Kickstart Your Day with Salted Caramel Oatmeal

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When I go to a coffee shop, I love picking up a café mocha! It always hits the spot!

I say it over and over again on here, but I’m a chocolate guy. What can I say, I love the stuff! I was given some baking chocolate to make a molten chocolate lava cake. Tip: I actually use chocolate chips, but the baker’s chocolate made for an excellent snack! I mean hello, why wouldn’t you munch on it? It’s premium quality chocolate!

I had some instant coffee lying around and I really wanted to find a way to use it up. My mistake - I ended up buying plain dark instant coffee! From my Instagram stories, you may have seen that I just cannot drink black coffee. Nope, it’s not for me. I’m admittedly a guy who loves the fun drinks! I’ll go right away for the Pumpkin Spice Latte or a French Vanilla, and please don’t hold the whipped cream on top!

P.S. if you’re not following my Instagram stories then what are you doing?! Go follow me on Instagram and check out the stories to get sneak peeks into upcoming recipes and a more close-up view into my cooking adventure!

Anyhow, in terms of coffee at home, I don’t drink it because I need the caffeine fix (the only time I did drink coffee for the caffeine was when I was scrambling to get this website up and running for a couple of months!), but just because I crave the flavor. I originally purchased the instant coffee to follow the bandwagon with Dalgona coffee, which by the way is so delicious! However, this coffee is strong! Much too strong for my tastes! When I’m having coffee at home, I definitely have to lighten it up with substantial cream and sugar. I wouldn’t call myself a five-star barista, but I am actually trying to make my own café mocha recipe, so stay tuned for that to go live!

Back to this mocha salted caramel oatmeal and my instant coffee dilemma. Great, so I can use the instant coffee for Dalgona and to make café mocha. But I regretted getting such a strong coffee because what else can I do with it?? I just want to finish this as soon as I can so that I can get a flavored instant coffee! To make Dalgona coffee, I actually “messed up” and purchased flavored mocha instant coffee, which didn’t make the Dalgona turn out exactly as necessary because it was sweetened. Updating this post years later, I actually ended up nailing the Dalgona, and you can see it in my Eggnog Iced Latte that’s Dalgona-style! That being said, I’d rather have mocha instant coffee than super strong instant coffee!

So what to do? Well, I do love a good café mocha. What constitutes a café mocha? Chocolate, coffee, sugar and milk! Why not translate this into some oatmeal as a unique way to get in my morning coffee but have it taste good?

That’s how these oats were born! I actually have an overnight oats recipe using espresso powder, so check out these Chocolate Espresso Cheesecake Overnight Oats if you’re looking for a cold, grab-and-go breakfast option that will still give you a caffeine fix!

Have I sparked your interest? Well, read on to find out more about this Mocha Salted Caramel Oatmeal and for the FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE so you’ve got it at your fingertips when you’re ready to prepare these oats to start your day!

What’s to Love About Mocha Salted Caramel Oatmeal

This mocha salted caramel oatmeal is like a coffee cake or a café mocha in oatmeal! A café mocha is essentially hot chocolate with coffee. Could you have guessed that I like the chocolate part of a café mocha? Here, we’re going to use instant coffee, cocoa powder, and vanilla extract. The sweetness will be added from the maple syrup on top! Additionally, I’m going to top the oats with some sea salt caramel chips. This is how we get a salted caramel mocha oatmeal! The sea salt chips really add a nice contrast to the maple syrup and the coffee flavor, just like the classic drink you get at the coffee shop! By the way, I really enjoy the Salted Caramel Mocha too! We’ve got that exact same salty and sweet flavor going on in these oats!

Tools Needed

• Saucepan
• Wooden spoon
• Mixing bowl
• Measuring cups
• Measuring spoons

Ingredients for Mocha Salted Caramel Oatmeal

You’ll be surprised by how short this ingredient list is! Let’s go over what we’ll need:

• Quick oats: I recommend quick oats because the texture won’t be the same if you use old-fashioned rolled oats or steel-cut oats. If you want a pudding-like texture, the small quick oats are the way to go.
• Milk: I’m using regular dairy milk, but feel free to use any milk of choice. However, I do find dairy milk makes for the creamiest oats!
• Instant coffee: I’ll be honest, if you had a flavored instant coffee, it could be much yummier! But keep in mind you would reduce the cocoa powder and the maple syrup to account for the sweetness of the flavored instant coffee.
• Cocoa powder: If you’re using plain instant coffee, don’t be afraid to really use a significant amount of cocoa powder to really emphasize the mocha flavor of these oats!
• Vanilla extract: Just a splash to add that nice aroma.
• Maple syrup: This is our source of sweetness. You’ll want a nice drizzle on top!
• Sea salt caramel chips: To make this a Salted Caramel Oatmeal Bowl, as the name suggests! If you don’t have these, you could definitely use Skor Toffee Bits or any toffee syrup!

How to Make Salted Caramel Mocha Oatmeal

1. Place a saucepan on medium heat and add the oats, milk and stir well to bring the mixture together.

2. Continuously stir the mixture until the milk comes up to a simmer. Then add the instant coffee, cocoa powder, and vanilla extract. Mix well until the ingredients are well combined with the oatmeal and milk.

3. Transfer the oatmeal into a serving bowl.

4. Serve oatmeal warm with a drizzle of maple syrup and a couple of sea salt caramel chips. Enjoy!