Overnight oatmeal still underwater?

Question

So this is a little embarrassing, but following the standard overnight oatmeal instructions on a can of McCann steel cut oats isn't yielding the expected result. I'm simply bringing four cups of water to a boil, dropping in one cup of oats, and letting it simmer for a minute or two. I then place the covered pot in the refrigerator overnight. The next morning, the oatmeal is still submerged in water.

I figure I could use less water to reduce the risk of this happening, but why aren't the standard instructions giving me a standard result?

Are you using traditional steel-cut oats, or the quick-cooking steel cut oats? — Sneftel, Feb 17 '20 at 18:16

score 9 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 16 '20 at 11:23

The instructions on www.mymccanns.com that I can find read:

Quick Soak Method

One of the quickest and easiest ways to prepare McCann’s® Steel Cut Irish Oats is to soak the oats overnight. Before going to bed, boil 4 cups of water in a pot. Then add one cup of oats and simmer for 1 minute. Cover the pot, cool, and store overnight in the refrigerator. The next morning reheat over low heat, stirring occasionally.

Although these are instructions for overnight soaking, they aren’t instructions for ‘overnight oats’ that are popular to eat cold. Was that what you were aiming for? I read this as a process to reduce the 30 minute cooking time they suggest for ‘Irish porridge’ further down the page. As you can see the final sentence tells you reheat the oats next morning. Presumably at that stage the oats will swell and thicken the remaining liquid to form porridge.

If these are the instructions you were following, they will not yield ‘overnight oats’. I think you really need rolled oats for that.

Overnight oatmeal still underwater?

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