Creamy persimmon porridge might be my new favourite way to start my day this winter. This is the first time I’ve tried adding persimmon to porridge and it’s good. Easily in the top three ways to eat persimmon for me and fruit in oatmeal is always a happy thing. Cooking the persimmons with the oats softens them and makes the whole dish sweeter without adding any sugar.

We eat porridge almost every morning for breakfast, with different fruits and toppings. Through autumn and winter we cook it with apples and other fruits like persimmon, and in the summer we always have berries. A little added fat (from coconut milk in this case) does seem to prevent immediate post-breakfast hungriness, and tastes great too.

A serving of this porridge, with all of the toppings in the recipe, has about 16 grams of protein and more than half the amount of iron needed in a day. In addition to the nut and seed fats, fibre, and a whole host of other nutrients like magnesium, it’s a good start to the morning. I find that my eczema is significantly improved if I eat oats daily, which is especially beneficial in the winter when lots of people have dry skin in any case.

If you need some other good gluten-free breakfast ideas, try my apple porridge, using a different cooking method, tahini granola, or on-the-go oatmeal breakfast cookies.

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

• Persimmon: fuyu persimmons can be eaten when they still feel quite hard to touch, and hiyachi should be very ripe. If you’re not sure what’s what, ask someone at the shop and they can advise.
• Rolled oats: quick cook can be used if preferred, but this recipe doesn’t work with steel cut oats.
• Coconut milk: this can be left out, or replaced with something like cashew milk, if you prefer a lower-fat breakfast – it makes the porridge pretty luxe. The nut butter and seeds add that satiating fat in any case.
• Toppings: this is simply a blend of toppings that add quite a bit of protein and taste good with persimmon. Change them up based on your preference.

Recipe Notes

If you don’t want to have any pieces of persimmon skin in your porridge, peel it before chopping and adding to the pot. I never do this.

You can leave the coconut milk out and cook the porridge in a non-dairy milk, or do both if you want a very rich porridge.

Expert Tips

• Don’t boil the milk: the coconut milk is added at the end to avoid any chance of scorching it and ruining the flavour.
• Stir frequently: for the creamiest porridge, stir the oats often while they’re cooking.
• Sweeten to taste: the fruit and coconut milk make this quite sweet without any added honey or other sweetener, so taste before adding it.

More Oat Recipes

No-Bake Chocolate Coconut Balls
Dark Rye Bread
Gluten-Free Date Squares
Honey Oat Bread

If you make this Persimmon Oatmeal or any other breakfast recipes on Occasionally Eggs, please take a moment to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. It’s such a help to others who want to try the recipe. For more OE, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, purchase the Occasionally Eggs cookbook, or subscribe for new posts via email.

This post was originally published in January 2017. It has been updated with no changes to the recipe as of January 2023.