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!
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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
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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.
In the oven now. So excited. How long should it stay good for? Leftovers can be frozen, right?
Turned out great! Thanks!
How long would you store this in the Fridge before you have to throw it out? Thanks, Katie my email is katiejudd@comcast.net I’m not sure if I will see your answer.
Beth–I saw this on Pinterest!!! You’re so legit now, I can’t believe how far you’ve come! :) Can’t wait to make this!
dina – I’ve heard of people doing steel cut oats in the slow cooker… I bet you could mix this up with steel cut and then just pop it in the slow cooker!
anon – You can use frozen bananas. Just make sure they’re well thawed before you mash ’em :)
Can you use frozen bananas?
steel cut oats would probably take forever to bake, if regular oats are taking an hour.
this still sounds really tasty, though.
I haven’t actually sat down to eat this yet, but the ‘taste testing’ has deemed it a success! I was out of walnuts, so I added craisins for an extra punch of flavor. YUM!
I must have this for breakfast ASAP! I’ll substitute raisins and maybe dried cranberries for the walnuts (kiddo has a nut allergy) and I think it will be fantastic!
Melissa – I think that sounds like a natural win!
I love the baked pumpkin oatmeal as does my youngest. My oldest doesn’t care for oatmeal but loves banana bread so I had her make this version. It is in the oven as I speak.
The trend I see with these two makes me think that an applesauce version should be quite similar – maybe slightly less milk and adjust the spices (or use the apple pie spice I got free from Penzey’s) – what do you think?
I’m buying bananas just so they’ll go brown and I can do this next weekend. For some reason, when I yelled down the hall to my husband that I had a new baked oatmeal recipe to try out… he didn’t get as I excited as I did. Maybe it’s because he knows there’s a pumpkin baked oatmeal in the freezer?
I made this friday – and it is amazing! Thank you again for posting!
I’m with Megan, it’s yummy, but it baked for about 1 hour and 15 minutes before it got firm.
I made and enjoyed the banana oatmeal this morning. It took over an hour for the middle to firm up enough, but turned out great. We topped it with homemade vanilla yogurt, delicious! My picky eater even asked for seconds! Thanks for a great recipe!