Scottish Highland Vegan Oatcakes are super tasty and moreish. Crunchy, nutty, and savoury!
Scottish oatcakes are the perfect between meal snacks as they are low in sugar and fat but high in plant-based energy and oaty goodness.
Origin of oatcakes
Oatcakes have been around in Scottish history for thousands of years.
Historically, 14th century Scottish soldiers carried their own bag of oatmeal complete with a piece of metal for cooking.
Water was added to the oatmeal to make a dough and then cooked over a fire.
Oatcakes would have helped soldiers sustain long marches and ward of hunger!
Oats are the perfect food.
Oats are high in protein, fibre ,good fats, antioxidants, and vitamins and minerals. There is even evidence that oats can help protect our heart health, maintain blood sugar levels and aid weight loss by keeping you filled up for longer!
These are all great excuses to prepare a batch of Scottish oatcakes!
Scottish Vegan Oatcakes
Makes 32 small oatcakes.
So tasty and moreish!
You’ll need pinhead oatmeal/Irish oatmeal/steel-cut oats for this recipe.
For gluten-free oatcakes ensure your oats are labelled gluten-free.
Looking for an oil-free vegan Scottish oatcake? Check out the links to my recipe at the bottom of the page!
Scottish Vegan Oatcakes
Equipment
- Baking trays
- Biscuit/cookie cutter about 6-7cm diameter for smaller oatcakes and about 8-9 cm for larger oatcakes.
- Rolling pin
Ingredients
- 620 grams Medium-cut/pinhead/coarse oatmeal (not rolled or porridge oats) plus a little extra for sprinkling during rolling out
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- 1 tsp Caster sugar Optional, or use date or coconut sugar
- 1 tsp Salt
- 300 ml Boiling water 1 cup plus 3 tbsp and 1 tsp. (*1 cup equals 250ml*)
- 4 tbsp Vegetable oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 170 Fan/190 Celsius/375 Fahrenheit/Gas 5.Mix the oatmeal, salt, sugar and baking powder together in a bowl.
- Pour the boiling water into a jug.
- Add the oil to the oatmeal mix.
- Pour the boiling water into the oatmeal mix.Mix everything together.
- Bring the mix together into a dough. Knead gently to bring it all together.Sprinkle oatmeal on your worktop and place the oatmeal dough on top.
- Begin to pat down the warm oatmeal dough with your hands. Squeeze together any cracked bits. It should easily mould back together. (To make rolling easier the dough can be halved and one part rolled out at a time).If your dough is too sticky just sprinkle more oatmeal over.
- Roll out gently. This part can take a little time. Roll out until very thin to about half a cm.
- I usually use a 6 cm biscuit cutter to gently stamp out circles. I have also used an 8 cm cutter as I love large oatcakes!But any size will do!Just give the cutter a little shoogle to remove the oatcake or you may need to use a spatula to carefully scoop up the oatcake.
- Once all the oatcakes have been cut out and the ends of dough are left squish it all back together and roll out. Sprinkle more oatmeal over your worktop. Repeat until all the dough has been used. Try not to knead the dough to much.If your dough becomes too dry and cracked just wet your hands with a little water and pat the dough to moisten slightly.
- Place the oatcakes in the oven until lightly brown at the edges and the top is hard to touch. Don't bake till golden! You can bake your oatcakes on any shelf in your oven as you may need to add several trays at once. Just check each tray as the top tray may be done before the ones under it.Smaller oatcakes should be ready between 18-22 minutes. Check after 18 minutes.Larger oatcakes may need 23-25 minutes.
- Set the oatcakes on a wire rack to cool completely before storing.
The following nutritional data is for guidance only and is not a strict analysis as ingredients vary. The analysis is based on smaller oatcakes.
Scottish Oatcakes Recipe Notes:
- Oatcakes will stay fresh in a cool, dry place within a sealed container, perhaps wrapped in kitchen foil like I do, for up 10-14 days. To refresh older oatcakes they can be placed in the oven at the cooking temperature for 10 minutes.
- Oatcakes cope well with freezing. Separate each oatcake with some baking/greaseproof paper and freeze together in a sealed container or well wrapped. Just pull out oatcakes a few hours before you need them to ensure they defrost before use. If you would like warm oatcakes just bake at the cooking temperature for about 10 minutes until warmed through.
- For a different shape, roll out the dough into a small dinner plate sized circular shape. Using a knife cut each circle into 4 triangles. Each triangle is traditionally known as a ‘Farl‘.
- Alternatively use any biscuit cutter you like, but be sure to keep a close eye on the baking times as different sizes and thicknesses will finish baking at various times. My wider oatcakes usually take about 24-25 minutes.
- Serve your oatcakes with slices of plant-based cheese if liked. My family enjoys spreading vegan soft cheese, peanut or almond butter on their oatcakes.
- Try topping an oatcake with some thin slithers of cucumber, sliced cherry tomatoes or halved olives for extra yumminess.
- I particularly love a couple of large oatcakes for breakfast with some sliced banana on top. They are so tasty!
- Kids particularly like oatcakes with some jam/fruit preserve. Get my sugar-free chia jam recipe here.
- Oatcakes are the ideal traveling, on-the-go, and picnic snack.
- My family enjoy oatcakes whenever I serve Vegan Irish stew or my Vegan Traditional Scottish Stovies.
Vegan Traditional Scottish Stovies 
Vegan Irish Stew! Perfect for St Patrick’s Day!
For an oil-free vegan Scottish oatcake check out this easy recipe!
And for a cheesy oil-free vegan Scottish oatcake this recipe has you covered! The cheesiness comes from the addition of nutritional yeast flakes! One of my favourite ingredients!
Scottish Highland Vegan Oatcakes
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