Keep cosy and start your day right with a delicious bowl of winter warming porridge

Dark, cold winter mornings call for a special kind of breakfast. When a bowl of cereal just won’t cut it, you can always rely on a big dollop of freshly made porridge to bring some comforting warmth to your weekday wake-up call. And when it comes to variety, there are porridge ideas to suit every taste.

Thick, milky and fibre-rich, you’ll have a belly full of slow-release energy to keep you going until lunchtime. What could be better than that?

While a simple porridge made with oats, milk or water, and a dash of honey or maple syrup is never a bad idea, here are a few of our favourite winter-warming recipes. Which of these porridge ideas will be your favourite?

Why is porridge such a great breakfast?

Porridge has been a staple food in countless countries around the world for a long, long time. Its legacy as the perfect fuel-food stretches so far back, it’s thought that porridge was first produced during the Paleolithic era by hunter-gatherers.

With such a well-rounded nutritional profile, it’s easy to understand why it’s stuck around as a breakfast favourite. Porridge is rich in vitamins and minerals like zinc, magnesium, manganese, vitamin B5, and vitamin B1 — just to name a few.

On top of this, porridge can taste delicious. With a naturally neutral flavour, it provides the perfect blank canvas for you to get creative and experiment with different topping combinations. At Hotel Chocolat, we adore adding a bountiful helping of spreads, syrups, spices, fruits and nuts to our morning porridge bowls. As you can probably imagine, chocolate often makes an appearance, too!

Winter warming porridge ideas

As we all know, it’s always a struggle to get out of bed on those frosty winter mornings. A snuggly haven away from the icy air in the rest of the house, it’s a wonder we ever find the motivation to leave the comforting embrace of our duvets.

This being said, if there’s one thing that’s guaranteed to lure you down to the kitchen, it’s our winter porridge ideas…

For all our recipes, you’ll need a basic porridge base. To make one serving, add 50g of porridge oats to 350ml water or milk (dairy or plant-based). You can then simmer your mixture for up to 5 minutes in a pan on the hob — stop simmering when your porridge has reached your desired consistency.

Wake up and go: Banana and tahini porridge

To make our energy-boosting banana and tahini porridge, you’ll need:

• Your porridge base
• 1 ripe banana
• 1 tbsp tahini
• A dash of cinnamon
• A handful of sunflower seeds
• A sprinkling of sesame seeds
• A drizzle of honey, agave syrup, or maple syrup

For a chocolatey edge, add:

• 1 tsp 100% cacao powder or our 100% dark chocolate flakes
• 2 chopped Medjool dates

Chop your banana into thin slices and arrange over your warm porridge base. Then, sprinkle as many sunflower and sesame seeds over your porridge as you wish and add a generous drizzle of tahini. If you’re looking for a high protein breakfast, opt for more tahini and seeds than less. You can then add a dash of cinnamon to your bowl for a touch of autumnal spice, plus a drizzle of your favourite sweetener to give your breakfast an uplifting edge.

If you’d like to add some rich indulgence to your banana and tahini porridge, then either stir a teaspoon of cacao powder throughout your porridge base or sprinkle it over your banana and seeds as another topping. Chop the Medjool dates into small pieces and add to the bowl. While the cacao brings an element of bitter chocolate that works wonderfully with the sweet banana and syrups, the Medjool date is rich, gooey, and high in natural sugars and minerals.

Instead of chopping your banana, you might want to try mashing it with a fork and stirring throughout your porridge mixture. This nicely distributes the flavour and sweetness!

Indulgent and satisfying: chocolate porridge

To make our chocolate porridge, you’ll need:

• Your porridge base
• 2 tsp cacao powder or our 100% dark chocolate flakes
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• A drizzle of date syrup
• A handful of finely chopped hazelnuts, cashews, or almonds (or a mix)
• A handful of fresh blueberries

To make an extra chocolatey bowl, add:

• 1 tsp cacao nibs
• A drizzle of melted 85% Dark Chocolate Slab

With your porridge base just off the heat, stir the cacao powder or flakes into the oaty mixture. Why do you need such pure chocolate? High-cacao chocolate contains a greater flavour depth than ones with a lower cacao percentage. As you can sweeten your porridge with your other toppings (like dried or fresh fruit and syrups), we think it’s best to start rich before sweetening to taste. Going for a purer chocolate is also a better option for the more health-conscious porridge eaters.

After adding plenty of cacao goodness to your base, stir in the vanilla extract and as much date syrup as you’d like. You can now add your toppings! Arrange your blueberries on top of your porridge and add the chopped nuts. If you’d like to make your porridge even more chocolatey, you can also add a sprinkling of nutritious cacao nibs and a generous drizzle of melted dark chocolate. Take a peek at our guide on the best way to melt chocolate.

You can always create a fabulous ‘dessert for breakfast’ porridge bowl and incorporate a few of our heavenly chocolate bites into your topping selection — our Selectors are perfect for this!

Experiment with your own porridge ideas

Really, there’s no ‘correct’ way to make this breakfast, so don’t be afraid to go off-piste with your porridge ideas and topping combinations. Lay the table, serve up your homemade porridge, and ease yourself into the day. Whether you’ll be pairing your porridge with an aromatic Rabot Estate coffee, gorgeously velvetised hot chocolate, or a comforting cup of tea, you’re all set to enjoy a true breakfast of champions.

Fancy some more inspiration? Check out @oatymeals for some more delectable porridge ideas. We particularly like this chocolate banana bread recipe!