Brown-Butter Chocolate Oatmeal

By Melissa Clark

Brown-Butter Chocolate Oatmeal
Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
Total Time
40 minutes
Rating
4(557)
Comments
Read comments

Adding a few tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder to your morning oatmeal turns a quotidian breakfast into something unexpectedly complex and bittersweet, while browning the butter adds a nutty richness. You can adapt this recipe to work in your slow cooker or pressure cooker, if that’s your preference. Just brown the butter and oats first, then whisk the cocoa into the boiling water until no lumps remain, and proceed as you usually do. For something a little mellower, substitute whole milk, nut milk or coconut milk for up to half of the water.

Featured in: Yes, Adults Can Have Chocolate for Breakfast. Really.

  • or to save this recipe.

  • Subscriber benefit: give recipes to anyone
    As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.
    Subscribe

  • Print Options

Advertisement

Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • 2tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1½cups steel-cut oats
  • 3tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch-process
  • ¼teaspoon fine sea salt
  • Raw sugar, honey or maple syrup, to taste

    • Toppings

    • Cream, milk or coconut milk
    • Butter
    • Flaky sea salt
    • Sliced bananas
    • Shredded coconut
    • Sliced dates
    • Sliced avocado
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Cooking Newsletter illustration

Opt out or contact us anytime. See our Privacy Policy.

Opt out or contact us anytime. See our Privacy Policy.

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Let cook, swirling occasionally, until it turns deep golden brown and smells nutty, 2 to 4 minutes. You’ll know it’s close when the bubbling quiets down as the moisture cooks off. Add oats and sauté until they turn golden at the edges, 2 to 4 minutes. Scrape oats and butter into a bowl and reserve.

  2. Step 2

    To the same pot (no need to rinse it out first) add 4½ cups water and bring to a boil. Add cocoa powder and whisk well to dissolve lumps. Whisk in buttered oats and salt.

  3. Step 3

    Lower to a gentle simmer. Let cook, stirring occasionally, until done to taste, 25 to 30 minutes. Turn off the heat, cover the pot, and let sit for 5 minutes. Check the thickness; thin with boiling water if needed. Stir in sweetener to taste and serve with toppings of your choice.

Ratings

4 out of 5
557 user ratings
Your rating

or to rate this recipe.

Have you cooked this?

or to mark this recipe as cooked.

Private Notes

Leave a Private Comment on this recipe and see it here.

Comments

Marie

There is no need to remove the toasted oats from the pot before adding water and cocoa. Stir in the cocoa first then add the water and bring to a boil. I have been making my steel cut oats by the cold water start method for years now and the texture just a bit creamer than adding the oats to boiling water. And time and effort saved in the already busy morning.

Tom R

A simpler variant on starting oatmeal the night before. Put the oats (and for this recipe cocoa) into the pot with cold water (2/3 of total quantity), bring to a boil, stir once and immediately turn off, cover and leave overnight. In the morning, add remaining 1/3 of water and cook until done. No need for fancy electric pots. I learned this method from a British lady who lived on this during the hard times of WW II and it works beautifully.

Mary U

2 Questions: How can you say this is for breakfast when it requires 45 min of cooking? OR. Do you have a kitchen worker who arrives an hour before you rise?

Mariangela

I didn’t understand the brown butter component when it was completely masked by the cocoa addition & significant amount of water. There was no brown butter in the flavor profile. Really needed to offset with fruit like strawberries when in season. Maple syrup helped. But is this better than regularly prepared oats?

Bodhismom

Delicious. Used Ghiradelli Dutch process cocoa. Stirred into toasted oatmeal and brown butter in pot and then poured cold water over. Added some cinnamon. About 20 mins to cook after the water came to a boil. Not bitter and fidn't need any further sweetening but a little drizzle of maple syrup was nice.

Christa

This recipe has become my go-to oatmeal: I prefer steel-cut over rolled and substitute half of the water with whole milk--very simple to make.

Private comments are only visible to you.

Recipe Tags

Advertisement

or to save this recipe.