Baked Apple Oatmeal
Apple pie for breakfast?! With this apple cinnamon oatmeal bake, you can make your holiday dreams come true any day of the week! Warm, fruity bursts of apples nestled in a fluffy bed of cinnamon-spiced oatmeal. Learn how to make apple baked oatmeal for a convenient, festive, healthy breakfast.
For more easy breakfast inspiration, check out my other Healthy Oatmeal Bake Recipes or my No Bake Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars!
What is an apple oatmeal bake?
Apple baked oatmeal is a deliciously easy breakfast casserole made with rolled oats and apples, baked in the oven. Unlike stovetop oatmeal, which is similar to a porridge, an oatmeal bake is more like a chewy, fluffy breakfast muffin. Apple baked oats is a convenient healthy breakfast—but more importantly, it’s a tasty, satisfying meal that can make life simpler, and I genuinely enjoy eating it!
Apple Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal Benefits
An apple oatmeal bake has all the healthy goodness of a classic bowl of oatmeal, plus added nutrients from the eggs, nuts, & fruit! Rolled oats offer loads of fiber and complex carbs, making this breakfast energizing and satiating. Apples add additional fiber—including prebiotic fiber, which feeds the healthy bacteria in our gut. And both apples & cinnamon are rich sources of antioxidants, making this meal a free radical-fighting powerhouse!
Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Bake Ingredients
- Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats. Although you can use rolled and quick oats interchangeably for stovetop oatmeal, rolled oats are a must in this baked apple oatmeal recipe. Quick-cooking oats will get too soggy, and steel cut oats also can’t be used here because they require much longer to cook.
- Baking Powder. Like any fluffy bread or muffin recipe needs, a bit of baking powder creates the light, fluffy texture that makes this oatmeal casserole so comforting.
- Spices. Of course, apple cinnamon baked oats need plenty of cinnamon—plus a dash of salt to enhance all the warm, sweet flavors.
- Eggs or Flax Eggs. You need a couple of eggs to hold the batter together, or substitute with 2 flax eggs to make a vegan baked oatmeal with apples.
- Milk of Choice. Use a non-dairy or dairy milk—whatever you prefer.
- Butter or Coconut Oil. Just like in a comforting apple pie, butter (or coconut oil) can add rich flavor and a tender texture to this recipe! Overall, this apple oatmeal bake can work without butter, so feel free to skip it—your casserole will just be a bit less fluffy and bready.
- Vanilla Extract. Like salt, vanilla brightens all the sweet, comforting flavors here.
- Nuts. Walnuts, pecans, even macadamia nuts—use whichever nuts or mix-ins you enjoy.
- Cinnamon Apples. Toss chopped apples with lemon juice, a bit of flour and brown sugar, and some cinnamon and nutmeg, and you’ve got a quick DIY apple pie mixture! You don’t even need to cook the apples beforehand—they’ll get plenty of time to soften up inside the oven.
Substitutions for a Vegan Breakfast Bake
You can easily make this apple oatmeal bake vegan—just replace the eggs, use a non-dairy milk, and use coconut oil instead of butter. For the 2 eggs in this recipe, substitute with 2 flax eggs (2 Tbsp flax meal + 5 Tbsp water), or with ½ cup applesauce, mashed banana, or pumpkin puree. You can also switch up the flavors altogether by nixing the cinnamon apples and make a vegan pumpkin baked oatmeal with pumpkin puree!
How to Make Baked Oatmeal with Apples
- What size baking dish do I use? Either an 8-inch (1.5-quart) round baking dish or a 9×9-inch square dish can work for this apple pie oatmeal bake recipe, yielding 6 servings. For a larger casserole (10-12 servings), double the recipe and bake in a 9×13-inch dish for 10-15 additional minutes.
- Can I prep baked oatmeal the night before? It’s best to prep this apple baked oatmeal then cook it straightaway, rather than letting the raw oats soak in the milk overnight. (Doing so can result in a thicker, mushier texture.) For the tastiest result, combine the dry and wet ingredients, fold in cinnamon apples, then bake! Once it’s baked, you can absolutely store baked oats and reheat the next day.
- How long do I bake my oatmeal casserole? For 40-50 minutes at 350°F (180°C), until the top is browned and the edges crisped.
- How do I know if apple cinnamon baked oats are done? When you insert a knife (or a toothpick) and it comes out mostly clean.
- How do I meal prep baked oatmeal? Let the casserole cool completely, then refrigerate for weekly meal prep or freeze for longer storage. You can store the entire dish to reheat later, or slice it into portions so you only reheat as much as you plan to eat.
Watch how to make apple cinnamon baked oatmeal in my 7 Oatmeal Bake Recipes video!
How do I store an oatmeal bake?
Once your apple oatmeal bake has cooled, store in the fridge for 4-7 days or freeze for up to 3 months. Either cover and store the entire casserole, or store portions in airtight containers. When freezing, make sure your containers are freezer-safe or wrap individual portions in plastic.
Can I reheat apple baked oats?
To reheat your apple cinnamon baked oatmeal, warm the entire casserole in the oven at 350°F (180°C) for 15-20 minutes—or longer when reheating from frozen. For individual portions, reheat in the microwave (~60-90 seconds) or in the oven or toaster oven (5-10 minutes). Although you can reheat straight from frozen, the texture will be best if you let frozen portions thaw overnight in the fridge.
Apple Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 2½ cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
Wet Ingredients
- 2 eggs, (or flax eggs)
- 1½ cups milk of choice
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 2 Tbsp butter, melted, (or coconut oil)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Mix-Ins
- cinnamon apple mixture, (see below)
- ½ cup walnuts, chopped, (or pecans)
Cinnamon Apple Mixture
- 2 medium apples, chopped, (~2 cups)
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp oat flour, (or all-purpose flour)
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar or coconut sugar
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ⅛ tsp nutmeg
- ¼ tsp salt
Equipment
- 8-inch (1.5-qt) round baking dish (or 9×9-inch baking dish)
Instructions
Prep Apple Mixture
- Chop apples into small bite-sized pieces, then toss with lemon juice.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together oat flour, sugar, and spices.
- Add dry mixture to chopped apples, tossing to coat. Set aside.
Prep Baked Oatmeal
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
- In a bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. Separately, add wet ingredients to a bowl and whisk to combine. Add dry mixture into wet and mix well to integrate.
- Fold in cinnamon apple mixture and chopped nuts.
- Spray an 8-inch (1.5-qt) round baking dish with cooking spray (or a 9×9-inch pan). Transfer oatmeal mixture into prepared baking dish.
- Bake 40-50 minutes, until lightly browned and crisped on edges. (A knife should come out mostly clean—it can be a bit moist, but it shouldn’t be soggy. If it is, it needs to bake longer.)
- Cool 10 minutes before serving.
- Serve warm in a bowl on its own, or with toppings like yogurt, whipped cream, nut butter—whatever you like!
Storage & Reheating
- Allow dish to cool completely, then cover and refrigerate. Or cut cooled oatmeal bake into portions and store in airtight containers in the fridge.
- Baked oatmeal will last in the fridge for 4-7 days.
- Reheat individual portions in the microwave for 60-90 seconds, until warmed through. Or reheat in the oven at 350°F (180°C): 15-20 minutes for the full casserole, 5-10 minutes for individual portions.
- To freeze, store the entire casserole in a freezer-safe container, or store individual portions in freezer-safe containers or wrapped in plastic.
Meal Prep
- Method 1: Prep and bake the entire casserole, then store as desired.
- Method 2: Mix and store the dry ingredients the night before, and mix and store the wet ingredients in the fridge so they’re ready. Then, the next day, combine the dry & wet ingredients at the time of baking.
- Don’t mix the dry and wet ingredients together and let the batter sit for too long! The oats will soak up too much of the liquid, which can result in mushy baked oats. Wait to combine the dry and wet mixtures until you’re ready to bake.
- For a larger oatmeal casserole that yields 10-12 servings, double the recipe ingredient amounts and bake in a 9×13-inch dish for 10-15 minutes longer.
2 Comments on “Baked Apple Oatmeal”
The video and picture show using rolled oats, but your recipe instructions say to use oat flour.
“In a separate bowl, whisk together oat flour, sugar, and spices.”
I don’t think you meant to say oat flour, because the picture clearly shows oats.
Looking forward to trying this recipe.
Thank you
Hi Susan, we appreciate you pointing out these details in the recipe. It seems there may be some confusion, so I’ll do my best to clarify. This recipe uses both oat flour and rolled oats – the oat flour is used in the Cinnamon Apple Mixture, while the rolled oats are one of the Dry Ingredients for the baked oatmeal itself.
The first section of the recipe instructions is called “Prep Apple Mixture.” First, you need to “whisk together oat flour, sugar, and spices” so you can toss your chopped apples in that mixture. (This is shown at 5:45 in the video.)
The next section of the recipe instructions is called “Prep Baked Oatmeal.” Once you’ve made the apple mixture, you need to “whisk together dry ingredients” for the baked oatmeal – one of which is old-fashioned or rolled oats. (This is shown t 6:06 in the video, and also in one of the photos.)
I hope this helps to clear up any confusion, and please let me know if you have any other questions. We do hope you’ll give this recipe a try & let us know how it turns out! 🙂