Porridge made with the Thermomix® is one of those breakfasts where we simply cannot go wrong. 8 minutes in reverse direction at 100°C is not a coincidence. It is the precise threshold for creamy porridge that does not catch on the bottom. Any shorter and the starch stays raw. Any longer and it turns to mush.
We have been making porridge several times a week for years. By now we know the difference between flat and rounded, between watery and creamy, between burnt and just right. The formula is simpler than most people think: 400 g water, 100 g milk, 120 g rolled oats, a pinch of salt, 8 minutes at 100°C on speed 2 in reverse direction. Done.
The Best Thermomix® Porridge
Ingredients 0 / 5 ✓
- 400 g water or milk or plant-based milk
- 100 g milk (3.5% fat) or plant-based milk
- 120 g rolled oats
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 tbsp honey
Instructions 0 / 3
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1
Cook the porridge ingredients.
Add all ingredients to the mixing bowl and heat for 8 min / 100°C / speed 2 in reverse direction.
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2
Serve or chill.
Enjoy the porridge warm, or leave to cool, then cover and place in the fridge.
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3
Garnish with fruit.
Serve your porridge topped with fresh fruit for the best result.
Tip: Great toppings include fresh fruit such as apples and bananas, nuts, or spices like desiccated coconut and cinnamon. Dried fruit works beautifully too. Get creative!
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Nutrition per serving
8 minutes, 100°C, reverse direction
These three settings are not a suggestion. They are physics. Oat starch gelatinises from 80 to 85°C, with full gelatinisation occurring at 95 to 100°C (McGee, On Food and Cooking, 2004). Below that the porridge tastes floury. Above that it turns to mush. 100°C is the threshold.
Reverse direction is the reason porridge does not burn in the Thermomix®. Running in reverse direction rotates against the blade direction and prevents thick mixtures from being chopped or sticking to the base (Vorwerk TM manual, all models TM7, TM6, TM5, TM31). Without reverse direction you would need to stir constantly. With reverse direction the Thermomix® does it on its own.
The 8 minutes is the point at which the oats lose their structure and the starch binds. After 6 minutes the flakes are still a little grainy. After 10 minutes the porridge becomes too thick. 8 minutes is the balance between creaminess and bite. After cooking we leave the porridge to sit in the mixing bowl for 1 minute. The residual heat lets the starch swell a little more.
400 g water, 100 g milk
The 4:1 ratio of water to milk is what makes our porridge creamy without sitting heavy. Using only water makes it thin and flat in flavour. Using only milk makes it too rich and fatty. The 400 g of water provides the base liquid, and the 100 g of milk (3.5% fat) gives the creaminess.
You can swap the cow’s milk for almond milk, soya milk or oat milk. The ratio stays the same: 400 g plant-based milk and 100 g water. Or 500 g plant-based milk and no water if you prefer it richer. But the original recipe with 400 g water and 100 g milk is the balance we recommend after hundreds of batches.
A pinch of salt lifts the sweetness
The pinch of salt in this recipe is not a mistake. Salt enhances sweetness because sodium ions suppress bitter receptors and bring out sweet flavours (Breslin and Beauchamp, Salt enhances flavour, Nature 1997). Without salt the porridge tastes flat. With salt the honey becomes rounder and the oats gain more depth.
It works the same way as with chocolate: a pinch of salt in dark chocolate lifts the sweetness without making the chocolate taste salty. Porridge is exactly the same. You do not taste the salt as salt. You simply notice the sweetness is more intense.
Millet instead of oats: gluten-free and nutty
If you need gluten-free porridge or just want a different texture, try our millet chocolate porridge. Millet contains no gluten (DZG, German Coeliac Society, 2023) and has a nuttier flavour than oats. The method is different: 80 g millet, 450 g almond milk, 17 minutes at 90°C on speed 1 in reverse direction, then 3 minutes on the gentle stir setting with 40 g dark chocolate and 1 tbsp cocoa powder.
The difference from rolled oats: millet only needs 90°C because the grains are more tender and swell faster. At 100°C millet would become too soft. Oats need the full 100°C to fully gelatinise the starch. That is why the two recipes use different temperatures.
For the millet version, we place the steamer basket on the mixing bowl lid as a splash guard. Millet foams more than oats and will splash out of the lid without protection. This does not happen with oat porridge because the oats bind the liquid immediately.
Cook in the evening, spoon in the morning
Porridge keeps in the fridge for 3 days. You can cook it in the evening, portion it into containers and spoon it straight from the fridge in the morning. Chilled porridge actually becomes creamier as the starch continues to set. If you prefer it warm, 1 minute in the microwave at 600 W is all it takes.
We portion the porridge into sealable bowls and keep them in the fridge. In the morning we add the toppings: fresh berries, banana slices, nuts, honey. This saves 10 minutes in the morning and you still have a proper, filling breakfast.
Jumbo oats or rolled oats?
Our recipe uses standard rolled oats (medium). You can also use jumbo oats or fine oats. Jumbo oats keep more bite and keep you fuller for longer. Fine oats become creamier and softer. Do not use instant oats. They are too fine and turn to mush.
If you use jumbo oats, extend the cooking time by 1 to 2 minutes. Fine oats need no adjustment. The 8 minutes is enough. The ratio of liquid to oats stays the same: 500 g liquid to 120 g oats. More oats and the porridge becomes too thick. Fewer oats and it becomes too thin.
Oats deliver 5 g of beta-glucan per serving
Rolled oats contain beta-glucan, a soluble dietary fibre that lowers cholesterol. 4 g of beta-glucan per 100 g of oats is the reason the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority, Health Claim 2010) recognises oats as cholesterol-lowering. Our recipe uses 120 g of oats, which means roughly 5 g of beta-glucan per serving.
This makes porridge one of the few breakfasts that not only fills you up but also improves your blood lipid levels. Plus, beta-glucan causes blood sugar to rise more slowly than white bread or cornflakes. You stay fuller for longer and avoid the mid-morning hunger crash.
All Thermomix® models work identically
This recipe works on all four Thermomix® models: TM7 (since 2024), TM6 (since 2019), TM5 (since 2014) and TM31 (since 2004). The settings are identical: 8 minutes, 100°C, speed 2 in reverse direction. You do not need Cookidoo, guided cooking or a Wi-Fi connection. Simply add the ingredients, select the setting and you are done.
The TM7 has a larger display and faster sensors, but the cooking result is the same across all models. The reverse direction function works mechanically the same way, as does the temperature control. Porridge is one of those recipes where the differences between models simply do not matter.
Honey cooked in or added after?
Our recipe includes the honey in the mixing bowl during cooking, not as a topping afterwards. This makes the sweetness more even throughout. If you add honey on top afterwards, you get sweet patches and bland patches. When cooked in, the sweetness is distributed through the whole batch.
The argument against cooking honey is that heat destroys the enzymes in it. That is true. But with 1 tbsp of honey across 2 servings, we are talking about sweetness, not enzymes. If you eat raw honey for the enzymes, eat it by the spoonful, not in porridge. In porridge, honey is a sweetener, not an enzyme source.
What we do differently from other Thermomix® porridge recipes
Most Thermomix® porridge recipes use 50 g of oats in 200 g of pure milk, cooked for 5 minutes at 100°C. That works, but we find it too rich and undercooked. We use 120 g of oats in 400 g of water plus 100 g of whole milk and cook for 8 minutes. The longer cooking time fully gelatinises the oat starch, and the water-milk split makes the porridge creamy rather than heavy. We cook the honey in with everything rather than adding it to the finished bowl, so the sweetness is evenly distributed. We add cinnamon after cooking to keep the aroma fresh, and brown sugar as a topping gives that caramel crunch that full-milk recipes do not deliver.
Goes well with: Nuts.
More Thermomix® breakfast recipes: Overnight Oats, Rice Pudding, Almond Milk, Sunday Breakfast.
More on this topic: Tips for using your mixing bowl and all the basics can be found in the Thermomix® hub. Or browse the complete guide overview.
