Oatmeal is a product of ground oat groats (i.e. oat-meal, cf. cornmeal, peasemeal, etc.) or a porridge made from this product (also called oatmeal cereal or stirabout, in Ireland). The term, 'oatmeal' can refer also to other products made from oat groats, such as cut oats, crushed oats, and rolled oats.

The groats are coarsely ground to make oatmeal, or cut into small pieces to make steel-cut oats, or are first steamed, then flattened to make rolled oats. The quick-cooking rolled oats ("quick oats") are cut into small pieces before being steamed and rolled. "Instant" oatmeal is pre-cooked and dried, usually with sweetener and flavor additives.

Oatmeal is used to make porridge, as an ingredient in oatmeal cookies and oat cakes, or as an accent, as in the topping on many oat bran breads and the coating on Caboc cheese. Oatmeal is also sometimes used to describe porridge which includes the bran or fibrous husk as well as the oat kernel or groat. It is also used as a thickener in some foods such as canned chili con carne.

Oatmeal is also used in some alcoholic drinks, cosmetics, soaps, external medical treatments, and is sometimes added to animal feed products. There has been increasing interest in oatmeal in recent years due to its beneficial health effects. Daily consumption of a bowl of oatmeal can lower blood cholesterol, due to its soluble fiber content.

After reports found that oats can help lower cholesterol, an "oat bran craze" swept the U.S. in the late 1980s, peaking in 1989. The food fad was short-lived and faded by the early 1990s. The popularity of oatmeal and other oat products again increased after the January 1997 decision by the Food and Drug Administration that food with a lot of oat bran or rolled oats can carry a label claiming it may reduce the risk of heart disease, when combined with a low-fat diet.

This is because of the beta-glucan in the oats. Rolled oats have also long been a staple of many athletes' diets, especially weight trainers; given oatmeal's high content of complex carbohydrates and water-soluble fiber which encourages slow digestion and stabilises blood-glucose levels. Oatmeal porridge also contains more B vitamins and calories than other kinds of porridges.

Cooked oatmeal has a lower GI value (glycemic index) than has uncooked, because cooking releases water-soluble fiber from the grain.[citation needed] These fibers release glucose very slowly.[citation needed]

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