Fried Oatmeal Slabs
Cook double oatmeal at night, let it set in the pot, fry the block in the morning.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 4 oz
- cal / oz
- 130
- protein
- 11 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 15 min
- water
- 400 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Breakfast
- Canister stove
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Backpacking
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Rolled oats | 1 cup | cooked the night before, not instant |
|---|---|---|
| Ghee | 1 tbsp | shelf-stable, unlike butter |
| Powdered milk | 2 tbsp | stirred into the oats for body and protein |
| Salt | 1/4 tsp | |
| Brown sugar or maple sugar | 1 tbsp | topping, kept separate |
| Cinnamon | 1/4 tsp | topping |
Method
- The night before: boil 400 ml of water, stir in the oats, powdered milk, and salt, and cook until thick enough to hold a spoon upright.
- Press it flat in the pot or into a lidded container. Leave it out overnight. Cold air sets it faster.
- In the morning it should be one firm slab. Cut it into two or three pieces with a spoon edge.
- Melt the ghee in the same pot over a low flame or off to the side of the fire.
- Lay the pieces in and leave them alone for four minutes. Move them early and they fall apart.
- Flip once, give them three more minutes, then dust with sugar and cinnamon and eat straight from the pot.
This is a two-night recipe pretending to be a one-morning one. Oatmeal that sits overnight sets up because the starch retrogrades — it goes from porridge to something you can pick up and put in a pan. That only works with rolled oats cooked thick. Instant packets stay slack and will smear instead of slabbing.
The trail changes are the dairy. Fresh butter and milk don’t travel, so ghee does the frying and powdered milk goes into the oats at the cooking stage, where it also stiffens the set. Fry it hard enough to get a crust and the inside stays soft, which is the whole point of the technique. Make double at dinner and this costs you almost nothing in the morning.
Packing
Oats, powdered milk, and salt go in one bag; sugar and cinnamon in a second, small one. Ghee lives in a screw-top jar. Nothing needs a cooler.
Variations
- Skip the powdered milk and the sugar and you have a savory slab. Fry it and top with hot sauce.
- A spoon of peanut butter melted over the hot pieces adds fat and protein.
- Chopped dried apple stirred into the oats works, but makes the slab harder to cut cleanly.
https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/leftover-oatmeal-cakes