What is baked oatmeal and why is it different than regular old boiled oats? I had the exact same questions, my friends.
Baked oatmeal is the thicker, almost custard-like cousin, to oatmeal. How can that not be good, right? Well, it took me a couple tries to get the recipe right but I’m happy to say that last weekend I had baked oatmeal success!
You can use any fruit on the bottom. Apples are always an economical choice but use whatever is in season (peaches were on sale this week). I also used some frozen blueberries because I keep a big bag of those in my freezer. You can also try adding things like nuts, ground flax seeds, or other spices. Banana would be incredible with dulce de leche drizzled on top… ooooh.
One word of warning: I don’t like things too sweet so I used a very minimal amount of sugar here. If you want a richer, more decadent, dessert-like baked oatmeal, double the brown sugar.
Baked Oatmeal
Baked Oatmeal
Servings 6Ingredients
- 2 med. peaches ($1.06)
- 1/2 cup blueberries ($0.71)
- 1 1/2 cups milk ($0.56)
- 1 cup plain yogurt ($0.50)
- 1 large egg ($0.18)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar ($0.08)
- 2 cups old-fashioned oats ($0.34)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp baking soda ($0.01)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1 tsp ground ginger ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon ($0.02)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Clean the peaches and cut them into chunks. Place the peaches and blueberries in the bottom of an 8×8 baking dish coated with non-stick spray.
- In one bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients (milk, yogurt, egg, sugar). In a separate bowl, stir together the dry ingredients (oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon). Combine the two bowls and stir until evenly mixed. Pour the mixture over the fruit in the baking dish.
- Cover the dish with foil (to keep the moisture in and steam the oats) and place in the preheated oven. Cook for 20 minutes. Remove the foil at 20 minutes and continue to bake until the top is golden brown (about 25 minutes more).
- Serve warm with cold milk, whipped cream, vanilla yogurt or just plain!
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Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!This dish can be refrigerated and eaten either hot or cold throughout the week.
Step By Step Photos
These big beautiful peaches were on sale this week so I had to grab ’em up! Use whatever fruit you want. You’ll need about 2 cups worth of chopped fruit.
Preheat the oven and coat a baking dish with non-stick spray. Use an 8×8 inch dish or something close in size. A 9×13 dish will be too big and will make a very thin, flat baked oatmeal. Not good.
Whisk together the wet ingredients in a bowl (milk, yogurt, egg, sugar).
In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients (oats, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger). Stir until evenly mixed.
Combine the two bowls and stir until mixed.
Pour the oatmeal mixture over the chopped fruit.
Here’s a side view before cooking. It’s not very thick now but as it cooks, it will plump up. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Then remove the foil and bake for about 25 minutes more or until the top is golden brown.
See how much thicker it got? The oats soaked up all of that moisture and the milk/yogurt/eggs created an almost custard like texture. Awww-yeah.
Serve it warm or keep it in the refrigerator for a quick breakfast every day of the week!
I like a cold/hot temperature contrast so I like to pour cold milk over top.
I love oats.
We’ve just had it last night, and other than few changes (had apples and blackberries on hand, and vanilla yogurt instead of plain), it was perfect! I did not have a right size dish, so I used a round cake form. Boy was I happy I put a cookie sheet underneath!
Big dollop of vanilla yogurt on top, and I have never seen my 3 year old clean 3 bowls of everything that fast (or at all) before! My husband felt bad eating 2 bowls of “cobbler” for dinner, until I told him it was oatmeal with minimal sugar. Even my dog ate a bowl, after my youngest left his bowl unattended!
Thank you!
AHH this is SO good! I just finished a bowl now. I didn’t have any peaches, so I just put enough frozen berries at the bottom of the dish to cover. Also I used rice milk instead of normal milk, as my family doesn’t keep normal milk in the house. Everything turned out spectacular, and I added a little extra rice milk on top and drizzled a little maple syrup :)
Just made this with apples and blueberries, so good! I didn’t have yogurt so I used applesauce and it came out nicely. Having for dessert now and breakfast in the morning! Loving your blog :)
Anonymous – It should work the same with frozen peaches as it does with fresh and the amount is flexible, so you don’t have to worry about substituting an exact amount to make up for the blueberries. Just make sure the bottom of your baking dish is covered with peaches and you should be good! :) If the peaches are still frozen when you put it in the oven, it may take slightly longer to bake. Just bake until the top is nice and golden brown. Good luck!
I would like to make this with frozen peaches as I have a bunch of them from making smoothies, I also don’t want to add the blueberries. Any suggestions for changes?
I made a double batch with peaches, strawberries, and nutmeg instead of cinnamon this evening! I’m hoping it’ll last me a while, though considering how hard it is to keep myself from trying a slice tonight, it might not. :D
Tinks – I haven’t tried it in the crock pot yet, but that’s a great idea! I think the recipe would have to be tweaked quite a bit for steel cut though, because they require a lot more liquid. So, I don’t know if they’d work because these oats are baked in a custard like mixture, rather than straight liquid.
Have you tried this in a crock pot? Can you use steel cut oats or groats for a bit more texture? Just curious. This sounds delicious!
This dish is fantastic! I’ve been making it once a week in half-batches, using soy milk for extra protein, and adding nuts and dried fruits instead of the fresh. It makes an amazing work breakfast and I am saving $2 a day on substandard muffins from the coffee kiosk in the train station! Still just as good Friday morning as it is on Monday, too. :)
This recipe is amazing! I didn’t have any plain yogurt in the fridge so I substituted vanilla instead, obviously the result is sweeter but I have quite a sweet tooth so I am fully satisfied with it. Also, my fruit combination was apple and nectarine, the apples are sooooo good. I think I might try it with only them next time! Love this!!!
I made this, and stuck it in the fridge still in the pan. For breakfast I cut it in to chunks and put peanut butter on it. It is unbelievably good. I may have cooked it for an incorrect amount of time, because I have a chewy layer of mostly oats with most ofit being slightly mushy. It is rather good this way, but the peanut butter brings it to a whole new level of deliciousness!
How many calories per serving???
You can add it right in but you might need to bake it for 5-10 minutes longer… or let it thaw first :)
If I use frozen fruit, can I add them directly to the recipe or would you suggest thawing them first?
Cranberries would be great although you may want to add more sugar because they are quite a bit more tart than peaches :P