Birchermüesli Recipe
This Birchermüesli recipe will bring the typical Swiss dish into your kitchen. Eat it for breakfast, lunch, dinner or just as snack. The recipe is super simple and will soon be a staple! Birchermüesli is not only popular in Switzerland but is on many breakfast buffets around the world. In this post I will show you how to make Birchermüesli at home.
What Is The Origin Of The Birchermüesli?
The Birchermüesli is well known all over the world and is waiting for you on many breakfast buffets. However, many don’t know its origin. Around the 1900 the doctor Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner created this dish in Zürich for his patients. He believed that cooked and processed food is unhealthy for you and created this dish full of fresh ingredients as a healthy diet. Especially fruits did not get eaten raw back then. With the Birchermüesli he wanted to change that behavior. Back then the dish only included apples, oats, hazel nuts, water, lemon juice and sweetened condensed milk. It was a bowl full of protein.
With time the Birchermüesli turned into a really popular dish in Switzerland that gets eaten at any time of the day and made its way out into the whole world. You can find it all over the world now as a healthy fast food.
Now you can bring this delicious Swiss dish into your home!
You now know what a Birchermüesli is. You might ask yourself tough “what do you put into a Birchermüesli?”. There are many different Birchermüesli recipes. Every family has their own way of making their Birchermüesli. I actually never really liked it. However, since I started making it myself I found a way I really like it. So, this recipe is my way of making a Birchermüesli. I keep it simple and completely made from scratch.
Ingredients for a Birchermüesli:
This dish is packed with proteins, vitamins and fiber! A huge health bomb that keeps you full and energizes for hours! The perfect kick starter to your day!
- Oats: They make up the biggest part of this dish and are packed with healthy fibers to keep you fed for hours.
- Raisins: If you don’t like raisins you can omit them or replace them by any other dried fruits.
- Buttermilk: Buttermilk is a great resource of protein and minerals. If you don’t have buttermilk you can replace it with milk, plant-based milk or even water. It just won’t taste the exact same way and will be less thick. However, you can also make your own sour milk substitute (check out how below).
- Plain Yogurt: This helps mixing everything together. It is high in protein, calcium and vitamins.
- Apples: I prefer using sweet ones. If you want the typical authentic Birchermüesli then try to find a Bircher grater (add link) to grate the apples. The apples give you a ton of vitamins.
- Banana: We cut the Banana into round slices
- Mixed Berries: Lets get some more vitamins into this bowl! You can choose whatever berries you want. I really like raspberries and blueberries. You can also use frozen fruits and just let them thaw if berries are not in season
- Honey: The honey adds a nice sweetness to the dish.
- Nuts: Add healthy fats and some crunch with the nuts of your choice. The original recipe used hazelnuts. I like to roast them in a pan and then chop them and use them as a crunchy topping.
How to make homemade buttermilk substitute:
Making your own buttermilk is super simple. All you need is milk and an acid, either fresh lemon juice or vinegar.
Pour 1,5dl milk into a cup or bowl. Add 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice or vinegar and whisk it all together. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes
How to make this Birchermüesli recipe:
First you have to make the base:
Add the dry ingredients, oats and raisins, into a bowl. Then pour the liquids, buttermilk and yogurt, over the dry ingredients and mix well.
Next you have to add all the fruits:
To get an authentic Birchermüesli you will need a Bircher grater. This is a special grater literally made to grate your apples for a Birchermüesli. The apple will turn out very thin, nearly paste like that way. You will barely even know there is apple in the mixture anymore as it incorparates welll weith everything else.
Here is an example of how a Bircher grater looks: Egro Bircherraffel – Galaxus
Next slice a banana and add it to the bowl.
Then add 250g of any kind of berries you like. It is best if you use fresh ones. However, if there are no berries in season you can simply use frozen ones and just thaw them beforehand.
Lastly you can finetune the dish:
Add some honey to get that sweetness into your Birchermüesli and then mix everything gently.
If you want you can add some nuts for some crunch. This is an additional step, I personally don’t like nuts in mine. The original recipe used hazelnuts. Though, you can use any kind of nut. I recommend you toast them and then chop them into small pieces to then sprinkle on top of your bowl.
You can eat it right away. However, just like wine aging with time, letting it sit for a while will make it better.
Make it ahead
The Birchermüesli recipe can easily get prepared in advance and can be stored in the fridge for a few days. It actually tastes even better when you let it sit for some time.
Birchermüesli
Equipment
- Bircher grater
Ingredients
- 100 g oats
- 2 tbsp raisins
- 1.5 dl butter milk
- 350 g plain yogurt
- 2 apples grated with a Bircher grater
- 1 banana
- 250 g mixed berries
- 2 tbsp honey
- 4 tbsp nuts optional; check notes
Instructions
- Add the dry ingredients, oats and raisins, into a bowl.
- Then pour the liquids components, the buttermilk and yogurt, over the dry ingredients and mix well.
- Now slice a banana and add it to the bowl.
- Then add the 250g mixed berries and honey and mix everything gently.
- Optional: If you want you can add some nuts for some crunch.
- You can eat it right away. However, letting it sit for a while will make it better.
Notes
- Make ahead: The Birchermüesli can easily get prepared in advance and can be stored in the fridge for a few days. It actually tastes even better when you let it sit for some time.
- Raisins: If you don’t like raisins you can omit them or replace them by any other dried fruits.
- Substitute for buttermilk: If you don’t have buttermilk you can replace it with milk, plant-based milk or even water. It just won’t taste the exact same way and will be less thick. However you can make your own buttermilk substitution. All you need is milk and an acid, either fresh lemon juice or vinegar. Pour 1,5dl milk into a cup or bowl. Add 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice or vinegar and whisk it all together. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes
- Nuts: If you want you can add some nuts to the Birchermüesli. In a pan roast chopped nuts of your choice and then add them over the Birchermüesli.
- Bircher grater: Here is an example of how a Bircher grater looks Egro Bircherraffel – Galaxus
Your Notes
Nutrition
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I love this! cant wait to try it 😉
Thank you so much Angie! I am excited that you wanna try this Swiss dish. Let me know how it was, I would love to hear 😀
I have never heard of birchermuesli before but it was similar to oatmeal that I eat everyday! I loved this recipe so much, the apples were delicious!
Seriously cannot get enough of this Birchermüesli! It’s such an easy and flavorful breakfast. So glad I tried this recipe!
I’ve never heard of Birchermüesli before, but I have oatmeal every morning for breakfast, so I know this would be a total win for me. It looks wonderfully creamy and delicious!
This is a new dish to me! I’m always looking for whole grain breakfast options. I’ll try this one this week!
Yey I am so excited for you to try a Birchermüesli! Hope you enjoyed it 🙂
I love this, I wanted outs this morning for breakfast, and here is your wonderful recipe. Making it.
Thank you for sharing:
Wohoo! Hope you enjoyed it as uch as we Swiss do 😀
Such a tasty and nutritious way to start the day!
We really enjoyed this for breakfast this morning. It was wonderfully creamy and we loved personalising it with our favourite berries and nuts.
Thank you so much for trying this recipe Cindy! I am so happy to hear that you loved it 😀