You’ll Never Believe What Giada de Laurentiis Puts in Her Oatmeal

Giada de Laurentiis has made a name for herself by creating simple, easy-to-prepare Italian meals. She doesn’t tend to rely on a lot of overly complicated ingredients. Her famous lemon spaghetti only has four ingredients! Giada’s accessible approach to cooking is why so many people love trying her recipes.

All of that is to say that I trust Giada’s advice when it comes to cooking. But I have to admit, this latest development has me questioning everything. Giada recently turned a viral wellness trend into an oatmeal ingredient, and I gotta say, it’s a bold choice.

What ingredient does Giada put in her oatmeal?

Lately, wellness influencers on Instagram swear by the health benefits of extra-virgin olive oil—when taken as a shot of oil on an empty stomach in the morning. I have to imagine shot glasses that read “But first, olive oil” probably won’t catch on quite like their coffee mug brethren, but to each their own.

In an Instagram video, Giada says that sure, there can be health benefits associated with olive oil. But, in her opinion, you don’t need to throw it back like tequila. Instead, she says that she incorporates olive oil into her diet by drizzling it over oatmeal. She also says that olive oil is good with buckwheat cereal (Giada, please!) or on toast (OK, I agree with this one).

Oatmeal is such a popular breakfast choice that people like Willie Nelson and Kate Middleton start their day with a bowl. If you’re intrigued by the idea of a savory oatmeal loaded with olive oil, go ahead and test this one.

But if, like me, your brain can only conceive of sweet oatmeals, you might want to try a different savory breakfast for your morning olive oil fix. This could be as simple as scrambled eggs or a breakfast bowl. And hey, maybe olive oil is strictly a “brunch or later” ingredient for you, and that’s OK, too!