If you’re looking for a healthy breakfast idea, this easy blueberry oatmeal recipe is perfect for you! This is a wonderful recipe for busy mornings when you want something different and delicious for breakfast!
If you’re bored of your normal oatmeal routine, this purple blueberry oatmeal will definitely break you out of it! It’s an easy breakfast idea, but still full of flavor.
And I’ll be showing you how to make it whether you have quick cooking, rolled, or steel cut oats on hand!
This is going to be cheaper and better than those oatmeal cups you can purchase the grocery store. Plus you can adjust the amount of sweetness to your preference!
Okay, let me show you how to make it!
Here’s a video tutorial in case you learn better that way. You can watch a more in-depth tutorial on YouTube. The written tutorial is below!
Ingredients:
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Okay, here’s everything you’ll need to make this purple oatmeal at home!
- ½ cup blueberries: you can use fresh or frozen. I use frozen blueberries because they’re readily available and very convenient. For the best flavor, make sure to buy wild blueberries. Cultivated blueberries just don’t compare. The texture of the wild blueberries will also be better since they’re smaller. Also, wild blueberries (AKA lowbush blueberries) are typically higher in antioxidants than highbush blueberries, so they have more health benefits!
- ½ cup oats: You can use quick cooking oats, rolled oats, or steel cut oats for the recipe. All the different kinds of oats work great, but I was surprised that my favorite was actually the quick cooking oats. If you want this to be gluten-free, make sure to purchase certified gluten free oats.
- ½ cup of milk: You can think of this as a cream oatmeal since it’s made with milk as part of the wet ingredients. I use organic whole milk, but feel free to substitute a different type of milk such as oat milk, almond milk, coconut milk, or your favorite non-dairy milk for a dairy free version. It will work to use skim milk or 2% milk, but I highly recommend using full fat milk for maximum nutrients and creaminess. I don’t really recommend using soy milk, but if it’s your absolute favorite, be my guest!
- ½ cup water: – it’s really easy to remember if you’re using quick cooking or rolled oats: it’s half a cup each of blueberries, oats, milk, and water. Now if you’re using steel cut oats, you’ll want to increase the water and milk to 3/4 cup each.
- 1-3 tablespoons of brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, or sweetener of choice: I personally prefer my oatmeal less sweet, so just a tablespoon is the right amount of sweetness for me. But if you like yours extra sweet, feel free to increase the amount. 3 tablespoons would be way too sweet for me, but that may be the perfect amount for you.
- ¼ teaspoon of salt: A lot of oatmeal packages call for just a pinch of salt. I think that’s not enough. Keep in mind that I use unrefined sea salt. You may wish to decrease the amount of salt if you use table salt since it tends to taste saltier than unrefined salt.
- ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract: you could substitute almond extract if you prefer.
How to Make Blueberry Oatmeal
This is a stovetop oatmeal recipe, so the cooking process is very simple.
Just place everything in a medium saucepan and set it over medium-high heat.
Bring to a boil, cover, and turn the heat down to low. Simmer until cooked, stirring often.
The cooking time will vary based on the type of oats you use. f you’re using quick oats or instant oats, this will only take about 2-3 minutes of boiling. Rolled oats (AKA old fashioned oats) will be more like 5-7 minutes, and steel-cut oats will take about 20-25 minutes.
By the way, I like to purchase sprouted oats since these are a whole grain. Sprouting helps to make whole grains more nutritious and easier to digest. I get mine from One Degree Organic Foods. You can purchase them on Amazon or Thrive Market.
Variations:
This is such a versatile recipe.
Now I love the purple color of these oats. But if you prefer a more traditional oatmeal, you can cook the blueberries, sweetener, and vanilla separately in a small saucepan to make a compote.
A liquid sweetener such as maple syrup works well here.
Then swirl the sweet blueberries into the cooked oats.
This allows you to taste the oats and the blueberries separately.
If you want to mix up the flavors you could grate in some lemon zest or orange zest for a pop of freshness.
You could also experiment with leaving out the sweetener, and stirring in a mashed banana instead.
Topping Ideas:
Okay, arguably the best part is picking your toppings!
Of course you can enjoy as is, but I personally can’t have oatmeal without some added richness. Butter and cream or a little extra milk pair really well on this oatmeal. Mmmm…the melted butter just adds a wonderful flavor!
You could also opt for coconut oil, almond butter, or peanut butter.
More topping ideas include sliced almonds or crunchy pecans, granola, chia seeds or flax seeds, shredded coconut, etc.
You could also put fresh blueberries on top (I love extra blueberries!) or sliced bananas.
My personal favorites are fresh blueberries, cream, shredded coconut, and almonds. So yummy!
Meal Prep:
To save time in the morning, you could mix together everything except for the oats and blueberries and place in the refrigerator. Then just mix in the oats and blueberries in the morning before cooking!
Or, if you’re really short on time in the morning, you could cook the oats the night before, cool down to room temperature, and store in the refrigerator. Then you just need to re-heat in the morning.
So there you have my blueberry oatmeal recipe!
What I love about this oatmeal is it’s easy enough to be doable for a weekday meal, but it’s definitely not boring and tasteless. Your whole family will enjoy this!
Plus it’s a hearty breakfast, so it will fill you up and give you energy!
If you’re looking for more easy and nutritious breakfast ideas, make sure to check out this post where I show you how to make 3 delicious Greek Yogurt Bowls that contain about 20 grams of protein each!
I’d like to work on a baked oatmeal recipe as well – would you be interested in that?
More Easy Breakfast Recipes:
- Overnight Oats (Soaked Oatmeal)
- Blueberry Dutch Baby
- The Best Granola Recipe
- Egg Muffin Cups with Cottage Cheese, Bacon, and Peppers
- 3 Healthy Kefir Smoothie Recipes
- Ricotta Avocado Toast
- Energizer Green Smoothie
- Meal Prep Roasted Vegetable Bowls
- Strawberry Protein Smoothie
If you enjoyed this recipe, please leave a 5 star rating! It really helps the blog out!
Recipe Card
Blueberry Oatmeal Recipe
If you're looking for a healthy breakfast idea, this easy blueberry oatmeal recipe is perfect for you! This is a wonderful recipe for busy mornings when you want something different and delicious for breakfast!
Ingredients
- ½ cup of blueberries
- ½ cup of oats (see note)
- ½ cup of milk
- ½ cup of water
- 1-3 tablespoons of brown sugar (see note)
- ¼ teaspoon of unrefined salt
- ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract
Instructions
- The cooking process is so simple. Just place everything in a medium saucepan, set it over medium-high heat, bring to a boil, and simmer until cooked, stirring often.
- Now if you’re using quick oats, this will only take about 2-3 minutes of boiling. Rolled oats will be more like 5-7 minutes, and steel cut oats will take about 20-25 minutes.
- Now I love the purple color of these oats. But if you prefer a more traditional oatmeal, you can cook the blueberries, sweetener, and vanilla separately to make a compote, and then swirl that into the cooked oats.
- Of course you can enjoy as is, but I personally can’t have oatmeal without some added richness. Butter and cream pair really well here. You could also opt for almond butter or peanut butter.
- More topping ideas include bananas, sliced almonds or crunchy pecans, granola, chia seeds or flax seeds, shredded coconut, etc.
Notes
- You can use quick cooking, rolled, or steel cut oats for this recipe. If you're using steel cut oats, increase the water and milk to 3/4 cup each.
- By the way, I like to purchase sprouted oats. Sprouting helps to make whole grains more nutritious and easier to digest.
- You can use brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, cane sugar, coconut sugar, etc. I like just 1 tablespoon of sweetener, but feel free to increase to taste.
- Now I love the purple color of these oats. But if you prefer a more traditional oatmeal, you can cook the blueberries, sweetener, and vanilla separately to make a compote, and then swirl that into the cooked oats.
- If you want to mix up the flavors you could grate in some lemon or orange zest for a pop of freshness.
- Calories calculated from half the recipes. Full recipe is 512 calories.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
1-2Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 256
Diana
Monday 29th of January 2024
This was very good! I made it with quick oats and added some peanut protein powder and sliced almonds. And then a pat of butter on top. Great way to use up some blueberries and also have a heart healthy breakfast!