Drizzle This Unexpected Tangy Addition On To Your Oatmeal For A Savory Unique Breakfast

Oatmeal usually gets the sweet treatment. But that's not to say you can't turn your hearty bowl of oats savory. There are many ways to go about this, including mixing savory add ins directly to the oats, selecting savory toppings, or a little of both. You can mix and match salty, tangy, soft, and crunchy textures and flavors to ensure that you get the perfect bite — and one, albeit unexpected, topping worth exploring under the savory umbrella is barbecue sauce.

From bourbon barbecue sauces to Bachan's impressive lineup of Japanese barbecue sauces, there are many different store-bought barbecue sauces out there, so you'll have no shortage of options. Pick one that's a little spicier if the rest of your toppings and oatmeal ingredients are mellow, or walk the "swalty" tightrope and choose a honey or brown sugar-infused barbecue sauce. Sweeter sauces are a nod to the classic sweet oatmeal toppings and may be more approachable. 

When you're topping your oatmeal with barbecue sauce, you don't need to add a ton. But if you want to drive home that flavor home even more, add a scant amount to it the cooking liquid — either milk or water — as well.

Store-bought or homemade barbecue sauce lays the foundation of savory flavors in your oatmeal, but it needs to be used tactfully — and in addition to other savory flavors — to really be memorable. Before you start adding toppings and add-ins willy-nilly, be sure to taste your barbecue sauce first. A sweeter barbecue sauce, for example, might go well with slightly sweet-leaning additions to your oatmeal, like a sprinkle of cinnamon or pureed sweet potato, whereas a spicy or exceptionally salty barbecue sauce would not. 

For a Japanese-style barbecue sauce or one that's more soy or teriyaki leaning, we'd recommend adding a soft, jammy egg to the top with some chopped scallions. Mushrooms, which have a ton of umami, are also an excellent addition to savory oatmeals and would pair well with almost any kind of barbecue sauce. Saute your favorite mushroom variety with a bit of butter and soy sauce, or coconut aminos to build on that salty-sweetness, and pop them on the top of your bowl alongside a classic hickory barbecue sauce.