Soaked Steel-Cut Oats with Tahini, Dates, and Sunflower Seeds

General Xerophagy Published August 02, 2026

Strict-day breakfast is the hardest meal of a fast, because it comes before the discipline has settled into the day and because most fasting breakfasts are just fruit. This one is built to hold you until evening.

Steel-cut oats soaked overnight in water go tender without cooking — a genuinely uncooked porridge, which puts it within xerophagy where a cooked bowl would not be. The texture is chewier and better than rolled oats give you.

Tahini stirred through does the work of dairy: it makes the bowl rich, adds real protein, and turns the oats pale and creamy. With dates for sweetness and sunflower and hemp seeds on top, one bowl is around twenty grams of protein.

FASTING LEVEL: Xerophagy (strict — uncooked)
SERVINGS: 2
TIME: 10 minutes (plus overnight soaking)

INGREDIENTS

- 1 cup (180g) steel-cut oats
- 2 cups (480ml) cold water, plus more as needed
- Pinch of salt
- 3 tablespoons tahini
- 6 Medjool dates, pitted and chopped
- 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
- 3 tablespoons sunflower seeds
- 2 tablespoons hemp seeds
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- Zest of 1 orange
- 1 apple or pear, diced
- 2 tablespoons raisins or chopped dried apricots
- 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts

METHOD

1. The night before, combine the steel-cut oats, water, and salt in a jar or bowl. Stir, cover, and leave at room temperature or in the fridge for at least 8 hours. They will drink most of the water and swell to a chewy, tender grain.

2. In the morning, check the texture. If they are stiff, stir in cold water a tablespoon at a time until loose and porridge-like.

3. Stir in the tahini thoroughly. It will resist at first and then blend, turning the whole bowl pale, thick, and creamy. This is the step that makes the dish.

4. Add the chopped dates, ground flaxseed, cinnamon, cardamom, and orange zest. Stir well and let sit 5 minutes for the flax to thicken things further.

5. Taste. If it needs more sweetness, mash in another date rather than adding sugar — the fruit does it better.

6. Divide into two bowls. Top with diced apple, raisins, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, and walnuts.

NOTES

- On oil and wine days: a spoonful of honey and a splash of plant milk make this more indulgent, and it can be gently warmed.
- Soak a double or triple batch — it keeps five days refrigerated and only improves. Add the toppings fresh each morning.
- Almond butter or sunflower seed butter both work in place of tahini.
- If your rule allows soaked grains but not seed pastes on strict days, skip the tahini and blend a handful of soaked raw cashews with water to a cream instead.