Oatmeal is one of my favorite meals, but it’s extremely carbohydrate-heavy.
The solution for anyone trying to hit particular macros is to find ways to add more protein, which means add vegan protein sources like:
- Protein powder
- PB2 or nut butter
- Seeds (chia, hemp, flax)
- Soy milk
Tips on How To Make Vegan Protein Oatmeal
Oatmeal is one of the simplest meals you can make, but small changes can have a big effect on how good the end result tastes.
With protein oatmeal, it’s easy to mess up by being too aggressive with adding protein (I’ve had several failed experiments).
1. Don’t Use Too Much Protein Powder
When I first started to try and make vegan protein oatmeal, I used a full scoop of protein powder.
It was just too much. Unless you really love the taste of your protein powder, go easy on the protein powder at first. You can always add more the next time you make it if you think it makes sense to.
2. The Overall Taste Relies on Your Protein Powder
Many protein powders taste bad, and if you use one of those you’ll ruin your oatmeal.
This isn’t like some other recipes where the taste of protein powder is covered by other ingredients. Here, protein powder is one of your main ingredients.
If you want to know what I recommend, here’s my page of the best tasting vegan protein powders.
3. PB2 and Protein Powder Are Fairly Interchangeable
This recipe calls for PB2 and protein powder, but don’t worry if you only have one or the other.
You can leave out the one you’re missing and increase the other and the overall oatmeal will taste pretty similar.
4. If It’s Chalky, Add the Protein Powder First
Depending on the protein powder you use, it might have a chalky texture.
While it’s not a complete fix, you can add the protein powder first to your non-dairy milk or water and use a whisk to mix it as thoroughly as possible. This will minimize any chalkiness.
5. Low Calorie Toppings Can Really Improve the Taste
Even if you have the best tasting protein powder, I find that protein oatmeal still isn’t as good as regular oatmeal without it.
However, the biggest difference makers for taste are the toppings.
The best ones are:
- Fruit (frozen and reheated is fine)
- Coconut whipped cream (lower in calories than you might think)
- Chocolate chips (although relatively high in calories, and might be too much chocolate if you use chocolate protein powder).
6. Choosing the Right Liquid
Water or non-dairy milk works just fine in this recipe, but milk will make the oatmeal much creamier. Some people like that, and some don’t, so decide accordingly.
Choosing soy milk will result in the thickest oatmeal, but also the most protein, followed by nut milks. Oat milk is a bit redundant, and has the most water-like texture.
For all non-dairy milks in this recipe, use an unsweetened one. There are other flavoring ingredients, and your protein powder is likely sweetened already, so you don’t need any from your liquid.
Vegan Protein Powder Oatmeal Recipe
Vegan Chocolate Protein Powder Oatmeal
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup steel cut oats
- 1.25 cup non-dairy milk or water
- 0.5 scoops scoops chocolate or unflavored protein powder
- 1 tbsp PB2
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
- 1/2 cup strawberries
- pinch sea salt
Instructions
- Bring non-dairy milk or water to boil and add a pinch of salt
- Add oats and reduce heat to a low simmer
- Once most liquid has evaporated, add protein powder and PB2 (If you're not sure when to do this, do it on the early side)
- Continue to cook if too much liquid remains
- Pour out in bowl and add strawberries, chia seeds, and any other toppings you'd like
