Bircher müesli is a simple dish of yogurt mixed with raw granola and fruit and left to soak until soft, typically served for breakfast all over Switzerland. This is probably the easiest recipe you’ll ever make. It’s so flexible, it’s hard to go wrong and many ways to go right.
Below are some tips for selecting your ingredients, methods for mixing, and an easy recipe as a starting point for your own creativity.
Contents
1. How to choose a Bircher Müesli grain mix
The first ingredient you need is the raw grains, aka a müesli mix. Groceries in Switzerland sell many mixes intended specifically for making Bircher Müesli. These typically have some combination of oats, nuts, seeds, and dried fruit (typically raisins and dried apple). Fancier versions have chocolate chunks, exotic fruits or other grains. Personally, I prefer to use a “grains only” mix and add my own dried fruit.
You’ll also find sweetened, crunchy granolas for sale, aka Knüsperli. These are more suitable as a topping because once you soak the granola in the yogurt, you lose the crispy-ness.
If you have allergies or food restrictions, read the ingredient list carefully as all sorts of things you don’t expect could be in there (e.g. powdered milk, nuts, preservatives). You can easily make your own müesli mix by simply selecting your grains individually. I’d start with oats and add in other rolled grains, like barley, spelt, wheat, etc. Whole kernels aren’t great as they don’t soften enough during the soak.
2. Which liquid for the soak – milk vs. cream vs. apple juice?
Some liquid is necessary to add a little fluidity to the mix. If you just add oats to yogurt, it gets very thick and stodgy. But too much milk and it starts to resemble soup. Just a little more liquid than grains works well. If necessary, you can a bit more little milk after the soak.
Milk is the standard liquid to use in müesli. Using cream instead makes it… you guessed it, more creamy. I hear that cream is the secret to Sprüngli’s Bircher Müesli, which I think is the very best you can get in Zürich. But it’s quite rich, nice for brunch, perhaps a little heavy for everyday.
Andie from Helvetic Kitchen tells of a Swiss mountain lady who used only cream and no yogurt at all. Sounds awesome. You should try that.
A few recipes suggest soaking in apple juice, which we do not like at all. Bircher müesli is supposed to be creamy and the apple juice just made it wet and too sweet in my opinion.
3. Fruit – dried, frozen, fresh?
Even if you use no other fruit, you must add grated apples (unless you are allergic), which contribute to both the signature texture and flavor of Bircher Müesli. Without apples, it lacks a bit of depth of flavor and the texture is wrong. I know grating the apples is super messy but it’s worth it (you can also add chopped apples, but that does not replace the grated apples). The apples are added before the soak. I prefer a sour apple like Braeburn but you can use whatever you like.
If you add dried or frozen fruit, mix it in at the beginning so they can soften during the soak. For dried, you’ll typically find dried apples and raisins in most müesli mixes. But you can add in any dried fruit that you like. I personally don’t love dried fruit in my müesli.
I almost always add frozen fruit (mostly blueberries and raspberries) because I didn’t think ahead and buy fresh fruit. My freezer is stuffed full of frozen berries I bought on sale just for this purpose.
Fresh fruit elevates any Bircher Müesli. I prefer to add it right before serving or it gets too mushy during the soak. Seasonal berries are traditional but I’ve eaten ones with sliced apples, figs, apricots, bananas and other exotic fruit. Cafes in Switzerland usually sell a “plain” version, which has a berry yogurt but no fresh fruit. Then they’ll have another version with seasonal fruit like strawberries.
4. How long to soak the Müesli
How long of a soak? I find that you need about a two hour soak (in the fridge please) to get the oats soft enough to call it müesli. An overnight soak is not necessary, just convenient if you want to eat it for breakfast.
Some recipes have you soak the oats prior to adding the yogurt and other ingredients. I find this wholly unnecessary. Just mix everything together and let it sit. If you want to eat the müesli right away, you could soak the oats in the milk for 10 mins, then proceed. I’ve done it, but I don’t love it.
I’ve often made this in the morning, then put it in a jar or thermos container in my backpack and eat it for lunch on the trail. This works great if you used frozen berries which help keep it cold.
5. Which yogurt to use?
Many recipes call for flavored yogurt (typically some sort of berry), which is an easy shortcut to flavor. If you have a yogurt you like, by all means use it. Chocolate yogurt? Why not?
However, I find flavored yogurt too sweet. So I prefer to use plain whole milk yogurt, add fruit (usually including bananas, which are quite sweet), then if necessary, add a bit of honey. This gives me more control over the sweetness of the dish.
P.S. Switzerland has the best yogurt in the world, IMHO.
6. Müesli garnishes
Before serving, it’s nice to add a last minute garnish or stir in that adds a bit of crunch and freshness into this soft food. I usually just sprinkle a spoonful of a store bought nut/seed mix over the top and call it day. Stirring in a bit of cornflakes or crunchy granola is also nice.
If you want something fancier, you can style it like an Acai bowl and thoughtfully arrange all sorts of fresh fruit, nuts, seeds, and crunchy granolas on the top. Then you can invite me over to eat it.
7. When to eat Müesli
Müesli is typically eaten for breakfast. But honestly, you can eat it any time of day. Most Swiss bakeries, cafes, groceries, convenience stores and even gas stations sell pre-made Bircher Müesli. It’s my favorite convenience food here.
Most Swiss hotels have müesli on their breakfast buffet. Some buffets have yogurt and a raw müesli mix that you combine yourself, which makes no sense because the oats have no time to soak. At one mountain hut buffet, there was a grain mill so you could roll your own whole grains fresh for your meal. I don’t get it.
I’ve heard from several Swiss friends that they often have Bircher Müesli for dinner. As you may know, the Swiss traditionally eat their big meal of the day at lunch, then eat a light, cold dinner like bread, cheese and deli meat. It would be a bit unusual to have a big hot meal like meat and potatoes for dinner. So müesli fits right in with this style of eating.
Ready to make Bircher Müesli? Let’s go!
See our other Swiss food posts.
Bircher Müesli
Bircher Müesli is a classic breakfast food in Switzerland, always present at hotel breakfast buffets. But it is also often served in Swiss homes as a simple dinner.
Make this recipe your own by selecting your favorite mix of fruit and nuts. I suggest not adding nuts or fresh fruit until right before serving as they become mushy during the long soak.
Ingredients
Base ingredients
- 2 TB raw müesli, oats or other raw grain mix
- 3 TB milk or cream
- 1 apple, grated
- 1 small plain or flavored yogurt (about 150-180g). If using plain, you may need to later add a little honey to balance the sweetness.
- (optional) 1 TB dried fruit, e.g. raisins, cranberries, apricots, apples
- (optional) 2 TB frozen fruit
Optional garnishes
- chopped nuts or seeds
- seasonal fruit to taste, e.g. berries, banana, figs, etc.
Instructions
- Mix the oats, milk, grated apple, and yogurt in a small bowl. Stir in optional dried and/or frozen fruit. Place covered in fridge for minimum 2 hours or overnight.
- Before serving, garnish with fresh fruit, nuts/seeds and/or crunchy granola. If necessary, thin with a bit of milk.
10 Responses
I really enjoyed the bircher muesli on my one trip through Switzerland. I would like to be able to eat it at home, but this is a lot of effort to make 1 serving since I live alone. I’d like to be able to make several days’ worth at once, but not sure it would hold its texture and flavor in the fridge for that long. What do you think? (BTW I did try making it once but the result was kind of gluey and not great flavor.)
You can skip the grated apple and soak it for a shorter time. The longer you soak it, the more the oats break down, perhaps contributing the gluey texture. Rolled whole oats make a better texture in my opinion, but it’s a matter of taste. The milk can dilute the flavor of the yogurt. Add more berries to compensate. Some people add part apple juice instead of all milk. Good luck.
My mother is Swiss. We live in the US. Both my mother, and her sisters who live in Switzerland never put yogurt in their Birchermuesli. Mom used 1 tbsp oats, 1 tbsp sweetened condensed milk, 1/2 tbsp lemon juice and 1 apple per person, adding some seasonal fruit at the end. The soak happened as the grated apples were added and while chopping other fruit. She would top the muesli with some nuts.
Sounds like an interesting variation on this dish. Since Switzerland is the land of cows and milk, yogurt is typically a core ingredient of Bircher Müesli. But if you are lactose intolerant, your mother’s version would be a great alternative!
Thank you for the tips/recipe. Very helpful. Now I know why there are so many muesli mix in Switzerland. The Bircher Muesli in the hotel where we stayed in Grindelwald was soooo good that I started to google for the recipe. Im glad I came across your site. I will try your Austrian pancake recipe. It looks good.
I hope you can remember your good times in Switzerland when you make muesli at home.
Thank you for explaining the different ways to make this recipe. It’s such a lovely recipe. We never had this before we travelled to Switzerland but will be eating it a lot now.
So glad you enjoyed the recipe. Hope it helps you remember your nice times in Switzerland.
i’m really enjoying the recipes on your blog! Älplermagronen last week and now the bircher müesli. thank you! i especially appreciate that you post pictures of exact brand and product you buy at the store. I’m still pretty new in Switzerland and it’s not always easy to know exactly what product you might be referring to.. so really appreciate this! Thank you for all your amazing posts and sharing your love of Switzerland with us.
Yay! Mission accomplished. That’s exactly why I’m doing this series. It can be so confusing at the grocery store for expats, even for simple things. Let me know if there’s a specific recipe you want to see on the blog.