The perfect combination of chocolate and healthy porridge oats to help you start your day! Made with bananas and no added sugar.
There is lot you can do with a humble oats! They are filling, work great as a base for many flavours and are very cheap to buy. They make the perfect budget breakfast!
I often run out of ideas what to eat by the afternoon and happily return back to porridge oats or my blueberry oats crumble or overnight chocolate and strawberry oats for a mid afternoon snack. I suppose that’s what working from home does to you!
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Why make this recipe?
- Quick to make
- Delicious chocolate flavour
- No added sugar (apart from the natural sugar in banana)
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This recipe & me
This brownie batter oatmeal recipe is all about chocolate, which might or might not surprise you depending on how well you know me.
I’ve been working with chocolate on a professional level for more than a decade now and over the years I started to look at chocolate more as a medium to work with than food I would actually eat.
I suppose having a chocolate workshop with kilos of chocolate somehow leaves you craving for steaks and savoury foods!
This all changed recently because I had to take an unplanned break from my workshops (thanks to a mean virus that was everywhere) and suddenly realised that the chocolate I had in my storage room needed to be eaten or it will go off.
I have to say, it was really nice to re-discover the different types of chocolates and eat more than just a few pieces of chocolate to taste for chocolate pairing.
This brings me neatly to today’s recipe! It’s the most basic, yet delicious chocolate oatmeal you can imagine eating on a cold autumn morning. Or in the afternoon if you are feeling peckish.
Ingredients & substitutions
Porridge breakfast oats
You can use any type of oats you have. If they are rolled or roughly cut, you might need to boil them for longer. Taste them at the end to check when they are done. I wouldn’t normally use instant oats for this recipe, but that’s probably because we don’t buy them anyway.
You can easily make this recipe gluten-free – just buy gluten-free oats
Bananas
You can use ripened or slightly bruised bananas for this brownie batter oatmeal recipe, as they will be mashed anyway and it adds extra sweetness to the porridge.
If you want to have less sweet oatmeal, use non-rippened bananas. They will still add plenty of flavour, but not as much sugar as ripened or overippened bananas.
Milk
Turn this recipe into a dairy-free version by using water or plant-based milk. I find that coconut milk, oat milk, almond or even soya milk works well with this recipe. You could even make this recipe with water, although the taste would be slightly different.
Cocoa Powder
I’ve used various cocoa powders in this recipe over the years and they all work fine. Depending on the quality, just add more or less of the cocoa powder depending on your taste.
You can also use hot chocolate powder or grate or melt a regular chocolate bar for this recipe. Just make sure you don’t add any more sugar, as both hot chocolate powder and chocolate bars have already sugar in them.
Vanilla extract
Vanilla extract helps to add flavour. If you don’t have one or dont’ want to use one, that’s absolutely fine too. I use a good quality vanilla seeds paste, but that’s because I already have it for my cakes and bread baking.
Good vanilla extract can be expensive, so don’t feel that you need to use one if you want this recipe to be budget friendly.
Salt
Don’t leave out the pinch of salt. The salt brings all the flavours together, otherwise, you’ll end up with just sweet bland oatmeal.
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How to keep this recipe low sugar
This recipe doesn’t include sugar. The banana and milk already contains sugar, but if you really feel like you need an extra sweetness with your oatmeal, add a teaspoon or two of brown sugar.
I’ve used cocoa powder to make this recipe, but you can easily use chopped up chocolate (about the same amount 1-2 tablespoons or more depending on your taste)
You can use milk or dark chocolate (if you are using a chocolate bar) – milk chocolate will, of course, make the oatmeal sweeter.
How to make breakfast brownie batter oatmeal porridge
Measure the milk with oats and place them in a medium-size saucepan.
Bring everything to a slow boil, reduce the heat and then add the mashed bananas.
Carry on stirring carefully for 5 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed into the oats.
Add the cocoa powder, vanilla extract and pinch of salt.
Adjust the amount of cocoa powder by tasting your oatmeal and check that the oats have been softened enough.
How to serve your breakfast brownie batter oatmeal
Serve straight away whilst still hot, topped with leftover bananas or toppings of your choice.
You can eat it as it is, but if you have any bananas leftover, chop them on the top.
Other toppings that work really well with this recipe are: pineapple chunks, raspberries, extra chocolate chunks (grated chocolate or chocolate pieces), dried fruit, seeds or walnuts.
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Recipe quantity
This recipe is enough for two people and you can easily double the recipe (or halve it) depending on the number of people you are cooking for.
Making this recipe in the microwave
You can make this recipe in the microwave, just be careful as the oats have a habit of overflowing in the microwave. Use the microwave on a medium or high setting for 1 minute. Stir the brownie batter oatmeal and place back to microwave and add extra 20-30 seconds if needed.
How to store chocolate brownie batter oatmeal if you have any leftovers
Whilst its best to eat this brownie oatmeal as soon as it’s made, it’s possible to keep leftovers for later.
Once cold, store the oatmeal in a suitable container with a lid and keep in the fridge. Eat within 1-2 days, especially if you’ve used regular dairy milk. If you’ve used plant based milk, the oatmeal will last a little longer 2-3 days or perhaps longer.
Once you are ready to eat your oatmeal, take it from the fridge and re-heat in the microwave for 20-30 seconds (depending on size). Strir and place it back to microwave for 10-20 seconds if needed.
If the oatmeal looks very thick, add more milk (or bananas), mix in and carry on heating up.
You can also re-heat your oatmeal on the hob. Just scope it into a small saucepan, add more milk and gently heat on very low temperature, whilst slowly and constantly stirring.
Brownie Batter Oatmeal – No Added Sugar
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup porridge breakfast oats
- 1 1/2 cup milk any type of milk is fine (or water)
- 1 large banana or 2 small ones (leave some for topping)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2-3 tbsp cocoa powder the amount depends on the quality of cocoa powder and your preference
- tiny pinch of salt
Instructions
- Measure the milk with oats and place them in a medium-size saucepan.
- Bring everything to a slow boil, reduce the heat and then add the mashed bananas.
- Carry on stirring carefully for 5 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed into the oats.
- Add the cocoa powder, vanilla extract and pinch of salt.
- Adjust the amount of cocoa powder by tasting your oatmeal and check that the oats have been softened enough.
- Serve straight away, topped with leftover bananas or toppings of your choice (pineapple chunks, dried fruit, extra chocolate chunks or raspberries)
Nutrition
This blog post was originally written on 12 January 2020 and last updated 25 September 2022
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So, delicous! Thank so much for sharing, I love chocolate and is becoming on of my favourite breakfasts!
I’ve really liked this recipe, but I also added extra chocolate chips – either my cocoa powder wasn’t strong enough or I just prefer the taste of a melted chocolate bar.
Thank you for sharing this recipe – I love chocolate too and the combination with bananas is amazing! I’ve already had this brownie batter oatmel three times this week, it’s so good.
Chocolate for breakfast! What could be better than that! Made this oatmeal for my kids and they loved it. I didn’t tell them that it’s actually quite healthy!