This sweet and creamy dairy-free butterscotch oatmeal will turn people of all ages into oatmeal fans. When made as is, it has a rich pudding meats hearty oatmeal consistency. Some might even liken it to a heartier version of rice pudding. But I’ve included various options in this post to adjust for taste, consistency, and dietary needs.
Creamy Dairy-Free Butterscotch Oatmeal to Suit Every Taste
This recipe is delicious as is, but here are a few tips for modifying this butterscotch oatmeal recipe if you want to make it your own. Just keep in mind that it’s the ratio of buttery spread, brown sugar, and vanilla that give this oatmeal its butterscotchy flavor. Modifying those amounts will still be tasty, but will alter the flavor.
- Egg vs Egg-Free – The egg is what gives this butterscotch oatmeal a very creamy, slightly pudding-like consistency. You can omit it for more of a classic oatmeal vibe. This will make the oatmeal a bit sweeter since the ratios of the other ingredients will be higher. You can compensate by adding a chia or flax egg (3 tablespoons water + 1 tablespoon chia seeds or ground flaxseed), or increasing the oatmeal a little for a heartier finish.
- Lower Sugar – You can reduce the sugar to 2 tablespoons, but it will have less of that “butterscotch” flavor.
- Sweetener Alternatives – For a slightly different flavor vibe, and a touch less sweetness (though still sweet enough), you can sub coconut sugar. For sugar-free, there are some brown sugar alternatives, like Swerve.
- Lower Fat – You can reduce the buttery spread to 1 tablespoon, if needed. The taste will be less “buttery” and more brown sugar.
- Buttery Alternative – If you don’t have any dairy-free buttery spread on hand, you can substitute up to 1 ½ tablespoons coconut oil for the buttery spread. I would also increase the salt up to ¼ teaspoon.
- Thicker – Again, this is very creamy oatmeal. You can use an egg-free option above or reduce the milk beverage to 1½ cups, or even a little less, if preferred.
- More Butterscotch Flavor – If you really want to up your game, you can add a little dairy-free butterscotch flavor, to taste.
Special Diet Notes: Creamy Butterscotch Oatmeal
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, gluten-free, nut-free, peanut-free, soy-free, and vegetarian. See the post above for egg-free and vegan options.
- 1 egg (see post above for egg-free options)
- 1¾ cups unsweetened dairy-free milk beverage
- ¼ cup firmly-packed brown sugar
- 1 cup rolled oats (certified gluten-free, if needed)
- 2 tablespoons dairy-free buttery spread
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Add the egg to a medium saucepan, and beat briefly with a whisk or fork. Add the milk beverage and brown sugar and whisk to combine.
- Place the saucepan over medium heat and stir in the oats, buttery spread, and salt. Continue to whisk as the oatmeal just barely comes to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook and stir until thickened.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
More Dairy-Free Oatmeal Recipes
Maple Pecan Overnight Oatmeal
Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal
Cinnamon Roll Overnight Oatmeal
2 Comments
My son made this recipe for breakfast this morning, and it was a huge hit! Everyone liked it. I like that there’s added protein from the egg, too.
That’s awesome! Thanks for the feedback Sarah 🙂