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Oatmeal is a fantastic start to the day, whether you are a baby, child or adult. This banana porridge has a wonderful creamy texture and delicious sweetness. Eat it as it is, or add different toppings for extra goodness and appeal.
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Reasons to Love This Recipe
- Quick and Easy: It doesn't take much time or effort to make a pot of porridge on the stove. You can also make it in the microwave in around 3 mins.
- Nutritious: Oats are a good source of carbohydrate and fibre, but are also higher in protein and fat than many other grains. They are loaded with important vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
- Delicious: Banana adds a lovely sweetness and creamy texture to oatmeal.
Ingredients
- Rolled oats (also known as old-fashioned oats) give a nice chunky texture.
- Banana riper bananas will add more sweetness.
- Peanut butter. Optional, adds extra protein/ fat to keep you fuller for longer.
- Cinnamon Optional, adds flavour and enhances the taste of the banana.
- Milk gives the oats a lovely creamy texture. You can use any milk (dairy or non dairy), water or a mixture of both.
Process Shots and Cooking Tips
- To make this porridge, just add everything to a pot (image 1) and heat it up, stirring continuously, until you have thick and creamy oats (image 2).
- Once cooked, add to serving bowls and enjoy as is or with toppings (crushed raspberries, peanut butter and banana slices pictured.)
If you want a thinner porridge, just add more milk (or a mixture of milk and water).
Banana Porridge for Babies
Porridge can sometimes be tricky for babies to manage if doing baby-led weaning. To encourage self-feeding, pre-load spoons and offer them to your baby, waiting for them to grab them.
Cooking the porridge/oatmeal a bit longer can help get it to a consistency that clings to spoons or is easier to be picked up in handfuls.
Always make sure that it has suitably cooled down before offering your baby.
If you refrigerate leftovers it will congeal and stick together. You can reheat with some milk/water or alternatively you can offer it cold as finger food.
If you want to make a smooth porridge for your baby you can either buy baby oatmeal cereal or make your own. Just ground oats to a flour consistency. (Note: packaged baby cereal is fortified with iron and if you make oatmeal cereal at home the iron content won't be as high.) However, many babies, especially slightly older ones, won't need their porridge to be ground, and the added texture is a good thing.
Dairy milk and peanut butter are both potential allergens so should be offered at separate times (if not already introduced)
Storage Instructions
- REFRIGERATE: If you have any leftovers you can refrigerate them in a covered container for up to two days.
- It thickens up a lot in the fridge so you will need to add a splash of milk or water milk before reheating. You can either reheat it in the microwave or on the stovetop.
- FREEZING: Allow leftovers to cool. Scoop into muffin tins and freeze until solid (around 3 hours). Remove from tins and transfer to a zip-lock bag / freeable container for up to three months.
- Either defrost overnight in the fridge or in the microwave and reheat until piping hot. You will need to add some extra liquid - milk or water - to your porridge when reheating it.
Recipe FAQs
Cow's milk (and dairy-free alternatives) are not recommended for babies younger than 12 months as it lacks the complete nutrition that breastmilk and formula offer. However, using milk in prepared foods (such as porridge) is okay. You can also make the porridge with formula/breastmilk or water if preferred.
You can use quick oats but they cook faster and also lose a bit of texture in the cooking process so tend to be mushy.
Steel-cut oats need a lot longer cooking time and you can not replace the rolled oats with them in this recipe.
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Full Recipe
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Banana Porridge
Equipment
- Small Saucepan / pot
Ingredients
- 50g (½ cup) Rolled Oats
- 250ml (1 cup) Milk of choice or water
- 1 Banana mashed
- 1 tablespoon Peanut Butter
- ¼ tsp Ground Cinnamon
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to a small suacepan over medium/high heat.
- Bring to a light boil and then reduce the heat to medium/low and stir continuously for around 5 mins, until the oatmeal is thick an creamy. .
- Once porridge is at the desired consistency, remove from heat, and scoop into serving bowls. Add any desired toppings (pictured, crushed raspberries, peanutbutter and banana slices)
Video
Recipe Notes
- Add ingredients to a large microwave-safe bowl and stir to combine. Microwave for 1 minute, then stir and continue to microwave in 30-second bursts, stirring between each, until the porridge is your desired consistency. (around 3 minutes)
Nutritional facts
Disclaimer: This guide is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to replace the personalised care and advice given to you by a professional. You should never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read or seen here. Please refer to our full disclaimer for more info.
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