A creamy, lightly sweet Japanese red bean oatmeal — ready in 5 minutes.
If you've never thought to add red beans to your morning oatmeal, this recipe might change that.
A small amount of cooked adzuki beans stirred into oats with soy milk makes a simple, satisfying breakfast — lightly sweet, creamy, and surprisingly filling.
It comes together in about 5 minutes, and with roughly 14g of protein per serving, it keeps you going through the morning.
I often cook a batch of adzuki beans on the weekend and keep them in the fridge or freezer — so they’re ready to use in minutes on busy weekday mornings.
If you're new to adzuki beans, you can find more about them in the ingredients section below.
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🫘 Ingredients
- Unsweetened cooked adzuki beans (👉 how to cook them)
- Quick oats or instant oats
- Unsweetened soy milk
- Cinnamon (optional)
About Adzuki Beans
Adzuki beans (also written as azuki) are small red beans widely used in Japanese and East Asian cooking, most often in sweet recipes like ohagi (sweet red bean paste rice balls), daifuku (sweet red bean paste mochi), oshiruko (a sweet red bean soup with mochi)
They have a mild, earthy sweetness that works really well with oats and soy milk.
I use unsweetened cooked adzuki beans here so you can adjust the sweetness to your liking.
If you'd like to prepare them from scratch, I’ve also shared a simple guide for cooking dried adzuki beans. You can also use store-bought cooked adzuki beans to make things easier.
I sometimes use adzuki beans to create a chocolate-like flavor, combining them with prunes and cocoa powder. It may sound unexpected, but together they create something surprisingly rich and chocolatey — without using dairy or chocolate.
📖See recipes → No-Bake Vegan Salted Chocolate Rosemary Oat Cookies, Vegan Chocolate Frosting, Vegan Nama Chocolate Truffles
▼ More adzuki bean recipes
Full quantities are listed in the recipe card below 👇
🥣 Instructions
Ready in about 5 minutes!
- Cook
- Add all the ingredients to a small pot and place it over low heat.
- Stir continuously with a spatula, scraping the bottom to prevent sticking.
- Serve
- Once it reaches your preferred consistency, remove it from the heat.
- Sweeten to taste, then top with adzuki beans and a sprinkle of cinnamon, if you like.
🥄 Top Tip
Oatmeal thickens as it cools, so take it off the heat just before it reaches your preferred consistency.
📚 FAQ
With 30g of oats (about 5g of protein), 100ml of unsweetened soy milk (about 7g), and 40g of cooked adzuki beans (about 2g), one serving contains roughly 14g of protein.
Raisins or chopped nuts work well as substitutes. A sprinkle of cinnamon on top also works nicely.
🌾 More Oatmeal Recipes
My favorite oatmeal recipes:
🍡 More Adzuki Beans Recipes
Ways to use up leftover cooked adzuki beans:
If you feel like whispering a thought, asking a question, or simply saying hello — the comment section is always open 📮
📖 Recipe Card
Japanese Red Bean Oatmeal (Adzuki Porridge with Soy Milk)
Equipment
- pot
- Spatula
Ingredients
Oatmeal Base
- 5 tablespoon instant oats (30g)
- 100 ml water
- 2 tablespoon cooking adzuki beans (40g, unsweetened)
- 100 ml unsweetened soy milk
To Finish
- 2 teaspoon sugar (to taste)
- cinnamon powder (to taste)
- cooked adzuki beans (to taste)
Instructions
- Add all the base ingredients to a small pot and place over low heat.
- Stir continuously, scraping the bottom to prevent sticking.
- Cook until it reaches your preferred consistency. (It will thicken slightly as it cools.)
- Remove from the heat. Sweeten to taste, then top with adzuki beans and cinnamon, if desired, and serve.
If this recipe made its way into your kitchen, and you'd like to share that moment, feel free to tag @veginveganvegun or use #vegin_vegan_vegun.
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