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If you thought a container of cold overnight oats or an oat smoothie were the only ways to enjoy a high-calorie mix of oats in the morning, think again because oatmeal is a warmer alternative just as versatile.
Unless you're running late, cooking oatmeal is totally worth it.
There's a reason why oatmeal is also popular among Hollywood actors who need to bulk up for their roles. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson bragged on X about his post-cardio "lion size bowl of oatmeal." Also, "Wolverine" Hugh Jackman refueled his body after a training session by eating oatmeal sprinkled with cinnamon and raisins.
But let's not digress.
The only thing you need now is a healthy but high-calorie oatmeal recipe optimized for building muscle. To craft the perfect recipe for you, I used my expertise as a certified personal trainer and nutritionist. Hint: It's got lovely peanut butter notes in it.
Let's explore the recipe, shall we?
For this oatmeal recipe, you'll need the following kitchen equipment:
To make this high-calorie peanut butter oatmeal, you'll need the following ingredients:
First, olive oil helps the rolled oats toast, also adding unsaturated fats and extra calories.
Rolled oats are the core ingredient of our oatmeal.
Moving on, low-fat milk is the liquid that helps the oats boil and turn them into oatmeal. Also, did you know that milk counts among the cheapest high-calorie foods?
Salt highlights the flavors in our oatmeal recipe and provides iodine.
Meanwhile, peanut butter brings calories and the main flavor of the dish.
Honey sweetens this breakfast dish. Since honey is considered added sugar, we ensured it doesn't represent more than 10% of the oatmeal's total calories.
Almonds add healthy fats and extra calories.
Lastly, goji berries, one of the fruits with the highest number of calories, add extra calories, carbs and vitamins.
If you're on a gluten-free diet, use rolled oats with a clear gluten-free label.
If you're on a dairy-free or vegan diet, swap milk for plant-based milk, like oat or almond milk.
In case you're allergic to nuts, you can replace peanut butter and almonds with seed butter and seeds.
Below are the step-by-step instructions for making our high-calorie peanut butter oatmeal recipe.
Coat a saucepan with olive oil. Try to spread the oil evenly across the pan's bottom.
Toast oats over medium heat until they smell like popcorn. This step will make the oats crunchier and more flavorful.
Once oats have started smelling like popcorn, pour the low-fat milk over them. Keep stirring the oats while they cook for 5-10 minutes. Otherwise, they will stick to the bottom of your saucepan.
While the oats cook, don't forget to add a pinch of salt to enhance all the flavors in your oatmeal.
Use a spoon to transfer the oatmeal to the bowl you will eat it from.
Add peanut butter, which is going to instill the most prominent flavor.
Add the honey for sweetness and use a spoon to mix everything until the ingredients look well combined.
Sink the goji berries in the oatmeal and top the dish with chopped almonds.
And you're done.
The predominant flavor in this oatmeal is peanut butter, but the almonds' crunchiness and the goji berries' fruitiness make this recipe special.
What's also cool is that you can finish eating the dish in around 5 minutes.
If you prefer your oatmeal thicker, cook it for a bit longer. If you want to thin it out, cook it for less minutes or add more milk.
In comparison to overnight oats, oatmeal is a warmer and softer option.
To prepare multiple servings of this recipe, cook more oatmeal and refrigerate it. For example, you can do this on a Sunday. Each day of the week ahead, reheat one serving's worth of oatmeal and top it with the ingredients you didn't refrigerate, like the peanut butter and the almonds.
| Serving size | 635 g |
| Calories | 1050 |
| Proteins | 41 g |
| Carbohydrates | 145 g |
| Fiber | 17 g |
| Added sugars | 23 g |
| Fats | 38 g |
| Saturated fats | 8 g |
| Unsaturated fats | 30 g |
Vitamins: A, E, C, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B8, B9, B12.
Minerals: calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, zinc, iodine, selenium, copper, manganese, chromium, molybdenum, boron.
Other compounds: choline and flavonoids.
To boost the calories of this recipe even more, you can top the oatmeal with even more almonds, peanut butter or goji berries. However, 1050 calories in one sitting should be enough for most people.
If you prefer to mix up your toppings, you can get inspired from our list of high-calorie foods.
Our high-calorie peanut butter oatmeal can bring many health benefits. Let's explore some of them.
Here are the reasons why our peanut butter oatmeal recipe helps you gain muscle:
Let's delve deeper into each of the characteristics above.
Since our peanut butter oatmeal is high-calorie, it will help you sustain a caloric surplus.
After all, the recipe delivers 1050 calories, a bit more than half of a 2000-calorie diet. This is because our oatmeal is made with many good sources of calories.
For example, almonds and peanut butter count among the high-calorie nuts and nut butters. Also, olive oil counts among the list of high-calorie foods. Moreover, goji berries are one of the fruits with the most calories.
If you don't know what caloric surplus means, know it's eating more calories than you consume. And it's essential for building muscle. The International Society of Sports Nutrition has the same position. In 2017, after reviewing over 140 scientific articles, they concluded that people who want to build muscle efficiently should follow diets that get them into a "sustained caloric surplus."
You can eat our high-calorie oatmeal when cutting as well. In this case, you'll need to make sure you stay on a caloric deficit.
Besides boosting calories, our peanut butter breakfast oatmeal counts among the best pre-workout meals for muscle gain. Since one serving has 41 g of protein, it will also help you maximize your muscle-building efforts.
Wondering how do you maximize the rate you're gaining muscle?
Trying to find out how much protein can the body use in a single meal for muscle-building, researchers came to the following conclusion.
"To maximize anabolism one should consume protein at a target intake of 0.4 g/kg/meal across a minimum of four meals in order to reach a minimum of 1.6 g/kg/day. Using the upper daily intake of 2.2 g/kg/day reported in the literature spread out over the same four meals would necessitate a maximum of 0.55 g/kg/meal," Brad Schoenfeld and Alan Aragon concluded in 2018.
For example, to maximize muscle-building, a 176 lbs (80 kg) individual needs 32-44 g of protein from one meal. Do you remember how much protein our oatmeal recipe has? 41 g. Spot on, right?
One of the vitamins in our oatmeal that impacts muscle growth is the vitamin B12 found in low-fat milk. Here is scientific proof published in the Advances in Nutrition journal. Researcher Lindsay Allen states that one of B12's roles is to restore methionine, an amino acid used in protein synthesis.
Besides B12, another compound that improves muscle growth is choline. It's present in the milk and oats found in our peanut butter oatmeal. The researchers behind a 2020 review of scientific studies that examined choline highlighted the compound's contribution to muscle growth and physical performance.
Our peanut butter oatmeal recipe fights muscle cramps and reduces muscle damage during exercise. Thus, performance increases. The oatmeal does this because it contains almonds and peanut butter, which have vitamin E.
A 2013 Nephro-Urology Monthly study of 20 patients with renal disease showed Vitamin E significantly reduces muscle cramps.
Moreover, a 2009 study of 21 participants published in The Journal of Physiological Sciences reached interesting results. The researchers concluded that vitamin E supplementation protects against oxidative stress and muscle damage.
More recently, a 2022 review published in Nutrients showed that even a low dose of vitamin E could prevent "exercise-induced muscle damage."
Another mineral you get from consuming our peanut butter oatmeal is zinc. And guess what? Oats, the core ingredient of our recipe, and peanut butter are good sources of zinc.
According to a 2020 Redox Biology review, zinc helps form new muscular cells and regenerate depleted muscle tissues.
No matter when you eat them, our high-calorie peanut butter oatmeal will energize you for many hours. They're high in complex carbs, low in added sugars and abundant in vitamins and minerals that help your body produce energy.
The American Heart Association backs this up. Complex carbohydrates will give you energy for a longer period than simple carbs, like the ones found in white bread or candies.
Fortunately, our oatmeal is full of ingredients that contain complex carbs:
The only added sugar in our oatmeal comes from honey. Since the sugar in honey makes up only 8.7% of the recipe's total calories, it respects the recommendation of the 2020-2025 edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
According to the DGA, the calories we get from the added sugar in our diet should not exceed 10% of our daily calories.
Besides carbohydrates, our granola bars have compounds that help the body get and use the energy found in foods:
Let's look at some proof regarding the above micronutrients' roles.
A 2020 scientific review of B vitamins, vitamin C, iron, magnesium, and zinc is titled "vitamins and minerals for energy, fatigue, and cognition."
Sources of B vitamins in our granola bars:
The only ingredient that is a good source of vitamin C in our recipe is the goji berries.
As for magnesium and iron, oats and peanut butter contain plenty of it.
When it comes to phosphorus, the National Institutes of Health describes it as a component of "the body's key energy source, adenosine triphosphate (ATP)."
The best source of phosphorus in our oatmeal recipe is the low-fat milk.
The same NIH states that copper is involved in energy production. In our recipe, oats and peanut butter bring most of the copper.
As for manganese, a 2015 article reviewed manganese's effects on health. The research states that the mineral plays a role in significant physiological processes, including energy metabolism. Most of the manganese in our oatmeal comes from oats and peanut butter.
Our oatmeal also contains chromium, which "might play a role in carbohydrate, lipid, and protein metabolism," according to the NIH. In our dish, chromium comes from oats and peanut butter.
Besides, a 2022 study on 138 soccer players states from its beginning that molybdenum plays an important role in adapting our bodies to physical training. Oats and peanut butter bring molybdenum to our oatmeal.
Our high-calorie peanut butter oatmeal recipe strengthens your bones and connective tissues because it contains calcium, copper, manganese, boron, and vitamin C.
A 2012 review of the essential nutrients for bone health agrees. It found that calcium, copper, manganese, boron and vitamin C are commonly used to improve bone health.
To save time, you can make the peanut butter oatmeal on a Sunday and have servings for a whole week.
What's even cooler? You can eat one serving of our high-calorie oatmeal recipe in about 5 minutes.
To follow our high-calorie peanut butter oatmeal recipe in a compressed format, use the summary below.
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