Apple Cider Steel Cut Oats for Instant Pot are a smart and scrumptious solution to morning meal mayhem. The looming demands of the day should be fueled with a healthy, satiating breakfast – yet the irony is the A.M. time crunch often leads to meal-skipping or making poor food choices. 

A small amount of time meal prepping breakfast for the week, will allow you to nourish yourself properly in the morning and spend the saved time tackling your “to-do” list with more energy.  These steel cut oats, naturally sweetened with apple cider, have been a family favorite this fall – read on to get the recipe!

Apple Cider Steel Cut Oats for the Instant Pot are my morning comfort food of choice –warm and filling for my belly, aromatic with the scent of spices, and easy to make in the Instant Pot and the divvied up in single servings for the remainder of the week. I will also often stockpile a batch of single-portions in the freezer and later use as an “ice pack” in my lunchbox to keep other items cool work, travel or gym. I will then defrost, heat up and eat! 

The creamy and chewy, almost nutty texture, of steel cut oats is very pleasant, especially if you are someone who doesn’t like the traditional “mushy” oatmeal. However, steel cut oats (sometimes called Irish oats) can be time consuming to cook up on the stove top and a sticky, messy disaster to make in the microwave. An Instant Pot (aka multi-function pressure cooker) can reduce the cooking time of steel cut oats significantly and also prevent you from constantly monitoring the pot for disastrous boil over. Also, another Instant Pot bonus, the apples used in the recipe can be sautéed right in the appliance, meaning you don’t have to dirty up a skillet!

Instead of adding table sugar to my oatmeal, I rely on the natural sweetness of 100% apple cider for a bit of the cooking liquis. And, if I still think it needs to be sweeter, I’ll use one of the stevia products (like the Harmless Hunny) from Pyure Organic

Nutrition boosts in this instant pot oatmeal recipe include chia seeds, cinnamon, and pecans – all have great health benefits. Also, while not listed in the recipe or nutrition facts, I typically also stir in a half-scoop of protein powder like Clean Lean Protein from Nuzest — save15% on my Nuzest page. )  to boost the protein. Each serving comes in under 300 calories, with about 8 grams of protein and healthy, long-lasting carbohydrates including a generous amount of your daily fiber requirement.

I also have a stove top apple cider oat recipe similar to this one, but also featuring quinoa blended in with the oats — Apple Cider Quinoa Oats with Cranberries

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Apple Cider Steel Cut Oats for Instant Pot

Prep Time

2 mins

Cook Time

13 mins

pressure release

5 mins

Total Time

15 mins

 

Let the Instant Pot help you prep these delicious fall-inspired oats quickly, and mess free! Perfect for breakfast meal-prepping.

Servings: 4 servings

Calories: 297 kcal

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons salted butter divided
• 2 cups chopped fresh apple approx. 1 jumbo or 2 medium
• 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon divided
• 1 cup steel cut oats
• 2 tablespoons chia seeds
• 1 cups water
• 1 2/3 cups apple cider 100% juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Set Instant Pot to Sauté function and add 1 tablespoon of the butter, allowing it to melt.
2. Add diced apples and stir, constantly, sautéing for approximately 3 to 4 minutes until softened. Sprinkle in ½ teaspoon of the cinnamon, stir and cook for 30 additional seconds. Scoop out cooked apples to a bowl and set aside.
3. Quickly add remaining 1 tablespoon of butter to Instant Pot, remaining in the Sauté function. Allow butter to melt and then add the steel cut oats, stirring continuously for 2 minutes or until starting to toast. Turn off Sauté function.
4. Pour in the water, apple cider, chia seeds, remaining 1 teaspoon cinnamon, vanilla, and half of the cooked chopped apples (reserving the remaining half for a topping). Stir ingredients in Instant Pot to combine.
5. Add lid to Instant Pot and set to Pressure Cook (High) function for 8 minutes, ensuring steam valve set to seal.
6. When timer goes off, let sit closed for 5 minutes, naturally releasing some of the steam. Then press the release and allow the remaining steam to leave the pot.
7. Carefully remove lid and stir cooked oats in Instant Pot before serving.
8. Top with reserved sautéed chopped apples and pecans. May also add additional toppings such as milk, cream, maple syrup, etc., as desired.

Recipe Notes