While writing my Healthier Chocolate Treats Cookbook last year, I practically lived at the grocery store. Although I wrote down a big shopping list each weekend that included all of the ingredients I needed for the upcoming week, I typically had to dash back a few times if recipes failed and I needed to buy another round of cocoa powder or chocolate chips to retest them. I always want to make sure that every recipe turns out perfectly before I share it with you!
On one of my trips, I stopped by the dairy section to buy cream cheese to test the S’mores Cheesecake Bars recipe in my cookbook. (You can see them here!) When I stopped the shopping cart in front of the refrigerated shelves, my jaw dropped. The store had completely run out of cream cheese—not a single block was in sight!
I found the nearest employee and politely asked if they had any extras in the back of the store, but once he returned from checking, he reported no… Yet he informed me that they expected their shipment to arrive in the wee hours of the following morning, so I should find cream cheese back on the shelves if I came back the next afternoon.
I rearranged my baking plans, testing the Dark Chocolate Lava Cakes and Strawberry Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins recipes that evening instead, and returned to the grocery store the following day, as the employee suggested. As I approached the same dairy shelves, I nearly groaned… The cream cheese section was still empty!
I found a different worker and inquired about the situation. He immediately offered to check the back of the store, and he practically looked like a knight in shining armor when he returned with the two packages I needed!
{And yes, those S’mores Cheesecake Bars were totally worth the wait! They’re one of my favorite recipes in the entire Healthier Chocolate Treats Cookbook!}
That memory resurfaced last week when I planned on baking another extra chocolaty dessert yet realized I was completely out of flour. With a rainstorm raging outside, I really didn’t feel like driving to the store, so I quickly decided to improvise with this instead…
Easy Homemade Oat Flour! With how easy it is to make (and how much cheaper than store-bought!), I’m kicking myself for not trying it sooner. You just need a few minutes and a blender or food processor—that’s it!
First, you’ll measure out oats. Both old-fashioned oats and instant oats will work, and you can also use the gluten-free version of either, if necessary. I haven’t tried with steel-cut oats, so I can’t vouch for whether they’ll work.
Add those to your blender or food processor, turn it on, and let it do its thing! After a few minutes, most of the oats should look very fine and powdery. There will still be a few larger bits—no blender or food processor is perfect!
So to separate those out, you’ll pass the oat flour through a sifter. Pour those bigger bits into a separate bowl, but don’t throw them away! I call them Easy Homemade Instant Oats, and they’re perfect for using in all of my clean-eating oatmeal cookie recipes!
And now that you’ve made your super easy DIY oat flour… You’ll be all set to bake that new extra chocolaty dessert recipe I’m going to share with you in my next blog post! ? And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! ?) I’d love to see your oat flour and feature it in my Sunday Spotlight series!
Easy Homemade Oat Flour | | Print |
- 3 ½ cups (360g) old-fashioned oats (gluten-free, if necessary)
- Add the oats to a high-powered food processor or blender, and blend the oats until mostly fine and powdery, about 3-4 minutes. Sift the oat flour into a large bowl, and place the larger bits caught by the sifter in a separate bowl. Transfer the fine oat flour to a zip-topped bag or airtight container, and transfer the larger bits (aka Easy Homemade Instant Oats) to a separate zip-topped bag or airtight container.
You’ll want to use a food processor or blender with very sharp blades and a strong motor. This ensures that the oat flour turns out as fine as possible without overworking your machine. This is the combination blender + food processor that I own, and I absolutely love it! It’s worth every single penny, and I use it every day. (And if you check out this blog post, you’ll see 13 other recipes of mine you can make with it!)
You can use the "leftover" Easy Homemade Instant Oats to make any of my clean-eating oatmeal cookie recipes!
{gluten-free, vegan, clean eating, low fat, low calorie, sugar-free}
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You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♥ The Ultimate Healthy Soft & Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
♥ Carrot Cake Oatmeal Cookies
♥ Apple Pie Oatmeal Cookies
♥ Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
♥ Cinnamon Roll Oatmeal Cookies
♥ Pumpkin Pie Protein Overnight Oats
♥ Chocolate Protein Overnight Oats
♥ Blueberry Pie Protein Overnight Oats
♥ Peanut Butter Cup Protein Overnight Oats
Made oat flour and made a bread which was a total flop. Did not bake properly just raw more like a bowl of oatmeal.
Oh no!! Was it one of my bread recipes? If it was, I’m happy to help you figure out what happened! In the meantime, here are some of my recipes that are specifically designed for oat flour, so I know they’ll turn out if you use your homemade oat flour in them! 🙂
Was not your recipe but in your blog you said make it and use in your favorite recipe . Trust me did not work ! Did not rise or even bake. Was for a bread and cane out like heavy oatmeal.
In my blog post, I don’t believe I recommended to use oat flour in any recipe. This is because oat flour behaves somewhat differently than wheat-based flour. It doesn’t have gluten, the protein that helps baked goods rise and maintain their shape while cooling, which means it can lead to baked goods collapsing while cooling, turning out overly dense, or just not turning out at all when substituted in certain recipes. Therefore, I’m very selective about which recipes I recommend substituting oat flour for wheat-based flour.
If you did see a line in my blog post where I said to use oat flour in your favorite recipe, would you please point it out to me? I’d love to fix that if I did write to use oat flour in your favorite recipe. (I just reread my blog post three times and didn’t see that recommendation anywhere, but I could be missing it though! 🙂 )
I made oat flour! Super stoked! Couldnt find any flour in the supermarket in this pandemic. And I really need to make some treats! Will see if I have ingredients to try your oat flour recipes!
I’m honored that you used my guide to make oat flour! I can’t wait to hear what recipes of mine you decide to make with it! You can find all of my oat flour recipes here, if that’s helpful! And you can also substitute oat flour in just about all of my cookie, brownie, and bar recipes. Just be careful measuring it because it tends to be a bit more absorbent than wheat-based flour! 🙂
Can I ask would you use the same amount of oat flour as ordinary flour? Thank you
It actually depends on the recipe! For my cookie and brownie recipes, yes — you can use oat flour for wheat-based flour as a 1-for-1 substitute. Just be careful when measuring it because it tends to be more absorbent than wheat-based flours!
However, I don’t recommended substituting oat flour in most recipes that rise (ie muffins, quick breads, scones, cakes, cupcakes, etc). This is because oat flour behaves somewhat differently than wheat-based flour. It doesn’t have gluten, the protein that helps baked goods rise and maintain their shape while cooling, which means it can lead to baked goods collapsing while cooling, turning out overly dense, or just not turning out at all when substituted in certain recipes. Therefore, I’m very selective about which recipes I recommend substituting oat flour for wheat-based flour. (Since cookies and brownies don’t really rise much, if at all, that’s why it’s fine to use in those recipes!)
Does all of that make sense Maria? 🙂
It does thank you. I’m only using it for biscuits so should be fine. Thanks again.
It’s my pleasure, Maria! I’m always happy to help! 🙂