This creamy oatmeal recipe is a basic recipe using oatmeal, milk, cinnamon, and water. The trick to making it creamy lies in the timing with which you add the ingredients.
Oatmeal Recipe - Old Fashioned Creamy Avena
Growing up, my mom would make oatmeal for breakfast very often, and had a very particular way of serving this nutritious dish. She always served it with toasted French bread with butter. To this day, we serve it like that at home, and my siblings also eat it the same way with their families!
At home, my son and I love oatmeal. We can have it frequently and not get tired of it. My husband, on the other hand, doesn’t like oatmeal, but not because he hasn’t been exposed to it. He grew up eating oatmeal every single day, and they would serve it piping hot in his house, even if it was the middle of summer. Because of this, he grew tired of it, and says he’s eaten enough oatmeal for one lifetime!
Creamy Mexican Oatmeal with Cinnamon
This oatmeal recipe is prepared on the stovetop. However, I know that there are many versions that can be made using the Instant Pot, slow cooker, and even the microwave, but this is the old-fashioned way, and I promise you will love it!
Nowadays, I know that many families don’t have the time to prepare a breakfast completely from scratch, but thankfully you can make this creamy oatmeal the night before and just reheat it in the morning. I like to make a big batch and store it in the fridge (it also keeps well I the freezer). You can even store it in single-serving containers for when you’re in a hurry.
How to make Oatmeal Recipe
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 Cinnamon stick
- 2 cups of water
- 1 Cup Old Fashioned Oats
- 1 cup of milk*
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Sugar (optional)
NOTES:
- * If you want your oatmeal to be more watery, add ¼ cup more milk.
- *To sweeten your oatmeal, you can use regular sugar or dark brown sugar. I personally like to add dark brown sugar at the serving time.
- * Please, if you are lactose intolerant, use lactose-free milk. Or, you can substitute regular milk for a vegan version like oat, almond, or soy milk.
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Place the two cups of water and the cinnamon stick in a medium-size saucepan and turn the heat to high.
- Afterward, the water starts boiling, add the Old Fashioned Oats and reduce the heat to medium. Cook for five minutes.
- After the five minutes, pour in the milk and stir well. Keep cooking for five more minutes, stirring from time to time to keep the oatmeal from sticking to the saucepan.
- Eventually, the oatmeal will become thick and creamy, then remove from the heat. Serve it in bowls, sprinkle with some ground cinnamon, and sweeten with your sweetener of choice (I recommend dark brown sugar).
Good additions to your oatmeal include chopped apples, pecans, and bananas.
As I mentioned above, this is the way my mom cooked oatmeal at home for my siblings and I. Your mom or yourself might have a special way of cooking oatmeal, or there might be a special ingredient that you add. Please share it with us in the comments section below. Enjoy!
📖 Recipe
Oatmeal Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups of water
- 1 Cinnamon stick
- 1 cup Old Fashioned Oats
- 1 cup of milk*
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Sugar optional
Instructions
- Place the two cups of water and the cinnamon stick in a medium-size saucepan and turn the heat to high.
- Afterward, the water starts boiling, add the Old Fashioned Oats and reduce the heat to medium. Cook for five minutes.
- After the five minutes, pour in the milk and stir well. Keep cooking for five more minutes, stirring from time to time to keep the oatmeal from sticking to the saucepan.
- Eventually, the oatmeal will become thick and creamy, then remove from the heat. Serve it in bowls, sprinkle with some ground cinnamon, and sweeten with your sweetener of choice (I recommend dark brown sugar).
GOOD ADDITIONS TO YOUR OATMEAL INCLUDE CHOPPED APPLES, PECANS, AND BANANAS.
Video
Notes
- * If you want your oatmeal to be more watery, add ¼ cup more milk.
- *To sweeten your oatmeal, you can use regular sugar or dark brown sugar. I personally like to add dark brown sugar at the serving time.
- * Please, if you are lactose intolerant, use a lactose-free milk. Or, you can substitute regular milk for a vegan version like oat, almond, or soy milk.
Courtney
This is exactly the oatmeal recipe I was looking for! On vacation I had oatmeal like this but I couldn't seem to recreate it. The timing of ingredients is the key. The results are a delicious creamy breakfast. Thank you so much!
Torami
I really enjoyed this creamy Old Fashioned Oats oatmeal!! Cinnamon was a nice touch. I had with walnuts, golden flaxseeds and blackberries. Excellent!!
Erika
This isnt it. Not the true spanish oatmeal recipe was not good. Followed to a T.
Mely Martínez
Hello Erika,
This is not a recipe for Spanish oatmeal. This is a recipe for Mexican Style Oatmeal.
JoAnn Edwards
Thank you sooooo much!!
I have been looking for the way to make it this was and I finally found it!!*
Eva Gaviria
Gracias por la receta. Me quedo buenísima.
Thank you for the recipe. It is so creamy and delicious. Like my mom used to make it.
Cindi
Best oatmeal I've ever made. I don't even like oatmeal, and I enjoyed this, It is super creamy and the oats have a light cinnamony flavor. I thought I mismeasured as after the second 5 minutes it was really soupy, but I let it keep going on medium-low and it did thicken nicely and turned out great. I added a pinch of salt when I added the oats into the water. This made 2 servings. This should be the recipe printed on the side of the oat cannister on how to make oats instead of the American bland gross way that I grew up with. No wonder I didn't like oatmeal. This is so much better! I didn't even need to add butter. A pinch of ground cinnamon and a spoonful of brown sugar and it was delicious.
Mely Martínez
Hello Cindi,
It's so glad to know you like the way we cook Oatmeal. Thanks for visiting Mexico in My Kitchen.
Antoinette
Thanks for the tips. I’ve used the right ingredients but, yep, timing was off. Sounds just like what my mom made for us (6 kids) regularly before school, in the 60’s and 70’s. Mine never quite comes out creamy enough. My mom is 88 now and I’m going to make it for her, hoping she’ll enjoy it as much as we used to enjoy hers. She always added butter…..so good!
Mely Martínez
Hello Antonitette,
I hope you like it.
Ava Flores
I’m from South Africa and this is how we grew up eating oats for breakfast. Just one difference we put a knob of butter in our hot oats. My husband is Mexican and he just doesn’t like it this way, he grew up having it in an atole, which is something that I haven’t gotten used to yet.
I love your recipes and the stories about your food, thank you for sharing
Mely Martínez
Hello Ava,
To make atole, place the oatmeal in the blender with the water, then proceed to cook in this recipe.