Oats Upma Recipe (Indian Savory Oats)

Here’s how you can use your everyday oats and make a savory breakfast dish with it that is also something different than the usual. Oats Upma is an easy and delicious breakfast recipe perfect for your quick mornings. Made with quick-cooking oats and the goodness of mixed vegetables, this upma variation gets ready in just 30 minutes, is wholesome as well as great for the taste buds too. This simple recipe is also vegan.

Know This Oats Upma Recipe

If you love the classic South Indian Rava Upma as the ultimate dish for your morning meals, then this Oats Upma will also become your favorite in no time.

Oats Upma is a savory, healthy breakfast dish made with quick-cooking or rolled oats, vegetables, and simple spices. It’s a lighter, fiber-rich twist on traditional upma and comes together quickly, making it ideal for busy mornings.

The oats are lightly roasted, then cooked with tempered spices & lentils, together with cashews, sautéed onions, green chilies, ginger, and assorted vegetables like carrots, peas, or beans.

Finished with lemon juice and fresh coriander, oats upma is wholesome, filling, and naturally vegan.

The best part about this recipe is that it is even more healthy than your basic rava upma made with cream of wheat (or suji/rava).

This sumptuous Oats Upma is super easy to prepare and takes only 30 minutes to cook, from start to finish.

I make this dish the same way I make the regular upma, but with a mix of finely chopped veggies. So, this enhances the health quotient of this particular upma recipe with oats.

To make the Oats Upma, you could use any variety of oats. Only ensure that you add enough water and adjust the cooking time according to the kind of oats you have used.

I have made the recipe with quick cooking oats, which takes less time to cook as well as needs less water to soften as compared to rolled oats or steel cut oats.

So, if you have quick cooking oats, some vegetables and the usual South Indian aromatics and spices, making this Oats Upma is a breeze.

For the choice of fat, if you want to give an authentic touch to this dish, use coconut oil. But if you have an aversion towards this oil, then use any other neutral flavored oil to cook this upma.

You can technically make the Oats Upma without the vegetables, but the taste and texture the veggies bring in is just too good (of course, not to forget, the nutritional boost too). So, I definitely recommend including them.

My choice of veggies for this Oats Upma are carrots, French beans and green peas. You can customize by adding your choice of vegetables like capsicum, cauliflower, broccoli, baby corn, cabbage, steamed/canned corn kernels etc.

You can even leave out the urad dal, if you don’t have it. This upma will taste just as fab without it too.

Oats in general have become very popular lately, which is exciting because we love Oats Recipes. In addition to this Oats Upma, here are some of my other favorite recipes with oats that you can try:

• Oats Idli: Soft, yum idlis made with oats flour
• Oats Khichdi: Savory, spiced moong lentils and oats porridge
• Oats Dosa: Crispy crepes made with oats flour, spices and herbs

How to Make Oats Upma

Roast The Oats

1. Heat ½ teaspoon oil in a shallow frying pan. Add 1 cup (100 grams) quick cooking oats.

2. Stir and roast on low heat till the oats turn crisp. Continue stirring so the oats do not get browned from the bottom. Stir for about 3 to 4 minutes.

Note: There is no need to brown the oats. You really just want a bit of crispness.

3. Next, remove the oats on a plate or mixing bowl and keep aside.

Fry Spices & Nuts

4. Now, in the same pan, heat 2 tablespoons oil. Add 1 teaspoon mustard seeds, stir and fry on medium-low heat until the seeds crackle.

5. Next, add 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, 1 teaspoon chana dal, 1 teaspoon urad dal (optional) and 8 to 10 cashews.

6. Stir and fry the mixture until the chana dal gets golden browned. Meanwhile the cashews would also turn a light golden or golden and the cumin seeds will also get fried well.

Sauté Onions & Aromatics

7. Next, add ¼ cup tightly packed finely chopped onions.

8. Then, stir and sauté till the onions soften and become translucent.

9. Next, add ½ teaspoon finely chopped ginger, 1 or 2 chopped green chilies and 7 to 8 large curry leaves (or 10 to 12 medium to small curry leaves).

Stir and sauté for half a minute.

Note: You can also add deseeded broken dried red chillies or a mixture of both green and dried red chillies.

Add Vegetables

10. Then, add ¼ cup finely chopped carrots, ¼ cup finely chopped French beans and ¼ cup green peas (fresh or frozen).

Note: Other vegetables that you can add are baby corn, capsicum (bell pepper), broccoli and cabbage. You can also add steamed corn or canned cooked corn kernels.

11. Stir and sauté for 2 minutes.

12. Then, add 1.25 cups water.

Simmer Vegetables

13. Now, cover the pan with its lid.

14. On medium heat, simmer the vegetable mixture for 8 to 9 minutes or until the vegetables are almost cooked.

Make Oats Upma

15. Once the veggies are almost done, add the roasted oats.

16. Stir and mix lightly.

17. Add salt as required.

18. Mix very well.

Cook Oats Upma

19. Cover the pan with its lid and cook Oats Upma on low to medium-low heat for 7 to 8 minutes.

20. In the below image, you can see that the Oats Upma is done and steamed well. If the mixture looks very dry, you can sprinkle some water, mix again and cook for a couple of minutes.

21. Lastly, add 1 to 2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves and mix well.

22. Drizzle some lemon juice and serve Oats Upma hot with coconut chutney or just as is. For added texture and flavor, top with some fresh grated coconut.

Serving Suggestions: Serve Oats Upma drizzled with some lemon or lime juice or with a side of Coconut Chutney. You can also have it as an evening snack or as breakfast with a cup of hot Masala Chai or the South Indian Filter Coffee.

Storage Suggestions: Oats Upma is best had hot or warm. If you have any leftovers, store in an air-tight container or jar in the refrigerator for a day only. Reheat with a sprinkling of water, in a microwave oven or steam in a pan or Instant Pot for a few minutes.

If you enjoy Indian-style savory oats recipes for breakfast, try my Oats Chilla and Oats Dosa. For something simple and comforting, you can also check out my Oats Porridge.”

Expert Tips

1. Oats: You can use any variety of oats like rolled oats, steel-cut oats or instant oats. Do remember to add water according to the type of oats you are using.
2. Vegetables: The addition of veggies is optional, but I definitely suggest to add them. They provide great flavor, make the dish more filling, add an amazing texture and also result in more health benefits. Include your favorites. The more, the better!
3. Nuts: You can skip the cashews completely or even replace them with roasted peanuts.
4. Spice level:You can skip the green chilies or even add both dried red chilies and green chilies. For a bit of heat and spice, add crushed black pepper or red chili flakes.
5. Oil: Make your Oats Upma in any neutral flavored oil or coconut oil. You can make it with ghee (clarified butter) as well.
6. Scaling: This recipe of Oats Upma can easily be scaled to make for more servings.

FAQs

More Oats Recipes You May Like:

• Oats Chilla – Savory oat pancakes with oats, gram flour, vegetables and spices.
• Oats Porridge – A light, nourishing oats breakfast made with milk or water.
• Oats Uttapam – Soft, thick pancakes made with oats, semolina, veggies, herbs and spices.
• Overnight Oats – A no-cook breakfast made with oats soaked in water or milk, and topped with fruits or nuts.

Oats Upma recipe from the archives was first published on April 2015.