My Secret To Creamy Oats (Dairy-Free & No Refined Sugar) 

Simple - and maybe a bit boring - blueberries (frozen berries are really cheap here in the UK) or Bonne Maman raspberry jam. Perhaps some peanut butter and maybe a dash of maple syrup. Savoury though? I think we could be won over. One thing though, and I only recently heard this, oats are some of the most heavily sprayed crops. Ours come from Scotland, non-organic will be sprayed with glyphosate as a herbicide. That’s bad enough, but just before harvesting they are sprayed again to dry them out, and maybe even before that to force an earlier harvest. Thankfully organic oats are fairly easy to get and not much more expensive.

@@mrsneeklamy I use frozen blueberries too and good to know you’d be open to trying savoury oats. It’s great that your organic oat options aren’t much pricier 👍🏼 definitely always a plus! I find that the big wholesale grocery chains here offer way more organic products for better prices than smaller grocers.

Awesome! I’m glad you loved the meal that broke your fast 👍🏼I haven’t tried both tahini and peanut butter (can’t go wrong with that!) thank you so much for letting me know you loved it and I’m glad it will be in your regular rotation ☺️

Mmmm that sounds delicious. I do like steel cut for a texture change too. Chia and/or flax will go really well with those flavours (even if you just add them on top so they don’t mess with the water ratio in your oats… they both absorb a bit of liquid).

That sounds delicious! I have used date powder in the past too and I did find it was definitely less sweet but a really nice option. Thank you so much for the encouragement and let me know how you like this recipe when you try it!

We got some snow yesterday too but we’re lucky in that it doesn’t often stick around long. I hope these oats warmed you up a bit this morning!

Thank you Amelia! I’m glad you like Bryan joining too! Let me know if tahini does the trick of making oatmeal a little more palatable for you. And I agree, I use tahini in so many savoury recipes too.

@@TastyThriftyTimelyI made this and am hooked. The tahini in this is a game changer. So so creamy. Many thanks ❤❤

Awesome!!! I’m so glad you’re hooked! Enjoy 🥰

You’re welcome! Thank you for watching! Let me know if you give it a try and how you like it!

You’re very welcome! 😊

Date paste is delicious! I’ve used that in a few desserts but that would be a great way to spread the date sweetness through the oats even more. Let me know how you like tahini when you try it!

Kathyrn good day..made it just now..agreed. Its creamy. Tahini adds the touch..i add other spices, date paste, flaxseed and banana..thanks again.

Wonderful! Thank you for trying it Jackie and I’m glad you enjoyed it 😊

Hahaha then you should love these! I’m that way with peanut butter but I’ve only had tahini once from an amazing Middle Eastern restaurant in Toronto that I could eat with a spoon. I don’t know if they added any sweetness to their tahini but it didn’t really have any bitterness and was so delicious. Otherwise… I need some other flavours as a buffer 😜

Thank you David. We’re glad you liked it and let us know if you try it in your porridge 🥰

Awesome! I hope you like it! ☺️

Yes you mentioned your chickpea addition. That’s interesting! I have tried quinoa flakes a number of times but it’s a tough flavour for me to get used to. Using whole quinoa though I really like too (especially with some cocoa powder for a chocolate version 😜)

Awesome! I hope you like this combo then if you try it!

Oh great! Let me know how you like it when you do!

Yes of course, the title should have said “no refined sugar”. Thank you for flagging that. I hope you like the addition of the tahini!

Thank you! I’m glad you like it 😊

@@TastyThriftyTimely Welcome 🤗

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Hahahaha yes you’ll have to tell me what you think! I find that maple syrup specifically really helps to balance the bitterness of tahini. I even have two salad dressing recipes (maple tahini and lemon tahini) and I don’t love the flavour of the dressings on their own but on other food they’re great🤪! You can eat tahini raw so no need to cook it before adding it to your overnight oats. I’ve only actually made this as overnight oats once and I remember liking it but Bryan said he preferred peanut butter so I don’t think I made them again. I do prefer using plant milk instead of water for overnight oats. I find the milk helps them to taste creamier when they aren’t being cooked. So if you do try tahini in your overnight oats, milk vs water might help out the flavour. We do have a much older video on overnight oats actually (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-lye3_52DI_8.html). Keep me posted on how you find the tahini addition to taste! 😆

@@TastyThriftyTimely I always use oat milk for overnight oats, just to up the creaminess factor as you stated. Though using water isn't bad by any means either. Is there any particular reason you chose to use water rather than oat milk within the cooked version of oats that you showcase here? My assumption was that plant milk would always make it somewhat creamier and more flavorful - would you disagree with that notion? Made my first attempt at an overnight version of these last night. Didn't have any dates, so I unfortunately skipped those - though I'm sure they would have added a nice sweetness and earthiness (if that's the right word). Also my tahini is 5 months expired (lol), it smells more bitter and is much clumpier than it used to but it is apparently still safe to eat so I'm trying to finish it off rather than discard it. But the expired factor definitely makes it a bit worse in both flavor and texture than if I were using a fresh version. In the morning: -I first noticed that the texture was way too thick, because I didn't factor in that the tahini would thicken overnight (I think it does, at least?) and forgot to add more oat milk to compensate for the chia seed liquid absorption. -I first tasted it without any additional toppings (I intentionally try to taste in stages, to help me understand food better), and I was surprised to find it was actually decent. -However, I found the tahini too bitter, such that I had to add more maple syrup and salt to help decrease that bitterness. Once the bitterness decreased, I can see that I was definitely mistaken for thinking tahini wouldn't belong in an oats recipe. -Added some cinnamon powder to a small portion of oats - that was a bad combination, in my opinion. -I then added pumpkin pie spice to a different portion of oats, to see if the additional spices in there (beyond the cinnamon) would help salvage it - that was a bad combination as well. -I then took the portion which hadn't been sweetened or salted in the morning (since I try to avoid those two elements if possible), and ate it with banana slices layered on top - the sweetness from the banana helped to mask the bitterness of the tahini, but since the banana and the oats were separate layers (since the banana wasn't mixed into the oats, just sitting on top of it) I could still taste the original oats and the bitter tahini within it. -I then repeated this but with diced apples instead - though the same issue that was present with the bananas remained (the fact that within each bite, you could still taste the bitterness of the tahini despite also being able to taste the sweetness of the apple in a separate layer), it was the best combination thus far. The apples paired well with the tahini flavor, in my opinion. I later decided that next time I would prepare the oats using mashed banana, in order to increase the sweetness without relying on maple syrup (expensive, as you stated in your video) or salt (I try to keep it within moderation, for health reasons). Earlier today, I topped up the first batch but this time added about 3/4 of a banana in mashed form, and more liquid than usual to account for the tahini thickening overnight (or does it?). I hope tomorrow's tasting proves better than today's was. Sorry for writing out so much, but the reason I did so was to help you get a sense of my own amateur recipe development process and tasting process when it comes to food. I only recently started taking cooking more seriously, and started attempting to actually gradually hone a recipe using my own judgement instead of just trying to identically replicate ones I've seen online. I know you guys must be incredibly busy, but if you get a chance to reply I'd really appreciate if you could share your thoughts with me on the process I described above, and any insights on your own process for recipe development - do you take notes when developing and tasting a recipe, for example? Do you strategically place different portions of a given food item into separate bowls (or just separated within the same bowl, like I do), and then add different things into each portion, in order to isolate the effect that the added ingredient had on the original food item? I'd really appreciate any feedback you can give me that might help me become a better home cook. Thank you so much in advance, and if you don't have time to reply that's totally fine too. Looking forward to your next video.

Hi! Thank you for sharing your experiment with me! I’m thinking I might make an overnight version for tomorrow morning and see how we like it. As you said, I do prefer using milk for overnight oats and using milk will definitely be great in stovetop oats too. The reason I use water is really just that it is thriftier and I find that stovetop oats get pretty soft and creamy just by the nature of cooking them. Because I eat overnight oats cold and the texture is different I find that the milk makes them a little more enjoyable. I’ve never had tahini that was a little out of date but it sounds like it might be a similar bitterness to when nuts start to go a little rancid. I’ve definitely had that happen (I store most of my nuts and seeds in the fridge now to help prolong them). The flavour really changes when they are a little off and that bitterness and pastiness masks any nuance in flavour. I totally understand trying to use up what you have but I’m thinking the taste will be much better when you have a fresh batch of tahini. I’m thinking the chia seeds are probably causing your liquid issue more so than the tahini. It will thicken a little bit but chia seeds definitely absorb a decent amount of liquid. I’m glad to know you like the apple tahini combination. I’ll have to try that. Stirring the banana through the oats will definitely help with the sweetness and the riper the banana the more sweetness you’ll get. (You might like some applesauce in them if you liked the sliced apple). And it sounds like you’re doing a great job of starting to pay attention to flavour combinations and experimenting with creating recipes of your own. I have found it easy to keep on hand the spices, seasonings, sweeteners, acids etc that I like and work with just a smaller amount of pantry items (we have a pantry tour video if it will help to give you an idea of what I mean). This way I have two or three ingredients that I know will add spice to a recipe for instance and if something is lacking some spice I’ll choose from just those couple of options. This way you really get to know the ingredients in your kitchen and because you like the flavour of everything you’ll never really make anything you totally hate. You’ll start to know how you can add more saltiness or more sweetness etc. I tend to make something, taste it as I go, and make notes on what I added and what I want to try differently next time. I definitely have many notes for many versions of everything I make. So yes, I find it helpful to take notes and write down what you like. The more you play with the ingredients in your kitchen the more you will get a feel for quantities and combinations etc. I hope I’ve helped a bit! And never hesitate to ask anything!

@keralite29 I tried an overnight oats version and we really liked it! I used 1/2 cup quick oats, 3/4 cup oat milk, 1 tbsp chia seeds, 2 chopped deglet noor dates, 1/2 tbsp maple syrup and 1 tbsp tahini. I topped it with half a sliced banana, toasted sesame seeds and some sliced toasted almonds 👍🏼

​@@TastyThriftyTimely Sorry for not responding to you sooner, I have been busy with work and also forgot to message back after a few days. I firstly appreciate so much that you took out the time to actually respond to me at such a length. You receive tons of comments, and in general are a busy person, so you not giving me a brief impersonal response and actually dialoguing with me is something that I find very meaningful and I will ensure to promote your RU-vid channel and food blog in places where it is relevant to do so (i.e not spamming). I have already shared your blog to one of my friends who is a foodie. I meant to update you on the second batch of oats I made. To save myself time, and in keeping with the spirit of my previous comment, here are the exact notes I wrote about the second batch after I ate it in the morning: _-Tasted, too much banana flavor, not enough tahini flavor_ _-Added salt incrementally, it decreased bitterness and enhanced sweetness_ _-Added tahini incrementally, with each addition making the oats taste nuttier and sweeter-I eventually reached a sweet spot of oats-to-tahini ratio, but wasn’t aware at the time and was enjoying the tahini flavor in a way I never had before, so I then added more tahini and now it tasted bitter_ _-I could have added salt to counter the bitterness of the tahini, but chose not to - since I had already confirmed that there is proportion of tahini whereby it tastes sweet and nutty and delicious, and I didn’t want to consume more salt just to taste it again_ To summarize the above notes, once I had achieved a certain proportion of tahini, oats, and salt (salt is instrumental to flavor when it comes to most ingredients, as I have only recently learnt), it was absolutely delicious and I can say that I have truly ate my earlier doubtful words (or perhaps NOT eaten them, in another sense). I never would have imagined a savory nut butter like tahini could be appropriate as a breakfast sauce, and specifically within the overnight oats I eat every morning. You have given me a concrete example which has opened my eyes to the possibilities that exist with food, which I am slowly increasing my awareness of with each passing week that I spend researching and experimenting with food and cooking. I genuinely preferred even my expired tub of tahini to the peanut butter that had otherwise been my default - I recently realized that I don't actually like peanut butter all that much, but often ate it out of convenience and the prominence it holds within North American culture. So if I continue eating oats in the morning, I'll likely be making the tahini version much more often than the peanut butter one - at least for some time. Though I'll clarify that the peanut butter overnight oats I make are still delicious, but more so because of the combination of cinnamon, banana, and peanut butter rather than the peanut butter on its own - whereas the tahini impresses me because it acts as a one-person-show, not needing any other ingredients or seasonings (apart from salt) in order to command the entire dish. Delicious in its simplicity. I keep forgetting to add the sesame seeds in the morning, after noticing you added them to yours. This is because I rarely use sesame seeds in the dishes I make. I'm aware that tahini consists of sesame seed oil, so if a dish contains an oil made from a fruit or nut, is it safe to say that adding the whole version of that fruit or nut as a garnish within a dish containing its corresponding oil will likely yield a harmonious flavor profile? For example, tahini as the oil and sesame seeds as the garnish (though I notice you also garnished with tahini here), or peanut butter as the oil and ground peanuts as garnish, or an olive oil base with whole/chopped olives as garnish. Do you think that's a sound formula to follow? Because I am looking for practical guidelines on how to create harmonious flavor profiles, as opposed to simply going about it by trial-and-error. But if you don't have an answer to this question, that is fine. I just thought I'd ask, since it would be a helpful guideline in future if I could know that a whole ingredient and its oil will generally pair well together flavor-wise. I made a new batch, this time omitting the maple syrup altogether (to save money). I'll let you know how it turns out. My plan is to use the salt to suppress the tahini's bitterness, while enhancing the sweetness of the banana, which is seemingly what happened the previous time (albeit the maple syrup's sweetness was enhanced too). For recipes like overnight oats, do you taste them at night in order to decide if adjustments could be made? I ask this because the morning taste will be different than the nighttime taste. Personally I use a "smell test", where I want the aroma to generally smell like how I want the morning outcome to taste. Though I'm not sure how effective that technique is. Regarding your overnight version, I'm glad to hear you gave it another shot. I'll compare your overnight recipe to the stovetop recipe to see if you made any adjustments, and if so, I'll try to understand why those adjustments were made. Maybe in the future if I buy any deglet noor dates, I'll follow your recipe(s) to the tee. Thank you for the high-quality content and being so responsive to your audience.

On weekends we usually make tofu scramble or avocado toast for something savoury. Pancakes, crepes etc are some of the fancier sweet breakfasts we have. We have a breakfast playlist on RU-vid with eggs Benedict and French toast and some of our other weekend favourites. Our blog has all of our breakfast recipes you can scroll through too and see if anything jumps out at you!

Thank you. Will do for sure

It does add healthy fats so it would certainly increase the fat content as opposed to oats without a fat source 👍🏼