Savory Oatmeal with Tempeh and Turmeric

This savory oatmeal recipe with tempeh and turmeric is a great way to start the day with more vegetables and less sugar. I love my pancakes, oats and smoothies for breakfast but I find I crave less sweets and have more stable energy when I start the day with a low-sugar breakfast. Savory oatmeal is a great compromise, especially when it’s cooked with warming spices and topped with creamy avocado.

Golden Savory Oatmeal

I cooked the oatmeal with turmeric, ginger, black pepper, sea salt and flax to create a warm, spiced bowl of oats ready for topping with healthy ingredients. Essentially, we’ve got a golden milk vibe going on here.

Turmeric has powerful anti-inflammatory properties and I love including in sweet and savory recipes. Ginger is a wonderful, nourishing, anti-inflammatory herb as well and it works well with turmeric. You can also try them together in my simple ginger turmeric tea.

Black pepper helps to improve the absorption of curcumin, the active ingredient in turmeric. Sea salt adds minerals and enhances the flavour and ground flax is one of my favourite superfood ingredients for the omega-3 fatty acids it contains.

Toppings

Here’s where you can have some fun. I topped my oats with kale, tempeh, avocado, pickled onion and tahini but there are hundreds of different ways you could go with toppings.

Part of me wanted to top my turmeric oatmeal with banana, walnuts and almond butter but I’ll save that creation for another day. I landed on savory ingredients like lightly sautéed kale, crispy tempeh, fresh avocado and homemade pickled onion.

Some other good ideas would be:

• roasted veggies like zucchini, carrot and onion
• grated carrot
• roasted garlic
• almond or sunflower seed butter
• a few spoonfuls of nuts and/or seeds
• roasted or mashed sweet potato or squash
• baked tofu
• sprouts

Anything goes really. I’d choose 1-2 veggies, a source of healthy fat such as avocado, nuts or seeds and a source of protein. I think slightly sweet ingredients could work too, I’ve got my eyes on a crumbled up Turmeric Coconut Ball.

To cook the oatmeal, all you need is half oats, turmeric, ground flaxseed, ground ginger, black pepper, sea salt and water. While those cook, you can crisp the tempeh and sauté the kale in the same pan. Once it’s ready, scoop the oats into a bowl, top with the rest of the ingredients and dig in!

More Oatmeal Recipes

• Peanut Butter Banana Blueberry Oatmeal
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Oatmeal
• Simple Banana Oatmeal
• Vegan Peaches and Cream Oatmeal
• 5-Minute Breakfast Quinoa

For more vegan breakfast ideas, check out my list of Easy Healthy Vegan Breakfast Recipes. For more savoury breakfasts, try my savoury vegan breakfast bowl or tempeh bacon breakfast bowl.

Nutritional Details

This recipe serves 1 person and comes in at 585 calories with 66 grams of carbohydrates, 28 grams of healthy fats and 30 grams of whole food plant-based protein. You’ll also be getting 20% of your daily calcium, 32% of your daily iron and 100% of your daily vitamin C and vitamin A. In addition, it contains magnesium, folate, manganese and zinc. This recipe is vegan, sugar-free, oil-free and gluten-free.

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