Our Least Favorite Way To Make Oatmeal Is Unfortunately The Most Convenient

Oatmeal is a hearty, nutritious, and affordable breakfast that is a staple in most households. Its flavor is as versatile as the many different ways you can cook it. That said, cooking methods have big effects on how delicious — or not — oatmeal can be. We tested 6 different oatmeal cooking methods, ranking them according to the taste and texture of the finished product. The microwave may be the most convenient method, but it was by far our least favorite way to make oatmeal.

Taking a maximum of 3 minutes to cook, microwave oatmeal is certainly the fastest cooking method. It also saves you dishes as you can eat it right out of the microwave-safe bowl you cooked it in. However, we don't think convenience makes up for the subpar flavor and texture, not to mention how finicky this method is with the wealth of different types of microwaves and settings. Unless you use a microwave daily to make oatmeal, it'll take various tries to nail the ratio, heat settings, and cooking times. We used a ratio of 1:1 of water to oatmeal, starting with a couple of minutes in the microwave, followed by microwaving the oatmeal in 15 second increments, stirring between each stint. Despite our best efforts, the oatmeal still ended up with a chewy, slightly undercooked, watery texture, a far cry from the creamy, cohesive hot cereal we desired.

Another factor to consider with microwave oatmeal is the bowl you choose to use and the strength of the heat it cranks out. If the microwave heat is too high and you don't use a deep enough bowl, the water will bubble over and make a mess out of the microwave. You can prevent oatmeal from overflowing in the microwave by soaking oats overnight, but that negates convenience. Plus, if you're going to soak your oats, you might as well make overnight oats or our favorite method, Bircher muesli.

We had to keep our test as simple as possible to even the playing ground, using only water and oatmeal for each cooking method. However, there are certainly ways to make the most of microwave oatmeal by adding more ingredients. Since our biggest complaint with microwave oatmeal is an overly chewy, undercooked texture, you can improve the texture with the help of creamy, thickening ingredients. While swapping water for milk is a mistake to avoid with oatmeal, you can add a splash of milk halfway through its stint in the microwave for a creamy upgrade. For the ultimate thickness, stir in nut butters, butter, pureed fruit, and syrupy sweeteners. Mashed banana and peanut butter would be a tasty duo to thicken microwave oatmeal. Microwave the oatmeal for a couple of minutes with just oats and liquid before stirring in purees and/or nut butters, then microwave for another 30 seconds to warm it through.