Rolled oats are a type of lightly processed whole-grain food. They are made from oat groats that have been dehusked and steamed, before being rolled into flat flakes under heavy rollers and then stabilized by being lightly toasted. Thick-rolled oats, or old-fashioned oats, usually remain unbroken during processing. Rolled whole oats, without further processing, can be cooked into a porridge and eaten as

oatmeal Oatmeal is a preparation of oats that have been dehusked, steamed, and flattened, or a coarse flour of hulled oat grains ( groats) that have either been milled (ground), rolled, or steel-cut. Ground oats are also called white oats. Steel- ...

; when the oats are rolled thinner and steam-cooked more in the factory, these thin-rolled oats often become fragmented but they will later absorb water much more easily and cook faster into a porridge; when processed this way are sometimes marketed as "quick" or "instant" oats. Rolled oats are most often the main ingredient in

granola Granola is a food consisting of rolled oats, nuts, seeds, honey or other sweeteners such as brown sugar, and sometimes puffed rice, that is usually baked until crisp, toasted and golden brown. The mixture is stirred while baking to avoid b ...

and

muesli Muesli ( ) is a cold Swiss cuisine, Swiss breakfast dish, the primary ingredient of which is rolled oats. Traditionally, it is set to soak in water overnight ("overnight oats") and eaten the next morning with fresh fruit, nuts, lemon juice, and ...

. They can be further processed into a coarse powder, which breaks down to nearly a liquid consistency when boiled. Cooked oatmeal powder is often used as baby food.

Process

The oat, like other

cereal A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain. Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods. They include rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize ( Corn). Edible grains from other plant families, ...

s, has a hard, inedible outer husk that must be removed before the grain can be eaten. After the outer husk (or chaff) has been removed from the still

bran Bran, also known as miller's bran, is the component of a Cereal, cereal grain consisting of the hard layersthe combined aleurone and Fruit anatomy#Pericarp layers, pericarpsurrounding the endosperm. Maize, Corn (maize) bran also includes the p ...

-covered oat grains, the remainder is called oat groats. Since the bran layer, though nutritious, makes the grains tougher to chew and contains an

enzyme An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different mol ...

that can cause the oats to go rancid, raw oat groats are often further steam-treated to soften them for a quicker cooking time and to denature the enzymes for a longer shelf life. Steel-cut oats (sometimes called "pinhead oats", especially if cut small) are oat groats that have been chopped by a sharp-bladed machine before any steaming, and thus retain bits of the bran layer.

Preparation

Rolled oats can be eaten without further heating or cooking, if they are soaked for one to six hours in water-based liquid, such as water, milk, or plant-based dairy substitutes. The required soaking duration depends on shape, size and pre-processing technique. Whole oat groats can be cooked as a

breakfast cereal Breakfast cereal is a category of food, including food products, made from food processing, processed cereal, cereal grains, that are eaten as part of breakfast or as a snack food, primarily in Western societies. Although warm, cooked cereals li ...

in the same general way as the various forms of

, rolled oats, and pinhead oats; they simply take longer to cook. Rolled oats are used in

, oatcakes, and flapjacks (the style of "flapjack" that is like a granola bar, not a pancake).

Nutrients

Whole oats (uncooked) are 68%

carbohydrate A carbohydrate () is a biomolecule composed of carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O) atoms. The typical hydrogen-to-oxygen atomic ratio is 2:1, analogous to that of water, and is represented by the empirical formula (where ''m'' and ''n'' ...

s, 6% fat, and 13%

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

(table). In a 100-gram reference amount, whole oats supply 379

calorie The calorie is a unit of energy that originated from the caloric theory of heat. The large calorie, food calorie, dietary calorie, kilocalorie, or kilogram calorie is defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of one liter o ...

s and contain high amounts (20% or more the Daily Value, DV) of the B vitamins –

thiamine Thiamine, also known as thiamin and vitamin B1, is a vitamin – an Nutrient#Micronutrients, essential micronutrient for humans and animals. It is found in food and commercially synthesized to be a dietary supplement or medication. Phosp ...

and

pantothenic acid Pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) is a B vitamin and an essential nutrient. All animals need pantothenic acid in order to synthesize coenzyme A (CoA), which is essential for cellular energy production and for the synthesis and degradation of prote ...

(40% and 22% DV, respectively) – and several dietary minerals, especially

manganese Manganese is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese was first isolated in the 1770s. It is a transition m ...

(173% DV) and

phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol P and atomic number 15. All elemental forms of phosphorus are highly Reactivity (chemistry), reactive and are therefore never found in nature. They can nevertheless be prepared ar ...

(59% DV). As a rich source of

dietary fiber Dietary fiber (fibre in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) or roughage is the portion of plant-derived food that cannot be completely broken down by human digestive enzymes. Dietary fibers are diverse in chemical co ...

(10 grams per 100 gram serving), whole oats supply beta-glucan (4 grams per 100 gram serving; table), a soluble fiber with

cholesterol Cholesterol is the principal sterol of all higher animals, distributed in body Tissue (biology), tissues, especially the brain and spinal cord, and in Animal fat, animal fats and oils. Cholesterol is biosynthesis, biosynthesized by all anima ...

-lowering effects.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rolled Oats Breakfast Breakfast cereals Cereals Food science Oats Porridges hu:Zabpehely ro:Fulgi de ovăz

Process

Preparation

Nutrients

See also

References