Baked oatmeal is bread pudding for breakfast! Made with a handful of healthy ingredients, this easy recipe comes together in 1 bowl and leaves you satisfied all morning.
What is Baked Oatmeal?
Baked oatmeal is a warm breakfast casserole made from oats, milk, and other kitchen staples. Stovetop or instant oatmeal has a creamy porridge consistency, but baked oatmeal, like bread pudding, combines chewy, soft, and creamy all in 1 casserole dish. You can add berries for a juicy burst and walnuts for a crunchy topping. This breakfast recipe is a texture lover’s dream and your oven does all the work.
Basically, baked oatmeal is regular oatmeal with even more texture. If you’re looking for individual serving sizes, try my baked apple cinnamon oatmeal cups or chocolate chip baked oatmeal cups.
You can bake oatmeal ahead of time and reheat it for a quick breakfast during the week. That’s exactly what I’ve been doing and the whole family, young daughter included, LOVES it. This baked banana oatmeal is a hit, too! Busy parents certainly appreciate the convenience!
And if you want even more family friendly recipes, be sure to check out this list of 30+ back to school recipes.
Gluten Free, Healthy, 1 Bowl Breakfast
This baked oatmeal combines simple and healthy ingredients and can be adapted for any allergies or flavor preferences. Stir the ingredients together in 1 large bowl, pour it into a greased baking pan, and bake. You need:
- Oats: I recommend whole old-fashioned style oats for a hearty and satisfying texture. If you eat gluten free, choose certified GF oats.
- Milk: Use the variety of milk you drink. This baked oatmeal is wonderful with whole milk, almond milk, oat milk, coconut milk, skim milk, and everything in between.
- Eggs: 2 large eggs, while adding protein, bind all of the ingredients together. Have an egg allergy? Use extra applesauce or mashed banana.
- Applesauce or Mashed Banana: Adds flavor and binds. You can use more of either to replace the eggs. For a heavily banana-flavored version, see below!
- Maple Syrup: I recommend pure maple syrup for the best flavor, but other unrefined sugars such as coconut sugar or honey work too. 1/2 cup sweetens the entire dish.
- Baking Powder: Lifts it all up!
- Melted Butter: A few Tablespoons of melted butter prevents the dish from tasting rubbery. Don’t replace with a non-fat alternative. Melted coconut oil is a wonderful dairy-free substitution.
- Vanilla, Cinnamon, & Salt: Each add sweet satisfying flavor.
- Berries: I asked, you told, and I’m delivering! Add some fruit for flavor, texture, and all-around deliciousness. Replace with chopped banana, apple, peaches, pears, raisins, dried berries, chocolate chips, or even a spoonful of your favorite nut butter.
For the BEST baked oatmeal texture: use whole oats and don’t over-bake! You want a deliciously soft & moist spoonful.
Ok let’s recap…
This Baked Oatmeal Is:
- Prepped in 1 bowl
- Made with unrefined sugar
- Not overly sweet
- Packed with fruit
- Warm & satisfies for hours
- Soft, chewy, & creamy
- Adaptable for flavors, allergies, etc
- Like a casserole version of my blueberry banana breakfast cookies
Plus it requires minimum effort—just what our mornings need!
Complete your breakfast! Serve baked oatmeal with Greek yogurt, fresh fruit, scrambled eggs, breakfast sausage, frittata, individual breakfast egg muffins, or my crustless vegetable quiche. (Also simple, healthy, & gluten free!).And for even more inspiration, see my complete list of 30+ healthy breakfast recipes.
P.S. The recipe below calls for banana, but for a heavily banana-flavored baked oatmeal, here is my banana baked oatmeal recipe. This one is a favorite.
1 Bowl Baked Oatmeal
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: serves 9
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This baked oatmeal combines simple ingredients that can be adapted for any allergies or flavor preferences. It’s like bread pudding for breakfast—creamy, soft, chewy, and delicious all in one! Make ahead and enjoy all week long. Try my baked oatmeal cups, too!
Ingredients
- 1 and 3/4 cups (420ml) milk (dairy or nondairy)
- 2 large eggs*
- 1/2 cup (120ml) pure maple syrup*
- 1/4 cup (4 Tbsp; 56g) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled*
- 1/4 cup (60g) unsweetened applesauce or mashed banana
- 3 cups (255g) old-fashioned whole rolled oats*
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 and 1/2 cups (225g) fresh or frozen mixed berries, (do not thaw)
- optional for topping: 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Instructions
- Adjust the oven rack to the lower third position and preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Spray a 9×9 inch square pan, or an 11×7 inch rectangle pan with nonstick spray. Any similar size pan that holds around 3 quarts works, though 8×8 inch square pan would be too small. The pictured dish I’m using is this white casserole dish. See recipe Note for 9×13 inch pan.
- Whisk all of the ingredients together in 1 large bowl. Pour into prepared baking pan. Top with nuts, if desired. (Or stir into the oatmeal mixture.)
- Bake for 35 minutes or until the center appears *almost* set, which gives us a soft oatmeal as pictured above. For drier and more solid baked oatmeal, bake until center has set.
- Cool for 5 minutes before serving. Spoon or slice and serve with yogurt, if desired. Cover leftovers tightly and refrigerate for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Bake the oatmeal, cool completely, and store in the refrigerator all week for easy breakfasts. Reheat in the microwave or cover and bake in a 350°F (177°C) oven for 10 minutes. To freeze, bake and cool oatmeal. Cover tightly and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator or at room temperature. Warm to your liking. I love cutting the cooled baked oatmeal into bars or servings and freezing them individually for a quick breakfast to thaw. Wrap each in plastic wrap and place in a large freezer bag or container.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9×9 Inch Square Pan, 11×7 Inch Rectangle Pan, or Similar Size Casserole Dish | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk
- Don’t: Do not make oatmeal batter ahead of time. The oats will soak up all the liquid! Whisk it all together, then bake right away. See make ahead instructions above for alternative.
- Can I Make This in a Muffin Pan? Yes. For baked oatmeal cups, divide the batter into a greased 12-count muffin pan. If using muffin liners, spray them with nonstick spray. The oatmeal cups stick to the liners a bit regardless, so I recommend skipping them. Fill the cups all the way to the top. Bake for 28-30 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned and top appears set. If you added extra add-ins, you may have more batter and need a 2nd greased muffin pan.
- Eggs: Eggs bind the casserole and add wonderful flavor. If needed, you can replace the eggs with 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce or mashed banana.
- Sugar: I recommend pure maple syrup because the flavor is outstanding and the baked oatmeal is extra moist! You can also use packed brown sugar, coconut sugar, or honey.
- Butter: What wonderful flavor! The baked oatmeal can taste rubbery without it. Don’t replace with a non-fat alternative. Melted coconut oil is a wonderful dairy-free substitution.
- Oats: Whole oats give you the best texture. Quick oats soak up more moisture and dry out the baked oatmeal. If using steel-cut oats, soak the oats in the milk for 20 minutes, then stir in the rest of the ingredients. Add a few extra minutes to the bake time.
- Add-ins: Instead of berries, try the same amount of peeled chopped apples, peaches, pears, bananas, or other fruit. Or 1 cup chocolate chips, dried cranberries, nuts, or raisins.
- 9×13 inch Pan: Double the recipe for a 9×13 inch pan. The baked oatmeal will be extra thick and require at least 10 extra minutes in the oven. Tent with aluminum foil if the edges are browning too quickly.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 256
- Sugar: 13.8 g
- Sodium: 120.8 mg
- Fat: 6.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 38.4 g
- Protein: 5.8 g
- Cholesterol: 54.9 mg
Reader Comments and Reviews
Yummy! This was so good! I did frozen cherries and fresh blueberries, i also added a little almond extract and it gave it almost like a cake flavor, would make again with other fruit varieties
Excellent recipe if you like a drier and firmer baked oatmeal. If you want softer or creamy, you’ll need to increase the liquid or decrease the oats. Most recipes are closer to a 1:1 ratio of oats to milk. This recipe is closer to 2:1. I used juicy apples as the fruit and it was still quite firm.
What if I didn’t refrigerate/left on counter…is it still edible?
Hi Emily, it would depend for how long. We’ve left it on the counter all day, but refrigerate it overnight.
I’m never disappointed from Sally’s recipes. This was a wonderful
breakfast and my kids loved it. I made this with chopped apples with pecans on top. I also added 1/4 tsp of almond extract. Thank you, Sally (and team), for sharing your love and talent of baking and cooking!
I made this recipe with almond milk, vanilla Greek yogurt, pecans, frozen peaches and blueberries. I baked it as directed in an 11”X7” glass pan, adding 5 minutes to the baking time as I wanted it to be firmly set. It was perfectly delicious! I can’t stand slimy oatmeal, and this oatmeal casserole is anything but! It was chewy and lightly sweetened, with bursts of fruit flavors. Lots of healthy ingredients. Did I say delicious? This recipe will be made a lot, and I can’t wait to try other variations of fruit, nuts, and dark chocolate. What a great way to start my day!
So good! I did frozen cherries and blueberries, then in the morning topped it with greek yogurt and honey!
Best Baked Oatmeal I’ve ever had!
I used blueberries and honey crisp apple. I added walnuts and pumpkin seeds. Used soy milk. It was a lot of effort for oatmeal.
My square casserole is 8×8. I used that and a small round one.
Cooked 33 minutes.
Just ate the small round and feel guilty eyeing the main dish ☺️
Fantastic. Totally worth the effort!!
Thank you!
My family loves this recipe. I always think there will be leftovers, but there never is. She says not to make it the night before, but I usually do, and it still turns out fantastic.
Tried this recipe and we LOVED it! I made some substitutions because I was running out of enough milk and no eggs at the time. I used half 2% organic milk instead and the other half was almond milk. I substituted the butter with coconut oil. I substituted the eggs with 1/2 cup of applesauce instead of a third and I added 1 cup of frozen blueberries and 1/2 cup of dried cranberries from Azure. I added 20 extra cooking minutes. Before removing it, I broiled the top for a crispier crust. YUMMO and very filling. This is considered a healthy plate! – good fat, protein and fiber.
Going to try this over the weekend! Can I add protein powder to this recipe?
Hi Linley, we haven’t tested it, but several readers have reported success doing so. Let us know how you like it!
hi! i am curious on how hard/tacky it is… i want to make and it looks like i could cut into bars but i cant tell and if not any thoughts on how to make it bar friendly??
Hi Lulu, you can certainly cut it into squares, but it’s best to eat with a fork/spoon. For a more portable bar, you might enjoy these peanut butter banana oatmeal bars instead.
I really enjoyed this. Made it with apples last week and frozen cherries this week.
Yummy!!!! I added lots of walnuts
Looks good! Would agave syrup work in place of maple?
Hi Neelam, other readers have substituted agave for the syrup with success. Enjoy!
I love this recipe. I make it all the time. I’ve also made it for friends that have had babies. Any suggestions on measurements to make it peanut butter/banana flavored? Thanks 🙂
Hi Lexie, instead of berries, use the same amount of chopped bananas. And we make this baked oatmeal with peanut butter or almond butter all the time. We usually reduce the butter down to 2 Tbsp and add 1/2 cup of our favorite nut butter. You may also enjoy these peanut butter banana chocolate chip oat bars!
Brought this to a potluck today. It was a hit! I will definitely be making this again.
Hello Sally, I am going to try and this recipe today, can you add flax seed to recipe?
Hi Gloria, you can add a couple Tablespoons of ground flax seed to the oatmeal batter. Enjoy!
Love, love, love this recipe !! It freezes well, heats up well and tastes delicious just as written !!
Thank you Sally. It’s a habit in our home.
I use this recipe all the time, very hearty and delicious. I make one for me and one for my aging cousin who has a hard time eating. Normally he has no appetite but he loves this. I make him one once a week.
Love all your recipes!! Especially the strawberry cake ones. Question for this – Can I make this in muffin tin and how long does this keep?
Hi Nateoz, you can definitely use this recipe in muffin cups. Use these apple cinnamon baked oatmeal cups as a guide. Cover leftovers tightly and refrigerate for up to 1 week. Enjoy!
It’s in the oven now! I was in the mood for apple oatmeal, so I used a bit less maple syrup and made up the amount with apple butter. I used the applesauce not banana. I added 1 large-ish honeycrisp Apple that had been chopped into fairly small pieces. I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk and JUST realized that I forgot to add vanilla extract (whoopsie). I’m sure it will be delicious anyway. I’m starting off at 45 minutes based on the other reviews that mention it might be prudent. SBA recipes are always fabulous and I can’t wait to dig in! I’m hoping to put this into the school week breakfast rotation ❤️.
I love this baked oatmeal! I’ve made this 3 times in the past couple of months both for house guests and my family of 6. Everyone loves it! It is really good leftover too. I doubled it for 2 families (10 people, 13 yrs old and up except 1) and it was perfect. Plenty and some leftover for another day. Just creamy enough, sweet but not overly and wholesome. Yum!
Has a very subtle flavor, which I enjoy! Also the butter adds a very nice flavor
I make this weekly with black raspberries and mini chocolate chips – YUM! When using frozen berries, do you just add them in while frozen? Are there any changes, such as bake time?
Dawn, exactly! Follow the same instructions. Enjoy!
This has become my go-to baked oatmeal for my family. I’ve tried several different different recipes and this one is really really good.
Delicious
May be blind but I don’t see a note about frozen berries ? Love this recipe!
Hi Lexie, “Add-ins: Instead of berries, try the same amount of peeled chopped apples, peaches, pears, bananas, or other fruit. Or 1 cup chocolate chips, dried cranberries, nuts, or raisins.” Hope this helps!
Hi, can you use less maple syrup? If so, what’s the bare minumum you’d recommend?
Hi Vicki, you can certainly try reducing the maple syrup to your liking. The oatmeal won’t be quite as sweet. Start small and then reduce more/less for future batches.
I have reduced to 1/3 cup maple syrup in the past. And replaced missing syrup with milk (scales make this task simple), to keep the texture right – extra moist pudding. With less liquid (by accident, just made for breakfast today), you still get a moist porridge but it’s a little more set, sorta like an oatmeal cake (see online for recipes). Equally delicious and my Mum preferred it (but she likes a thick stove top porridge and I like it looser!)
Loved this baked oatmeal. Was so easy and perfect for when we had overnight guests!
This is the best baked oatmeal recipe I have made — and I have made and tried more than a dozen. The texture is just firm enough as is the sweetness. I have to pace myself and my guests – otherwise, it’s devoured in moments.