Peanut Butter Cup Steel Cut Oatmeal (in the Instant Pot) (2025)

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High fives for a super healthy steel cut oats recipe that makes both kids and parents happy. Peanut Butter Cup Oatmeal is a fun twist on steel cut oatmeal and even works well to prep ahead for the freezer.

This easy breakfast feels like a tasty treat, and your body will thank you for this nutritional powerhouse meal. Filled with fiber, iron, and protein, it’ll stick with you all morning long.

Ingredients Needed

Here’s what you’ll need to whip up this recipe:

• Butter – This is for toasting the oats. You can omit this step if you want. If you want to avoid dairy, use coconut oil or avocado oil instead.
• Steel cut oats – Look for gluten-free variety, if needed. Don’t use rolled oats in the Instant Pot. They won’t hold up well in a pressurized environment.
• Liquid – We’ve tested this with water, whole milk, or almond milk, and they all work well. Milk produces a little creamier outcome.
• Unsweetened cocoa powder – Or try raw cacao powder for even more health benefits.
• Pure maple syrup – You can substitute brown sugar, if you don’t have any.
• Ground cinnamon
• Pure vanilla extract
• All-natural peanut butter, plus more for serving
• Mini chocolate chips and/or sliced bananas, for topping

Step-by-Step Tutorial

Toasting the steel cut oats at the get-go isn’t a necessity, but it gives them a nutty flavor that sets them apart from other types of oats. I really like it this way!

If you’d like to toast the oats, set the Instant Pot to “Sauté.”

Place the butter in the pot.

When the butter has melted, add the oats and cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes, until fragrant. I LOVE this smell.

Press “Cancel” once they are done.

Add the water or milk, cocoa powder, maple syrup, cinnamon, and vanilla to the pot and stir until well combined.

Lock and seal the Instant Pot lid.

Cook the oats at high pressure for 12 minutes. It’s important to allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes. After this, you can quickly release the remaining pressure.

When you open the pot, you’ll notice there is excess liquid. Give it a stir to incorporate.

Add the peanut butter and stir to combine.

You can stir in additional milk to reach the desired consistency.

The key to making this breakfast dish a win is how you serve it. Add a dollop of peanut butter and sprinkle some mini chocolate chips and sliced bananas over the top.

I recently tested doubling this recipe for the Instant Pot and am happy to report that it works beautifully to double!

No need to change any of the cook time either. It does take a bit longer to come to pressure but other than that, you can double all of the ingredients, follow the cooking instructions and have twice as many steel cut oats!