It’s been fooooorever since I’ve made baked oatmeal! I’ve been craving that peanut butter and chocolate lately, so instead of making a full blown dessert, I decided to work those flavors into a breakfast-worthy baked oatmeal. This Peanut Butter Brownie Baked Oatmeal is super rich and delicious without being overly sweet. In fact, it only has 1/4 cup brown sugar for the entire dish! The rest of the sweetness comes from mashed bananas, which also keep the baked oatmeal nice and moist. I like to keep my baked oatmeals with just a light kiss of sweetness, so if you’re looking for something more on the dessert level, consider doubling the sugar.
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What is Baked Oatmeal?
If you’re new to the baked oatmeal club, let me say first that the texture is not crunchy like granola (a common misconception when looking at the photos). It’s a moist semi-solid, similar to bread pudding. Baked oatmeal makes a great reheatable breakfast for the week and it even freezes great if you just want a portion once in a while. You can eat it cold, warmed up, or with a splash of milk over top. It’s totally up to you. It does need to be refrigerated after baking, though.
Remember how cocoa puffs would turn the milk in the bottom of your bowl into chocolate milk? This kinda does that. :D Hello childhood!
Can I Substitute the Banana?
While I haven’t tried any substitutes for the banana in this particular recipe, I do make other baked oatmeal recipes with applesauce or yogurt instead. My first choice here would probably be yogurt because the dairy will most likely pair well with the chocolate.
Peanut Butter Brownie Baked Oatmeal
Servings 6Ingredients
- 1.5 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium bananas) ($0.68)
- 1 large egg ($0.27)
- 1/4 cup natural peanut butter ($0.31)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar ($0.04)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract ($0.28)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1 tsp baking powder ($0.06)
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon ($0.05)
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder ($0.29)
- 2 cups whole milk ($1.12)
- 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats* ($0.50)
- 2 Tbsp natural peanut butter (for topping) ($0.15)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF.
- Mash the bananas well, then place them in a large mixing bowl along with the egg, peanut butter, brown sugar, vanilla, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and cocoa powder. Whisk until the mixture is mostly smooth (there may be small pieces of banana).
- Add the milk to the chocolate banana mixture, and then whisk until smooth again. Add the dry rolled oats and then stir until combined.
- Pour the oat mixture into a 2-3 quart casserole dish coated with non-stick spray. Drizzle the remaining 2 Tbsp peanut butter over the oats and drag a knife through to create swirls. If needed, warm the peanut butter slightly to make it runny enough to drizzle over the oats.
- Bake the oats in the preheated oven for 45 minutes. Serve warm, or refrigerate until ready to eat.
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Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Peanut Butter Brownie Baked Oatmeal – Step by Step Photos
Begin by preheating the oven to 375ºF. Mash 3 to 4 bananas until you have 1.5 cups of banana mash.
Place the mashed banana in a large mixing bowl along with 1 large egg, 1/4 cup natural peanut butter, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking powder, and 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Whisk these ingredients together until they’re fairly smooth.
Add 2 cups whole milk to the mixture and whisk until smooth again. You may have some small chunks of banana and that’s okay.
Finally, stir 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats into the batter until everything is well combined.
Pour the oat mixture into a 2-3 quart casserole dish coated with non-stick spray. Drizzle 2 Tbsp more natural peanut butter over the oat mixture. You may need to warm the peanut butter to get it runny enough to drizzle.
I like to drizzle it in thin lines going horizontally, then drag a knife in the opposite direction a few times to create subtle swirls. Bake the oatmeal in the preheated oven for 45 minutes.
After 45 minutes the Peanut Butter Brownie Baked Oatmeal will look a little more like this and your house will smell AMAZING. Now you can dig in, or refrigerate it for later.
Baked oatmeal is actually really good both warm AND cold.
But my favorite way to eat it is warmed with cold milk poured over top. :)
I’ve made this many times since I found it and it’s excellent — it has far less sugar than a lot of the baked oatmeal recipes. Personally I think it’s much better when it has been allowed to chill in the fridge (you can then just microwave it). I make it one of those standard size brownie glass pans and cut it into 6 servings.
Hi , I wanted to ask if you can freeze? This recipe was delicious||
Definitely!
Instead of buying non-stick spray, I just drizzle a little cooking oil in the bottom of the baking dish and spread it around with my fingers. Wash my hands and good to go.
Just sharing in case anyone doesn’t have or can’t afford spray.
Wondering if I can use Oat/Almond milk in this recipe?
That will probably work fine, but it might end up tasking a bit more like dark chocolate rather than milk chocolate. :)
I can’t comb through all 100+ comments but wanted to ask if you can skip the peanut butter since I detest peanut butter. I hope it does not affect the end result of the overall brownie. If so, is there a sub or should I change up the ratio of other ingredients if I omit the 1/4 cup natural peanut butter? (If you can revise in your original direction as a note that would be helpful). Thanks! :)
Sure, you can just skip adding the peanut butter on top if you’d like. :) Since it’s just a topping, that won’t affect the oats themselves.
Super delicious once again! I didn’t have whole milk so I used 1% and subbed a half a cup of yogurt in for richness. Would definitely make it again and I served it to friends who liked it too! With some vanilla greek yogurt it was like having a brownie sundae for breakfast! :P
Going to try your other baked oatmeals soon!
Hello! This sounds amazing, but I simply cannot stand bananas. What could I swap for bananas to make this? Thanks so much!
In some of my baked oatmeal recipes I use applesauce or yogurt rather than bananas, but I haven’t tried either of them in this recipe to see how much it will alter the flavor and texture.
An apotheosis of perfection!
Absolutely stunned by how good this is—and how simple to make.
Definitely going to be trying your other baked oatmeal dishes. So perfect for meal prep and the cold weather that is coming.
Thank you for sharing this.
I’m allergic to bananas. What can I sub in?
I would try yogurt.
This is my first experience with baked oatmeal. The idea of heating it up and topping it with milk seemed odd to me, but I tried it. Wow! Absolutely love this and will make it many more times. Thank you so very much for the recipe and introducing me to a new and delightful breakfast option!!
Could you use oat milk instead of whole milk? Or would it but set properly?
Yes, I think oat milk would work fine here. :)
I always make these baked oatmeals with either oat or almond milk and they are always perfect!
Could you freeze this??
Yep!
AMAZING! I used almond butter and it was so yummy. I didnt add the brown sugar, only used two bananas, and ended up using pb powder because I ran out of almond butter. Tastes like a brownie ah!
I bought a big ass bag of quick rolled oats, can I use quick rolled oats for this and your other backed oatmeal recipes? Should the cooking time or liquid be adjusted?
Thanks!
Quick oats have a lot less texture than old-fashioned rolled oats, so while you can use them you’ll end up with a mushier end product.
This was my first go at a baked oatmeal, something I’m wholly unfamiliar with.
I was looking for something to use some bananas I had received in a food box by mistake, so set I was to not waste food, and this was the recipe I chose. I preface this with the statement that I absolutely detest bananas and find their smell and taste noisome.
I was surprised when this was done that the three whole bananas that I mashed up and put in this were undetectable, and the oatmeal was enjoyable. :)
Excellent! I’ve tried several of your baked oatmeal recipes and this is top 3.
What are the top 3 ?
I want to know the top 3 as well.
My boys are obsessed with pb&j, so I’m adapting this to make pb&j baked oatmeal! I doubled the PB and left out cocoa. Then I swirled PB and strawberry jam through the top before baking. I’ll come back to report how it turns out👍🏻
It was delicious, and so pretty with the peanut butter and jam swirled on top…wish I could post a pic! I just left out the cocoa and doubled the peanut butter👍🏻
that sounds amazing Danie! definitely want to try that out too :)
I just made this for the first time and it certainly won’t be the last. So good!
This recipe sounds amazing! Have you ever mixed the ingredients together the night before and baked in the morning? Any tips or alterations?
We have not done that and therefore can’t offer guidance. XOXO -Monti
My 10 year old daughter loved helping me mix all the ingredients! Delicious and will be easy to reheat for school mornings!
Love it when the kids can help and even make it themselves!
Hi Beth, I had some trouble with this one! I accidentally left out the vanilla and found the end result didn’t taste much like chocolate or peanut butter or anything really. A warmed up serving was kind of crumbly as well as opposed to more custardy or cakey like the other baked oatmeals. Is that all related to the absence of vanilla or did I do something else wrong? Any advice for ways to “fix” if you accidentally leave out vanilla in recipes like this?
I also used regular peanut butter because it’s all I had. I was ready to not taste the PB as much in the finished prodcut since the recipe says natural PB is best, but I thought it would still turn out otherwise. Thanks for any insight!
p.s. I just remembered, I also used fat-free milk because it’s what I had instead of whole milk. That might have been an issue too?
Hi Priya, Yes, it definitely sounds like something is off. It shouldn’t be anywhere near crumbly. :P Skipping the vanilla wouldn’t have affected the texture, and using fat free milk or regular peanut butter shouldn’t have affected it *that* much. So my only guess is that somehow something else got measured wrong or another ingredient accidentally skipped without you realizing it (it happens to everyone now and then!). The fact that it was crumbly and not custard-like makes me think there was a lot less liquid than there should have been, or perhaps a different type of oats were used? Unfortunately without being there to watch the process it’s hard to say what exactly could have gone wrong. I don’t think there is much you can do in the way of fixing it now, except to maybe add some extra toppings to make it more flavorful!
It works if using vegan milk, like oatmeal milk ?
the quantity of bananas, is a cup and a half ?
yum! I changed a few things just because of dietary preference (oatmilk instead of regular and honey in place of brown sugar). So good! I did forget to drizzle on on the top but I didn’t miss it at all. Thanks for as great recipe
Just made this yesterday, and I’ve eaten it as a night time snack twice and breakfast once. It’s delicious!! I substituted the whole milk for cashew milk and it turned out just fine. It’s really good with a little cashew milk poured on top. I couldn’t get the natural peanut butter to become the right consistency to pour on top. It just kind of crumbed. But still 10 out of 10! I can’t wait to try other oatmeal bakes. I love oatmeal, and baking it is so much easier than having it explode in the microwave. I’m notorious for doing that!
do you know the calorie information for PEANUT BUTTER BROWNIE BAKED OATMEAL?
Thanks,
Greg
You can calculate on myfitnesspal.com :) since it will vary depending on the brand of your ingredients
Decided to try this with my chocolate powdered peanut butter instead of the cocoa powder and regular peanut butter. Just used half a cup of the powdered peanut butter and followed everything else to a T! It was delicious! I did drizzle the 2 tablespoons of natural peanut butter on top. So yummy!
Can you use frozen bananas?
Yes, just thaw and mash, and you’re good to go. :)
Our family has been doing a “tour” of all of the baked oatmeal recipes this winter! Keep up the good work! I had never heard of baked oatmeal until this fall. This one and the pumpkin pie one I have made 2-3 times already. My husband hates oatmeal normally but eats baked oatmeal like you would eat a brownie.
Could I make it without the chocolate? I love peanut butter but I’m not into chocolate for breakfast.
Yep. :)
Do you know the calorie count per serving? Thanks!
Holy smokes. I need this, but I’m allergic to bananas. Any suggestions for substitutes? Thanks!
In some of my other baked oatmeal recipes I use plain yogurt instead! :)
Thank goodness I’m not the only one with a banana allergy
Me too! Thanks for asking. Other banana-things like this I’ve done pumpkin or applesauce. I wonder if that would work here.
Is it ok to use Skippy instead of natural peanut butter?
It will definitely change the flavor. Skippy has a lot more sugar in it and doesn’t have as strong of a peanut flavor.
Tried and tested, kid approved. Thanks for another great tasting and easy recipe. Next time I will double the quantity as it wasn’t enough for a breakfast for my family of 4.
Do you think this could be made in the crock pot casserole cooker? Since it isn’t deep like a regular crock pot, I assume the cook time wouldn’t be long. Thoughts?
Honestly, I’m not sure. I’ve never used one of those before. :)
Well this is delicious!! I just made it for Saturday morning breakfast and it’s perfect; a little decadent but still nutritious!. I used a muffin tin to bake this and ended up with perfect sized oatmeal muffins that baked in 20 minutes. I also forgot the peanut butter topping but spread a little on top after baking and it’s the perfect “frosting”. I’ll be keeping this in our weekend rotation!
How long did you bake them in the muffin tins? That sounds more convenient than storing a baking pan in the fridge.
Can you sub maple syrup for the brown sugar? My concern is altering the consistency. Thanks!
It might change the consistency some, but since the ingredient amount is fairly small overall, I don’t think it will be a huge issue. But that’s my guess, sometimes it’s hard to know without actually trying it. :)
Love your recipes! Where can I find the calorie counts for the recipes? Thank you!
Hi Eileen, I’m sorry I do not have the nutritional information for my recipes. There are plenty of online calculators that allow you to put recipe ingredients in and it will calculate for you, but I do not trust these and therefore can’t post the stats with good conscious. If you still want to try calculating them anyway, just google “recipe nutrition calculator” and you’ll find several to choose from.
I added about a quarter cup of chocolate PB2 (powdered peanut butter) and this made them very peanut buttery tasting. I don’t like mushy, so adding the powder and about half a cup more oats made this more into oatmeal bars.
How long would this keep in the fridge for?
about 4-5 days
Oh my goodness! This is amazing! I have never made baked oatmeal before and didn’t think I would like it, but this tastes so good. It will definitely be going into my list of go-to recipes from now on. Thank you all the great recipes (especially all the vegetarian ones)!
I ADORE this recipe, but I’m a bit of a slow mixer and our mornings are often a little hectic – thinking about mixing this the night before and just adding the milk and oats in the morning before baking. Has anyone else done this? Would it mess with the texture or anything?
As long as you mix in the oats in the morning, it should work just fine. :) You may find that you need a couple extra minutes of baking time since the liquids will be very chilled going in.
I almost always make my baked oatmeal completely (oats and all) the night before and leave it in the fridge. In the morning, I let it sit out on the counter while the oven preheats and then pop in the oven. Sometimes I add a little extra milk, but with this recipe I did not. I find that given the “forgiving” texture of baked oatmeal, you really can’t mess it up. If it is a bit dry after baking, splash some milk on it. :) However, I haven’t found that it’s drier that baked oatmeal not made in advance.
Wonderful – thank you both!
We loved this baked oatmeal recipe! We’ve also made the pumpkin pie baked oatmeal and apple pie baked oatmeal several times, which were both fantastic! The only surprise with this recipe is that we expected it to have a peanut butter and brownie flavor and both of these flavors were on point, but we were surprised by how banana-y it tasted. Both of us like bananas, so this was fine with us! Someone who doesn’t like them may want to cut back, though.
I made this today and it wasn’t particularly sweet. The only thing I can think of was that I didn’t measure out 1.5 cups of bananas exactly, I just used 3 medium bananas, but I doubt that’s it since I can mostly only taste banana. Any guesses? I love the texture and concept of an easy breakfast for the week, but I want to commit to the sweetness more.
Yes, I purposely didn’t make it very sweet, but if you prefer a more dessert-like flavor you can double the brown sugar to 1/2 cup and that should do it. :)
I would like to suggest adding honey for a natural sweetness instead of brown sugar if you’re trying to get a healthy snack/breakfast. Great for an energy boost and if it’s local you get the added benefit of an immune boost.
I want to try this recipe and will probably do the same. :)
Every time I make this, people at work ask me what it is and today someone asked me for the recipe! Not only is it a great way to use bananas that are past their prime, it’s great that it makes 6 servings, so if I can carve out a couple hours on a weekend to make it, I have breakfast for the whole week ahead! I love the peanut butter flavor, and that it’s not too sweet but still feels indulgent!
I subbed applesauce for the egg and almond milk for regular milk due to dietary restrictions and this was delicious. This will be going in my regular rotation and I can’t wait to try your other baked oatmeal recipes!
I replaced the mashed bananas with pumpkin puree and this makes for a very tasty but not too sweet breakfast dish that’ll last all week!
I would love nutritional information posted with the recipe too!
This was ok but doesn’t hold a candle to the pumpkin pie baked oatmeal. It’s a much dryer end product, as well. Maybe it was my hippie PB but the mixture def wasn’t sweet enough to keep up with the cocoa. Kids liked it, though!
Love your recipes, thanks for your work!
Make it vegan: chia or flax egg, oat milk instead of whole dairy milk (I’m sure another would work just fine, just make sure it’s unsweetened).
Tastes dreamy; thanks for this!
I like bananas, but not really in baked items. How much of the banana flavor do you taste? Looks great otherwise!
I could taste the banana. You can try substituting unsweetened apple sauce instead. :)
Would you use the same amount? I‘d suppose apple sauce would be runnier than mashed banana?
Yes you use the same amount.
If I wanted to double this recipe, what size Pyrex would you suggest and for how long, approximately? Also, can it be prepped the night before baking?
I’ve never tried prepping it the night before, so I’m not sure how that might affect the end product. If you double the recipe I’d suggest a 9×13 inch dish, but I’ve never tried doubling it either so I’m not sure how long it will take to cook.
I only used 1 c of mashed bananas, as it was all I had on hand. After baking I wished I increased the milk a little to offset the difference.
That being said, this was delicious! I loved the peanut butter swirl on top. I’ve got breakfast for all of the rest of the week!
I baked this in a 12″ round cake pan and decrease the cooking time by about 15 minutes. Turned out great!
This is “too good to be oatmeal” as my wife put it :)I made it as written (except I only had soy milk on hand and used that; well, and a half cup of chocolate milk I had leftover! EXTRA CHOCOLATE) and it’s delicious. Banana, chocolate and peanut butter are three of my favorite flavors, so this is an excellent combination. I love how much cocoa powder is in this! We make baked oatmeal for breakfast all fall and winter long, and it’s great to have another recipe for our repertoire.
The Peanut Butter Brownie Baked Oatmeal is so freaking delicious!!! My apartment smelled like a chocolate brownie, which has an intoxicating aroma. I served the baked oatmeal with sausage links. I’m looking forward to enjoying this for breakfast for the next several days. Thank you, Beth!!! :-)
Can I use a baking pan for this?
Yes, that should work just fine.
How would you adjust this recipe to use regular sweetened peanut butter? Maybe reduce the added sugar and salt elsewhere?
Yes, you could reduce the sugar a smidge, but I don’t think you’d need to reduce the salt.
I used regular peanut butter since that’s all I had on-hand and I didn’t adjust anything. Didn’t even think of it, to be honest. I thought the end product was great, I ate it like brownies!
I’m not really big on bananas.. if I wanted to substitute something in for them could I do that? And what do you think would work best? It looks really, really, good. I’m excited to try it.
You can use unsweetened applesauce or even yogurt (not-Greek style, I would suggest vanilla flavor to compensate for the sweetness from the bananas).
I’m allergic to bananas. Any way to skip or substitute them?
You can use unsweetened applesauce or vanilla yogurt (not Greek style).
It’s delicious but maybe next time I’ll skip the salt? The salt in the butter is quite enough, I think. Unless when writing “natural” you mean “unsalted peanut butter”, which I can’t get here where I live.
You can easily make peanut butter from scratch. Can’t get more natural than that. For starters, try googling “Wok Fried Peanut Butter”.
Would this work with a flax egg or chia egg? I don’t have any experience baking without eggs, but this looks so delicious!
I don’t have any experience with using chia egg, but hopefully someone who has tried it will chime in! :)
Yes, it works! Flax egg, too.
Any substitute for the bananas?
You can use unsweetened applesauce or vanilla yogurt.
Can you substitute a flax egg for the egg in the recipe?
I haven’t figured out how to get to the recipes I’ve saved! Frustrating!
Unfortunately I don’t have an option to do that on my site, but there are several websites out there that allow you to collect and save recipes from any website (instead of just one), which is super convenient. I suggest Plantoeat.com
I’ve been wanting to do another Baked Oatmeal, and was getting ready for a Funky Monkey, but I think I’ll make this one instead. Just need to wait for the bananas to ripen a bit more.
Can you taste the banana?
Yes, there is a faint banana flavor.
Would cashew or coconut beverage work?
Yes, probably.
Oh my gosh, I made this yesterday and it was amazing! Even better- all my three-year-old heard was “brownie,” so she declared it to be delicious and gobbled it up! :) I think that next time I’ll add some pecans or walnuts- I bet the added crunch would be awesome!
You’ve lost your mind, Beth. Reeses? For breakfast?
I wish you had caloire counts on your recipes. Or at least so I could know which were the lower calorie meals! :)
I wish there was a way to get legit numbers. Unfortunately the calculators that most websites use are wildly inaccurate and I just don’t feel good providing numbers that I can’t trust. :(
myfitnesspal has a great recipe importer that will match the ingredients it can find and give you the calorie and macro breakdown. Ultimately, it depends on the actual brands you use, but I find it to be correct enough to gauge a recipe.
Could you sub out a nondairy milk like almond for this? I’m wondering if it wouldn’t thicken or not.
Yes, the milk doesn’t affect the thickening, fortunately. You may find it to be less rich, though.
This looks awesome! I’ll sub almond butter since we’re a peanut-free zone, and I’m tempted to try pumpkin puree instead of banana.
Would this taste ok with either 1% milk or almond milk? Thanks.
Yes, although it may be less rich and brownie-like.
Yumm, making this for the week ahead. My favorite combo of banana, chocolate and PB!
This looks amazing! I’m going to make this (already made many of your other baked oatmeals) and tell myself it must be healthier than a muffin lol!
Can we use cacao powder instead of cocoa powder? If so, would we use the same amount?
Thanks for your wonderful recipes! I just cooked your smoky sweet potatoes and garden vegetable meatloaves as part of my meal prep for this week!
I’m sorry, I’ve never used cacao powder, so I’m not sure how it would work out in the recipe. :(
How ripe did you have to let the bananas get?
I like them to be yellow with just a few darker spots. No green or else it won’t be sweet enough.
I’m drooling already. How about chunky peanut butter in it? Perhaps add a smidge more?
That sounds like it would be great!
OMG. I’ve got to make this baked oatmeal very soon!!!!! :-)
We have banana issues at my house, so I think I’m going to try it with applesauce, instead. Maybe for breakfast tomorrow morning. :D
Did it turn out? How much applesauce did you use?
I used 1.5 c, the same amount of banana it calls for. It turned out great! I also added a small handful of chocolate chips. You’ll probably get a slightly different flavor than if you use banana, but it tasted really good. Reminded me of those chocolate-peanut butter no-bake cookies with the oats, just less sweet. :D
Can you make this with fruit or some sort. I have a chocolate hater in my household.
I have several other fruit based baked oatmeal recipes. :) You can find them here: https://www.budgetbytes.com/?s=baked+oatmeal