I freaking love sweet potatoes, so it was only natural for me to eventually make a Sweet Potato Casserole Baked Oatmeal. :) Sweet potatoes are fairly inexpensive because they’re very shelf stable, they’re packed with nutrients, and you can use them in both sweet and savory dishes—what’s not to love? That’s why they’re one of my absolute favorite ingredients. I modeled this baked oatmeal after the classic Thanksgiving classic side dish, sweet potato casserole, but I used less sugar and tried to make it as breakfast-worthy as possible. Luckily sweet potatoes have quite a bit of natural sweetness, so I was able to go light on the added sugar.
This is a Marshmallow Free Zone
To make this baked oatmeal even more like the sweet potato casserole we all know and love I topped it with a pecan crumble (sorry, I’m not a fan of marshmallows). I went light on the topping because again, I want it to count as a breakfast rather than a dessert, but even the small amount I added made a big impact on the dish. The pecans toast while the oatmeal bakes and add a wonderfully deep and earthy flavor that balances beautifully with the sweetness of the casserole. It’s just perfect! 👌
Meal Prep Your Sweet Potato Casserole Baked Oatmeal
This baked oatmeal, like all my baked oatmeal recipes, is perfect for breakfast meal prep! Refrigerate the cooked portions of the baked oatmeal for 4-5 days, or freeze for up to a few months. You can serve your leftover portions cold, or reheated in the microwave. I also like to pour a little milk on top!
More Baked Oatmeal Please!
And I know I say this every time I make a new baked oatmeal flavor, but I really do think this is my new favorite! You’ll just have to make it and judge for yourself. ;) Want to try some other flavors? Try Oatmeal Cookie Baked Oatmeal, Peanut Butter Brownie Baked Oatmeal, Baked Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal, or Blueberry Banana Baked Oatmeal.
Sweet Potato Casserole Baked Oatmeal
Servings 6Ingredients
- 2 cups mashed sweet potato* ($1.33)
- 2 large eggs ( $0.54)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar ($0.08)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract ($0.84)
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg ($0.05)
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon ($0.05)
- 3/4 tsp salt ($0.04)
- 1 tsp baking powder $0.06 ($0.06)
- 2 cups milk ($0.75)
- 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats ($0.51)
PECAN CRUMBLE TOPPING (optional)
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour ($0.04)
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar ($0.04)
- 2 Tbsp salted butter ($0.20)
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans ($0.56)
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon ($0.05)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Prepare the crumble topping by mixing together the flour, brown sugar, butter, chopped pecans, and cinnamon. Mix the ingredients together until it looks like a crumbly mixture. Refrigerate the topping until ready to use.
- Add the mashed sweet potato to a large bowl along with the eggs, brown sugar, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder. Stir until everything is evenly combined and mostly smooth. It’s okay if there are a few lumps of sweet potato.
- Pour the milk into the bowl with the sweet potato mixture and stir or whisk to combine. Add the rolled oats and stir to combine again.
- Coat the inside of a 2 quart baking dish lightly with non-stick spray. Pour the oatmeal mixture into the dish. Sprinkle the prepared pecan crumble topping over the oatmeal mixture.
- Bake the oatmeal in the fully preheated oven for 45 minutes or until the pecan crumble topping and edges of the oatmeal are slightly browned. Serve immediately or refrigerate for later. Can be eaten hot or cold.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!It’s like dessert for breakfast!
How to Make Sweet Potato baked oatmeal – Step by Step Photos
If your sweet potato isn’t already cooked and mashed, do that first. You’ll need about 2 cups once mashed. I used a sweet potato that was just slightly over 1 lb. and it yielded just over 2 cups once mashed. If you have slightly more or less than 2 cups, the recipe will still work fine. You can use whatever method to cook the sweet potatoes that you like, but I find boiling to be the fastest and easiest route. To boil them, first peel, then dice the sweet potatoes.
Add the diced sweet potatoes to a sauce pot and cover with water. Boil over high heat until they are very tender (5-7 minutes). Drain the sweet potatoes, then mash. Let the sweet potatoes cool slightly.
While the sweet potatoes cool, prepare the pecan crumble topping. In a bowl, combine 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, 2 Tbsp brown sugar, 2 Tbsp salted butter, 1/4 cup chopped pecans, and 1/2 tsp cinnamon.
Mix these ingredients until they form a damp crumbly mixture (I used my hands to mix them together). Refrigerate the pecan crumble topping until ready to use.
Preheat the oven to 375ºF. In a large bowl combine 2 cups of the mashed sweet potato with 2 large eggs, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 3/4 tsp salt, and 1 tsp baking powder. Stir them together until they are fairly smooth (a few sweet potato lumps are okay).
Stir or whisk in 2 cups of milk.
Finally, stir in 3 cups dry old-fashioned rolled oats until everything is evenly combined.
Lightly coat the inside of a 2 quart baking dish with non-stick spray (this is an 8×13 inch casserole dish). Pour the oat mixture into the dish.
Sprinkle the pecan crumble topping over the oats. They won’t fully cover the top. It will be more like a 50-60% coverage.
Bake the casserole for 45 minutes, or until the pecan crumble topping and the edges of the baked oatmeal are lightly browned. Serve immediately, or refrigerate it for later. You can eat this Sweet Potato Casserole Baked Oatmeal either hot or cold.
I love it warmed up with a little cold milk poured over top! You can also freeze portions for later, but be sure to fully cool it in the refrigerator before transferring it to the freezer. Frozen portions reheat very easily in the microwave. Now I have breakfast all set for the rest of the week! :D
We made this for brunch this morning and used homemade candied pecans in the topping! A M A Z I N G. We love your recipes!!
The recipe doesn’t specify, but I used melted butter for the streusel topping since I didn’t have room temp. (based on the Orange Cranberry Muffins recipe method). I used almond milk and it worked out to 380 calories for 1/6 serving. This is probably my favorite out of the baked oatmeal recipes.
I love this recipe and make it year round! So much so that I’m turning on my oven today when it’s 80 degrees out so I can enjoy it this week 😂
I didn’t have any sweet potato so I used canned pumpkin, added a little cloves and a little more pecan and it’s the best one yet to me.
Oh that’s a great swap Roxie!
How many cans of pumpkin did you use?
This is the perfect amount of sweetness for breakfast! The first time I made it, it turned out a little dry for my taste, but I cut back the bake time to 30 min and that’s more my style. To cut back Sabbath morning prep, I cook and mash the potatoes the day before. YUM! Baked oatmeal might become a new obsession.
I made this but somehow just totally spaced the topping and it was still really good! My picky toddler ate a full serving when he normally refuses oatmeal.
Just made this! Love it!
I used my pressure cooker to make the mashed sweet potatoes which took about 6 minutes with 2 large sweet potatoes cut into inch squares and a half cup of water. I put the cinnamon and “nutmeg” in the PC to infuse flavor (I used apple seasoning instead of nutmeg because I was out, oops)
Their was about 1 1/2 cups of sweet potatoes left over which my 2 year old is currently eating some as a mid day snack 😁
Do you think this recipe would work with steel cut oats in place of rolled oats? Also wondering how it would be with Scottish oatmeal, which is basically very finely ground steel cut oats. Finally, can I substitute stevia (or some other lower calorie natural sweetener) for all or some of the brown sugar? When I make my regular bowl of oatmeal, I cook it with at least half of a sliced banana. The banana gets very soft and mushy, so it easily mixes in with the oatmeal. The sweetness from the banana is so delicious that I don’t need to any sugar, syrup, honey or any sweetener at all. Would adding bananas to this recipe be a good substitute for the brown sugar? Thanks for sharing your thoughts about these questions.
Unfortunately you won’t be able to simply substitute the steel cut oats for the rolled oats in this recipe because steel cut require much more moisture and a longer cooking time to soften. I’m sure there’s a way to do it, but it would take some testing to figure out the correct amount of liquid and the correct cooking time. I often use mashed bananas in my baked oatmeals, so I know they go well, but whether they would be a good sub for the brown sugar all together would just depend on your personal tastes. :)
This recipe is wonderful! I have to admit that I had run out of vanilla and substituted 1/4 t maple flavoring, yum! The kids and hubby liked it, too.
I love this recipe! It’s a family favorite. Has anyone frozen beforehand baking? I have leftover sweet potatoes and would like to throw a couple pans together to freeze.
Hey! Just stumbled upon this recipe- eager the try it! Any comments/suggestions to use almond or a non-dairy milk? I was thinking that it’d be worth a try :) thanks!!!!
I think a few people have mentioned that they’ve used non-dairy milk and it’s worked fine. :)
I made this as-written and it was super awesome. Really good flavor. I drizzled maple syrup on mine in the morning for breakfast for a little sweetness since the recipe itself is not very sweet (which is great). I have also made some of these with 3 or 4 eggs instead of 2 for a bit of extra protein and had really good results. Beth have you ever considered maybe coming up with a high protein breakfast bake? I bet a lot of people would enjoy that as an option!
I concur. I find the Peanut Butter Brownie Baked Oatmeal the most filling of the options because it also has the most protein. Might try doubling up on the eggs as well…
Love this recipe!! I have been leaving off the topping and using 1 Tbsp maple syrup instead of brown sugar and adding about 1/2 cup dried cranberries to the mix. Absolutely delicious. My husband and twins love it too! Thanks Beth!
Do you have a recommendation for something to replace the pecan topping? I’m not a huge fan of pecans but this recipe still seems delicious!
You can use walnuts instead or add some dry oats to make it like an apple crisp topping.
Oh, dry oats, I should’ve thought of that! I can’t eat tree nuts, so I just left the pecans out and used the other ingredients and it wasn’t bad as it was.
can I use instant oats to make this instead of rolled oats
You can, but you’ll get a much more mushy texture.