My past experience with oat bran had been good. I did a 1:1 oat bran to oatmeal ratio in my morning oats.
I’ve even used oat bran in lieu of flour in muffins. After all, oat bran is only oatmeal that has been ground into a grainy flour. Correction: Oat bran is the outer layer of the whole oat grain that (normally) gets removed during the refining process.
However, this bowl of oat bran, straight up, might have made me an oat bran convert.
Dare I say I like it more than oatmeal?
Note: I made my bowl of oatmeal, exactly like my go-to PB&J oatmeal, except I substituted the oat bran for the oat meal and added 1/4 cup egg whites.
Here are five reasons you should try oat bran too (if you haven’t already!).
1. It’s creamier than oatmeal. If you can’t get into the texture of old fashioned rolled oats, you’ve got to try the velvety texture of oat bran.
2. It’s more voluminous than oatmeal. If you like to eat for volume, then oat bran has your name all over it.
3. It will probably keep you fuller longer. When comparing equal portions, oat bran has more dietary fiber and more protein than oatmeal.
4. It’s takes less time to cook. It took only 4 minutes to bring my oat bran to a rolling boil (from the point I turned my burner on) and then only about 5 minutes of cooking on low for the oat bran to be completely cooked. Rolled oats take about 5 minutes to bring to a boil and then need as much as 10 minutes on low to reach my preferred consistency.
5. This picture. Do you really need another reason?
Have you tried oat bran? Oatmeal versus oat bran – which is your favorite?
I LOVE OAT BRAN!! thats all i use! i use to make my infamous “Voluminous Oats”!
I’m a recent oat bran convert! I literally use it in everything now! Totally agree with the volume thing, I got a killer 2.5 cups out of a .5 cup serving! Couldn’t even finish it (:
Yum! 🙂
Oat bran is awesome. Minor correction though – it isn’t oat flour or ground up oatmeal. Oat bran is just the outer layer of the whole oat grain that (normally) gets removed during the refining process (all grains have this hard, fibrous bran layer, and its absence is why refined flours have practically no fiber). It does get ground up to form the cereal that we eat, but it’s not the same thing as ground oatmeal. Just a little detail 🙂
Thanks! I updated the post to reflect the correction.
Never had oat bran myself personally but I do make it for the fiance now to give him something different than always oatmeal or cereal haha. He seems to like it though I usually have to top if off with something sweet 😉
I just tried oat bran a week ago for the first time. I’ve long been an oatmeal lover and I am loving the texture fluff that oat bran adds. I’ve also been loving egg whites in my mixture, it also adds volume, which I LOVE!
I’ve started to eat oat bran for the protein content.
I have never eaten oat bran straight up like that… I’ve only baked with it. I should give it a try. With this crazy hot weather we’ve been having in Charlotte though, I’m all about the COOL breakfasts lately. When I’m in the mood for something hot, I’ll give this a go. Anything with PB&J looks delish!
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This post stuck in my mind this morning when I was inspired to try oat bran for the very first time in place of oatmeal. I’m hooked now!
Yay! Isn’t it delicious? 🙂