Healthy Bircher muesli with berries

Summary

Prep: 5 mins
Cooking: None, rests overnight
Ages: Toddlers to Teens
Difficulty: Easy peasy
Makes: 2 bowls

What is Bircher muesli?

Bircher muesli was originally brought to the world’s attention at the turn of the century. It was created by the Swiss physician Maximilian Bircher-Benner for patients in his hospital.

He discovered the remarkable benefits of a balanced diet of raw vegetables and fruit.

Bircher Muesli is healthier than other breakfast cereals as it’s full of raw fruit and lacks the additives and sugar that you find in some store bought mueslis.

Our Healthy Bircher muesli

The original Bircher muesli recipe called for grated apple, lemon juice and hazelnuts with condensed milk and oats. You can always customize your muesli to suit your tastes and have fun adding different flavours.

We’ve used strawberries and raspberries, which are high in phytochemicals, powerful nutrients that protect our cells from damage. We’ve also added chia seeds, which are loaded with antioxidants. These little seeds deliver a very large amount of nutrients with very few calories.

Other great choices might be blueberries, peaches, kiwi fruit, blackberries or bananas.

We have used regular milk but if you prefer to avoid dairy then you can swap this out for oat milk, soya milk or rice milk.

Bircher muesli is naturally gluten free as it’s made from oats. However we do recommend buying oats which are labelled ‘gluten free oats’ to be sure there are no trace amounts of gluten in them.

Ingredients

• 100 grams oats
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds
• 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds
• 150 ml milk
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon orange juice
• 40 grams raspberries, chopped
• 40 grams strawberries chopped

Instructions

1. Chop your fruit into rough pieces.
2. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly.
3. Cover in cling film and place in the fridge overnight.
4. Enjoy the next morning garnished with fresh fruit or you can store covered in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Healthy Bircher Muesli – our step by step guide:

Get out all your ingredients and chop your fruit.

We’ve used raspberries and strawberries, which will make a muesli that kids will love, but you can choose any fruit that you like.

Grated apple makes a fine traditional bircher muesli, and dried fruit goes down well here too…apricots and raisins both plump up with an overnight soak and lend a chewy sweet note.

Now all you have to do, is toss the rest of the ingredients into a bowl and give it all a good stir.

We have used regular milk and a drop of orange juice, but feel free to add a natural yogurt if you prefer. Some bircher muesli fans swear by soaking the oats overnight in apple juice….the possibilities are endless!

You’ll want to add some crunch.

We’ve gone for a nut free version, opting for healthy sunflower seeds and the superfood chia seeds, but feel free to top your muesli up with pistachios, walnuts or almonds.

Cover your bowl tightly in clingfilm and pop it in the fridge.

In the morning you’ll have a ready made breakfast!

Top with fresh fruits and enjoy this Healthy Bircher Muesli!