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    Home » Recipes » Breakfast

    Published: May 12, 2022 by Usha Rao

    Oats Upma

    Jump to Recipe Jump to Video

    Oats upma is an Indian style savory oats. A quick, healthy breakfast to start the day. Make it with steel cut or rolled oats, recipe for both versions included in the post.   To jazz up the upma, use green peas or/and nuts.

    Two bowls of oats upma.
    Bowl in the front is steel cut oats with peanuts and the one in the back is rolled oats with green peas.

    Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and I spend the least amount of time preparing it. Usually I am alone for breakfast, hence use quick ideas to fix breakfast. And oats or oatmeal is one of my go to breakfasts.

    With instant oats, I make one of these Instant savory oatmeals and  for a sweeter version, I add milk, fruits, nuts and choco chips.  Since I started using steel cut oats, I cook a big batch and prepare the savoy or sweet versions as I would with instant oatmeal.

    Second, steel cut oats are chewier, nuttier and, I like it better than rolled and instant oats. Steel cut tastes a lot like porridges with godhuma rava.

    When in mood for  a variation to above, oats khichdi, oats pulihora and upma come into picture. These are a bit time consuming compared to above mentioned recipes but are easy to prepare and tasty as well.

    When it comes to upma, rolled oats are quick to prepare, in 10 minutes but steel cut oats are grainier and tastes a lot like the classic godhuma (wheat) upma. Since these oats take longer to cook, oats upma instant pot recipe is my go to recipe.

    Table of contents

    • Iron Rich Food
    • Ingredients
    • Step by Step Instructions
      • How to make oats upma in Instant Pot?
      • How to make rolled oats upma?
    • Serve
    • Storage
    • Variation
    • Related Recipes

    Iron Rich Food

    Oats have protein, fiber and iron, along with few other nutrients. One serving of steel cut oats has 1mg iron. Daily recommended value is 8-18mg depending on gender and age.

    A-Z iron rich food is a series where I post a recipe with an iron rich ingredient for each alphabet. For letter 'O', it is oats and an upma recipe with it. Here are a few recipes from the series.

    • Bowl of nuvvula annam.
      Nuvvula Annam ~ Sesame Rice Indian Style
    • Bowl of mung beans curry in a bowl placed on a plate. In the background is a bowl of rice and mung curry.
      Moong Bean Dal, Gujarati Mag
    • A bowl of lima beans curry.
      Lima Beans Curry, Video Recipe
    • A bowl of dal.
      Kale Dal, Video Recipe

    Ingredients

    Ingredients for oats upma.
    • Oats - Depending on the oats, cook time varies. Steel cut oats are grainy and tastes better than the other varieties. It also takes longer to cook. For a quicker version use rolled oats and cook on stovetop.
    • Chilies - I use small green chilies similar to Thai chilies.  When using other varieties adjust to your heat tolerance level.  
    • Nuts/Veggies - Use peanuts and/or cashew nuts.  When using rolled oats, I prefer adding green peas and/or green beans and carrots for additional nutrition.  
    • Tadka/Tempering - Basic tadka ingredients such as cumin, mustard, curry leaves,  onion and ginger.    
    • Oil - I use oil but you can use a combination of oil and butter/ghee. To keep it vegan, use vegan butter or skip butter/ghee.
    • Check recipe card below for more details.

    Step by Step Instructions

    Chop onion, ginger and chilies.  When preparing steel cut upma, I use both onion and ginger. You can skip these with rolled oats. Use an Instant Pot (IP) for steel cut oats and a saucepan on stovetop for rolled oats.

    How to make oats upma in Instant Pot?

    SBS preparation - small bowl of tempering ingredients and in the background is Instant Pot with heated oil.

    Step 1: Select sauté setting on your IP. Heat oil in inner pot. Add cumin, urad dal and mustard seeds.

    SBS preparation - toasted tempering seeds in inner pot of Instant Pot.

    Step 2: Toast the seeds in oil until seeds splutter.

    SBS preparation - adding green chilies and ginger to tempering.

    Step 3: Add chopped green chilies and ginger to tadka or tempering.

    SBS preparation - chilies and ginger roasted in the tempering.

    Step 4: Saute chilies and ginger until lightly roasted in oil.

    SBS preparation - peanuts and curry leaves added to oats upma tempering.

    Step 5: Add curry leaves and peanuts.

    SBS preparation  - onions added to tempering after peanuts are lightly roasted.

    Step 6: Once peanuts are lightly roasted, add onions.

    SBS preparation - steel cut oats added to tempering which is being prepared in an Instant Pot.

    Step 7: Once onions are soft, add steel cut oats.

    SBS preparation - steel cut oats lightly toasted in the tempering.

    Step 8: Roast for a minute or two.

    SBS preparation - Instant pot with tempered oats and water.

    Step 9: Cancel saute setting. Add salt & water to inner pot; 1:2 oats to water ratio, close the lid and pressure cook for 5 minutes on manual / pressure cook setting.

    SBS preparation - cooked oats upma in Instant Pot, immediately after opening the lid.

    Step 10: Let the pressure release naturally, about 10-12 minutes, open the lid, sprinkle cilantro, mix and serve hot.

    How to make rolled oats upma?

    Instructions for rolled oats is similar to steel cut upma and cooks really quick, 5 minutes maximum. Hence you can easily prepare this on stove top. Heat oil in a pan, add tempering seeds, let seeds pop, add green chilies and curry leaves.

    You can add nuts or veggies now, if you are using and saute for few seconds. Add rolled oats, saute until light brown, add salt, 1:1 ½ oats to water ratio and cook on medium flame until done.

    Serve

    Serve this savory Indian oats as is or with some pickle on the side.  Lime pickle or lime juice pickle goes well with it.

    Storage

    Store left overs in an air tight container in the refrigerator. Reheat in the microwave and serve.

    Variation

    For a tangy flavor, add some tomatoes. After sautéing onions, add chopped tomatoes, salt and saute until soft. Then add oats and continue with rest of the preparation.

    Bowl of steel cut oats upma and another bowl of upma in the background.

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    • Gluten free instant oats with a chutney for morning breakfast
      Gluten Free Oats Dosa ~ Savory Oats Crepes
    • Plate of tomato rava bath.
      Tomato Rava Bath
    • Bowl of maramarala upma.
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    📖 Recipe

    Bowl of oats upma.

    Steel Cut Oats Upma

    Oats upma is an Indian style savory oats. A quick, healthy breakfast to start the day.
    5 from 4 votes
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Breakfast
    Cuisine: Indian, South Indian
    Prep Time: 2 minutes minutes
    Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes
    Resting Time: 10 minutes minutes
    Servings: 2
    Calories: 271kcal
    Author: Usha Rao

    Equipment

    • 1 Cutting board & knife
    • 1 Instant Pot 3 qt
    • 1 Spoon or a Spatula

    Ingredients

    • 2 teaspoon Oil
    • ¼ teaspoon Cumin Seeds
    • ¼ teaspoon Mustard Seeds
    • ½ teaspoon Urad Dal
    • 4 Curry Leaves
    • 2 small Green Chilies cut into ½” pieces adjust to taste
    • 2 tablespoons Peanuts
    • 2-3 tablespoons chopped Onion
    • ½ teaspoon Salt adjust to taste
    • ½ cup Steel Cut Oats check notes if using rolled oats
    • 1 cup Water
    • Cilantro / Coriander Leaves to garnish

    Instructions

    • Wash, chop onion and ginger, and cut green chilies. Wash curry leaves and if the leaves are big, tear the leaves to two.
    • Set instant pot on sauté setting. Add oil and once hot add Urad dal, mustard & cumin seeds. Follow the same steps even for Indian cooker.
    • When the seeds splutter, add green chilies, ginger and sauté for a few seconds.
    • Add curry leaves, peanuts and continue to sauté for another ½ a minute or until peas start to change color.
    • Then sauté onions, then Add salt, oats and roast until oats are light brown. This takes about a minute.
    • Add water and give a good stir.
    • Cancel sauté setting.
    • Close the lid, vent in the sealing position.
    • Pressure cook for 5 minutes on manual or pressure cook setting. With Indian cooker, 4-5 whistles.
    • Let the pressure release manually, about 10-12 minutes.
    • Open the lid, give a good stir, sprinkle cilantro and serve.

    Video

    Notes

    • Ghee - Use a combination of ghee and oil or only ghee for more flavor. It tastes good even with oil but ghee increases the taste quotient to another level. 
    • Indian Pressure Cooker - I prefer cooking steel cut oats in IP.  With Indian pressure cookers, do 4-5 whistles/hisses.  I avoid these cookers as oats tend to get stuck in the pressure vent or spills out.  
    • Variation - For a tangy flavor, add some tomatoes. After sautéing onions, add chopped tomatoes, salt and sauté  until tomatoes are soft. Then add oats and continue with rest of the preparation.
    • Rolled Oats - Follow above instructions but on stovetop in a saucepan or a sauté  pan.  You can skip onion and ginger, if you wish. You can replace peanuts with green peas or veggies now.  Cook oats with 1:1 ½ oats to water ratio and cook on medium flame.
    • Nutrition - Values listed are approximate calculations.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 271kcal | Carbohydrates: 33g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 1g | Sodium: 740mg | Potassium: 96mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 79IU | Vitamin C: 46mg | Calcium: 49mg | Iron: 2mg
    Tried this recipe?Share a photo! Mention @usha_myspicykitchen or tag #Usha_MySpicyKitchen!

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    This post was originally published in Aug 2012. Republished with new content and images.

    More Breakfast

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

      5 from 4 votes

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    1. Radha says

      July 02, 2022 at 12:58 am

      5 stars
      Oats upma using steel cut oats is often made in our home. Your upma looks scrumptious and I love the pictures too.

      Reply
    2. Srivalli says

      June 30, 2022 at 8:17 am

      5 stars
      This sounds like an excellent choice to make Usha..We love upma and I almost wanted to create an atoz list with upma..this will come so handy then!..:)

      Reply
    3. Harini says

      June 25, 2022 at 5:15 pm

      5 stars
      Very nice idea. I have some steel cut oats and I shall make it soon.

      Reply
    4. Srividhya says

      June 06, 2022 at 7:42 pm

      5 stars
      I like steel cut oats too and this Instant Pot version of oats upma sounds simple and healthy. Will definitely give it a try.

      Reply
    5. Sowmya says

      August 31, 2012 at 12:49 am

      very healthy and different recipe with oats

      Sowmya

      Reply
    6. vanamala says

      August 30, 2012 at 12:44 pm

      Very healthy i like this recipe

      Reply
    7. Priya says

      August 30, 2012 at 5:17 am

      Definitely a super filling,satisfying and healthy breakfast.

      Reply

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    Hi, I am Usha! Welcome to my space. I am the content creator and photographer here. I love cooking and all the recipes on the site are tried and tested in my kitchen.

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