Gluten-Free Hot Cereal (Breakfast Porridge, Vegan)

If you are a low-carber, following a gluten-free and grain-free diet, the traditional hot cereal or porridge for breakfast is not an option. So I developed this simple and healthy alternative, which is also tasty and full of nutrients.

Topped with berries, sugar-free syrup, or with a good pat of organic butter, it’s a warming and satisfying breakfast, especially now during the cold wintertime.

 

Gluten-Free Hot Cereal (Breakfast Porridge, Vegan) 1/3 cup = 80 ml = 3 oz = 85 g almond butter (home-made or commercial) 1 pinch unrefined sea salt (or to taste) 1/3 cup = 80 ml water 1–2 teaspoons organic flax seed meal   Directions Combine the almond butter, salt and water in a small saucepan. Warm over medium heat, mixing continuously and breaking the almond butter lumps into smaller pieces. When the mixture is smooth and hot but not boiling yet, take the saucepan off the heat. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon flax seed meal on top and mix until thick and smooth. Add another teaspoon flax seed meal if you prefer even thicker consistency. Serve immediately with for example berries or pat of organic butter.

 


 

Nutrition Information	In Total (recipe makes 1 serving)
Protein	18.0 g
Fat	53.9 g
Net carbs	4.7 g
kcal	583 kcal

 

 

Tips for preparing the gluten-free hot cereal

Preparing this hot cereal is very quick and easy; perfect for busy mornings. This recipe makes 1 serving, but if you would like to make more, just double or multiply the ingredients.

Just combine the almond butter, salt and water in a small saucepan.

 

Warm over medium heat, continuously mixing and breaking the almond butter lumps with a spoon.

 

Continue mixing and heating…

 

…until the mixture is smooth and hot, but not boiling yet. Don’t let the mixture boil as it easily burns if it gets too hot.

 

Take the saucepan off the heat — or in case you have an induction stove like I have here, just turn the heat off. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon flax seed meal on top…

 

…and mix until thick and smooth. Add another teaspoon of flax seed meal if you prefer even thicker consistency.

 

 

My gluten-free hot cereal experiments

Here in Finland, porridge is an extremely common breakfast which both kids and adults fill their stomachs with to start the day. Even nowadays at schools and day cares they still have porridge for lunch.

I’ve never been that keen on porridge; I guess I got my quota full when I was kid and I had to eat porridge each and every morning. For that reason there was no need for me to develop a recipe for gluten-free, grain-free “hot cereal” which is also low in carbs.

However, the need for inventing “hot cereal” rose once when we were visiting my parents and my son asked me to make some hot cereal because his granddad was eating some. Even so, since we eat gluten-free and grain-free food, fulfilling his wish sounded more than challenging. Fortunately, I realized that almond butter might work as a great base for the hot cereal, and flax seeds would bind the ingredients beautifully together.

In the blink of an eye, I whipped up a small portion of hot cereal from commercial almond butter, flax seed meal, salt and water. I just put everything in a saucepan and heated until the mixture was thick and was developing the first bubbles of boiling. I proudly served the hot cereal to my son, who looked quite disappointed because the color of the stuff wasn’t white (his granddad was eating white hot cereal). However, I couldn’t have been happier since my mom and I loved the new creation. The taste was outstanding.

Later, back at home, I fine-tuned the quantities of ingredients. What made things a bit difficult was that the first time I made this at my parents’ house, I didn’t measure the ingredients, but just threw the stuff in the saucepan by gut feeling.

I noticed that in order to achieve the best consistency, the key was to add not too little and not too much flax seed meal. Just one teaspoon too much, and the result is slimy. (That would be perfect for Halloween! Green, slimy, hot cereal… Why am I always thinking of Halloween, anyway?) Too little flax seed meal, and the consistency is runny.

I also made some experiments with almond butter made from blanched almonds and raw, unblanched almonds. First I used commercial almond butter made from roasted almonds, but since my lovely husband gave me a proper blender, now I always make my own almond butter from raw almonds and coconut oil. It’s fresh and super healthy.

Below is a photo from home-made almond butter where I used 1 1/2 cups (360 ml) raw almonds and 2 tablespoons organic extra virgin coconut oil. Later I noticed that altogether 3 tablespoons of coconut oil brought better consistency to the almond butter. At least that worked for my Blendtec blender and Blendtec Twister Jar, which I use for making almond butter.

 

 

 

Tips for variation

You can also make raw hot cereal (which is really not hot… it’s pure raw food and full of nutrients) by mixing all the ingredients together in the evening and consuming the mixture in the morning.

Different toppings give some variation to this gluten-free “hot-cereal.” Basically, just use this healthy version like you would use the traditional high-carb hot cereal (naturally without any high-carb toppings!). I love to add a couple of tablespoons of frozen wild blueberries on top of my bowl of hot cereal. The berries melt quickly and taste wonderful with this superb breakfast alternative.

You can get even more variation by using different types of almond butters. Almond butters made from roasted almonds, unbleached raw almonds, or bleached almonds all taste different but work great. For the healthiest result, use organic almonds.

Update: The photo below is about “hot cereal” where I have used almond butter made from blanched almonds.