Make your morning incredibly delicious with this savory oats recipe. I took steel-cut oatmeal and topped it with eggs, smoked cheese, guacamole, wilted spinach, and just a smidge of bacon. This hearty meal covers all of the food groups and will leave you feeling satisfied until lunch. Why settle for a soggy bowl of cold breakfast cereal when you can have a dish like this?
If you enjoyed my Savory Oats Breakfast: Huevos Rancheros with Avocado, you don’t want to miss today’s recipe. I’ve streamlined the process to save you time on busy mornings without sacrificing flavor. Most of us don’t have hours daily to spend in the kitchen, so I think taking some shortcuts here and
The biggest change here is that I eliminated fruit and vegetable chopping. Instead of sliced avocado, I used a bit of sugar-free store-bought guacamole. Rather than making a homemade pico de gallo, I wilted some baby spinach for more plants and a pop of color.
Last, but very far from least in the taste department, I added a little crumble of bacon. I consider bacon to be more of an added fat rather than a protein. Like peanut butter, bacon does contain some protein, but you’d need to eat a lot of it to cover your protein needs.
Basically, I’m using the strip of bacon as an incredibly delicious condiment for flavor enhancement. Most of the protein in these savory oats comes from the eggs and the cheese.
The bacon used in this recipe has a little bit of a backstory. This is not your everyday bacon, oh no. I only realized just recently that I happen to live local to a fantastic smokehouse with some of the best bacon around.
The tale of how I found an amazing local smokehouse for bacon
The story that I am about to tell you will likely interest foodies but not be so helpful to those here for weight loss recipes. This tale begins with my search for bangers and rashers so that I could make the Hairy Bikers' Ulster Fry recipe.
This wonder of a dish ended up being around 1,500 calories. That is without the black pudding and AFTER I cut the amount of bread called for in half…
Shown (clockwise from top): Soda bread with butter, roasted mushrooms, rashers (smoked bacon), roasted tomatoes, bangers (sausages), potato farl, fried eggs. I had slowly been cooking an entrée (no desserts) from every country in the world over the past few years. By “every country,” I mean each of the United Nations member states with some modifications. For example, I split the United Kingdom up in order to enjoy more food from that region.
I have no regrets about that decision. I mean, I would have seriously missed out if I never tried Welsh Glamorgan vegetarian sausages. They are drool-worthy.
Throughout this culinary adventure, I aimed for authentic dishes, or at least for entrees inspired by the regional cuisine. I was cooking through the world somewhat haphazardly, and Northern Ireland was the last stop on my journey.
I could not find the bangers and rashers I needed for my Ulster fry in any of my local (U.S.) stores. So, I took my search to Amazon. Something interesting about the internet is how it connects us globally while also letting us find local businesses we may not have heard of otherwise.
What I found truly surprised me.
Apparently, a well-known smokehouse supplying back bacon and bangers throughout the U.S. is right here in Connecticut. In fact, Nodine’s Smokehouse had a store in the next town over to me until fairly recently.
Lucky me, they still had a store about 40 minutes away, and of course, I had to visit. It was a little tricky to find. The sign out front is helpful, but you have to go down what looks like a private driveway to find them.
If you live in Connecticut and have no dietary contraindications you need to make the trip out there. I was blown away.
I may have awkwardly blurted out to a customer entering the store about how amazing the store was as I was leaving. This was my foodie paradise.
They had the meats I needed for my international breakfast celebration, but that was definitely not all. There were smoked cheeses, venison, chorizo, and some items I’ve never heard of before. I’m looking forward to trying their potatis korv later this week.
When you are making simple recipes, it is vital to use the highest-quality ingredients that you can. With just a few ingredients, each individual food added is going to really shine through. Using smoked cheese and apple-smoked bacon from Nodine’s took the savory oats recipe below from good to spectacular.
For a good decade before my cancer diagnosis, I was unnecessarily strict with my diet (no dairy, no meat, no fish, no eggs). In a way, it was a tremendous blessing, because now I enjoy these foods (along with a balanced diet of other foods) without fear. I wish you a long lifetime of good health and invite you to join me in savoring nutrient-rich animal-based foods fearlessly!
And now for the disclaimer…
All recipes on this website may or may not be appropriate for you, depending on your medical needs and personal preferences. Consult with a registered dietitian or your physician if you need help determining the dietary pattern that may be best for you.
The calorie information is an estimate provided as a courtesy. It will differ depending on the specific brands and ingredients that you use. Calorie information on food labels may be wildly inaccurate, so please don’t sweat the numbers too much.
For more information on how the three recipe levels may help with a weight management goal, refer to this post. Let’s get cooking!
Savory Oats Recipe – Simple and Delicious!
Ingredients
- ¼ cup steel-cut oatmeal, dry
- ⅔ cup baby spinach
- 1 slice thick-cut bacon
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ounce smoked cheese, shredded (28 grams)
- 2 ounces guacamole (57 grams; I used a store-bought single-serve cup.)
Instructions
- Cook the oatmeal with water according to the package directions. It will take 30-45 minutes.
- Wilt the spinach on the stovetop with a little water. Set it aside.
- Cook the strip of bacon. Crumble it when cooked.
- Fry the two eggs in the bacon grease left in the pan.
- To serve, put the cooked oats in a bowl. Top with the shredded cheese. (The heat of the oats will melt the cheese.) Pile the wilted spinach, guacamole, eggs, and crumbled bacon on top. Enjoy it!
Notes
This is a level 2 recipe (transition or weight maintenance). Dry steel-cut oatmeal will run you about 150 calories per ¼-cup, so I’d skip the oats to drop this dish to level one. This move preserves the major sources of protein (eggs, cheese) and the produce. Without the oatmeal, you are left with a pretty typical example of a low-carb/keto breakfast. Cutting back on grains is one easy way to reduce the calories in a meal while keeping the nutrient-dense components that promote satiety. This recipe lends itself well to scaling up if you are feeding a household. It's very easy to customize this to meet the needs of individuals in your family without making separate meals.
Nutrition
I told you about one of my favorite local food businesses in this post. Tell me what’s not to be missed in your area! (I’m especially interested if they have an online store, but even if they don’t, I’d love to learn about them!)
As always, take a photo and tag me @SummerYuleRDN on your social media if you make this savory oats recipe. I hope that you love it!
Terrified Amateur says
Appetizing creation, Summer! Perfect talisman to fend off the cold.
Honestly, I was going to continue those thoughts, until reading the rest of your entry inspired far more than hunger, but awe.
Yes, awe, at your persistence and creativity in seeking out the unique and eclectic, even when they evade. You are a true foodie, boasting not only an appreciation, but determination. Above all, you have the skills to make them sing.
Also, your talent at building all around - and beyond! - the diagnosis is inspiring. You make the healthy appetizing and beautiful. All the more amazing when it's also a path forward.
Five stars, Summer. just for the story alone. More like ten, or fifteen in reality, and we haven't even taken the recipe into account.
Summer Yule says
Thank you so much! I've done so much culinary exploring over the past few years, I could make another site just on that topic! Haha
I love trying new foods and that always seems to work its way in when I write about food/nutrition. When I finished cooking a dish from each of the countries my family asked what we were going to be eating next. Luckily, there are endless possibilities for new dishes to enjoy. (This includes the wonderful oxtail stew enjoyed this evening!)