Give Your Oatmeal A Boost Of Fiber With This Popular Ingredient

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A bountiful bowl of oatmeal can be a great way to start your day. Whether prepared hot and fresh or chilled as overnight oats for a high-protein breakfast that's also filled with fiber, this popular food is endlessly customizable. While a half cup serving of rolled oats cooked in plain water contains approximately 4 grams of fiber, you can easily enhance it with a simple addition of chia seeds.

Containing around 10 grams of fiber per 1 ounce of chia seeds, this small-but-mighty topping brings a wealth of nutritional value to your bowl of oatmeal. Chia seeds are also rich in omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, with 5 grams for the former and just under 2 grams for the latter. Along with boosting the fiber content and overall nutrients in your oatmeal, the seeds can also give your meal a more unique mouthfeel. Just a couple of tablespoons of chia seeds is all you need for the ultimate oatmeal transformation.

Chia seeds absorb liquid and, in turn, create a gel-like texture. Mixing them into your oatmeal will allow the seeds to absorb the water, milk, broth, or any other liquid present to thicken up your cereal. This is particularly effective in an overnight steel-cut oats recipe or similar to give the oatmeal a more pleasing and pudding-style consistency.

In addition to mixing chia seeds into your overnight oatmeal, there are a number of ways to engage this fiber-rich combination. If you're planning to make a bowl of hot oatmeal, you can choose from a few different types of oats, including instant, so this is flexible depending on how much time you have to prepare your meal. You can add the seeds into the mixture while cooking your oatmeal on the stovetop to give them time to soak up the liquid, or soak them briefly prior to adding them as a topping for your oatmeal.

To ease digestion, try grinding your chia seeds into a finer powder or buying chia seed powder online or at the grocery store. This will also make it easier to add a portion of the fiber-packed ingredient to more foods beyond a bowl of oatmeal. For a make-ahead breakfast you can keep in the fridge, try making strawberry chia oatmeal bars. This will provide even more fiber between the oatmeal, chia seeds, and fresh, ripe strawberries.

If you've prepared a regular bowl of oatmeal and found the consistency to be too runny for your preference, adding in chia seeds will also help to gel everything together. This will take a bit more time, but it will yield an even more pleasing bowl of cereal with the benefit of extra nutrients. A little creativity is all you need to pair chia seeds and oatmeal into a breakfast powerhouse.