Gordon Ramsay Transforms A Simple Bowl Of Oatmeal With This Banana Trick

As breakfast starches go, oatmeal is a solid way to start your morning. But to add a bit more flavor, nutrition, and moisture, Gordon Ramsay's family had a unique trick involving bananas.

According to a transcript from a Reddit thread, the Ramsays put three or four bananas in the oven over the pilot light, slowly baking them so their flesh liquified. In the morning, they'd squeeze the bananas into milk, add some oatmeal and dried cranberries, and enjoy a breakfast that was fruity, moist, and utterly delicious. Following the wrong oat-to-liquid ratio is a common mistake when cooking oatmeal, but since bananas are so rich in moisture, they help ensure your breakfast won't dry out. This is especially helpful when using steel-cut oats compared to rolled oats, as steel-cut oats require more liquid and a significantly longer cooking time.

By slowly baking the bananas over a pilot light, the Ramsays used a hands-free way to also add more sweetness to their breakfast. This caramelizes the fruit's natural sugars, making them pronounced enough that they didn't need to add extra sugar in the morning. However, there's one issue with Ramsay's method: Most modern stoves use electric ignition, not pilot lights. If you want to recreate Ramsay's childhood oatmeal, you may need to find new ways to achieve the same effect.

Unless you have an older gas oven with a pilot light, your goal for any substitute method should be to soften the banana, bring out its natural sugars, and keep the whole process fairly hands-off. Fortunately, you probably have a couple of options in your kitchen already — one slow and one fast.

For the slow method, turn to your crock pot. Most have a "Keep Warm" setting that sits at around 140 degrees Fahrenheit. While this won't be enough to fully caramelize the sugars, long exposure to this level of heat should soften the bananas enough to liquify in a bit of milk. Once they start to boil then simmer, your milk should explode with fruity flavor that infuses directly into your oats.

For the fast method, try your microwave! Poke your bananas' peels a few times to let steam escape, then microwave for around one minute, adding another 30 seconds if necessary. This makes them mushy enough to mash in some milk, caramelizes the sugars a bit, and is a quick solution if you forgot to warm them overnight. Since microwaving your oatmeal is actually the best way to go, you can also just slice the bananas over top then mash them in if you're in a real rush.