Morning Glory Oats
Joy Wilson is well known for her daily dabbles in butter and sugar as her blogging alter ego, Joy the Baker. A California girl and longtime New Orleans resident who now calls Bellville, TX home, Joy is a 100% taste buds-taught baker and home cook. She's a three-time cookbook author, photographer, teacher and storyteller who has been sharing recipes and real-life reflections with a devoted community since launching Joy the Baker in 2008. What began as a small baking blog has grown into a beloved culinary platform including her Baked In newsletter, and The Bakehouse Texas, her small-batch pop up bakery.
- Breakfast
Morning glory muffins, reimagined as a one-pot breakfast you eat with a spoon.
A quick 25 minutes and just one pot, and you’ll have steel-cut oats that turn into morning glory muffins you can eat with a spoon. Grated carrots, currants, warm cinnamon, ginger, and toasted coconut all simmer right into the oats — zero baking required. A little orange zest stirred in at the end is a total game-changer. At about 325 calories a bowl, this is a real, sit-down breakfast, not a sad granola bar. And the best part is that it keeps well. Make a batch, stash it in the fridge, and reheat it with a splash of warm milk for four mornings running — hot, homemade carrot cake oats without ever touching the stove again.
Why This Works
Steel-cut oats are the whole oat groat cut into pieces rather than rolled flat, which is why they hold that chewy bite through a half-hour simmer.
Nutrition (per serving)
| Calories | 325 |
|---|---|
| Protein | 8g |
| Carbs | 60g |
| Fat | 8g |
Ingredients
| Water | 3 cups |
|---|---|
| Almond milk, plus extra for serving | 1 cup |
| Steel-cut oats | 1 cup |
| Grated carrots (about 2 medium carrots) | 1 cup |
| Currants | 1/2 cup |
| Ground cinnamon | 3/4 tsp |
| Ground ginger | 1/4 tsp |
| Freshly grated nutmeg | 1/4 tsp |
| Light brown sugar | 3 tbsp |
| Pure vanilla extract | 1 tsp |
| Kosher salt | 1/2 tsp |
| Unsweetened coconut flakes | 1/2 cup |
| Grated orange zest | 2 tsp |
Step-by-Step Instructions
1 Bring the liquid to a boil
In a saucepan, bring the water and almond milk to a gentle boil.
2 Add everything but the coconut and zest
Stir in the oats, carrots, currants, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt and return to a boil.
3 Lower the heat
Decrease the heat to low and partially cover.
4 Simmer until thick and chewy
Cook the oats, stirring just once or twice until it begins to thicken and the oats are soft yet chewy, 25 to 30 minutes.
5 Finish with coconut and orange zest
Remove from the heat and stir in the coconut flakes and orange zest.
6 Let it rest
Cover and let sit for 5 minutes before serving.
7 Serve
Serve warm with an extra glug of warmed milk, if you’d like.
Notes & Tips
- Make it ahead: This keeps for about four days in the fridge — an ideal recipe to make on Monday and enjoy all week. You can reheat with a splash of almond milk to loosen it back up, since it thickens as it sits.
- Oat swaps: Old-fashioned rolled oats work fine in place of steel-cut, just watch the cook time, as rolled oats soften faster.
- No currants? Raisins or dried cranberries are other suggested stand-ins.
- Cut the sugar: No brown sugar? No problem. The carrots and currants add plenty of natural sweetness on their own, so it’s easy to cut the sugar back or skip it.
Joy Wilson is well known for her daily dabbles in butter and sugar as her blogging alter ego, Joy the Baker. A California girl and longtime New Orleans resident who now calls Bellville, TX home, Joy is a 100% taste buds-taught baker and home cook. She's a three-time cookbook author, photographer, teacher and storyteller who has been sharing recipes and real-life reflections with a devoted community since launching Joy the Baker in 2008. What began as a small baking blog has grown into a beloved culinary platform including her Baked In newsletter, and The Bakehouse Texas, her small-batch pop up bakery.
