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!
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!
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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.
This was fantastic as is, then I made one and subbed applesauce in for the mashed bananas and added chopped apple. Yum!! Keep ’em comin’!
I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to comment on this recipe. I have made this every week for the past 4 weeks (not even kidding) to have for breakfast during the week. I typically get about 6 servings out of it, because I like a big breakfast. It is warm, comforting and delicious! I finally got my husband (who is also not into oatmeal, or really breakfast for that matter) to try a bite and caught him dipping his spoon in again for more! A keeper!
I made this yesterday and had a bowl full of it this morning for breakfast! Soooo yummy! I had my husband try it (he’s not a huge oatmeal fan) and he loved it! I will definitely be making this in the future. I put some raisins into the recipe and I am excited to experiment more with it in the future. Thanks Beth for a great breakfast!
goodness – I hate to put a damper on the party but mine just didn’t come out too great. Was not very sweet and overall just bland tasting. I may try a few tweaks and make again as the consistency is nice and worth experimenting with. I’ll be trying many of your other recipes this months – already in the meal plan!
Anon – it most definitely needs to be refrigerated :)
I have this in my oven right now! It smells good and I’m sure my daughters will love it in the morning.
This recipe is incredible! I love oatmeal but I never have time to make it in the morning. I halved the recipe (because 8 servings of baked oatmeal is a lot for one person) and it came out perfect!
Can this sit out overnight (having been baked) so that it’s room temp or must it be refrigerated?
Wondering if anyone has tried this with SOYmilk? I made it the first time with regular whole milk and it was delish… but I’m low on milk and wondering if soymilk would change the recipe?
This is my Favorite baked oatmeal recipe!! Thank you!!
You are truly amazing with the yummy recipes. I recently found your website and have shared the goodness with my friends. We each made one of your backed oatmeal recipes in muffins tins so we could all share and try them all. Now I make my favorite (this one) in muffin tins once a week and have easy mobile breakfasts every day of the week.
Yum! Thank you so much for this recipe! It turned out great. Today I’m making the pumpkin pie oatmeal. Mmmm!
Michelle – I’ve been wanting to make the autumn fruit and nut into a baked version as well. I think that if you replace the mashed banana with apple sauce it might work! And then I’d add some chopped apples, cranberries, nuts, and bake as usual :)
I absolutely love this recipe. I’m lactose intolerant, so I used Vanilla Almond milk which was entirely too sweet when I made it the first time, but when I made it the second time, I cut out the vanilla flavoring and brown sugar and it was delicious. I used vanilla almond milk when reheating so taking some of the sugar out of the dish really helped! I love the Autumn Fruit and Nut Oatmeal. Do you have a recipe for it in baked form? Can I just substitute apple for banana in this recipe and add the cranberries?
I halved this recipe and ate the dish in two sittings.. Out of this world Beth! You are onto something good with this baked oatmeal idea. Keep throwing out the variations.