I promise that I don’t eat pumpkin in every meal. (Although I did overdose on Vitamin A a few years ago because I was enjoying my fall produce a little too much. PSA: don’t take multivitamins if you already eat a balanced diet!) However, I opened a gigantic can of pumpkin in order to make that pumpkin cheesecake smoothie last week, and now I’m trying to use it up before it goes bad. Since I’m a little bit under the weather, I thought that a big bowl of oatmeal would be the perfect warm, cozy fall breakfast to make me feel better.
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Pumpkin Chia Protein Oatmeal
Egg whites add protein and volume to this delicious fall breakfast, resulting in a 300 calorie breakfast bowl that's diet-friendly but very filling!
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
- 1/4 cup quick cook steel cut oats
- 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
- 2 whole egg whites
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp allspice
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp brown sugar
Instructions
- First, put the chia seeds and about 1/4 cup water into a bowl to soak. Chia seeds soak up water like crazy, and while they create a really filling gel, it can really dry out your meal to add them before they're saturated!
- Using a medium saucepan, heat 3/4 cup water until boiling, then add your oats. Don't put the lid on and make sure to frequently check on your oatmeal and give it a stir - I find that steel cut oats are pretty finicky about boiling over and making a mess!
- Once the oats have absorbed most of the water (about 8 minutes), go ahead and add your pumpkin and spices, mixing thoroughly. You can also add the bowl of chia gel now.
- While the mixture is heating up again, separate two egg whites from their yolks and beat in a bowl until very frothy. Bonus: arm workout included in your breakfast making!
- Once your pumpkin oatmeal starts to bubble, pour your frothy egg whites in and mix thoroughly. If you're cooking at medium to medium-high heat, it should only take a minute or two for your egg whites to cook - you'll want to be stirring pretty constantly this whole time to prevent clumping. If you've done it right, the egg whites will easily incorporate to the rest of the mixture, resulting in a thick, puffy, cloud-like consistency. No lumps at all!
- Finally, pour into a bowl and top with a little bit more cinnamon plus some brown sugar. (I noted one teaspoon because that's what I used, but it's really to your personal taste.) For an extra bonus taste of fall, I love adding a tablespoon of Trader Joe's Fig Butter on top... yum!
Notes
This oatmeal is low in saturated fat, but still has a bit of regular fat (from the chia seeds). It clocks in with nearly half your RDA of fiber and 17 grams of protein - all three of those characteristics mean it will keep you pretty full! Thanks to the pumpkin, it has a ton of Vitamin A (nearly triple your RDA), so make sure you're not eating this every day or taking a multivitamin with Vitamin A. Finally, by adding the sugar at the end, you get to enjoy the sweetness more but it is still fairly low in sugar!
I’ve wanted to find recipes that include chia seeds. This looks like one I should try.
I’ve found that chia seeds work well in most breakfast recipes – smoothies, oatmeal, and even pancakes/waffles. With something solid like pancakes/waffles, just make sure that you soak the chia seeds first so they aren’t soaking up the batter and drying it out before you cook it.