Microwave Chocolate Protein Oatmeal + How to Make Oatmeal More Filling

November 17, 2019

Microwave Chocolate Protein Oatmeal is an easy breakfast to make that will actually keep you full all morning long, thanks to my 3-step method to make oatmeal more filling. I’m jazzing up your bowl with a secret ingredient: collagen!

Gluten Free, Nut Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by New Chapter. Thank you for supporting the brands that make the Chelsey Amer Nutrition blog possible!

On a cold winter day, the coziest and easiest breakfast to make has got to be a warm bowl of oats. It always tops the “healthy breakfast ideas” lists, but a boring bowl of plain oats won’t keep you full for very long. You know what I mean?

Countless clients come to me eating oatmeal for breakfast every morning, but wonder why they don’t feel energized all morning long. Or wonder why they’re hungry an hour later.

Oats on their own are full of health benefits, but you can make oatmeal more filling with a few additions and changes in your cooking methods…

Let’s take a look at oats on their own first.

One-third cup of oats contains about:

125 calories
2 grams fat
21 grams carbohydrates
3 grams fiber – especially beta-glucan, a type of soluble fiber
4.5 grams protein
Vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants

Not too shabby on its own. But, this typically won’t keep you full until lunch.

To squash the need for a mid-morning snack, make oatmeal more filling.

Here’s 3 ways to make oatmeal more filling:

1. Bulk Up Your Bowl with Fiber

Oats contain filling fiber, but not enough for a meal to help you meet the recommended daily intake of 27-35 grams per day. To bulk up your bowl, add more fiber via chia seeds and/or flax seeds.

Per tablespoon, chia seeds contain 4 grams of fiber. Ground flaxseed meal contains 2 grams of fiber per tablespoon. Add a tablespoon of both to boost your bowl’s fiber content by 6 grams!

You can also add fiber to your bowl in the form of TOPPINGS. Topping an oatmeal bowl is one of my personal favorite parts of the entire oatmeal experience! Choose berries, chopped apple or pear, or sprinkle seeds on top for added fiber.

2. Add Protein

To stay satiated and full all morning, you need more than 4.5 grams of protein that’s found in 1/3 cup of oats. There are a few ways you can add protein to your bowl, but my personal favorite is COLLAGEN!

Collagen is the primary structural protein found in skin, bones, and connective tissue throughout your body. There’s tons of hype around collagen lately – I’m sure you’ve heard about it.

Collagen levels begin to decline in your mid-twenties (UGH!), so why not do what you can to help improve your skin elasticity, strength of your nails, joint mobility, and more and use collagen as your protein source in your bowl of oats?

New Chapter’s Collagens are my new favorite because there’s NO TASTE like other chalky protein powders! This is a HUGE selling point for me! They easily dissolve in warm liquids (like oatmeal). Plus, it’s sourced from humanely raised animals – cage-free chickens and pasture-raised beef – with no added hormones.

Also, there’s only one main protein-packed ingredient – COLLAGEN. There are no artificial sweeteners, additives, or a laundry list of other ingredients.

New Chapter has three varieties of collagen to choose from: Move, Glow, and Elevate. Each variety is fortified with other botanicals for added support:

Move contains plant-sourced calcium (from algae) for added joint support
Glow has Sea Buckthorn for herbal skin & hair support*
Elevate has matcha and adaptogens for a little energy boost and stress support*

For each scoop, you’re adding 10-12 grams of protein to help boost satiety and make your oatmeal bowl more filling.

The Microwavable Chocolate Protein Oats recipe below has oats + 2 tablespoons chia seeds + collagen, which provides your morning bowl with over 25 grams of protein! That’s sure to keep you full until lunch.

You can also add protein with the following:

Yogurt
Nuts/seeds
Nut/seed butter
Egg whites

3. Make It Grow

Did you know you can make your oatmeal bowl DOUBLE in size by just adding more liquid? And no, you won’t get a soupy bowl (unless you like it that way, of course)! Personally, I like my bowl of oats to feel sorta like I’m spooning into a mug cake. Set on top and slightly mushy underneath. It gives me all the cozy feels. To get this perfect consistency, prep your oats in the microwave. No, the microwave won’t kill you and it’s super convenient.

But if you wanted, you can prep your growing bowl of oats on the stovetop too.

Here’s how to make your oatmeal bowl grow:

Add double the liquid as you have oats. Cook until all of the liquid is absorbed (usually 2 minutes in the microwave). Then, keep adding one-quarter cup more liquid (water or milk or non-dairy milk) and cook until that’s absorbed. Repeat, repeat, repeat. You can add four-times (or more) the amount of liquid as you have oats, especially if you have the chia seeds in there too (they absorb up to nine times their weight in liquid).

Another way to make your oatmeal bowl grow? Add VEGGIES to bulk up your bowl. Shredded zucchini is my favorite, but try riced cauliflower and shredded carrots too.

So let’s put it into practice…

Make your oatmeal bowl more filling with this Microwavable Chocolate Protein Oatmeal!

Because what better way to start the day than with a bowl of chocolatey goodness?

This bowl contains oats, chia seeds, New Chapter’s Collagen Move, cinnamon, and unsweetened cocoa powder. I opted to use New Chapter’s Collagen Move because lifting a 16+ pound baby is no joke and my joints could use all the help they can get! I love that it has added plant-based calcium too because I typically do not eat much dairy (for my babe while breastfeeding and because I’m personally lactose intolerant).

But the flavor superstars of this bowl are the added cinnamon and unsweetened cocoa powder. They don’t just taste great, but also contribute health benefits too. Unsweetened cocoa powder is full of antioxidants, and cinnamon helps regulate blood sugar (which is important when eating carbohydrates, like oatmeal).

This bowl of Microwavable Chocolate Protein Oatmeal is…

Easy to make
Filling
Made with 6 ingredients
Packed with protein
Full of fiber
Allergy friendly
Gluten free
DELICIOUS!

Let’s make this chocolatey bowl of deliciousness…