This dessert-like banana bread baked oatmeal is rich, sweet, hearty, and totally breakfast worthy, thanks to hearty oats and the natural sweetness of bananas. So if you’re tired of using your brown bananas for actual banana bread, you can change things up a bit with this banana bread flavored baked oatmeal, which makes a great make-ahead breakfast meal prep for the week. BONUS: it’s freezer-friendly!
This post contains some affiliate links, which means that we make a small commission off items you purchase at no additional cost to you.
What is Baked Oatmeal?
If you’re new to the world of baked oatmeal, it’s a wonderfully rich and moist breakfast treat. It’s basically oats baked into a custard. Kind of like bread pudding, but with oats instead of bread. If you think you don’t like oats because they tend to be gooey when boiled with water, try baked oatmeal. It’s soft, moist, and rich, but not at all gooey. Some people also mistakenly think baked oats are crunchy, but they’re not.
Try these other baked oatmeal flavors: Pumpkin Pie Baked Oatmeal, Oatmeal Cookie Baked Oatmeal, or Blueberry Banana Baked Oatmeal.
How to Store the Leftovers
This recipe makes a pretty big batch, so you’ll want to save the leftovers to eat throughout the week. Make sure to refrigerate your baked oatmeal soon after cooking. I like to divide my baked oatmeal into single servings right after baking, then refrigerate them in individual containers. Once chilled, you can keep the baked oatmeal in the refrigerator for about 5 days, or freeze for about 3 months.
How to Serve Banana Bread Baked Oatmeal
Baked oatmeal can be eaten hot OR cold. You can eat it as-is, or pour cold milk over top. And, if you like things a little sweeter, you can drizzle a little maple syrup over top.
Can I Use Steel Cut Oats?
You can not substitute steel cut oats in this recipe without making other changes because steel cut oats require a lot more moisture and a longer cooking time than rolled oats. While it may be possible to tweak it to make it work, I have not tested this method so I can not offer suggestions for that particular substitution.
Banana Bread Baked Oatmeal
Servings 6Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups mashed banana (about 3 bananas) ($0.63)
- 1/3 cup brown sugar ($0.12)
- 2 large eggs ($0.46)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract ($0.15)
- 1 tsp baking powder ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg ($0.02)
- 2 cups milk ($0.75)
- 2 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats ($0.45)
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts ($0.60)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Mash the bananas well with a fork (you'll need 1.5 cups).
- Add the mashed bananas to a large bowl along with the brown sugar, eggs, salt, vanilla, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Whisk until the ingredients are combined.
- Add the milk and whisk until combined again.
- Finally, stir in the rolled oats and chopped walnuts.
- Pour the oat mixture into a 9×9-inch casserole dish and transfer to the preheated oven. Bake for 45 minutes, or until it is golden brown on top and around the edges.
- Serve warm or refrigerate and enjoy cold!
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Equipment
- Liquid Measuring Cup
- Whisk
- Measuring Cups Spoons
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Video
You might also like my Yogurt Banana Bread recipe!
How to Make Banana Bread Baked Oatmeal – Step By Step Photos
Preheat the oven to 375ºF. You’ll need 1.5 cups mashed bananas, which is about three bananas. I like to mash my bananas right in a liquid measuring cup so I can see the volume on the side.
Add the mashed bananas to a large bowl along with ⅓ cup brown sugar, 2 large eggs, ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp vanilla extract, 1 tsp baking powder, ¼ tsp cinnamon, and ⅛ tsp nutmeg. Whisk the ingredients together until they’re evenly combined.
Add 2 cups milk and whisk to combine again. It’s easier to whisk in the milk after the other ingredients have been combined because it causes less splashing.
Finally, stir in 2.5 cups rolled oats and ½ cup chopped walnuts.
Pour the oat mixture into a 9×9-inch casserole dish.
Bake the oatmeal in the preheated 375ºF for 45 minutes, or until it’s golden brown on top and around the edges.
Serve the banana bread baked oatmeal immediately, or divide into six portions and refrigerate for later!
Serve hot or cold, alone or topped with milk.
I’ve been eating oatmeal with blueberries and bananas everyday for a while and figured I’d try and adapt that into this recipe, turned out even better than my normal oatmeal.
I cut the brown sugar to just 1/2 tsp and took out the nutmeg, vanilla extract and walnuts. I added 2 scoops of vanilla protein powder and 2 handfuls of blueberries. I’ll definitely make this again.
Really enjoyed this recipe, this is going to be great for breakfast. I cut them into squares and freeze them for the next week or two. I also added in chia seeds.
Thank you for this lovely recipe
I love this recipe. I use cut cashews (unsalted) instead of walnuts. I freeze it and take it out to the fridge the night before. On cold days (November to June here in my part of Canada) or on damp days,, it is great warmed up in the microwave or on our gas stove top with constant stirring, otherwise cold. I have to admit. I use a lite cream to make it and then top it with blueberries and cream when I serve it. My wife has Alzheimer’s so this extra bulk calorie really helps.
Really tasty! I stumbled on this recipe when looking for an alternative to granola (since I was out of almonds). This actually worked out well for us because: I had a ton of frozen bananas in the freezer that needed using up, I can’t stand cooking oatmeal in the summer – which our 5 year old loves and I’d love our 1 year old to eat more of…The 1 year old cannot have eggs though due to allergy. I substituted the eggs with a chia substitute and reduced the sugar to a bit less than 1/4 a cup – and it still turned out fantastic. And breakfast for the week – on a budget. Cheers.
Can you substitute quick oats?
Hi Mia, Beth used “old fashioned rolled oats”. They’re bigger pieces than most “quick oats”, but they still cook in about 1-2 minutes in the microwave. The rolled oats give the final product more texture than regular “quick oats”. Using quick oats will give you a softer, more uniform texture. Some people have used quick oats for this recipe and still liked it, but I guess that’s subjective. :)
I’ve noticed that a lot of recipes out there currently call for a 9X9 baking pan. I have two 8×8 baking pans and have been having a difficult time finding an affordable 9×9 pan.
Will this recipe work in an 8×8 pan? Or can you recommend a good 9×9 pan?
Thanks!
Yes it will just be a little thicker. You’ll be just fine though!
I’ve been making this recipe consistently ever since you posted it the first time. I use almond milk because that’s what we drink, and omit the sugar and nuts to make it simpler. I make smaller servings (9 instead of 6) and eat them warm with cold Greek yogurt on top. It freezes great, and it’s a great way to use up old bananas. This is by far the budget bytes recipe that I’ve made the most, and I’ve made a lot of them!
I made this today and it was so good!! With quarantine we’ve been trying to be more responsible about food waste and I had four bananas and a couple cups of milk that needed to be used up. We had everything else already, so we just whipped it up! I didn’t have the exact right size pan, so it was a little deeper and took a bit longer to bake, but it is yummy! It was so good and comforting, and a nice change from regular banana bread. I usually eat baked oatmeal hot with extra milk on top, but this was so creamy and yummy I didn’t even feel like I needed any milk. Looking forward to leftovers for breakfast tomorrow!
Do you think I could cut the eggs and add more bananas or maybe replace the eggs with aquafaba?
I haven’t tried it with those methods, but my guess is that it would just be a bit softer and not quite as solid without the egg, or with aquafaba as a replacer. It’s hard to say without actually testing it, though! :)
Have you tried this with steel cut oats? I”m out of rolled oats and would like to use up what I have!
Unfortunately it would have to be modified quite a bit to work with steel cut because they take longer to cook and require a lot more moisture.
Shanna, I’ve made a few different recipes of Budget Bytes’ baked oatmeal and I always use half steel-cut, half rolled oats; I measure out how much of the steel cut that I need and soak them overnight, then drain, rinse, and use with the other ingredients the next day. The pre-soaking helps cut down the cooking time and gives it the extra moisture required. I like the difference in textures between the steel-cut and rolled oats, but I recognize that this may not work for everyone’s preferences. I hope this is helpful!
Shanna, I bet if you par cooked the steel cut oats it’d work. I really like Misha’s suggestion too!
Any idea what this might be like frozen? I’d love to try it for some meal prep!
Yep, I freeze my baked oatmeal all the time. :) I just divide it into single servings and put each one in those blue top Ziploc resealable containers.
If I leave out the nuts, will I have to make any adjustment to the recipe?
No need to adjust :)
Hi! I’ve made a few of your other baked oatmeal recipes and loved them. I noticed that the other recipes call for baking powder only while this one requires baking soda as well. Is there a particular reason that that? Would I be fine with just one tsp baking powder? Thanks!
This is an older recipe so I’ve since found that using baking powder works just fine. :)
I am not a fan of oatmeal, the exception are those super sugary apple-cinnamon oatmeal packets. But they are not healthy, so I avoid it. I keep trying homemade oatmeal recipes and I never like them. This recipe looked delicious but I was scared I wouldn’t like it, so I halved the recipe and used a loaf pan. IT WAS DELICIOUS. I never thought I’d enjoy oatmeal, thank you for this recipe!
I used quick cooking oats because that was what I had on had, and it was still good! I also doubled the cinnamon, and replaced the nutmeg with cardamom powder because I ran out of nutmeg :/ it was still super delicious though! I also reduced the sugar by ~1/2 tablespoon for the half recipe (or ~1 tablespoon for the full recipe) and it was very sweet, like dessert (which is great!). But next time I’ll reduce the sugar even more. I now feel more confident to try the other baked oatmeal recipes on this site. Honestly, I have enjoyed every recipe I’ve tried on this site, and that’s never happened to me with any other site. Thank you so much Beth!
I added flaxseed meal on top about halfway through baking time and it made the most perfect crispy layer! You never disappoint, Beth <3
Oooh, I’ve never tried using flax as a crispy topping. I need to try that! That’s for that awesome inspo!