As soon as you get up, all you desire a satisfying, wholesome breakfast bowl of your favourite Oats. While Oats in the past few years have gained much popularity, especially in India, little do you know about the different types of Oats.

Oats is a cereal grain which comes into different types, based on it’s texture. While all these types of oats offer the same nutritional value, the way it is made has a vast difference.

As you already know, Oats are highly rich in Dietary Fibre, Protein, vitamins and minerals. These work best for people who are on a strict weight loss diet.

There are several types of oats to choose from, right from rolled, steel-cut to quick instant oats.

Read below to know more on the different types of oats, and this will help you make the right Oat choice for your body.

Oat Groats:

Oat Groats are the kernels of Oat in which the hulls are removed. Hulls are considered to be the tough protective cover of the oat plant. All the types of oats like rolled oats, steel cut oats and instant oats initially start out as Oat Groats. Oat Groats are then rolled, steel-cut and goes through heavy processing to form quick instant Oats.

Steel Cut Oats:

Steel Cut Oats, in some parts of the world, is also known as Irish Oatmeal. These are the original, unprocessed version of the Oat Groats. Steel Cut Oats are made by chopping the pieces of Oat Groats with the help of large steel blades, hence the name Steel Cut Oats. As compared to Rolled Oats or Instant Oats, Steel Cut Oats have a chewier and nuttier flavour. Usually, these take around 20-30 minutes to cook. But if you soak beforehand, it can gradually reduce the cooking time.

Rolled Oats:

These are quite popular as the old-fashioned oats which are gone through a flattening or a steaming process. Rolled Oats have a very fine, softer texture as compared to steel cut oats and also takes much less time to cook, since they are already cooked slightly in the steaming process. It usually takes 5-10 minutes to cook without soaking it prior to cooking.

Instant Oats:

In order to decrease the cooking time, Instant Oats go through more processing than any other oats. These oats are further rolled and processed even more thinner than old-fashioned oats. They have a soft, mushy texture, which gets cooked in barely 3-5 minutes. While these undergo through several processing stages, there might be a slight compromise in the nutritional values for these oats, but nonetheless they are healthy with No Sugar, thus doing justice to the health freaks out there.