The Best High Protein Oatmeal Recipe I Have Every Morning

If you’ve ever lived with me, I can bet your microwave probably smells like oatmeal (in a good way). For the past 5 years, I’ve had oatmeal for breakfast nearly every single day, and it has been such a blessing from the Lord. Over these 5 years, I’ve been able to perfect my craft. I’ve worked with old fashioned and quick oats, experimented with the stove, microwave, and oven, have done both warm and overnight oats, and used various kinds of fruits and spices. I’ve never been much of a chef before, but I’ve told many people that my “Gordon Ramsey” meal is my oatmeal. 

One of the best ways I’ve upped my oatmeal game is making sure my recipe is packed with protein. This has been a blessing in so many ways. Adding protein first helped me in recovering from an eating disorder when I needed to add extra calories to my meals. It kept me full until lunch as I used to think about my next meal about 30 minutes after I finished breakfast. Now I’m adding even more protein in an effort to get my period back. 

My journey with oatmeal began with the Quaker Oats mini packets- specifically Apple Cinnamon and Maple Brown Sugar. I would usually make 1-2 of these with some extra fruit. While these were delicious and a quick breakfast for college mornings, I was always hungry shortly after, and the crash from the added sugar didn’t help either. 

I then began to experiment by adding fruit in the microwave when I cooked my oats instead of just on top. And I must say, this must have been divine intervention, because oats like these are perfect on a warm day. Specifically, I would smash a banana and microwave it with the oats, which came out tasting like banana bread. Or, I would chop up apples and microwave with the oats, which came out tasting like apple crumble. I realized I can make my own flavors instead of buying packets by adding fruit as well as spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, or cocoa powder.

As I began my journey of eating disorder recovery, I was instructed to up my calorie count, which terrified me at first. I heard one or two many times, “Just eat a hamburger!” to gain weight… like, no, you go eat a hamburger. If I was going to gain weight, I was going to control how I did it and do it in the most healthy way possible (if you can’t tell, yes I have OCD). I decided to start increasing my protein intake, and began strength training so the weight I gained would be muscle mass. When speaking with a dietician about what I eat in a day (before it was trendy), she recommended adding protein powder to my oatmeal. And then I laughed in her face. 

I had an interesting relationship with protein powder growing up. In junior high, I played 4 different sports, had an insane metabolism, and thus was a pretty skinny kid. Because my main sports were contact sports, including basketball and Tae Kwon Do, my dad wanted me to put on a couple pounds to get stronger. I didn’t think anything of it besides feeling excited about being able to box out better or knock a girl to the ground in a sparring match (I was a pretty aggressive kid). He bought this huge tub of whey protein for my brother and I, and would add it to everything- cereal at breakfast, milk at dinner, and even in our ice-cream for dessert. 

Thinking about adding protein powder to my oatmeal reminded me of those days growing up, and I can’t say I was too thrilled about the recommendation of adding it into my delicious oatmeal recipe. But, as many steps were in eating disorder recovery, I had to take a leap of faith. And honestly, it kind of rocked. I loved the new texture and the vanilla flavor it added. As mentioned again, it also kept me pretty full until lunch, which was something I hadn’t had in a long time. 

Having oatmeal for breakfast for the past five years, I’ve tried a lot of different recipes. I have cooked warm oats on the stove top, which was delicious, but I don’t really have the patience for that. I once tried blending oats and then baking them in the oven with a banana, which also was delicious with a great texture. I’ve tried baking a sweet potato with my oats, which is probably something I won’t do again. I’ve even tried savory oats with an egg and veggies, but that was a pretty quick phase. Moral of the story, the possibilities are endless with oatmeal. 

Now on a journey to get my period back, I’ve made protein even more of a focus. Specifically, my goal is to hit 30 grams of protein at each meal. I’ve once again adjusted my oatmeal recipe to cater to my protein needs, with my new staple of adding Greek yogurt. I notice that I enjoy Greek yogurt with chilled oats as opposed to warmer oats, so I’ve been on an overnight oats kick recently. It’s also a great way to meal prep if you don’t have as much time in the morning! So, without further ado, here is the current oatmeal recipe I have, kid you not, every single morning.