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.
Can canned peaches be used? Should cook time be decreased?
Yes, you can use canned peaches. :) I suggest getting peaches canned in juice instead of syrup. You won’t need to decrease the cooking time, as the oats will still need that amount of time.
I made this following the recipe, but next time will try at 375 degrees with no foil, and more baking powder (following the comments you made in the apple pie baked oatmeal blog). I’ve tried almost every flavor and I agree that this one is more mushy (but still tasty!). Maybe you could do a recipe refresh for these older recipes? :)
Just wanted to comment that if you’re looking for a great meal to make for new parents or someone who is sick, this is one of my go-to choices!
This is a fantastic recipe! I was pleasantly surprised by how much my 16 month old loved it & it ended up being a amazing breakfast finger food.
Once schools and daycares open back up, this is going to be on heavy rotation.
This recipe made me fall in love with baked oatmeal. I am going to try something different this time and use grapefruit on top to try to get a creme brulee affect. What I’m not sure of is what fruit I want to mix into the oatmeal. Any suggestions for what pairs well with grapefruit?
Can you double this and use a 13×9 pan to bake it in?
Probably, although you may need to increase the baking time.
Just baked this recipe this morning, it was lovely!
I didn’t have any yogurt so added a little more milk and i’m Really pleased with the results. Just trying not to eat it all!!
Thanks for the recipe 😊
tried this recipe once before and loved it, I added more sugar because I have a bit of a sweet tooth, but all in all, great recipe! I wanted to try the recipe again and I was just wondering if it would this work with steel cut oats? I don’t have any rolled oats on hand and I want to use up the steel cut ones. Thanks!
Unfortunately steel cut oats require a lot more liquid and a much longer cooking time, so it wouldn’t work to swap that here.
So I attempted this with steel cut oats a few times, and the trick is to soak the oats overnight in the milk that was going to be used for the oats mixture (you can put a bit more milk than what is recommended, but not too much). Worked really well, though I prefer regular oats over steel cut ones! Put it in for the same amount of cooking time as well :)
The husband and I just downed this whole thing in one sitting. Needless to say, it was freaking delicious.
Do you think this would work without the fruit? My son does not care for fruit mixed into recipes. So I was thinking I could leave out the fruit and serve some on the side instead.
Yes, it should work fine. You should also check out my “Oatmeal Cookie” flavored baked oatmeal (it’s not too sugary) because it’s kind of a basic/generic flavored baked oatmeal. You can leave the raisins out of that one. :)
Thanks for another awesome, easy, and flexible recipe. Turned out delicious even with many substitutions. I used soy milk for the milk, applesauce for the yogurt and egg, and bananas and defrosted strawberries for the fruit. And cooked it in a toaster oven. So good. I am going to try the fruit on the bottom trick with your other baked oatmeals. Gingerbread is next, with apple and banana at the bottom. Mmm!
Made this with 3 cups total of frozen peaches and frozen (and apparently presweetened!!) strawberries. I also accidentally doubled the baking soda. It took a lot longer to bake because of the frozen fruit and extra liquid.
It still turned out great! It’s not sickeningly sweet — I can still eat it for breakfast. With just a bit of milk, the bottom layer is custardy and the top layer is like an oat muffin. I split it into 10 piece instead of 6, but quickly regretted that since I wanted more!
Just wanted to thank you for this wonderful recipe. I of course did a couple of tweaks as most people seem to, used 3 apples because that’s what I had in the house, and did a combination of Chobani 0% plain and 100 Vanilla. Also used almond milk instead of regular. Oh, and cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice instead of ginger and just 1 tbsp. of Splenda-brown sugar blend. And it is fabulous – had to cook it a little longer than what’s posted because apples take longer to get soft than peaches. Am eating it with a scoop of cottage cheese this morning for breakfast and I think I’m in love. Thank you thank you.
Can you substitute plain yogurt with greek yogurt?
Yes, it does have less moisture, so the oats will probably be a bit more stiff, but I think it will still work okay.
I accidentally bought strawberry yogurt instead of regular plain yogurt. It would still work, right?
Yeah, it will just add a nice strawberry flavor and be a little bit sweeter. :)