Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Fall flavors are at the forefront of these ultra creamy, ridiculously easy steel cut oats. They’re perfect for breakfast prep and have 8g protein and 7g fiber per serving!

We’ve made it to another pandemic Hump Day! It’s also pumpkin everything season, so today I’m sharing the recipe for these Instant Pot Pumpkin Steel Cut Oats. They. Are. Awesome. Over the weekend I did a bunch of Instant Pot experimenting and I’m really happy with how these turned out – the oats still have good chew without feeling “al dente” in the middle, the pumpkin flavor shines through, and they’re lightly sweet. After eating them for 4 days straight, I’ve found that my favorite toppings after reheating are a bit of brown sugar, raisins, and roughly chopped pecans. Yum!

Table of Contents

what are

Steel Cut Oats?

Steel cut oats are a whole grain made from oat groats that have been cut into two or three pieces with steel blades. They’re the least processed form of oats you’ll find on the market (rolled oats are next, then quick oats). Because of that, they absorb less liquid and maintain more texture than the other types of oats.

All this means they take longer to cook and maintain more “chew” than other types of oats. This makes them perfect for cooking in the Instant Pot, plus they hold up really nicely all week long after being meal prepped.

buy steel cut oats

I tried making a recipe like this a few years back but kept finding that the bottom oats in contact with the pot were getting scorched in the Instant Pot. I don’t know why I didn’t figure this out back then, but the trick is to keep the pumpkin out of the picture until AFTER cooking the oats in the Instant Pot. Not only do you get to keep all of your oats nice and creamy, but the pumpkin retains all of its glorious flavor and mixes right in after cooking to make an even creamier bowl of oats.

You’ll want to give this one a try ASAP, trust me.

Ingredients and Substitutions

Here’s what you’ll need to recreate this Instant Pot Pumpkin Steel Cut Oats recipe:

Steel cut oats – See my notes above about steel cut oats. Don’t sub these out or use quick steel cut oats – it’ll completely change the cooking method!
Pumpkin puree – Not the pie filling, just plain old pumpkin.
Milk – I used almond milk because I’m sensitive to too much dairy milk, but whatever milk you prefer will work here.
Water – Some recipes call for equal parts milk to water, but I went a little heavier on the milk for more flavor. Theoretically you could use all milk and no water, but that’s a lot of milk and it’s just not necessary.
Maple syrup – Provides some key sweetness to the oats, plus a little extra liquid as they cook. I don’t recommend it, but you could use more brown sugar instead of syrup if you had to – just add it after cooking, not before!
Brown sugar – You could use more maple syrup if you needed to, but I like using both.
Pumpkin pie spice – All the fall spice and everything nice! If you don’t have any, you could use a mixture of 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, and 1/4 tsp ground ginger.
Cinnamon stick – Adds an incredible flavor and aroma during cooking! If you don’t have any, use an extra 1/4-1/2 tsp of cinnamon.
Vanilla extract – Maple extract works great here too!