Apple Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal
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This Apple Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal is hearty, healthy, delicious, and fairly adaptable to whatever ingredients you have on hand. Plus, leftovers keep well in the fridge for several days. Serve it up as a tasty start to your day or as a “breakfast-for-dinner”, along with bacon and a fruit salad.
Baked Oatmeal for the Win!
We are baked oatmeal fanatics around here, as you may know. Both my kids and Polly’s kids eat the stuff by bushels.
I find myself making the Brownie Baked Oatmeal repeatedly, while Polly probably makes the original Baked Oatmeal with Fruit recipe the most. But, all the baked oatmeal recipes on here are worth trying.
This baked apple oatmeal is one of my favorites to make in the fall though!
What’s in Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal?
This baked breakfast treat is sweet but not too sweet, autumnal (I love that word), and packed full of sneaky nutrition. You likely have all of the ingredients in your pantry! Here is what you will need to make it:
- Oats (quick or rolled)
- Ground flaxseed
- Brown sugar
- Cinnamon
- Salt
- Baking powder
- Butter, melted (sub: avocado oil or melted coconut oil)
- Eggs
- Milk (your choice)
- Chopped walnuts (optional)
- 1 apple, cored and finely diced (peeled or unpeeled is fine)
- Raisins
HOW TO FREEZE BAKED OATMEAL
We are big fan of freezer meals. In fact, we’ve built a small freezer meal empire including cookbooks, 1 Hour Freezer Prep, and an index of tried and true freezer meal recipes.
So it shouldn’t come as a surprise to you that we have freezer meal instructions for this recipe!
Freeze Apple Baked Oatmeal For Later:
Put together the casserole either in one 9×13 inch casserole dish or two 8×8 inch casserole dishes (like what’s pictured in this blog post), but don’t bake it. Tightly wrap the dish in a few layers of plastic wrap or foil (or a tight-fitting lid) and freeze.
Prepare From Frozen:
Thaw completely using one of these safe methods. Cook according to instructions.
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Apple Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal Recipe
This recipe is hearty, healthy, delicious, and fairly adaptable to whatever ingredients you have on hand. Plus, leftovers keep well in the fridge for several days. Serve it up as a tasty start to your day or as a “breakfast-for-dinner”, along with bacon and a fruit salad.
Ingredients
- 2 ¾ cups oats (quick or rolled)
- ¼ cup ground flaxseed (or substitute more oats)
- ⅔ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted (sub: avocado oil or melted coconut oil)
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk (your choice)
- ½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)
- 1 apple, cored and finely diced (peeled or unpeeled is fine)
- ¼ cup raisins
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Instructions
Make It Now:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×13 inch casserole dish (or two 8×8 inch dishes).
- In a large bowl, whisk together the oats, flaxseed, brown sugar, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together melted (and cooled) butter, eggs, and milk.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and stir until combined well. Gently stir in the walnuts, apples, and raisins.
- Pour batter into baking dish. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Serve with warm milk and a bit more brown sugar on top, if desired.
Freeze For Later: Complete recipe through Step 4. DO NOT BAKE before freezing. Wrap casserole dish tightly in a few layers of plastic wrap and one of foil and place in the back of the freezer.
Prepare From Frozen: Thaw in the fridge for 24 hours and bake according to directions. If baking from frozen, cover oatmeal with foil and plan to bake longer, until the middle is cooked through. If cooking directly from frozen, the USDA states that, “it will take approximately one and a half times as long to cook.”
Want More Easy Breakfast Ideas?
Check out these 10 Make Ahead Breakfasts that are perfect for back to school.
Very easy to put together. Makes the house smell wonderful while its cooking. The only thing that I added was a little vanilla. Drizzled a little maple syrup on my portion. This recipe makes it clear that you can customize it to suit your preferences. It was a hit with my family.
★★★★★
Thank you for the review and suggested additions for other readers Lori.
Our family loves this apple cinnamon oatmeal bake. It’s easy to put together. I triple the apples because I love apples😋. I’ve been making it since you posted the original recipe. Thank you!
★★★★★
Hi Edna! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review. I don’t know how the rest of my family would feel, but I would love lots of apples like you!
My family absolutely loves this apple cinnamon oatmeal. I substituted prunes for the raisins and 2x the cinnamon.
It freezes wonderfully for a weeks breakfasts.
★★★★★
That’s great to hear and thanks for the substitution idea, Kristen. Appreciate the comment and review!
Besides replacing butter with olive or coconut oil, any suggestions on a replacement for the milk? I’m going dairy free 🙁
Good question, Dianna. I use unsweetened almond milk all the time in this recipe! Vanilla or plain flavored would work.
I made this a few months ago as a freezer breakfast option since we were expecting our first baby. I did bake it first and froze in individual servings so it would be easier to just pop a square in the microwave for simple breakfasts. I did reduce the sugar to 1/3 cup and used olive oil in place of the butter. It tastes great and really holds up so well to the freezing! Thank you!
★★★★★
Thanks for the feedback, Brianna. Love your ideas for healthy tweaks. I’ve used coconut oil and avocado oil in place of the butter and it’s delicious, too.
I made this for church. Several people asked for the recipe. It was a great thing to make for a large group and it went over well with all age groups! Thanks for sharing!
★★★★★
Hey, that’s awesome. Thanks for sharing, Ali.
Can this be made with steel cut oats?
I have never tried this with steel cut oats, but I have tried this recipe below with steel cut oats. They definitely requires more liquid, an overnight “soak” in the fridge, and a longer cooking time. The casserole will be denser but I’m sure it could still be tasty! Hope that gives you a little direction.
http://thrivinghomeblog.com/2015/11/baked-chocolate-steel-cut-oatmeal-freezer-meal/