Steel-Cut Oat “Risotto” with Butternut Squash and Kale
This hearty risotto recipe is made with steel-cut oats instead of rice! It’s thick, creamy and rich like regular risotto, but with extra texture and flavor.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 29, 2024
Risotto with oats? Yes! I’d be skeptical if I were you, but let me tell you—I’m pleasantly surprised by how much I love this twist on risotto. Traditional risotto is time consuming, rich and delicious, but doesn’t have much to offer in the nutrition department.
I’ve learned how to make a baked version with brown rice and lots of vegetables, but it still takes a little too much time to qualify as an easy weeknight meal.
Enter steel-cut oat risotto! Also known as, another way to use those steel-cut oats in your pantry, for something other than steel-cut oatmeal. Like arborio rice, steel-cut oats get nice and creamy when cooked.
Unlike brown arborio rice, steel-cut oats require about 25 minutes on the stove, with minimal fuss. Steel-cut oats are 100% whole grain and are a good source of fiber, so this risotto will stick with you.
This flexible risotto recipe is the perfect solution for your extra fall produce. I used a combination of kale and butternut squash here, but you could easily replace the kale with chard, spinach or collard greens. Try sweet potato or carrots in place of the butternut squash!
For another flexible recipe with oats, don’t miss my kale, apple and goat cheese salad with granola “croutons.” As always, please let me know how you like this recipe in the comments.
Watch How to Make Steel-Cut Oat Risotto
Steel-Cut Oat “Risotto” with Butternut Squash and Kale
This hearty risotto is made with steel-cut oats instead of rice! It’s thick, creamy and rich like regular risotto, but with extra texture and nutty flavor, thanks to the oats. You’re going to love it! Recipe yields 4 generous or 6 more modest servings.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 medium red onion, chopped
- 1 small (2 pounds) butternut squash or 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into ½” cubes
- 1 teaspoon salt, divided, more to taste
- Pinch of red pepper flakes
- 4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
- 1 ½ cups steel-cut oats
- 2 packed cups chopped kale, ribs removed (about ½ bunch)
- ½ cup dry white wine*
- 6 cups water
- ¾ cup (1 ¾ ounces) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- In a medium Dutch oven or soup pot, warm the olive oil until shimmering. Add the onion, butternut, ½ teaspoon of the salt, and the red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring often, until the onion is translucent and the butternut is mostly tender, about 8 to 10 minutes.
- Add the garlic and stir to combine. Add the oats and kale and cook, stirring often, until the kale has mostly wilted, about 2 minutes. Add the wine and use a wooden spoon or silicone spatula to scrape up any browned bits that have formed against the bottom of the pan. Cook, while stirring, for another 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add the water and remaining ½ teaspoon salt. Raise the heat to high and bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Once simmering, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is very creamy and thick (see photos), about 20 to 30 minutes. As time goes on, you might need to stir more frequently and reduce the heat to prevent scorching the bottom.
- Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the Parmesan, butter, lemon juice and several twists of black pepper. Let the risotto rest for 5 minutes before serving. Once you’re ready to serve, season generously with additional salt (I usually add at least ¼ teaspoon), and black pepper. Add an extra squeeze of lemon juice if it needs an extra boost of flavor. Divide into bowls and serve.
Notes
Make it vegan: Omit the Parmesan altogether or replace it with cashew sour cream, to taste (see my cookbook, page 217). Omit the butter altogether or stir in some extra-virgin olive oil for extra richness.
*Wine note: Choose a dry, unoaked white wine, such as sauvignon blanc. If you don’t want to include alcohol in your risotto, simply omit it (no substitutions required).
Parmesan note: Vegetarian Parmesans do exist—look for the animal rennet-free varieties. There’s plenty of flavor in here without the Parmesan, if you’d rather leave it out.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
This look delicious! I love a savory breakfast and this looks like it could be both dinner and brekkie!!! Just curious, you don’t find without vegetable broth it lacks flavor? Just curious, because most regular risottos use broth to add some flavor.
There is a lot of savory flavor with the oats and other spices that compliment well. :) Hope this helps!
Can leftovers be frozen?
I haven’t tried it, but you could see what others have tried by searching the comments.
Looks delicious. Steel-cut oats could easily Stan in for risotto. I can’t wait to try this!
Let me know once you give it a try, Danica!
I am so excited to try this recipe! I never thought of swapping oats for pasta — great idea!
Let me know what you think when you do try it!
I sooooo need a big bowl of this right now. YUM! Totally LOVING your blog! Mind if I link up!? Always looking for veggie friends!
I am happy you are enjoying the blog! Unfortunately, I don’t accept linking requests. Hope you understand and I really appreciate the thought!
Does it store well in the fridge for a few days? I have had bad experiences storing cooked oats in the fridge :(
It should last a few days in the fridge as leftovers, as does a typical risotto. I do think it is best consumed same day. If you want it to be more moist, you might want to add a little water when you warm it up, if that is your concern. Hope this helps!
I have a TON of Rolled Oats… Would you know how to utilize those in this recipe instead of using steel cut oats? Sounds delicious!
Hey Gayla, I’m sorry, I haven’t tried. Rolled oats will be less risotto-like, I think. If you give it a shot, please let me know how it turns out.
I often use thick rolled oats in a savory way. Just cook 1 to 1 radio with water for 4-5 min uncovered adding salt pepper coconut oil and rosemary. Add toasted pecans. Yum.
Looks beautiful and so tasty. Perfect for a cold autumn day
This is awesome, as I have leftover kale, half a red onion and half a butternut squash in my fridge. I hate wasting things, so this is perfect! Thanks for the inspiration, as always!
Yay! It is nice to have most of the ingredients on hand isn’t it?! :) You are welcome and enjoy! Let me know what you think.
Could you use vegetable broth instead of water?
Yes, you can! I’ve tried it that way and it’s delicious. To make sure the end result doesn’t taste too salty, just reduce the amount of salt called for initially and add to taste at the end.
I don’t suppose I could substitute rolled oats for the steal cut? Trying to use up my rolled oats and sweet potatoes…
Giselle, rolled oats become mushy after just a few minutes. You would get a textureless paste.
Hi Giselle! I haven’t tried. I really love the texture of steel-cut oats here, and I’m afraid rolled oats would be more mushy than creamy. If you give it a try, please let me know how it turns out.
THIS WAS DELICIOUS AND JUST WHAT I NEEDED! I made it vegan with nutritional yeast and it was phenomenal!
That’s great! Thanks for providing your experience and review. I appreciate it!
How much nutritional yeast did you use Sara?
Made this today! I had all the ingredients and am always looking for ways to use my steel cut oats. Creamy and tasty! Not sure I even needed the butter. That squash is so good. Lemon added a nice fresh zing. I used 5 cups water, and with a bit of S+P at the end it came out great. (not bland!) Thanks Kate!
Glad to hear it! Thanks for trying it and for your review. I appreciate it!
Very interesting – I would’ve never thought to eat oats that way.
It’s seriously so good. Hope you’ll give it a shot!
YESSS! I’m so here for all the savory oat recipes
Let me know what you think once you give it a try!
Sorry Kate. I think you’re stretching this “risotto” too far. I’m not going to give this a try. If you really find an authentic risotto too time-consuming don’t make it!
I am sorry you think so, Cheryl. I was skeptical at first, but I find it really good. :) I try to provide variety in recipes for my readers-some with unique twists and others that are more approachable than the original recipe.
Agree, Kate. Best not to be too skeptical if you haven’t even tried it.
This looks amazing! I never thought of making oat rissotto! thanks for the idea! Definitely will give it a try not with just butternut squahs, but with other rissotto recipes as well. Mushroom might taste pretty good too ;-)
again, thanks for sharing!
Mushroom would be so good! Hope you love this one, Susanna.
Let me know what you think when you try it, Susanna! If you don’t like butternut squash, maybe try sweet potato as well. Thanks for commenting!
ohhh, don’t get me wrong!! I love butternut squash! I was just thinking ahead on other flavors! hehe ;-)
Hi Kate, can you do this recipe with regular steel cut oats? Thank you.
Yes!
Do you mean another brand, Goretti? This recipe is made regular steel-cut oats, featuring the Quaker brand as I teamed up with them for this campaign. Hope this helps!
Sorry! I meant old fashioned oats.
Hi Kate, do you think you could use quinoa in this recipe?
Hey Kristen! That would definitely change the texture and make it less risotto-like. I’m not sure if the liquid proportions are correct without trying it first, so I would stick with steel-cut oats if you can.
Ohh, why have I never thought about doing savory steel cut oats?! I have a ton around the house, so this is going right onto the menu for a cozy weekend dinner!
I know, right?! It turned out so good. Let me know what you think, Abby :)
Hi Kate…! amazing and your risotto looks is delicious & yummy with its healthy for our health, i will make this like you. Thanks for sharing…!
Welcome, Debasis! Let me know what you think once you try it :)
@Kate few days Back actually I tried it but I messed it… :( I will try one more time and Post snaps here. For New Article kindly tag me… I am big Foodie :D
This was ABSOLUTELY delicious! I omitted the parm and substituted one of the cups of water for chicken broth. Mmmm – so delicious on a cold winter night. Thanks!!
You are welcome, Jessica! Thanks so much for the review.
You should have called it Ris-oat-o! :)
Clever! I like it :)
Oh wow I can’t wait to try this…and I think I’m going to add in some homemade vegan parmesan (equal parts nuts and nutritional yeast and maybe a little salt and garlic powder blitzed in the blender) to make it vegan. I love savory oats!
Let me know what you think, Jessica!
This is awesome! My mom refuses to eat rice but I love it so this will be a great compromise for our next family dinner! What a great idea :)
Would love to see even more savory oatmeal recipes on your blog !
You are welcome, Catherine! Thank you for your review :)
Delicious, thank you!! I would never have thought of using steel cut oats like this. Even my kids gobbled it up and they normally won’t touch butternut squash :-).
I know! It was a great recipe to work on. It turned out really well. Happy you could get the kiddos to eat squash :)
One of my favorite fall dishes is a butternut squash, kale, and goat cheese farro bake…I’m totally going to try this and sub goat cheese for the parm!
Let me know what you think, Melissa!
OMG. It was amazing!! Goat cheese definitely worked! I’ll try it again sometime with the parm, as I’m sure that is equally delicious!
I just finished making this tonight and oh.my.gosh! This was literally just what I needed…comforting, warm and delicious. My meat loving father even approved. I will for sure be having this for breakfast tomorrow and without a doubt make this again! Thanks Kate!
That is a win, Samantha! Thank you for your comment and review.
Would this work with regular rolled oats or does it need to be steel cut?
Great question, Rena! Steel cut will hold-up with the cooking method and give it more of the ‘risotto’ texture. Rolled oats just wouldn’t work as well with the sturdiness of the grain. Hope this helps!
Just made this! It smells divine! I added some nutritional yeast for extra cheesiness and substituted lime juice for the lemon. I plan to gobble this up for breakfast tomorrow. Thanks for the recipe!
This was amazing! Sooo creamy! I followed the recipe exactly but left out the wine because I didnt have any and it was perfect. And the possibilities are endless, I’m already dreaming of a broccoli, cheddar version. Thanks for the recipe, just in time for a long,cold winter.
Great to hear, Sarah! Happy you enjoyed it.
I have these quick cooking steel cut oats which still take about 10 minutes to cook. Would that work or would the veggies it be tender enough with the shorter cooking time?
Also We love KC! Go Chiefs! Raised Royal!
Made this tonight and it was awesome! Texture of the oats had me totally fooled they weren’t rice. Added a variety of chopped mushrooms and some fresh thyme which gave awesome flavour. Roasted some additional squash and added on top to give a little texture – so good! Thanks!
I was happily surprised myself! Thanks for your review :)
I made this recipe today, I had to make a parmesan substitution, but still loved the savory oatmeal dish. Thanks!
You are welcome, Danielle! Thank you for your comment and review.
Let me tell you, I’ve tried it and it’s SO GOOD! Thank you, dear Kate! Everyone thinks on a constant and groundless basis, that vegetarian diet is boring and tasteless. You prove them wrong with every single recipe. This one is a masterpiece! I did an experiment – my husband says he hates pumpkin/butternut squash and always declines even trying the dish that has any of those. So, yesterday he was out while I cooked and asked him to give it a taste, when we sat down to dine in the evening. First he loved it, then he learned the truth, haha! We laughed about it and he simply admitted for the dish to be delicious. I myself try to lower calories intake, so I’ve omitted the wine and had my portion without cheese, but my husband has it with his parmesan and it’s all love. I recommend this to everyone!
Thank you, Natalie!
Made this tonight for my family, I was a little skeptical, but it was a hit with everyone! Creamy and a perfect meal for a cold night. Healthy comfort food at its best!
I am happy you liked it! I was skeptical at first as well, but it is so good! Thank you for your star review. I appreciate it, Catherine.
This recipe looks wonderful! I’m on the lookout for savory oat recipes. I have a question, do you think this could be adapted for the instant pot? Maybe with sweet potatoes if squash will go to mush?
I am not sure about the instapot as I haven’t tested it with that. You could try it! I would love to hear how it turned out. The butternut squash should work, but if you are concerned, you could try sweet potatoes. They are a great substitution for butternut squash.
This was delicious! My husband and I both loved it. Quick question, we have a lot of leftovers. Do you think I can freeze them and reheat? Thanks!
That’s great! Thank you for sharing, Sue. I haven’t tried to freeze this recipe yet, but with type of recipe it would be worth trying. If you do, let me know how it goes!
Made this recipe tonight as a project for my nutrition class tomorrow. I loved the taste of this dish.
I preferred it without the cheese. I also omitted the white wine. I could have used only 1/2 teaspoon of salt (but I don’t use a lot of salt, to begin with). I would definitely increase the serving sizes.
Also sprinkled 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts for some added protein.
Thank you, Kayla for your review and comments! Hopefully your instructor felt this was worthy of a great grade. :)
I adore this recipe. I subbed in sweet potatoes & spinach (already had them lying around) and everything was perfection. I still can’t get over how flavorful it was. You can never have too many healthy comfort food options, so thank you!
You are welcome! Thank you, Kim for your comment and review.
Wow! This was incredible, I actually much preferred the oat based risotto to the traditional kind! I made this version with white-fleshed sweet potatoes and without the wine and thought it tasted fantastic! Will definitely being making this again, really hope you will be making other versions of the oat risotto in the future.
That’s great to hear, Samantha! I will take note to see what other risottos to make with oats in the future. Maybe have another in 2018 :) Thanks so much for your review!
Well….I thought this sounded like a delicious breakfast dish so I got up early to prepare it for guests. I followed the directions to a T (omitting the wine) and 2 hours later the butternut squash chunks are still that: chunks. Did the step about pureeing the squash get left out or…??? I would post the photo, but don’t see a means of attaching one.
I’m sorry to hear that, Margarita! The squash is still to remain in cubes, but should be tender. Was your squash still hard?
It was tender. And very good once I finally stopped cooking it and just ate it. I just thought it was supposed to be pureed because of the color of the risotto. Mine was more oat colored than orange like the picture.
This was a winner! I used asiago cheese (because that’s what I had), but everyone including kiddos loved it.
Sounds delicious! Glad it was a hit, Naomi. I appreciate the review.
I’ve been looking for fun risotto alternatives, so this sounds fun. Out of curiosity, have you ever made a barley risotto? I recently had some on a trip to Denmark and think it’s such an interesting take on a traditional recipe.
Thank you! I have not tired that. But it does sound like an interesting take!
Have you ever tried this in the oven as a baked risotto rather than stove top? Sounds delicious, thanks!
This one works best on stove top. Other risotto recipes rice based I have done oven baked. If you are interested in those, search risotto on the blog. Let me know what you think when you try it!
Hello, I plan on making this recipe this week. I appreciate the motivation of the recipe: to reduce waste by using what you have. But as a novice cook, I get nervous about creating more waste by making something taste gross if I make an adjustment. Do you think white onions would make a big difference?
This recipe has been on my dinner list since you posted it. I can’t wait to try it.
I like the flavor red onions provide. But, it can work with white onions if needed. Let me know what you think!
Hello,
What kind of side dish would pair well with this?
Keep warm,
Caroline
I would recommend a simple salad. One like this would be great: https://sooka.info/2014/favorite-green-salad-with-apples-cranberries-and-pepitas/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Recipe worked out well. I was scared at first; though it was going to come out watery.
I’m glad you really like it! Thank you, Tamara.
This recipe sounded amazing in theory, and I had all the ingredients in the house so I made it. It looked great but really lacked flavor. I tried extra salt, pepper, thyme, to no avail. I think I may give the leftovers one last shot by adding cinnamon and sugar and eating for breakfast. I’ll keep you posted on that!
I’m sorry to hear that! Did you allow the flavors to simmer? Thanks for trying it!
I was hesitant to try this recipe, but it looked so good- and it was AMAZING! I never thought to use oats as a substitute, and the texture was perfect as a risotto. I’ve been raving about it to my friends for about 4 days.
Thanks for the wonderful recipe!
I’m glad you tried it, Jessica! Thanks for sharing.
Making this now and confused–does the butternut squash just dissolve on its own? Right now, I am at the simmering part and my butternut squash cubes are still cubes and somewhat hard. Do I need to blend them?
They will remain cube like for this recipe. No need for them to dissolve. You just need them tender. Hope this helps!