Millet Porridge for Breakfast

This sweet and creamy millet breakfast porridge recipe is a refreshing 4-ingredient alternative to classic oatmeal. It is flavored with blueberries and topped with nuts and seeds. It is a truly perfect breakfast to kick-start your day.

If you love porridge-type breakfasts as much as we do, you’ll love these vegan and gluten-free breakfast recipes as well. Check out our vegan tapioca pudding with strawberry sauce, the creamiest vegan rice pudding ever with mixed berries sauce, our easy apple cinnamon oatmeal, or our overnight chia pudding.

Jump to:

• What is millet?
• What to expect from this recipe?
• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Variations
• FAQs and substitutions
• Allergen info
• More sweet breakfast recipes
• Creamy Blueberry Millet Porridge

What is millet?

In short, millet is an underrated gluten-free whole grain. 🙂 They are tiny yellow balls with a black dot on one side (see the below picture).

It has several different types, but these 4 are the most well-known ones. If you want to read more about the various types of millet, read FAO’s list.

• Finger millet – This is the most common one. It is also known as “ragi” in India or “wimbi” in Africa. This is also the one I used for this recipe.
• Pearl millet
• Foxtail millet
• Proso millet

I wasn’t a huge fan of millet either before I was diagnosed with coeliac. Not for some time even after that. However, I began to try and test different recipes using millet and after eating these sweet millet balls with mixed berries sauce I was hooked. I love millet now even as a side or in savory recipes.

What to expect from this recipe?

The consistency of millet porridge can be somewhere between rice pudding and oatmeal. Closer to which end only depends on your preference. I love the idea that this gluten-free millet porridge recipe can be made in two ways:

1. If you prefer to have a grainy porridge for breakfast, which is similar in consistency to rice pudding or tapioca pudding, then go with hulled finger millet*.
2. If you prefer to have an oatmeal-like experience, then use millet flakes* or just grind hulled millet pearls in a food processor or in a coffee grinder.
3. I don’t recommend using millet flour* as it will be more like a custard pudding than porridge.

It is up to you really. I tried the first two versions and the ingredients in the recipe card are working in both cases. The first version is more grainy, while the second version is rather a thick and creamy porridge. You can see the difference in the below picture.

If you are making millet porridge for one, we recommend using a coffee grinder, or what I usually use is the chopping bowl of a hand blender*. If you wash your millet, please dry it up in between towels otherwise wet grains are harder to grind properly.

Ingredients

What do you need to turn millet into a creamy breakfast porridge? This recipe is a simple base recipe, but we give you 7 variations below as well. Choose your favorite and let us know how you like it.

• Finger millet -> we used a certified gluten-free product like this one*.
• Blueberries
• Milk -> we used dairy-free milk (almond milk or homemade cashew milk usually)
• Water
• Cane sugar or another sweetener of your choice
• Optional toppings

🛒 You can find detailed measurements for all ingredients in the printable version of the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Instructions

How to prepare millet

• As a first step, you might want to wash and rinse millet a couple of times. Millet can have this bitter after-taste if you don’t. The bitterness comes from the hull, so washing ensures that you get rid of any remaining ones.
• A quick note here. There is no need to soak the millet. It will not shorten the cooking time. Actually, you will not see much of a difference at all.

Grinding millet?

• If you prefer to stick to the whole grains version of this recipe, you don’t need to grind. You will have a lovely, rice or tapioca pudding-like porridge, which I personally also enjoy very much.
• If you prefer a thick and creamy oatmeal-like breakfast then you have to use millet flakes or have to grind the millet pearls. You can do that in a coffee grinder, in the chopping bowl of a hand blender, or in a food processor if you need a bigger batch.

How to cook millet porridge

In both cases, the golden ratio (according to my opinion) is by using 1 cup of millet and 4 cups of liquid. For the best creamy texture use 4 cups of milk, but we rather recommend 2 cups of water and 2 cups of milk in combination.

1. Take a saucepan or a pot. Add millet and all liquid ingredients. Bring to boil and then simmer over medium heat until most of the liquid is absorbed. It will take approximately 15 minutes.
2. Then turn it to low heat and add sugar or maple syrup or another sweetener of your choice and frozen or fresh berries.
3. Stir and simmer for 5 minutes until you have a creamy porridge.

Variations

How to make this breakfast millet recipe even better? Here are 7 flavorful variations:

• Blueberry – To make the millet breakfast bowl you see in the photos, we used frozen berries, blanched almond slices, and chia seeds for added nutrition.
• Cinnamon Berries Sauce – Whatever berry you have: blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and a combination of these, you can top it with them or make a quick cinnamon berry sauce just like in our panna cotta or rice pudding recipes.
• Cinnamon & Raisins – Sprinkle the top with some cinnamon or cook it with a cinnamon stick. Add a handful of raisins or other dried fruits if you like them.
• Chocolate & Banana – You can easily turn this recipe sugar-free by adding overripe mashed bananas instead of sugar. It goes perfectly with 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder. So delicious.
• Peanut Butter & Jelly – Talk about classics. How about a swirl of peanut butter and jelly? Just a swirl though for topping. 🙂
• Coconut – If you like coconut flavor, substitute 1 cup of milk with 1 cup of full-fat canned coconut milk (shaken). To go all in add ¼ cup of shredded coconut flakes. Top it with some toasted coconut chips if you have any. And do you know what is perfect to complement the coconut flavor? Chocolate chips! Just like the combination in Bounty chocolate bar.
• Salted Caramel – I don’t know about you, but I love salted caramel desserts. You make a quick vegan caramel by melting ½ cup (35g) coconut sugar and one 14-oz (400g) full-fat coconut milk in a saucepan. Make sure you have sea salt flakes (fleur de sel) not regular salt to make this delicious sauce. Add ½ tsp and check for taste.

FAQs and substitutions

What kind of milk can I use?

We love making this porridge with almond milk or homemade cashew milk recipe). However, you can choose other types of dairy-free milk as well even whole milk (dairy). The recipe should work the same resulting in a delicious breakfast.

We don’t recommend using fully canned coconut milk (full-fat or light, but not the one in the carton) though. It will result in a really heavy, and fatty porridge. If you like the coconut taste though you can substitute 1 cup of milk with 1 cup of coconut milk though.

Can I use other fruits?

Absolutely, whatever berry you have: blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and a combination of these. You can absolutely use frozen fruit as well. No need to thaw them, just add them to the porridge.

Can I use other sweeteners?

Sure you can. I usually use coconut sugar, cane sugar, or maple syrup. I am not familiar with the measurements for low-carb sweeteners like stevia or erythritol. If you do, please let us know in the comments.

How to store it?

You can store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days without a problem. After that, the consistency will change.

Allergen info

This millet porridge recipe can be made allergen-free.

• Vegan – If you use dairy-free milk then this recipe can be made vegan easily.
• Nut-free – If you don’t use nuts as toppings you are good to go since all ingredients are supposed to be nut-free. Check for cross-contamination info on all packaging you need to use especially the millet.
• WFPB-friendly (whole foods plant-based) – If you need it to be compliant, you should decide on the proper sweetener. Maple syrup, date paste, and coconut sugar are usually accepted in this diet.
• Gluten-free – Millet does not have gluten therefore, all ingredients are supposed to be gluten-free. In any event, always look for the certified label, especially when choosing millet. It is however not a grain-free porridge since millet is a cereal grain.
• Soy-free – No soy product is used to make this recipe.

More sweet breakfast recipes

You can browse through our vegan gluten-free breakfast recipes or check out

THANK YOU so much for visiting our website. Please comment below if you have tried this recipe. We LOVE hearing from you! If you loved the recipe, please don’t forget to give us a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ RATING. We appreciate all of our readers.  

When I was asked by the Whole Grains Council to develop a recipe specifically for their Whole Grains Sampling Day I immediately thought of millet. If you don’t know them, they are a non-profit consumer advocacy group that intends to educate people about whole grains and promote their health benefits. So it is not a sponsored post in any meaning, but rather a whole grain and millet enthusiast post. 🙂 This recipe was also featured in their article titled Creative Ways to Eat Whole Grains for Breakfast.

UPDATED: This recipe was originally posted in March 2019. It has been updated with detailed instructions and tips in July 2022.