This slow cooker chocolate cherry steel cut oatmeal is waiting for you when you wake up in the morning. Start your day with a delicious comforting bowl for breakfast.
There’s a slow cooker category on this site and after almost four years, it has a whopping six recipes in it.
For a “small” appliance that takes up an entire shelf of a corner cabinet, that’s pretty pathetic.
None of them happen to be breakfast recipes either and after a week of single digit temperatures and a freezing cold house in the morning before we get the wood stove going again (because of course the year we get a wood stove to offset the insane cost of heating a house in NY, the price of oil plummets), I could really get behind an already cooked comforting breakfast that I can eat under my wool blanket on the couch with a cup of coffee.
Since it happens to be National Oatmeal Month (yeah, that’s a thing apparently), slow cooker steel cut oats seemed like the perfect solution.
Check out slow cooker millet porridge too – a fun (also gluten-free) alternative to oatmeal.
A boring bowl of beige oats didn’t seem too exciting though which is exactly where dark chocolate and cherries come in.
Any morning that starts with chocolate is a win by me but adding cherries and not just any cherries, but deliciously tangy and good- for- you tart cherries, makes this breakfast even better.
Montmorency tart cherries (sometimes known as sour cherries) are rich in vitamin A and pack a nutrient punch to your breakfast that’s just an added bonus to their amazing sweet and sour taste.
The combination of chocolate and tart cherries in this recipe is like taking a bite of black forest cake with every spoonful.
Cake for breakfast? Um yes, please.
So while these cherries are great in everything from smoothies, to drinking the tart cherry juice straight up or even throwing them in your bowl of cereal, I’ll be cozying up with a bowl of this comforting chocolate cherry steel cut oatmeal until the temps reach at least freezing again.
Looking for more fruit + oatmeal combinations? Try strawberry oatmeal, peaches and cream oats or apple butter carrot cake oatmeal (also made in the slow cooker) too!
Loved this slow cooker chocolate cherry steel cut oatmeal recipe?
Try these other oatmeal recipes: Triple Chocolate Steel Cut Oatmeal, Baked Apple Oatmeal, and Instant Pot Sweet Potato Steel Cut Oats.
Slow Cooker Chocolate Cherry Steel Cut Oatmeal
Ingredients
For the Oatmeal:
- 2 cups 2% milk
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup steel cut oats
- 1/3 cup dried tart cherries
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 ounce chopped unsweetened bakers chocolate
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- Pinch kosher salt
For the Cherry Sauce:
- 1 1/2 cups frozen tart cherries
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients for the oatmeal in a 3 or 4 quart slow cooker (*see note) and stir together.
- Cover, cook on low for 8 hours the night before and set so that the slow cooker stays on warm after it's done cooking.
- In the morning, combine the ingredients for the sauce in a small sauce pot over medium-high heat.
- Bring to a simmer and let cook for about 7-10 minutes until thickened.
- Uncover the oatmeal, stir and add a bit more milk if it's thickened up too much.
- Spoon the oatmeal into serving bowls and top with the cherry sauce.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.
Can this be frozen? I live alone and only have a large slow cooker, so according to your note, I would have to make a double batch to prevent burning. I doubt I could eat 8 servings all by myself before it went off!
I haven’t tried freezing it but I imagine so.
Can I use old fashioned oatmeal instead of Steele cut oatmeal?
You can but you’ll likely not need as much liquid. Maybe use 1/2 cup less of either milk or water. Texture will be more mushy than chewy too but should work just fine!
This looks so good !
With fall in the air, time to think about oatmeal, which I live preparing in the slow cooker. This recipe looks enticing, but can anyone name grocery chains that sell dried or frozen tart cherries? I’ve been looking unsuccessfully in the mid-Atlantic area for years – wish they were not so scarce!
Dried are probably easier to find than frozen. I know Trader Joe’s always has dried in their fruit + nuts section if you have one nearby. If not – you can always find them on Amazon!
@Patricia, Walmart sells them. They are found (if they are in stock) in the dried fruit aisle. Ask where the raisins are. Cherries are in the same area.
This looks soooo good! My slow cooker only has a high setting. Do you think 4 hours on high would work? Thanks!
probably, I might add a touch more liquid as cooking oats on high tends to burn around the edges. If you can stir on occasion while it cooks, that would help too.
Can I use vanilla extract instead of almond extract?
Thanks!
Of course! Will change the taste a little but will definitely still turn out fine.
Oats in a slow cooker is such a good idea! This looks amazing! Gotta love your post-workout oats!