Baked Oatmeal vs Granola: Difference and Comparison

Breakfast consumption is increasing worldwide as people are more concerned about health issues and weight management.

Cereal is the first choice for breakfast because it contains low fat, low sugar, quality fibre, and other multigrain ingredients. 

Various breakfast products are available, but people mostly prefer oatmeal and granola over others.

Key Takeaways

1. Baked oatmeal is a dish made of oatmeal, milk, eggs, and other ingredients, baked in the oven until set, while granola is a mixture of rolled oats, nuts, seeds, and sweeteners, baked until crisp.
2. Baked oatmeal is served warm and can be eaten as a breakfast or dessert, while granola is served cold and eaten as a snack or cereal.
3. Baked oatmeal can be customized with various flavors and toppings, while granola can be made with different combinations of nuts, seeds, and dried fruits.

Baked Oatmeal vs Granola

Baked oatmeal is a dish made by combining oats, milk, eggs, and other ingredients and baking it in the oven. It has a soft texture and can be served warm or cold. Granola is a crunchy mixture of oats, nuts, seeds, and dried fruit that is baked in the oven and mixed with honey or other sweeteners.

Oatmeal is good for heart and weight loss as it has high protein, fibre, low fat, essential omega-3, and fatty acid that are important to maintaining a healthy heart and digestive system.

Oats also contain minerals like manganese, zinc, magnesium, and phosphorus required for the body to function correctly. 

Granola is a snack made of rolled oats, nuts, fruits, and other ingredients.  These are already cooked and baked products. For convenience, granola is converted into bar shapes.

The granola bars help fight constipation, boost energy levels, help in weight loss, are suitable for the heart, and help fight cancer. 

Comparison Table

Parameters of Comparison	Oatmeal	Granola
Definition	Oatmeal is a whole-grain cereal with high nutrients and minerals that helps to maintain good health.	Granola is a popular nutritious food that lowers cholesterol, aids in weight loss, and maintains good health.
Ingredients	Oatmeal is made by cooking steel-cut oats at a higher temperature to reduce the time for the cook.	Granola comprises toasted flakes, fruits, nuts, raisins, and other sweeteners.
Consumption	Oatmeal is boiled water, either with salt or sugar, as per taste.	Granola is ready to eat a nutritional product. It can be taken either with milk or yoghurt.
Benefits	It is a good breakfast product for breakfast. It reduces heart disease, weight loss, and cancer and lowers cholesterol.	Granola provides similar benefits to Oatmeal, like weight loss, lowering cholesterol, and helping to fight heart diseases.
Flavours	It comes in different flavours, like apple pie oatmeal, raspberry oatmeal, banana, pumpkin, cinnamon, etc.	It also comes in different flavours, like honey almond granola, gingerbread granola, orange and almond granola, and others.

What is Baked Oatmeal?

Oats are one type of cereal grain from the family of Poaceae grass. Oats are rich in protein, fatty acid, soluble fibre, insoluble fiber, magnesium, zinc, and phosphorus. 

Despite their taste and colour, they are valued for the nutrients and health benefits it provides to the consumer. 

Oatmeal, granola bars, muesli, porridge, oat bread, and oat biscuits are some of the products that contain oats as the main ingredients.

Oatmeal is a popular breakfast food consumed especially by Americans.  Oatmeal is inexpensive and healthy food. These are consumed as whole grains in a diet. 

Oatmeal with beta-glucan soluble fibre helps to reduce the risk of heart disease. It contains high levels of water and soluble fibre, reducing hunger and weight.

Oats come in different forms, like steel-cut rolls that take time to cook based on the size of the oat, roasted oats,  instant oats, and rolled oats.

Some health benefits of oats or oatmeal are reduced heart disease, reduced blood sugar levels after meals, controlled weight, and improved digestive system functioning. 

The packaging contains a procedure to cook the oatmeal based on its ingredients. However, oatmeal is cooked in water or cow milk. 

It takes 5 to 60 minutes to cook based on the product chosen. The texture and taste vary. Though it does not taste good, it helps the body to function correctly.  

What is Granola?

Granola is a baked snack containing natural ingredients like oats, nuts, and honey.  Granola is processed by mixing dry fruits, puffed rice, edible oils, and sweeteners. 

The process of granulation is complex and takes time. The granola has different flavours in different sizes, textures, and tastes. 

Granola products are used in other nutritional products to increase health benefits.

Different oatmeals have different granola formulations, such as cinnamon granola for crisp apple oatmeal, vanilla granola for blueberry oatmeal,  chocolate granola for mocha, dark chocolate oatmeal, and so on. 

Granola is rich in magnesium, calories, crude protein, fibre, and low fat. It is popular in the world because of its nutraceutical and functional properties. 

It is readily available for consumers to consume and maintain good health.  Granola and Oatmeal products are the best alternatives to animal protein products. 

Consuming granola products protect against cardiovascular diseases and improve brain and eye functioning.  The quality of the product is maintained for a long time as its moisture content is low. 

Oats like granola and oatmeal come in different flavours to attract all segments of consumers.  

Main Differences Between Baked Oatmeal and Granola

1. Oatmeal is a traditional cereal that requires cooking, and Granola is a ready-to-eat cereal.
2. Oatmeal is served with hot water, and Granola is served cold with milk or yoghurt.
3. Oatmeal is packaged with a spirally wound two-ply fibre tube or individual serving pouches, whereas Granola is packaged in a pouch with a zipper to preserve moisture.
4. Oatmeal is made by removing groats, milling, steaming, and heating based on the product type. Granola is baked with quick-cooking oats with dry fruits and other sweeteners.
5. Oatmeal provides 68 calories, 12 grams of carbohydrates, and 2.4 grams of proteins, whereas granola provides 471 calories, 64 grams of carbohydrates, and 10 grams of nutrients.

References

1. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gulzar_Nayik/publication/260677717_Oats_as_a_functional_food_A_review/links/00b49531fe5d383466000000.pdf
2. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-nutrition/article/systematic-review-of-the-effect-of-processing-of-wholegrain-oat-cereals-on-glycaemic-response/5EF9C5793F644D08E0FE4718F71B93E7