Vegan Pumpkin Steel Cut Oats with Piloncillo
Steel cut oats make a healthy and nutritious breakfast. Try this vegan breakfast of pumpkin steel cut oats with pumpkin pie spices and Mexican piloncillo.
Fresh pumpkin is very much in season, I love giving my steel cut oats breakfast some seasonal touches.
In this recipe I’ve combined homemade pumpkin puree with the oats and added some aromatic spices to really liven things up. The recipe is quite easy and I think you’ll truly enjoy it.
What Are Steel Cut Oats
Steel cut oats are oat groats. So in other words, it’s the whole inner kernel of the oat grain. Which is then chopped into two or 3 smaller pieces.
Regular or flatten oats are made from those smaller pieces. Isn’t that crazy?!
Steel cut oats are a very popular breakfast food. They are most commonly eaten as porridge.
Are Steel Cut Oats Healthy
Short answer, Yes!
They are more nutritious than rolled oats. The reason is due to the minimal processing steel cut undergoes versus the rolled oats.
What Are Their Health Benefits
The health benefits of steel cut oats are many, below are just a few.
- high in fiber
- are a low glycemic food, meaning they don’t spike blood sugar levels
- a great source of iron
- steel cut oats are a gluten-free food
- are high in protein
All of these health benefits are great for your body and mind. They will keep you feeling fuller longer, and also give you great energy throughout the morning.
How to Cook Vegan Pumpkin Steel Cut Oats with Piloncillo
Cooking steel cut oats is incredibly easy!
The only thing of these types of oats versus regular rolled oats, is that they take a bit longer to cook.
But don’t worry because if you soak them overnight, they’ll cook quicker. This way you can enjoy your oat porridge in the morning.
To cook these pumpkin steel cut oats, we start by soaking them overnight in the refrigerator. So you place the oat groats with almond milk in an airtight container. Do this before you got to bed.
The next morning you will heat up the coconut oil — which adds great flavor! You could also swap it for vegan butter. Then you’ll add the pumpkin puree and spices to warm it up.
Next the oats are added to the mix and cooked until they are tender. Lastly the piloncillo is added and stir until it’s melted and well combined. You could use brown sugar instead if desired.
That’s it!! Super easy!
Pumpkin Spiced Steel Cut Oats
Surely you know that pumpkin and pumpkin pie spices are amazing togher!
That’s exactly what I did here. The result is amazing!
Pumpkin Steel Cut Oats with a Mexican Touch
To give my oat porridge a Mexican touch I used piloncillo.
Piloncillo is unrefined whole cane sugar. The taste is like brown sugar and a hint of molasses.
The piloncillo in these steel cut oats pairs perfectly! I’d go as far as say that it’s the best sweetener you can use for this combination.
Vegan Pumpkin Steel Cut Oats Recipe
Check out the recipe below to see just how easy this breakfast recipe is.
Vegan Pumpkin Steel Cut Oats with Pumpkin Pie Spices
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup steel cut oats
- 1 cup almond milk unsweetened and unflavored
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree unsweetened and unflavored
- 1/2 teaspoon melted coconut oil or vegan butter
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- pinch ground ginger
- pinch ground nutmeg
- pinch ground allspice
- 1 pinch fine sea salt
- 1/8 cup ground piloncillo or brown sugar, adjust to taste
Instructions
- The night before, mix the steel cut oats with the milk and store in a sealable or airtight container, then place it in the refrigerator.The next morning take out the oats from the refrigerator and set aside. Now heat a small pot and once hot add the coconut oil and allow to warm up. Next add the pumpkin puree and all of the spices, give the ingredients a good stir and cook until the puree thickens up a bit — about 4 to 5 minutes.
- Now pour in the soaked oats and stir until well combined. Add the piloncillo and again give the oatmeal a good stir. Taste it and see if the oats need more sweetener or spices. Allow to cool slightly before serving. Served topped with nuts and a few grains of pomegranate if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
You are going to love how delicious your kitchen will smell when you warm up the ingredients together.
It tastes like autumn, like the holidays, and so delicious.
I know the amounts may seem a bit low. But it really is very filling. You’ll get one large or two small servings out of it. Or you can always double the amounts. Enjoy!
More Pumpkin Recipes to Try
- Curry Spiced Potato and Pumpkin Empanadas,
- How to Make Pumpkin Puree From Scratch
- Easy Mexican Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
- Calabaza En Tacha or Mexican Candied Pumpkin
Nancy Lopez is a food blogger and author of the cookbook Mexican Tamales Made Meatless. Born in Mexico, raised in the US, and currently living in Southern Mexico, she has followed a meatless diet for almost 10 years. It is her passion and mission to share all she has learned about vegan Mexican cooking and vegetarian Mexican recipes. Mexican Made Meatless is a blog dedicated to preserving the authentic flavors of Mexican cuisine just without the meat. It’s a place to celebrate Mexican culture and all it’s delightfully delicious traditional foods. Read more…
Super easy to make, very delicious. made this as part of my meal prep for the next week. thanks for the great recipe.
It’s great for meal prepping, I love waking up to minimal kitchen effort in the mornings. lol Thanks and enjoy!