I really can’t get enough of baked oatmeal. It’s great for meal prepping my breakfast, it’s hearty, delicious, and there are endless flavor possibilities. This time I made use of a couple ingredients that have been lingering in my kitchen: frozen bananas and unsweetened shredded coconut. I tossed the two together with the usual ingredients, subbed rich coconut milk for the dairy milk, and ended up with an ultra rich, lightly sweet Banana Coconut Baked Oatmeal. This one is a winner, friends!
What Is Baked Oatmeal?
If you’ve never tried baked oatmeal before, let me explain a little bit what this wonderful breakfast dish is like. This sweet breakfast casserole is not crunchy. It’s basically oats baked in a custard. It is just like bread pudding, except you’re baking oats in the sweet custard mixture instead of chunks of bread. It’s soft, moist, and rich.
Save Those Leftover Bananas!
Banana bread is the most common use for leftover bananas, but they’re also great for making baked oatmeal! Mashed banana keeps the baked oatmeal soft, moist, and sweet. So, anytime you have leftover bananas, go ahead and peel them and then toss the peeled bananas into a freezer bag and save them until you have enough to make a batch of this banana coconut baked oatmeal (or banana bread baked oatmeal).
What Kind of Coconut Milk is Best?
Make sure that you get canned coconut milk for this recipe, not the type of coconut milk that is sold in a carton as an alternative to dairy milk. Canned coconut milk is much thicker and has a much stronger coconut flavor than the boxed dairy milk substitute. I used Goya brand, but Thai Kitchen brand is also a great choice. If the coconut milk you buy has a large chunk of solid coconut cream on top, make sure to whisk that into the liquid part well before trying to stir it into the baked oatmeal mixture.
Banana Coconut Baked Oatmeal
Servings 6Ingredients
- 1.5 cups mashed ripe bananas* ($0.68)
- 1 large egg ($0.27)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar ($0.08)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla ($0.14)
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg ($0.05)
- 1 tsp baking powder ($0.06)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.03)
- 1/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut ($0.31)
- 1 13.5oz. can coconut milk ($2.17)
- 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats ($0.51)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Coat the inside of a 2-3 quart casserole dish with non-stick spray.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the mashed bananas, egg, brown sugar, vanilla, nutmeg, baking powder, salt, and shredded coconut until evenly combined. Add the coconut milk and whisk until smooth again. Add the rolled oats and stir with a spoon until combined.
- Pour the oat mixture into the prepared casserole dish and bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes. Serve warm or refrigerate until ready to eat. Pairs well with cold milk poured over top.
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Notes
Nutrition
Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Banana Coconut Baked Oatmeal – Step by Step Photos
These are my sad frozen bananas that were getting a bit old. To freeze them I first peel the banana, break it in half (because it fits in the blender easier that way), wrap each half in a fold-top sandwich bag, then store them all in a freezer bag. These were getting quite brown, so I decided to thaw them and use them in this recipe. You need about 1.5 cups mashed bananas, which will be 2-3 larger bananas, or 3-4 smaller bananas. If you have slightly less than 1.5 cups, you can make up the difference with apple sauce or even yogurt.
Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Place the mashed bananas in a large bowl along with one large egg, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp baking powder, and 1/2 tsp salt. Whisk until the ingredients are evenly combined.
Add one 13.5oz. can of coconut milk and whisk again until smooth.
At that point it will look a little something like this. The color will depend on how dark your bananas were (mine were quite dark).
Add three cups of old-fashioned rolled oats and stir with a spoon until everything is evenly combined. Old-fashioned, or “thick” rolled oats, give the best texture. Quick oats will work, but the overall texture of the final product will be uniform and probably quite a bit more mushy. Steel cut oats won’t work with this recipe because they take longer to cook and require more moisture.
Pour the batter into a 2-3 quart casserole dish (coat with non-stick spray for easy cleanup).
Bake the oatmeal in the fully preheated oven, uncovered, for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes it should be lightly browned on top and slightly spongy in texture.
Spoon the warm Banana Coconut Baked Oatmeal into bowls and serve immediately, or refrigerate until ready to eat. I like to pour cold milk over mine. :)
The shredded coconut gives the oatmeal such a great texture!
this was delicious
Have you ever used Steel Cut Oats in any of your baked oatmeals? I’m wondering if they would need more liquid and/or cooking time.
I haven’t tried it but I assume it wouldn’t work without altering the recipe quite a bit. Steel cut oats take a LOT longer to cook than rolled oats and they need quite a bit more moisture. :(
how can I skip the egg
You can leave it out, but you’ll just have a different end texture. It will be slightly less solid and a little closer to regular oatmeal (but not as wet).
Can you taste the add or does it just hold the oatmeal together?
That should be taste the “egg”!
You can’t taste it, it just helps solidify the oats. :)
Smells GREAT while cooking and tastes even better. Thank you!!
look so yummy, good ideal for breakfast :D
I made this last night… it is so good. Thank you for another great recipe. I always have a stash of bananas in the freezer. I put them on wax paper on a cookie sheet to freeze for a few hours to freeze individually, then put them in big freezer bag or Tupperware until I’m ready to use them. I used to individual wrap the bananas but there was no value added to it for me. Thanks again for the awesome recipe!
This looks wonderful. What would you substitute for nutmeg in this recipe? Nutmeg is not a favorite spice in my family.
Hmm, I guess cinnamon wouldn’t be that bad, but I personally like the nutmeg with the coconut much better. :)
This looks so flavorful and easy. Now that the semester is starting, I’m looking for make ahead breakfast options. Plus, banana coconut sounds divine.
Ohhhh this looks so yummy and flavourful! Definitely not a boring breakfast :)
This looks great! I have loved your baked oatmeals in the past! Bananas and coconut are some of my favorite things. :)
What do you think would be the best way to make this without egg? I was thinking of maybe just adding more banana..
I think you could just leave it out and it will just make the final texture a little less solid. :)
Very good. I made a batch of this last night and filled the freezer for the rest of the week for a quick breakfast! Thanks for all that you do Beth, you help us out keeping our food cost lower with great meals for a family of 5!
Do you think you can use almond milk? I love your recipes. Thanks
You can, but you’ll lose a lot of that rich coconutty flavor. :)
Mmmm definitely pinning this for later! I looooooove bananas. And coconut! My freezer is always full of bananas (I don’t think I ever make a smoothie without one!) That being said, if you want to save on the cost (and environment!) of the baggies, I throw all my unpeeled bananas (also broken in half) into Tupperware containers. Bananas don’t freeze into a hard mass when touching eachother (like chicken breasts, for example, do) and so the pieces easily break off of eachother! :) :)
Interesting! I’m going to try that!
If you do get the full fat coconut milk, put the can in the fridge over night. Then you can scoop the cream off the top and whip it up into a whipped topping, which would be great on this.