The Worst Quaker Oats Oatmeal Flavor, According To Our Taste Test

You want your breakfast and you want it now: Any form of instant breakfast is vital for busy foodies on the go. This even applies to the divisive breakfast item oatmeal. Although it has a "for the older generation" connotation, oatmeal should be noted for its nutritional values such as its heart-healthy antioxidants and high levels of fiber, which is why it remains a classic for anyone looking to indulge in a nourishing bowl early in the morning. Quaker Oats has been providing breakfast cereals, grits, bars, and of course, oatmeal since 1850 and has long been among the most popular brands. And although it feels like a wholesome brand, it doesn't actually have any association with the peace-loving Quaker religion.

But if you're feeling overwhelmed by the amount of flavors the brand offers and don't know which ones will be the best or worst to dive into, we did the hard work for you and ranked 13 Quaker Oats flavors. We were very impressed with the raisin, date, and walnut flavor because of the variety of textures and how we could note every specific flavor that even gave us some holiday season nostalgia. Unfortunately, we ranked honey and almonds as the worst flavor because of the lack of uniqueness and not enough of a strong almond flavor to make it unique.

Although we can appreciate that Quaker's honey and almonds instant oatmeal flavor did have actual almonds for crunch, it was not doing enough to stand out against more classic, popular flavors. We noted how similar the honey and almonds flavor tasted to the maple brown sugar or cinnamon varieties. However, if you're a fan of these and don't mind similarities, you might enjoy this flavor and its slight edge with the almond crunch. Of the flavors that we weren't so keen on, the reason tended to be because, while they weren't terrible, they didn't have too much going on flavor-wise. If you want to go with our top recommendation, you can buy a bulk box of 48 Raisin, Date and Walnut packets via Amazon. 

Although there are many ways to jazz up your oatmeal at home if the Quaker Oats flavors aren't cutting it for you. You can even make savory oatmeal with ingredients like eggs, tomatoes, and hot sauce, or continue with a more traditional sweeter theme with fresh bananas and blueberries, or a mix of dried fruit, yogurt, or protein powder for extra nutrition.

And if you're still looking for the quickness of instant oatmeal, try overnight oats. No, that's not an oxymoron: Five minutes' work before bed provides homemade instant oats in the morning. This strawberry overnight oats recipe is great because after a super-quick and simple mixing of ingredients the night before, you just refrigerate it overnight and eat straight from the fridge. You can also replace the strawberries with your favorite fruit: The joy of oatmeal is its flexibility.