Savoury Oats with a Soft Egg

Name: Savoury Oats with a Soft Egg
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients: 100 g rolled oats; 500 ml chicken or vegetable stock; 2 eggs; 3 spring onions; 1 clove garlic; 1 thumb ginger; 1 tbsp soy sauce; 1 tsp toasted sesame oil; 1 tbsp neutral oil; 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds; Chilli oil, to serve; Salt and black pepper

Porridge cooked in stock instead of milk, with spring onion, soy and a jammy egg. The version of oats that eats like a meal.

📅Oct 1, 2026🕐 15 min👥 2 servings🥗 Clean ⚡ 15 Minute

Nutrition Info (per serving)

400
Calories: 18g
Protein: 18g
Fat: 42g
Carbs

Vitamin B12ThiamineVitamin KRiboflavinManganeseSeleniumPhosphorusIron

Ingredients

100 g rolled oats
500 ml chicken or vegetable stock
2 eggs
3 spring onions
1 clove garlic
1 thumb ginger
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp neutral oil
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
Chilli oil, to serve
Salt and black pepper

Instructions

1Bring a small pan of water to the boil, lower in the eggs and cook for exactly 6 minutes 30 seconds, then move them into iced water. Peel once cold.
2Grate the garlic and ginger. Slice the spring onions, keeping the white and green parts separate.
3Heat the neutral oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook the spring onion whites, garlic and ginger for 1 minute, until fragrant.
4Add the oats and stir for 1 minute so they toast lightly in the oil. This is what keeps savoury oats from tasting like breakfast porridge with soy sauce on it.
5Pour in the stock, bring to a simmer, and cook for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring often, until thick and creamy.
6Take off the heat and stir in the soy sauce and sesame oil. Taste and season — stock varies a lot in salt.
7Spoon into two bowls, halve the eggs and set them on top.
8Finish with the spring onion greens, sesame seeds and a spoon of chilli oil.

Oats are a neutral grain. The idea that they belong with cinnamon and banana is a habit, not a property of the food, and congee, risotto and polenta all show what a savoury grain porridge can be.

Stock instead of milk

This is the whole switch. Cooking oats in a good stock gives them a savoury backbone that milk cannot, and the result eats like a light risotto rather than a breakfast cereal.

Use a stock you would drink. Oats absorb it completely and there is nowhere for a thin, salty cube stock to hide.

Toast the oats in fat first

One minute of stirring the dry oats in oil with the aromatics before the stock goes in does two things: it adds a faint nuttiness, and it coats the grains so they thicken more slowly and stay distinct rather than turning to paste.

It is the same reasoning as toasting rice for risotto.

The 6:30 egg

Six and a half minutes from a rolling boil gives a fully set white and a centre that is thick and jammy rather than runny or chalky. The ice bath is not optional — it halts the cooking precisely and makes the shells come away cleanly.

Older eggs peel more easily than very fresh ones, which is one of the few cases where fresher is not better.

Season at the end

Soy sauce added early and simmered turns harsh and loses its aroma. Stirred in off the heat, it stays rounded and savoury.

Taste before adding salt. Between the stock and the soy there may be enough already.

Variations

This is a base rather than a fixed recipe. Wilted spinach, sautéed mushrooms, kimchi, leftover roast chicken, a spoonful of miso whisked into the stock — all work. Cheese and black pepper takes it in a completely different, more Italian direction and is also good.

Nutrition

Around 400 calories with 18 grams of protein — considerably more than sweet porridge, and with no added sugar at all.

Oats carry beta-glucan, a soluble fibre with decent evidence behind it for lowering LDL cholesterol, and the egg brings complete protein, B12 and choline. It is a genuinely balanced breakfast rather than one that leaves you hungry by eleven.

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