Melon Bowls with Overnight Oatmeal- Easy Breakfast Ideas

The first time I remember having these adorable melon bowls with overnight oatmeal for breakfast was at a resort in Bali when I was a little girl. I wasn’t crazy about oatmeal back then (though I love it now) but having them served in the hollow of a deliciously juicy and ripe melon made it fun to eat. I haven’t seen hotels serving this in the past few years but I have seen a resurgence of this across Pinterest lately.

I wanted to share my recipe because some of the recipes I’ve seen on Pinterest are misleading and result in a bitter taste and/or are simply inaccurate. The recipes circulating on Pinterest call for you to place the raw oats and whatever milk you’re using directly in the hollow of the melon and leave this overnight. There are several issues with this.

Firstly, simply leaving the oats and milk overnight in the melon results in that strange, bitter aftertaste. Secondly, the recipes and accompanying photographs do not match. Soaking raw oats in cold milk overnight requires a significantly larger ratio of milk to oats. It’s impossible to place something along the lines of 1/2 cup of raw oatmeal with 2 cups of milk into the hollow of half a cantaloupe. You couldn’t even do half of that unless you’re using a very large cantaloupe but that would be overeating. In my recipe, you simply soak the oats and milk in a separate bowl and add it to the melon bowl right before eating at breakfast. You’ll have perfectly soaked oats (similar to classic bircher muesli) in a perfectly juice and sweet melon.

Serves 2

Ingredients

1/2 cup raw plain oatmeal

2 cups milk (use any type you prefer- whole, skim, almond, soy)

1 small whole cantaloupe

Berries to garnish

Sprigs of mint to garnish (optional)

Method

In a mixing bowl, combine the raw oatmeal with the milk, stirring until thoroughly mixed. Cover and refrigerate overnight or at least 4 hours.

Slice the cantaloupe in half, removing the seeds. Divide the oatmeal mixture into the empty “bowls” in the cantaloupe where the seeds were. Garnish with your choice of berries and a sprig of mint. Serve immediately.

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