Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal (with Chocolate Chips)
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Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal is a wholesome, warm, comforting breakfast. Kids love the sweetness and chocolate chips; parents love the sneaky pumpkin and other healthy ingredients (like in our other kid-friendly sneaky recipes). This baked oatmeal is a big batch recipe, so feel free to cut it in half and freeze one for later.
Why Baked Oatmeal?
We are baked oatmeal fanatics around here, as you may know. Both my kids and Polly’s kids eat it by bushels. We love it because it’s:
- A fast way to make oatmeal in bulk.
- Super comforting and delicious like our Oatmeal Pancakes.
- Stores for days in the fridge or months in the freezer.
- Filled with good-for-you ingredients!
I find myself making this one and the Brownie Baked Oatmeal repeatedly, while Polly probably makes the original Baked Oatmeal with Fruit recipe the most. But, all our baked oatmeal recipes are worth trying.
Ingredients Needed
This baked breakfast treat is sweet but not too sweet, autumnal (I love that word), and packed full of sneaky nutrition with pumpkin, bananas, and whole grains throughout. You likely have all of the ingredients in your pantry! Here is what you will need to make it:
- Milk
- Eggs
- Vanilla
- Melted coconut oil or butter
- Pumpkin puree – Use any leftover puree in one of our other top pumpkin recipes.
- Bananas – If it’s close to Halloween, use extra bananas to make Banana Ghosts!
- Brown sugar
- Salt
- Oats (quick or old-fashioned will work) (Gluten-Free Option: Use gluten-free oats.)
- Ground flaxseed
- Baking powder
- Cinnamon
- Mini chocolate chips
Tip: Store Overripe Bananas for Later
If you have more overripe bananas than you didn’t use in this recipe, did you know you can freeze them? Here is the best way to freeze bananas for later. Now you’ll be ready to make Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal anytime!
How to Serve Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal
After doing a deep dive into the Internet’s best baked oatmeal recipes, I learned there is conflicting information on how to serve baked oatmeal. The two main beliefs are as follows:
Option 1: Serve it in a bowl
This is my personal favorite way to serve baked oatmeal. It makes it easy to pour milk on top and feels a bit more “oatmeal” like.
Option 2: Slice it up & serve on a plate
If the recipe holds together enough (like this one does), you can slice it up into pieces and serve it on a plate. The presentation is a bit prettier this way too which always helps my kids who are prone to judge a recipe based on how it looks.
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 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.
Recipe FAQs
Let it cool completely. Cover and place in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Pumpkin pie filling contains added sweeteners and spices, so it will change the flavor and sweetness of your baked oatmeal. It’s best to use plain pumpkin puree for this recipe.
Rolled oats (old-fashioned oats) work best for baked oatmeal as they provide a nice texture. Quick oats can also be used if you prefer a smoother consistency.
Yes, you can make it in advance and reheat it. Store it in the refrigerator and warm it in the microwave or oven when ready to eat.
More Baked Oatmeal Dishes You’ll Love
If you enjoy baked oatmeal as much as our families do, give a few of these others a try. They all work well to freeze before baking, as well.
Did you make this? Snap a photo and tag us on Instagram at @thrivinghome so we can see your creations and cheer you on!
Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal with Chocolate Chips
Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal is a wholesome, warm, comforting breakfast for any day of the week. Kids love the sweetness and chocolate chips; parents love the sneaky pumpkin and other healthy ingredients.
Ingredients
- 2 cups milk
- 4 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1/4 cup avocado oil or melted coconut oil or butter
- 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin puree
- 2 over-ripe bananas
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 6 cups old fashioned rolled oats (sub: quick oats)
- 1/2 cup ground flaxseed
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2/3 cup mini chocolate chips
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Instructions
Make It Now:
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray one 9×13-inch casserole dish or two 8×8-inch dishes (like what is pictured in this blog post) with cooking spray.
- In a blender, blend the milk, eggs, vanilla, oil, pumpkin, bananas, sugar, and salt.
- In a large bowl, stir together the oats, flaxseed, baking powder, and cinnamon. Pour the wet ingredients in to the dry ingredients and stir until well combined. Finally stir in the chocolate chips. Pour batter into greased casserole dish.
- Bake for about 40-45 minutes for 9×13-inch dish (or 35-40 minutes for 8×8-inch dish), until the edges are set but middle is still a little soft to the touch.
- Let cool for about 5 minutes (it will continue to carry-over cook). Serve warm with a little milk on top.
Freeze For Later: Follow Steps 2 and 3. Wrap the dish with a few layers of plastic wrap and either a layer of foil or snap on a lid. Freeze.
Prepare From Frozen: Thaw completely. Cook according to instructions.
Notes/Tips
- Try using Butternut Squash puree instead of the pumpkin.
- Throw a little baby spinach into the blender along with the wet ingredients for more sneaky nutrition.
- I wrote this recipe to be big. It’s a great meal for a crowd or for a hungry family. (All three of my kids will eat all of this within two days time.)
Could you bake this and then freeze individually wrapped pieces? Trying to find easy snacks for my toddler.
Yes, I think that would work great!
Totally on repeat at our house… we love this one!! I usually cut the recipe in half for just the two of us, and I sometimes bake it in my one cup Souper Cubes (filled halfway) and freeze it for 8 individual servings. Great to have on hand for guests!
Hi Carolyn! Thank you for the review and suggestion!
One of my families favorites!! A real winner.
Thanks Maia! We appreciate you leaving a comment and rating.
Baking this today in Lake County Florida to help ride out hurricane Ian!
Thanks for the comfort food.
Prayers for you and all those in the path of the hurricane Meg! I hope it did bring comfort.
BEST oatmeal ever. I make it all the time, divide into two 8×8 pans and freeze one for later.
Thanks for the feedback, Jill. Love knowing that your family enjoys it, friend!
Amazing. I break it into 2 servings and bake it fresh in the morning on vacations. Everyone loves it especially with fresh berries on top.
Yes, it definitely can be two full breakfasts. I’m so happy to hear you enjoy it on vacation! Thanks for the review, Meg.
Wonderful recipe! I cut the brown sugar amount in half (I am always trying to cut sugar) and I use raisins instead of chocolate chips.
I did make the full recipe and took it to work for a carry-in. I have a new job and this was my first carry-in. It was quite the hit! I got lots of compliments and gave out the recipe to multiple co-workers!
Love that, Lindsay! Thanks for sharing your tips for making this recipe even healthier. I’m the same way…always looking for ways to cut sugar without my kids batting an eye. 😉
Delicious and so quick to make. I was able to whip this up & have it baked before my kids woke up. My toddler was so excited to eat this because he thinks it’s a cookie! And I’m happy that he’s eating something healthy for breakfast.
That’s wonderful to hear, Lucy. Best compliment on a recipe is when a kid thinks a healthy food item is a cookie. #win!
I have picky eaters. Would applesauce work in place of bananas?
Yep, that’s a really good sub for bananas.
This is such a delicious breakfast! Even my picky eater, who normally doesn’t like oats, asks for seconds! I also like that it makes enough for two 8×8 dishes, one to eat now, one to freeze for later. Thanks for this great recipe!
Ever made these in muffin tins? My toddler loves having his own muffin and I appreciate the pre-portioned breakfast! Thanks !
I have but it’s been years ago. It’s a great idea, especially for toddlers. I’d say bake it at the same temp and check at about 15 minutes.
What should I do if I don’t have any ground flaxseed?
You can substitute more whole wheat flour for the ground flaxseed.
This is a FAVORITE!
Do you think it could be adapted for the Instant Pot or Crock Pot? If so, what recommendations do you have? I am new to the Instant Pot! I hate turning on the oven in the hot weather!
To be honest, I don’t think regular oats would do well in either of those. Sorry!
Elizabeth, we are so happy to hear you like this recipe! We have found that steel cut oats work best in the IP and slow cooker from the MANY tests we did for our forthcoming cookbook, From Freezer to Cooker. You can find the cooking time for Steel Cut Oats in our Instant Pot cooking times chart here: https://thrivinghomeblog.com/instant-pot-steel-cut-oatmeal-recipe/. Or try our Instant Pot Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Steel Cut Oats recipe here: https://thrivinghomeblog.com/instant-pot-steel-cut-oatmeal-recipe/. As for the slow cooker, we recommend 1 1/2 cups steel cut oats to 6 cups water or milk in a 6 quart slow cooker. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Hope that helps!
My picky eater has been asking for this family favorite for weeks. I am up making it right now and she will be so excited in the morning. Thank you for all these great oatmeal options. This one is another great choice! Yummmm
So glad it’s a hit!
I made this for breakfast today. Thank goodness it is so large or we wouldn’t have any for tomorrow! The entire family gobbled it up. I used almond milk and added a little Pumpkin Pie Spice. It was super, super yummy. Thank you!
Wonderful!!!
This was really good. Tasted like banana bread; not too sweet. I just mashed the bananas by hand, then added all the wet ingredients, mixing as I went, and then added in the dry ingredients, so I didn’t have to dirty a blender and a bowl! I baked mine around 50 minutes as I wanted it completely set. I like to serve mine with a smear of butter and drizzle of maple syrup.