I’ve tried making a Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal a few times in the past, but I’ve never gotten it quite right until today. It has been a long time in the making, so I’m very excited to finally add the Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal to my baked oatmeal collection. This version is packed with carrots and is only faintly sweet, with the occasional pop of sweetness from the raisins and cheesecake-inspired topping. So, when I say “Carrot Cake” Baked Oatmeal, please know that it’s a little figurative. This is breakfast that is reminiscent of carrot cake, not a dessert for breakfast. But if you do want a sweeter dessert-like oatmeal, you can simply increase the brown sugar to about 1/2 cup or more.
What is Baked Oatmeal?
If you’ve never tried one of my baked oatmeal recipes, let me describe the texture for you. While the outer edges may get a little brown or crispy, the majority of the oatmeal is soft and moist, almost like a custard soaked oatmeal. Think bread pudding, but with thick oats instead of soft bread. And speaking of “thick oats” I do suggest using old-fashioned roll oats for this because they have such wonderful texture. People often ask if they can use instant oats, but this recipe is designed for old-fashioned rolled oats. Using instant oats will definitely change the texture and may throw off the moisture level since they absorb liquid differently than the thicker old-fashioned oats.
How to Serve Baked Oatmeal
Baked oatmeal is wonderfully versatile because it can be eaten hot out of the oven, chilled from the refrigerator, or reheated. I like to pour cold milk over top of the heated oatmeal for a nice temperature contrast. This is a great dish to prepare Sunday night so you can have a quick breakfast to reheat throughout the week. It will keep for about 4-5 days in the refrigerator, or can be frozen.
Want more Baked Oatmeal Recipes? Try Peanut Butter Brownie Baked Oatmeal, Sweet Potato Casserole Baked Oatmeal, Oatmeal Cookie Baked Oatmeal, or Blueberry Banana Baked Oatmeal.
Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal
Servings 6Ingredients
- 1 lb. carrots ($0.89)
- 2 large eggs ($0.54)
- 1/3 cup brown sugar ($0.08)
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg ($0.03)
- 1 tsp baking powder ($0.06)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.03)
- 2 cups milk ($0.75)
- 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats ($0.51)
- 1/3 cup chopped walnuts* ($0.53)
- 1/3 cup raisins* ($0.57)
Cream Cheese Topping
- 4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature ($0.60)
- 1 large egg yolk ($0.27)
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract ($0.21)
- 1 tsp lemon juice ($0.02)
- 2 Tbsp sugar ($0.02)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Peel or scrub the carrots, then slice them into rounds. Boil or steam the carrots until they are extremely soft (I steamed for 15 minutes, but this will depend on the size of your carrots).
- Place the cooked carrots in a large bowl and mash with a potato masher. Add the eggs, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, and salt. Whisk these ingredients together until well combined.
- Add the milk to the bowl and whisk until combined again. Finally, add the rolled oats, walnuts, and raisins and stir with a large spoon until combined. Pour the oat mixture into a 3 quart casserole dish coated with non-stick spray.
- In a separate small bowl, combine the cream cheese, egg yolk, vanilla, lemon juice, and sugar. Whisk or stir with a fork until smooth. If needed, microwave for 15 seconds to slightly warm the cream cheese mixture so it is slightly more fluid, then drizzle it over the oat mixture in the casserole dish.
- Bake the Carrot Cake Oatmeal for 45 minutes, or until the cream cheese mixture is slightly golden brown on top. Serve immediately, or divide into single portions, then refrigerate.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
How to Make carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal – Step by Step Photos
Preheat your oven to 375ºF. Peel or scrub one pound of carrots, then slice them. Either boil or steam the carrots until they are VERY soft. I steamed my carrots in about 1-inch of water for about 15 minutes, but if your carrots are larger around, they may take longer to get to the point where they are soft enough to mash.
Place the cooked carrots in a large bowl and mash them with a potato masher.
Next, add 2 large eggs, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg, 1 tsp baking powder, and 1/2 tsp salt. Whisk these ingredients together until smooth.
Whisk in 2 cups of milk until combined, then add 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats, 1/3 cup chopped walnuts, and 1/3 cup raisins. The walnuts and raisins are optional. I actually forgot to add them this time because I was too busy following a Facebook discussion about bad drivers, so I ended up adding them to my bowl just before eating, which is another option.
Next, in a separate small bowl, combine 4 oz. room temperature cream cheese, 1 large egg yolk, 1/4 tsp vanilla extract, 1 tsp lemon juice, and 2 Tbsp sugar. Stir them together until smooth. This is basically a mini-batch of cheesecake, FYI. ;)
Spread the oat mixture into a 3 quart casserole dish that has been coated in non-stick spray. Press it down so that all the oats are as close to being in the liquid as possible. Warm the cream cheese topping, if needed, to make it pourable, then drizzle it over the oats (I microwaved it for 15 seconds. Just be careful not to COOK it in the microwave).
Bake the oatmeal for 45 minutes, or until the outer edges are a little brown and the cream cheese topping is golden brown.
Serve the Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal immediately, or divide into single portions and refrigerate until you’re ready to eat.
I like to pour a little cold milk over my hot Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal to get a nice temperature contrast. You can eat this oatmeal cold or hot!
this is really a healthy recipe that you have shared with us. i would love to add this recipe in my morning breakfast.
About how much mashed cooked carrots do you end up with? I’m thinking I want to do this with canned pumpkin as well but I have no idea how much to use!
Unfortunately it looks like I didn’t measure the volume, but I do have a Pumpkin Pie Baked Oatmeal recipe that uses one 15oz. can, and a Sweet Potato Casserole Baked Oatmeal that uses 2 cups mashed sweet potato, so either of those might be a good template for you to use. :)
Wonder if you think this would be any good without the cream cheese topping? I don’t like to eat dairy much and would replace the milk with almond milk. Thoughts on it without the yummy topping?
Yes, I think it will still be pretty good. :)
I’ve been obsessed with all the baked oatmeal recipes of yours that I’ve tried so far and am excited to try this one. I’m curious, do you have any idea on the nutritional facts or calorie count for these recipes by chance?
No, I’m sorry I do not have the nutritional information. You can read more about why I do not display nutrition info in my FAQs.
Oh my god, this is good. Just took it out of the oven, and I can’t stop sneaking bites while it cools. My 9-year-old also loves it, and is very excited for supper!
I did the 1/2 cup of brown sugar, and it’s just sweet enough. Thanks for the wonderful recipe!
I appreciate that you keep the sugar low in your baked oatmeal recipes, but I wonder if you’ve ever tried a flat out savory version? Like maybe ham and cheese or a small fish and kale or a curry version or something?
I’ve only made one of your baked oatmeal recipes, so I don’t have a good sense of what kind of moisture and holding requirements you’d have to work through.
Hmm, I haven’t though about a savory version! Sounds like a strata made with oats instead of bread! It would be a little tricky, since I usually depend on mashed or puréed fruit for moisture and texture purposes in the oats, but I suppose you could use something like plain yogurt?
Yes, and you could lean towards wet vegetables like tomatoes, wilted greens, zucchini and summer squash.
Made it yesterday, and so far it’s quite a delicious breakfast ❤ I vehemently hate raisins and didn’t have any walnuts BUT I did have some dried cranberries and pecans, so not only I used them up, but also got (imho) an upgraded version. Win !
Do you think I could make this overnight in a slow cooker if I increased the liquid amount? I’ve made “baked” oats like these in it before and this seems like a delicious flavor I’d like to try. Saves me on time in the morning ;)
Honestly I’ve never tried to make a baked dish like this in a slow cooker before. :) But if you’ve made baked oats in a slow cooker before and it turned out well, it’s definitely worth a shot!
How did you get such low prices for walnuts and creamcheese? Walnuts for the amount you gave were 1.10 for me and 4 Oz creamcheese was 1.25. Are you buying in bulk? Or live in a small city?
I live in Nashville now and am lucky to be near an Aldi store, which has incredible prices. If you don’t have access to an Aldi store, walnuts are often less expensive if you can get them from a bulk bin, rather than pre-packaged, and for cream cheese I always buy the generic brand, and sometimes it’s on sale. Prices in cities do vary, as you mentioned, and prices definitely change over time, so I find that looking at the relationship between the ingredient prices is more valuable than looking at the actual price itself.
I’m interested how you’re getting .50 for 1/3 cup walnuts and .60 for 4 oz creamcheese? It was about 1.10 for that amount of walnuts and 1.24 for 4 oz creamcheese for me. Are you buying in bulk?
This was great! I didn’t have raisins so I did increase the brown sugar to a 1/2 cup and I thought the sweetness was perfect. I also didn’t have cream cheese so I subbed nonfat greek yogurt for the topping and that worked really well. All of the kids like it as well as my husband and I. This counts as getting them to eat veggies right? ;)
I have been making your baked oatmeals for a looong time, and although they’re all pretty good, this is the first true rival for funky monkey that I’ve come across. Well done, Beth, well done.
Just made this for my breakfasts for the rest of the week. Turned out pretty nice- I wouldn’t say it tastes like carrot cake, but it’s still pretty good! It has enough heartiness to keep you full for a while and a good contrast between the carrot oatmeal and the sweeter cream cheese topping. Make sure to reheat any leftovers you eat, it’s definitely better hot.
For anyone curious I prepped this at night and refrigerated the wet ingredients and the topping (separately) and in the morning mixed in the dry ingredients and topped with cream cheese mixture. It turned out great and even the leftovers were good! Any idea if this freezes well?
I wonder if I could put this together in the evening and bake it in the morning? Or would the oats soak up too much liquid?
They definitely will soak up the liquid, but that might not be a bad thing. :) I haven’t tried it this way, though, so I’m not sure how it will turn out.