Baked Oatmeal

This Baked Oatmeal recipe is an easy healthy make-ahead breakfast that’s perfect for busy mornings! Baked oats made with eggs for protein, milk (or dairy-free milk), and sweetened with fruit (no added sugar!). It’s kid-friendly and perfect for serving with nut butter, maple syrup or your favourite toppings!

 

Estimated reading time: 11 minutes

Every now and then there’s a recipe that’s such a HUGE hit in our household and it becomes a staple – a dish that finds its way into our regular rotation because our family members are begging for it. This Baked Oatmeal recipe is exactly that.

It’s a super easy breakfast recipe our family LOVES for so many reasons: it’s quick to throw together on a weeknight in just a couple minutes, it’s easy to customize with whatever ingredients or add-ins you have on hand (like fresh or frozen fruit, nut butter, and spices), it keeps in the fridge for days so we can enjoy it throughout the week on all our busy mornings before work and school, and it’s SO delicious warmed up in the microwave with a splash of milk and a drizzle of maple syrup on top.

It’s a recipe we make again and again, and we know your family’s going to love it as much as ours does!

Baked oatmeal is a simple breakfast dish made by combining mashed bananas, eggs, milk and rolled oats with a few other basic ingredients to create an oatmeal dish that’s soft and moist but sliceable – perfect for a warm, baked breakfast.

The eggs not only help hold the baked oatmeal together, they also add protein to the dish, making it a stick-to-your-ribs breakfast for the whole family.

It can be prepared and baked ahead of time and stored in the fridge in an airtight container or it can be served fresh from the oven – your choice!

It’s easy to customize with different flavours like berries, apples, peanut butter and bananas, and even chocolate chips!

It can also be made vegan by replacing the eggs with more mashed bananas, applesauce, or even pureed pumpkin, and adding vegan milk instead of conventional dairy milk.

Making baked oatmeal is SO easy and it’s made even easier with a few simple tips and tricks to ensure your success!

For the best texture, use old-fashioned rolled oats. Quick oats will work in this recipe, but they can soak up a little too much moisture and it’s possible that your oatmeal bake will end up a little on the mushy side. We don’t recommend steel-cut oats for this recipe as they’re too tough and hardy.

Make sure there are no large chunks of banana. The banana is the ingredient that sweetens the dish so it’s important that it’s distributed well throughout the mixture.

Adding eggs helps the baked oatmeal hold together as it bakes, so be sure to add the eggs OR add applesauce in place of the eggs for added moisture.

Adding cinnamon and vanilla really adds a lot of flavour to this recipe, so be sure not to skip it.

Baked oatmeal just isn’t the same without added berries or other fruit for added texture and flavour. Feel free to experiment with a variety of add-ins like apples, peaches, pears, or sliced bananas, and consider adding nuts, chocolate chips, or dried fruits for extra flavour and texture​​​​.

To ensure your baked oatmeal doesn’t stick and is easy to serve, make sure to grease your baking pan thoroughly.

If you’re short on time in the mornings, mix the ingredients and bake the oatmeal the night before, storing it in the fridge. In the morning, simply portion it out and reheat before serving.

Bake your oatmeal covered for the first 20 minutes and then uncovered for the last 10. This will give it a sliceable consistency but help it retain moisture with just the right amount of caramelization on top and around the edges.

Here are some common issues you might encounter when making this oatmeal bake recipe and how to solve them!

If your oatmeal turns out too dry, it could be due to over-baking or not using enough liquid. Be sure to bake it covered with foil for 20 minutes of the baking time. If it looks like it’s drying out, check to be sure your oven isn’t too hot.

If it’s too mushy and isn’t cooking in the middle, you might have added too much liquid or used the wrong type of oats. Stick to old-fashioned rolled oats and bake for a little longer than the recipe calls for, if necessary.

Be sure to add a pinch of salt, the vanilla and cinnamon for flavour. If you leave out any of these ingredients your oatmeal bake will most certainly lack flavour. Feel free to add other flavours if you wish, like nutmeg, ginger or other spices.

If after storing it in the fridge the oatmeal bake seems dry, add a splash of milk or dairy-free milk and warm it in the microwave. Warming it up with a little bit of milk with help it rehydrate and soften. Be sure to store it in the fridge, covered with plastic wrap to lock in the moisture.

We don’t recommend adding sugar to this recipe, but if you find it’s not sweet enough feel free to add some brown sugar, maple syrup and/or fresh fruit on top!

Here at The Busy Baker we have shared so many of our favourite mealtime tips, tricks and secrets with you over the years. If you haven’t already signed up, we offer a FREE email course where we share our BEST weeknight meal tips, tricks and recipes to help you feed your hungry family without losing your sanity. Sign up for our FREE course below:

And if you’ve already taken the course, we offer 11 weeks of family meal plans for sale in The Busy Baker shop, complete with a week’s worth of meals planned for you, a grocery list ready to go, all our best mealtime tips and tricks, and an optional meal prep guide to help you get ahead of the dinnertime game. We hope you’ll check them out!!

Whether or not you agree that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, in our opinion it’s DEFINITELY the most delicious! We love a good breakfast or brunch and we’ve even been known to make breakfast for dinner once a week (at least!). Here’s a compilation of our most-loved breakfast recipes we think you’ll LOVE!

• Air Fryer Breakfast Potatoes
• Homemade Granola
• Strawberry Peach Smoothie
• Healthy Buttermilk Pancakes
• Air Fryer Eggs
• Easy Skillet Tomato Spinach Frittata
• Fruit Salad
• Blackberry Kale Superfood Smoothie
• Tropical Fruit Breakfast Parfaits
• Egg Bites
• Healthy Green Protein Smoothie
• Banana Pancakes
• Buttermilk Waffles
• Greek Yogurt Muffins with Chocolate Chips
• Cheesy Leftover Mashed Potato Pancakes
• Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

To make this oatmeal bake recipe you’ll need this basic kitchen equipment on hand (paid links):

• mixing bowl
• liquid measuring cups
• measuring cups and spoons
• Whisk
• Silicone Spatula
• 9-inch x 9-inch square baking pan

To make this basic oatmeal bake recipe you’ll need to be sure to have these ingredients on hand (paid links):

• 2 bananas OR 1 banana and 2 eggs
• 1 3/4 cups milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 2 cups mixed berries divided – 1 1/2 and 1/2 cups

Take your baked oats to the next level with one of these creative twists on the classic!

1. Apple Cinnamon: Mix in diced apples and a generous sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg. This combination gives a classic, comforting taste reminiscent of apple pie.
2. Banana Nut: Add sliced bananas into your oatmeal mixture and add chopped nuts such as walnuts or pecans. This creates a rich, banana bread-like flavour.
3. Chocolate Chip: Stir in chocolate chips for a dessert-like treat. You can use dark, milk, or white chocolate chips, depending on your preference.
4. Tropical: Add diced pineapple, mango, and shredded coconut for a tropical flavour. Replacing the milk with coconut milk can also enhance the tropical vibe.
5. Pumpkin Spice: Add canned pumpkin instead of the mashed bananas and add pumpkin pie spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. This is perfect for a fall-inspired breakfast.

We hope you love this easy breakfast recipe as much as we do! Let us know in the comments below, what’s your favourite healthy make-ahead breakfast? We’d love to know!

• Oatmeal Muffins with Chocolate Chips
• Cranberry Orange Oatmeal Bread
• Apple Oat Muffins
• Blueberry Oat Muffins
• Healthy Pumpkin Oat Bread
• Homemade Granola
• Pomegranate Granola Parfaits
• Healthy Carrot Cake Oatmeal Cookies
• Pumpkin Seed Granola with Blueberries
• Soft and Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
• Banana Pancakes

Watch the video below to see exactly how we make this recipe. You can find many more deliciously simple recipe videos on our YouTube channel!