How to Cook Old Fashioned Rolled Oats

If you ask for my personal opinion well-nigh the all-time oats for oatmeal, I would tell yous to await for steel-cutting oats. But that hardier oat tin have upwards of 30 minutes to cook and it tin't exist used in cookies or granola, so I ever keep a stash of old-fashioned rolled oats on hand too. And—non for zilch—if you buy the correct brand (which you will after reading below), the quicker-cooking oat can make for a delicious bowl of oatmeal too.

A product with so much versatility demands a thorough review. Then we took 10 brands of old-fashioned rolled outs through four rounds of testing to discover the oats that tin can do it all. (Note that we only tested classic rolled oats, and did non include "quick oats," "1-minute oats," or "instant oats.")

Our winner, Now Real Food Organic Rolled Oats, came in first in 3 out of those four rounds (and 2d in the outlying round). Merely that's not the only make nosotros recommend. For our methodology and the full listing of oats we tasted, scroll to the bottom of the page. Beginning upwards, more on the rankings!

All products featured on Epicurious are independently selected by our editors. If yous buy something through our retail links, we may earn a modest affiliate committee.

Our Favorite Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats: Now Real Nutrient

Outset things first: Now Real Food's oats made the oatmeal cookie that was unanimously voted the best. I baked a crowd-pleasing recipe classic with the superlative iii oats and the batch made with At present puffed into perfect, nutty, chewy discs. Another contender, whose oats were a bit thicker than the oats from At present, spread likewise much—the thicker oats didn't absorb moisture at a quick enough rate, and thus the cookies were thinner, pocked with oats we deemed also tough. The other contender'due south oats were thinner than the winner—that meant the oats absorbed moisture too quickly, making for a drier cookie that stayed in a more domed shape.

Beyond cookies, we liked the subtle fruity season that Now'south oats brought to plain toasted oats, which translated into oatmeal with a more nuanced flavor. And while the oatmeal made with At present'south oats did have a sturdier texture than some other brands (which occasionally turned to mush), it was incomparably porridge-like, with few distinct oat kernels. So if you're looking for an oat that cooks into a creamy oatmeal that notwithstanding has plenty of chewy oat texture, these are the oats for you.

Buy It: At present Existent Nutrient Organic Rolled Oats, $four for a 24-ounce purse at VitaCost

#feelingmyoats

Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Nutrient Styling past Anna Stockwell

The All-time Rolled Oats for Fans of Texture: King Arthur

Our second favorite oats were those thick oats that spread besides thin in the cookie test. King Arthur'southward oats are hardier than nearly of the other old-fashioned oats we tested; in the stovetop oatmeal test, they took eight minutes to cook—longer than the five minute average, merely nowhere virtually the time it takes to melt steel-cut oatmeal. The plain King Arthur oats have a sugariness and very nutty season, and were praised by Kat Boytsova for their "overnice texture and even hydration." And information technology must be said that these oats were the prettiest of the lot. When poured straight from the bag, the consistency in size and lack of powdery residue, which many brands were coated with (a result of the manufacturing procedure), made them wait the most tempting. All of this meant that their lackluster performance in the cookie test tin be forgiven (considering honestly, the cookies still tasted pretty good).

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