Here’s how to make the best baked apple oatmeal! This irresistible breakfast recipe pairs the sweet fruit with cinnamon, allspice and maple.
Here’s our very favorite way to eat apples for breakfast: this Baked Apple Oatmeal! When the mornings start to get cooler, this is the best morning treat to break out. It’s easy to make with ingredients you might already have on hand. And the flavor of tender, sweet apples paired with maple syrup, cinnamon and allspice…well, you’ll want to make it every day! It works as a brunch recipe for entertaining, or you can make a big pan and eat off of it for breakfasts all week. Here’s how to make what we think is the very best baked apple oatmeal you’ll find.
Also try: Banana Baked Oatmeal or Perfect Oatmeal
Ingredients in baked apple oatmeal
Baked apple oatmeal is a little like a healthy version of apple crisp for breakfast! It’s made with whole oats and sweetened gently with maple syrup, instead of loaded with sugar like the dessert version. If you’re like us, you might even have most of the ingredients already in your pantry. The ingredients you’ll need for baked apple oatmeal are:
- Apples: you can use whatever you have! We like a sweet tart variety like Jonathon or Jonagold, Honeycrisp, Golden Delicious or Granny Smith.
- Rolled or old fashioned oats: Do not substitute steel cut oats, as they have a much different texture!
- Pecan pieces or walnuts
- Cinnamon, allspice, and vanilla
- Baking powder
- Egg
- Milk
- Maple syrup
How to chop apples: the fast way!
This baked apple oatmeal bakes the apple in chunks right in the oatmeal: no need to peel! Here’s a little time saving trick when you go to chop your apples. There’s no need to core them or do round cuts around the core! This method makes it quick and simple. Do the following:
- Holding the core of the apple, use a large chef’s knife to slice off four sides of the apple, cutting as close to the core as possible (see the video below).
- Take one of the quarters and place it flat side down. Then cut it into thick slices (thicker than the video), then cut cross-wise into chunks.
- Repeat with the remaining quarters!
How to make baked apple oatmeal: basic steps
This baked oatmeal with apples is a breeze to make. Here are the basic steps and a few notes about the process:
- Whisk the dries: Combine the dry ingredients, and place them in a pan with the chopped apples.
- Whisk the wets: Whisk together the wet ingredients, then pour over the top.
- Bake: Bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minute until set.
- Drizzle maple butter: Pour over a mix of melted butter and maple syrup to add moisture and the final sweet, rich flavoring! Don’t skip this step: it adds just a touch of decadence.
Vegan variation
You can easily make this into vegan baked apple oatmeal with a few simple swaps! Here’s what to do to make this recipe into a vegan breakfast:
- Use a flax egg instead of egg. Make a flax egg with ground flax seed and water! It takes just 15 minutes, and it’s a trick used in lots of vegan baked goods.
- Use your favorite non-dairy milk. We like almond milk or oat milk.
- Use coconut oil instead of butter. Use coconut oil for the final flavoring.
Make ahead instructions for baked apple oatmeal
Want to make this baked apple oatmeal in advance? We don’t recommend making up an entire pan and refrigerating it overnight. While some recipes like overnight oats call for this, the oats will absorb all the liquid. Instead, you can mix the dries and wets and store in separate containers (refrigerate the wets) until you’re ready to bake.
Even better? Make up a big pan the night before, then refrigerate it and eat off of it all week. You can refrigerate leftovers for up to 1 week, and re-warm them in a 300 degree oven or the microwave.
More apple recipes
This apple baked oatmeal is a great way to use the fruit of the season! Apples are in season in the fall, but they store well and are available all year round. Here are some of our favorite apple recipes to try next:
- Classic Apple Crisp or Apple Crumble Stunners! Golden crumbles top a luscious fruit filling. (Or try it gluten-free.)
- Apple Cinnamon Pancakes Deliciously wholesome, they’re made with 100% oats.
- Sauteed Apples (a la Mode) The perfect easy dessert! It takes just minutes to make.
- Dried Apples This healthy snack is crispy and cozy spiced…and your kitchen smells like heaven.
- Apple Muffins with Streusel The streusel topping adds a sweet crunch to each bite.
- Vegan Apple Crumble This cozy dessert is also gluten free and tastes simply incredible.
- Best Apple Pie It’s got flaky lattice pie crust and a tender, perfectly spiced apple filling.
- Easy Applesauce Cake Light and moist, scented with cinnamon. Mix it up right in the pan!
- Classic Applesauce Making applesauce at home is easier than you think: and it skips the extra sugars of the store bought kind!
This baked apple oatmeal recipe is…
Vegetarian and gluten-free. For vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free, see the swaps below.
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Baked Apple Oatmeal
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 6 to 8 1x
Description
Here’s how to make the best baked apple oatmeal! This irresistible breakfast recipe pairs the sweet fruit with cinnamon, allspice and maple.
Ingredients
- 2 cups rolled oats
- ½ cup pecan pieces
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 apple, cut into small cubes
- 1 large egg (or flax egg for vegan)
- 2 cups milk or non-dairy milk
- ⅓ cup pure maple syrup, plus 1 tablespoon for drizzling
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon salted butter (coconut oil, for vegan)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.*
- Butter an 8 x 8″ or 9 x 9″ pan. In a medium bowl, mix together the rolled oats, pecan pieces, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, and kosher salt.
- Dump the dries into the prepared pan. Add the diced apple in a layer on top.
- In the same bowl, whisk the egg, then add the milk, maple syrup, and vanilla. Slowly drizzle the milk mixture over the oats. Shake the pan to make sure it gets evenly incorporated.
- Bake 40 to 45 minutes until the top is nicely golden and the oat mixture has set. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes (or more for the texture to fully set).
- Before serving, melt the butter with the remaining 1 tablespoon maple syrup (in the microwave or on the stove). Drizzle the butter evenly over the top and serve. Store leftovers refrigerated for up to 1 week: reheat in a 300 degree oven or microwave until warm.
Notes
*Make ahead instructions: do not make the entire pan in advance and refrigerate overnight because the oats will absorb all the liquid. You can mix up the wets and dries separately and store in separate containers (with the wets refrigerated), then pour them together in the morning and bake.
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Keywords: Baked apple oatmeal
This is delicious! Will make again!
Hi,
I recently found out i’m allergic to gluten and I’m still struggling finding recipes that work for me.
I tried this baked apple oatmeal and it was absolutely delicious!! It’s easy to make, filling and sweet without it being unhealthy.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe :)
★★★★★
So glad you enjoyed it!
I made this after dinner tonight for a friend who is gluten intolerant and will be coming for breakfast in the morning. I just had to have two helpings right out of the oven because it smelled so divine. Much to my pleasure it tasted just as good as it smelled! I subbed the milk with almond milk and greased the baking dish with coconut oil, making it dairy free because I’m lactose intolerant. I will be making this a lot because I think it’s going to be good for a before bed snack as well as breakfast. You could even serve it for dessert with a little vanilla ice cream!
Thank you for such an easy, quick, minimal cleanup, scrumptious GF recipe!
★★★★★
You’re welcome!
Hey, there! This sounds amazing, and I plan to make it for a work breakfast. However, I have a dear friend who is allergic to apples. Do you think it would work with a different fruit, like peaches? Thank you!
Yes! You can use 1 cup of any fruit: peaches, blueberries, raspberries, raisins, or dried cranberries, etc! Or you can make Banana Baked Oatmeal, which is my personal favorite! Here’s the recipe: https://www.acouplecooks.com/banana-baked-oatmeal/ Let us know what you try!
Ok, the blueberry version our new go-to! My sweet little is about a year old, and she LOVES this recipe. We’ve been doing it a couple times a month to have for breakfast a few days that week. Thank you for sharing!
★★★★★
You’re welcome!
Do you think this recipe would work with steel cut oats??
This recipe doesn’t work with steel cut oats, because the liquid ratio is different! We have a pumpkin baked steel cut oats recipe that you could try instead: https://www.acouplecooks.com/pumpkin-pecan-baked-steel-cut-oatmeal/
Would I be able to substitute honey for the maple syrup
Yes
I didn’t like this recipe at all. The texture of this baked oatmeal was chewy and somehow flavorless. I say somehow because this recipe includes quite a few ingredients that are tasty with strong flavors, but they just weren’t there after adding the milk. I tried to mess around with it after its initial bake to me it was tastier, adding some brown sugar to the top before or after re-baking it was helpful but obviously didn’t do anything about the texture. I think the idea of baked oatmeal is fantastic and I think this recipe has potential. I think it would be better without eggs as the eggs added to the odd texture and with much less milk! It’s definitely worth making and experiencing though!
★★
Why isn’t sodium content included in the nutrition facts? Many people have sodium restrictions (like myself, due to a terminal illness)
Kindly include this important data in your future posts. Thank you! Very much appreciated!
Hi! We omit the sodium because many ingredients we use such as beans, soy sauce or broth can have vastly different amounts and we don’t want to give false information. Even different brands of kosher salt can vary. 1 teaspoon of Morton kosher salt has 1920 mg of sodium if that is helpful.
This states Vegan but contains eggs and milk which makes it NOT Vegan. Do you have substituted for the milk and egg? I would still like to try the recipe
★★★
We have the info in the post:
Vegan variation
You can easily make this into vegan baked apple oatmeal with a few simple swaps! Here’s what to do to make this recipe into a vegan breakfast:
Use a flax egg instead of egg. Make a flax egg with ground flax seed and water! It takes just 15 minutes, and it’s a trick used in lots of vegan baked goods.
Use your favorite non-dairy milk. We like almond milk or oat milk.
Use coconut oil instead of butter. Use coconut oil for the final flavoring.