We love steel cut oats, but they take a long time to cook up in the morning. Solution? Crockpot! I had to play around with quite a few failed batches, but I got it! This also makes a really big batch, so be forewarned. I have a 6 quart crockpot, so you may have to adjust to yours, but here are the basic directions:
At night, put into your crockpot:
3 cups steel cut oats
11 cups liquid (I do 4 c. milk, 6-1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup buttermilk)
2 T butter (or coconut oil. Can put up to 4 T butter if you prefer)
1 TBS cinnamon (optional)
Whisk ingredients together. (It's OK if the butter is still in a chunk.) Set crockpot to cook on low for 2 hours. (Hopefully your crockpot is like mine, and will turn off and just keep it warm for the rest of the night.) Open it up in the morning and it should be done and beautifully creamy. Sweeten to taste. It might burn a little around the edges, but I've never had that affect the taste of the oats.
Note on liquids:
Buttermilk is added to help break down phytic acids of the oats and make it more digestible. I'm not sure how much it helps because you're cooking it right at the beginning, but it is in there!
You can do all water or all milk. Milk just makes it creamier.
Smaller ratio:
2 cups steel cut oats
7-1/3 cups liquid (3 c. milk, 4 c. water, 1/3 c. buttermilk)
1-2T butter
2 tsp cinnamon
