ cup peanut butter
• ¹⁄₂ cup ground flaxseed 1
• /2 cup choco­late chips (option­al)
• ¹⁄₄ cup hon­ey or maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanil­la extract

Direc­tions:

• Stir all ingre­di­ents togeth­er in a medi­um bowl until thor­ough­ly mixed.
• Cov­er and let chill in the refrig­er­a­tor for half an hour.
• Once chilled, roll into balls of what­ev­er size you would like.
• Store in an air­tight con­tain­er and keep refrig­er­at­ed for up to 1 week.