Cherry Oatmeal, a simple steel cut or rolled oats breakfast recipe with fresh, frozen, or dried cherries that’s perfect any time of year. A fruitful way to start your morning!
Choose cherries for your summer morning oats! 🍒
I’m a morning oats girlie, I have my “power oats” 5-6 days a week. So to keep it interesting, I make sure to add in seasonal fruit and flavors…and in summer stone fruit season there’s no better oats than oats with fresh cherries!
I hope you give this recipe a try, it’s a super easy recipe to make, with only a few ingredients required and only about 15 minutes total. Get creative with the seasonings, the toppings, and make it your own.
Ingredient Notes
- Oatmeal: Both rolled oats and steel cut oats will work for this recipe (instructions for each in recipe card)
- Cherries: Either fresh, frozen, or dried cherries will do; any variety works well
- Water: Water is used to cook the oats, though you could use milk or a milk alternative for a creamier texture
- Seasonings: A touch of maple syrup, vanilla extract, a bit of salt for balance, and cinnamon and nutmeg deepen the flavor
- Toppings: We love a drizzle of nut butter with whole nuts or seeds and some ground flax seeds, but it’s optional
- Recommended tools: medium pot or sauce pan, large wooden spoon, bowls for serving
Step-by-step photos
1
Add ingredients to pot
First, add oats and double the amount of water to a medium pot or sauce pan. Add cherries, a pinch of salt, a drizzle of maple syrup, and a dash of ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg. Stir to mix the ingredients.
2
Cook oats
To cook oats over the stovetop, bring the pot with oatmeal ingredients to a low boil over high heat. Then reduce to a low simmer and cook until the oats are soft.
Cooking time with depend on what type of oats you are cooking: rolled oats take about 5 minutes, and steel cut oats take about 15 minutes total.
Can you microwave oats?
Yes! Cook rolled oats in the microwave for about 2 minutes, and steel cut oats for about 5 minutes. Make sure to cover the oats and stir once throughout cooking.
3
Transfer to bowl and add toppings
When oats are done, transfer to bowls for serving. Then you can top the oatmeal with a drizzle of nut or seed butter, a sprinkle of nuts or seeds, and a sprinkle of ground flax seeds.
More recipes with cherries
If you’re craving more cherry recipes this summer, I’ve got you covered:
Cherry Oatmeal
Ingredients
- ½ cup oats, rolled or steel cut, see instructions
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup cherries, pitted and sliced
- 1 small pinch salt
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Optional toppings: nut butter drizzle, nuts or seeds
Instructions
- Add ingredients to a pot: In a medium pot, add oats, water, cherries, a pinch of salt, maple syrup, vanilla, ground cinnamon, and ground nutmeg.½ cup oats, 1 cup water, 1 cup cherries, 1 small pinch salt, 1 teaspoon maple syrup, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Cook oats: Bring oats to a boil over high heat on the stovetop, then reduce heat to a low simmer and cook until oats are soft. This is usually 5 minutes for rolled oats, and 10 minutes for steel cut oats.
- To serve: Transfer cooked oatmeal to a bowl. Optionally, you can top the oatmeal with a drizzle of nut or seed butter, a sprinkle of nuts or seeds, and a sprinkle of ground flax seeds.Optional toppings: nut butter drizzle, nuts or seeds
- Microwave cooking instructions: Alternatively you can also cook oats in the microwave. Cook rolled oats a microwave safe bowl for about 2 minutes, and steel cut oats for about 5 minutes. Make sure to cover the oats and stir once throughout cooking.
Equipment
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information
UPDATE: This recipe was originally published in July 2023, and was updated for clarity in July 2026.
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