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
Loved this but this does NOT work with steel cut even soaked. So hard and chewy had to bin it
Love a recipe that can be whipped together fast & bake while I do other things!! I followed your tip for a 9×13 (so double everything) and baked for a good hour … no issues. Also, in case anyone wonders, this worked well with doing 1/2 rolled oats & 1/2 quick oats (hubby likes the texture better that way). But weighing the ingredients is always the way to go as Sally has it NAILED DOWN!
I can’t wait to eat this tomorrow cold with a bit of cream on top! Oh, and I did add those delish brown crystallized sugar on top for crunch before baking … so good! Thanks for a fab recipe Sally!
This is an absolute keeper! So easy and delicious AND it got the non-breakfast eaters out of my house WITH breakfast! Grateful.
Just delish in every way. I split the recipe, doing chocolate chips for one half and frozen blueberries for the other. Together, filled a dozen cupcake sheet. Because I made “muffins”, I cooked for 45 minutes and brought to a complete cool before removing. Bookmarked as a forever favorite.
My mom found this recipe on Pinterest and raved about it. I made it for my toddlers but my husband & I could easily eat half of it ourselves so I will be making a 2nd batch ASAP. It’s so good and EASY.
This is an easy and tasty recipe! I used Greek yogurt in the place of mashed bananas/applesauce. I even forgot to add the butter because I was cooling it off in the freezer after I melted it and the recipe still turned out excellent. Thank you for yet another delicious recipe.
I enjoyed this – it came together as described- i used an 11×7 pan, used the 1/4 mashed banana and it rose nicely. I used kirkland whole grain rolled oats. I like the extra boost of protein
I cant wait to try it reheated w a little milk husband said it tasted like granola bars
Has anyone made this in muffin pans
Hi Deborah, you can definitely use this recipe in muffin cups. Use these apple cinnamon baked oatmeal cups as a guide.
I was so excited for this recipe, but it was a flop for me. There was just 0 flavor. I used frozen blueberries and followed the recipe exactly. ♀️ the texture was also a miss for me. Maybe I needed to cook it longer, though it cooked for 40 minutes and my oven runs hot. It just wasn’t formed at all. Too bad.
I made the pumpkin version of this oatmeal since it’s what I had available. My partner said it was his favorite baked oatmeal I’ve ever made, and I would have to agree. Great custardy texture and very filling. I tried to follow the recipe as closely as possible, these were my small tweaks: cinnamon oat milk instead of dairy milk; 11×7 ceramic baking dish; about 85 grams apiece of chocolate chips and golden raisins as the add-ons; and lastly, even though it doesn’t specify to, I always whisk together all the wet ingredients first before folding in the oats and mix ins. I baked it for 35 mins and it came out perfect. Once cooled, this bake held its shape decently well when cut into bars for storage. To eat, I heat it up for a minute in the microwave with a small bowl and top with whatever I’m feeling for the day (yogurt, whipped cream, etc). Definitely adding this into the rotation and cant wait to try the applesauce version soon!
So good! I did a chunky monkey version with bananas coconut walnuts and chocolate chips! Will be my favorite brekafast 🙂
I have been making this recipe for 4 years and I love it. I pour half the mixture into the baking pan and put half the fruit in. I also cut up a baking bar and put half that in. Then cover with the rest of the oatmeal mixture, the rest of the fruit and baking bar. This is my favorite way to make this dish. It’s so good.
Thank you so much for sharing your recipe, I love it, I can’t count how many times I have made this recipe is delicious and super easy to make it wish is even better
Thank you so much for sharing your recipe, I love it, I can’t count how many times I have made this recipe is delicious and super easy to make it wish is even better
OMG this was fantastic! I love the addition of the eggs for protein and it makes a beautiful consistency as well. I added more fruit than called for and it is absolutely scrumptious! Thank you!
This was perfection! Just the right amount of sweetness, not mushy but not too dry, berries are the star! All ingredients worked together – I went strictly by the recipe. I didn’t need to add sugar or milk to eat it. I can imagine this as a yummy dessert, too – if you want to sweeten, add whipped cream or serve w/vanilla or caramel ice cream. BTW I used a 9×9 round, deeper, light color metal pan. The bottom didn’t burn. I baked a few extra minutes until I saw a few tiny bubbles. Then I broiled on LOW until it looked a little darker on top. Perfect texture!
What is the best way to store this?
Hi Sara, we cover tightly and store in the refrigerator.
Hi Sally! I have not yet tried this recipe but I want to make this for breakfast at some point but I have a few questions to ask you… Can I make this without adding applesauce or mushed bananas? Would the finished result turn out different if I opted out the applesauce mushed bananas? and lastly, would the flavor change a lot without the applesauce or mushed bananas?
Thanks for you all you do, I look forward to making it!
Hi AS, we don’t recommend leaving out the applesauce or mashed banana. It adds flavor and binds the oatmeal together. If you want, you could make the pumpkin version instead, which is outlined in the pink box above the recipe card—that version does not have applesauce.
This is so simple and easy to make! It actually tastes like dessert, though, and now I always want this for breakfast. I love how customizable it is.
Holy cow. Made this inspired by fall flavors. I doubled it, added 3 cups of diced apples(unpeeled), pumpkin pie spices. Was so delicious. Everyone enjoyed from picky little to skeptical grown ups.
I’ve been making this recipe for almost 2 years and I always have made it in an 8X8 pan(it’s all I have) and it’s always turned out great! Just a few extra minutes ☺️
Thank you for this recipe. It is absolutely delicious! I have been trying the different add ins now. I love how versatile it is.
In the recipe you say *See Note about the frozen berries. I don’t see the note. Did I miss it?
Robyn, “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!
Can I cut this recipe in half?
Hi Sarah, yes, you can halve this recipe and use a loaf pan or anything similar (or even a muffin pan) and bake time will vary. Or, you can make it as is and freeze any leftovers. Enjoy!
Could I use peanut butter or yogurt if I don’t have apple sauce or mashed bananas
Hi Swetha, you could try yogurt, or even pumpkin puree instead.
Love! Made them in mini loaf pan… great for freezing and quick breakfast!
Can this be made with steel cut oats? Thanks
Hi Joni. Yes. See recipe notes.
This baked oatmeal was delicious – I added chopped apple, pear and cranberries for the fruit addition, and I sprinkled sunflower and pumpkin seeds on top. Delicious! Thank you for the breakfast recipe 🙂
Sally, I make this baked oatmeal at least twice a month. My grandsons go crazy for it. This does not last 2 days. Thank you for sharing these awesome recipes.
I received the oatmeal bake from a friend. It is amazing. I did not find the note as to why the fruit is not thawed.
Hi Missy, we’re so glad you enjoyed it! The recipe note refers to the 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!
Excited to bake this tomorrow it came highly recommended. Still wondering why frozen berries should not be thawed?
Hi Melanie, thawing first can add too much liquid.
Can you substitute the milk for water? I’m not allowed to have any milk or non dairy milk.
Hi Marianne, you could try it, but the oatmeal will not be quite as creamy and flavorful with water as the liquid. Let us know if you do give it a try!
If using small chopped apples, you could try Apple Cider usually only available in the fall though. For cranberries, try orange juice and some orange zest.
Are you allowed to have sour cream? OR yogurt? …maybe?? dilute one of those to consistancy of milk..?? Just guessing.
Has anyone tried adding chia seeds to this recipe?
Hi Jo, a few Tablespoons of chia seeds should work just fine here. Enjoy!
Lexi@Sally’s baking recipes thanks for the prompt reply on the chia seeds. This was my first time making this and we all loved it. Will try with the chia seeds next time!!
Yes, BUT I add appx the same amout of liquid as chia seeds, Soak 30 to 45 ish min. OR so…B/C chia seeds soak up a ton of liquid .So it ” could” dry out your baked goods.