Quirky porridge toppings to boost your breakfast

The “biggest sign” that winter is around the corner is a “steaming bowl of porridge on the breakfast table”, said Chloe Mac Donnell in The Guardian.

Traditionally made by heating oats with water or milk and a pinch of sugar or salt, this simple and “humble dish” has been around for centuries. But now it’s going from “drab to decadent”, as people gripped by the latest fibremaxxing trend latch onto its high-fibre promise and look for inventive ways to dress it up for the 21st century.

Searches for organic jumbo oats at Ocado have jumped by 98% year-on-year, while content creators on social media are sharing recipes for inventive toppings – both sweet and savoury – that embrace everything from miso to “sour cherry and pistachio butter”.

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Cafes are getting in on the act, too. At Cafe Cuil on the Isle of Skye, the menu features properly traditional, coarse pinhead oats soaked in oat milk overnight and finished with a seasonal topping – currently, hazelnut brittle praline and poached pears. And in central London, 26 Grains offers a “five-grain porridge topped with fig-and-red-grape jam and a dollop of whipped cream”.

And then there’s a whole “world of less obvious approaches”, said Anna Shepherd in The Telegraph. You can turn porridge into a “decadent dessert”, like a previous winner of the World Porridge Making Championship, with sticky dates, “layers of creamy caramel sauce” and a garnish of honeycomb. This is “no mere breakfast porridge”.

Or you could go down the savoury route and give the “controversial” viral Cheddar and Marmite recipe a go. Pile handfuls of grated cheese into your cooked porridge, then add a swirl of the “like-it-or-loathe-it” yeast extract and a blob of butter. “Behold, a salty, stodgy-supper porridge – just the thing for chilly autumn evenings.”

For another savoury take that’s an “unexpected delight”, try adding rolled oats and stock to a simmering shallot, garlic and tomato sauce, said Sang Yoon in Food & Wine. When the oats are tender, stir in torn basil leaves, grated parmesan, butter and seasoning. Top the lot with a poached egg for a “delicious, incredibly satisfying meal”.