Prep these easy single-serve slow cooker oatmeal jars at night and wake up to a delicious breakfast! Choose your favorite mix-ins and toppings for a classic hearty breakfast that you can eat at home or take on the go.
We eat a lot of oatmeal in our house. It’s simple, real food, it’s inexpensive, and I can dress it up in a million different ways so none of us get bored with it.
Apple Pie Overnight Oats are delicious right out of the refrigerator. Homemade Instant Oatmeal Packets are an easy option for the kids to grab and make themselves. And I’ve made oatmeal in the Instant Pot plenty of times.
BUT I’m all for a slow cooker making me breakfast while I sleep. (Aren’t we all?)
I’ve been to potlucks where someone brought oatmeal in the crock pot. But the whole slow cooker oatmeal thing? It kind of grosses me out. It’s goopy, sloppy and the fact that you scoop it out with the slap of a serving spoon makes it utterly unappetizing.
If I’m going to make slow cooker oatmeal, it needs to not do any of that!
Friends, allow me to proudly introduce you to Single Serve Slow Cooker Oatmeal.
Goop, slop, and slap gone – consider your breakfast routine revolutionized.
SLOW COOKER OATMEAL RECIPE
Slow cooker oatmeal is sure to become a regular in your breakfast rotation because it’s:
- Easy. Just prep your jars, set it, and forget it.
- Quick. Okay, it cooks for a few hours overnight, but the actual hands-on time is very minimal with easy clean up.
- Prep ahead. If your mornings are already rushed, this is the perfect breakfast for you!
- Customizable. Everyone can pick their own flavors and they all cook at the same time! Plus it’s gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan!
- Frugal. Oatmeal is one of our favorite frugal breakfasts.
- Yummy! I love a bowl of oatmeal with all sorts of toppings mixed in!
Homey + healthy + simple + affordable + a combination that everyone in the family can agree on? Sign me up.
INGREDIENTS FOR OATMEAL IN THE CROCK POT
Gather up your breakfast supplies. Oats are obvious, but think of your favorite toppings too, like fruit (fresh or dried), seeds, and sweeteners…
The flavor combination for crock pot oatmeal that I’m totally addicted to right now:
If that’s not your flavor choice, I’ve got plenty of mix-ins and topping ideas down below so you can make delicious slow cooker oats too!
JARS FOR CROCKPOT OATMEAL
To make crockpot oatmeal, we need to start with some glass jars. Here are the requirements:
- One jar per person you’re serving
- Need to hold at least 16 ounces
- Must fit in your slow cooker
- Must be wide enough to comfortably eat out of
I’ve found that these wide-mouth mason jars are a perfect fit. I can easily get 4 in my slow cooker, but I bet I could get 6 if I tried. Plus, since they’re wide-mouth like my quart-sized jars, they have the same size lids and rings, which is helpful for keeping my kitchen organized.
HOW TO MAKE CROCK POT OATMEAL
Making oatmeal in the crock pot is pretty simple.
Step 1. Line up your jars on the kitchen counter and layer your ingredients.
- fruit #1 (chopped apples)
- ¼ cup oats
- fruit #2 or seeds (raisins)
- spices and sweetener (cinnamon and maple syrup)
- ¼ cup oats
You don’t HAVE to layer it all, but it makes it a bit more pleasant to eat in the morning. If you’re in a no-fuss mood, feel free to dump in everything but the nuts. I won’t tell.
Step 2. Add enough water JUST to cover the oats. Honestly, I always eyeball the water.
If you like thick slow cooker oatmeal, you want the water just to cover the oats. If you like runnier oats, add an extra tablespoon or two.
Step 3. Place all your jars in the slow cooker. Fill the slow cooker – not the jars – with water so that the water line is at the top of the oats in the jar.
Make sense? The jars of oatmeal are now taking a bath in the slow cooker.
Step 4. Put on the cover and set the slow cooker on low for 4 hours. If you set the slow cooker before you go to bed, breakfast will already be done for you!
Note: It’s totally fine for your slow cooker to turn off OR kick over to the keep warm setting. It won’t affect the oatmeal in any way. In fact, it’ll still be warm when you wake up!
Alternatively, you can prep this at night but cook it in the morning instead. Assemble the oatmeal and jars in the slow cooker and add water to the slow cooker but NOT to the oats. Add that water in the morning and cook on high for 60-90 minutes.
Step 5. Serve the overnight slow cooker oatmeal. Remember that the jar has been sitting in a bowl full of fairly warm water, so be careful when you take the jar out. Use a towel just in case and wipe down the sides and bottom so you don’t get wet as you’re eating breakfast.
SLOW COOKED OATMEAL CROCK POT TIPS
Add nuts to your slow cooked oatmeal just before serving. They tend to get soggy if you add them right away.
If your slow cooker oats are a little bit dense after cooking, add a tablespoon or two of your milk of choice. We like coconut milk or almond milk in oatmeal. Oats keep absorbing water even after they’re done cooking, so this is especially helpful if you leave the crockpot on all night long, or if it’s on the keep warm setting for more than a few minutes.
This is the perfect breakfast for on-the-go (as in, taking it out of the house, and not just taking it to the table). Pop a lid on the jar and you’ve got an easy meal to transport – just don’t forget a spoon!
Cooking for one? You can make several jars of slow cooker oatmeal and have breakfast for the whole week. Let the jars cool, and then refrigerate them for up to 5 days. Reheat an individual crock pot oatmeal in the microwave.
Did you make too much? Save the leftovers in an airtight container and make Leftover Oatmeal Cakes!
INDIVIDUAL CROCK POT OATMEAL VARIATIONS
Now that you know how to make crock pot oatmeal, what mix-ins will you choose?
- Fruits or dried fruits: Chopped apples or pears, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, chopped peaches, applesauce, dried cranberries, raisins
- Nuts or seeds: Walnuts, pecans, peanuts, slivered or sliced almonds, pepitas, flaxseed (remember to add the nuts just before serving)
- Spices and flavorings: Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, vanilla extract, almond extract
- Sweeteners: Maple syrup, honey, brown sugar
- Add-ins for cooked oatmeal: Peanut butter, chocolate chips, almond milk, collagen, chia seeds, sliced bananas, cocoa powder – stir these into the oatmeal just before serving.
I think pears, pecans, ginger, and maple syrup might be my next flavor experiment.
Or maybe crock pot oatmeal with strawberries, flaxseed, almonds, and honey? Yum!
Part of the fun is that everyone can choose their own flavors – the only problem is deciding what to try first!
SLOW COOKER OVERNIGHT OATMEAL FAQS
Can you make oatmeal in the crock pot overnight with milk?
I would stick with water for cooking, but you could stir in a tablespoon or two of milk before serving if you’d like. Even though the oatmeal is cooked in water, it doesn’t taste watery at all.
Can you cook different kinds of oatmeal in the crock pot?
We typically use old-fashioned oats (aka rolled oats) for slow cooker oatmeal. I haven’t tried this method with steel-cut oats, but they would probably need a longer cooking time, and I wouldn’t recommend using quick oats for this method, as they would turn into a mushy texture.
How long should oats be cooked?
This slow cooked oatmeal crock pot method takes 4 hours on low, or 60-90 minutes on high, using old-fashioned oats.
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WATCH HOW TO MAKE SINGLE SERVE SLOW COOKER OATMEAL
Single Serve Oatmeal in the Slow Cooker
Prep these easy single-serve slow cooker oatmeal jars at night and wake up to a delicious breakfast! Choose your favorite mix-ins and toppings for a classic hearty breakfast that you can eat at home or take on the go.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 hours
- Total Time: 4 hours 5 minutes
- Yield: 1 serving 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Slow Cooker
- Cuisine: American
Instructions
Step 1. Line up your jars on the kitchen counter and layer your ingredients.
1. fruit #1 (chopped apples)
2. ¼ cup oats
3. fruit #2 or seeds (raisins)
4. spices and sweetener (cinnamon and maple syrup)
5. ¼ cup oats
You don’t HAVE to layer it all, but it makes it a bit more pleasant to eat in the morning. You can also just dump in everything but the nuts.
Step 2. Add enough water JUST to cover the oats. If you like thick slow cooker oatmeal, you want the water just to cover the oats. If you like runnier oats, add an extra tablespoon or two.
Step 3. Place all your jars in the slow cooker. Fill the slow cooker – not the jars – with water so that the water line is at the top of the oats in the jar.
Step 4. Put on the cover and set the slow cooker on low for 4 hours. It’s totally fine for your slow cooker to turn off OR kick over to the keep warm setting. It won’t affect the oatmeal in any way. In fact, it’ll still be warm when you wake up!
Step 5. Serve the overnight slow cooker oatmeal. Remember that the jar has been sitting in a bowl full of fairly warm water, so be careful when you take the jar out. Use a towel just in case and wipe down the sides and bottom so you don’t get wet as you’re eating breakfast.
Notes
- Alternatively, you can prep this at night but cook it in the morning instead. Assemble the oatmeal and jars in the slow cooker and add water to the slow cooker but NOT to the oats. Add that water in the morning and cook on high for 60-90 minutes.
- Add nuts to your slow cooked oatmeal just before serving. They tend to get soggy if you add them right away.
- If your slow cooker oats are a little bit dense after cooking, add a tablespoon or two of your milk of choice.
