Spring is passing me by. I’m so utterly immersed in projects for my cookbook that I’m nearly missing the magnolias blooming outside. Fortunately, my dog Cookie always reminds me to slow down for a minute.
She starts pouncing on me every evening as the sun goes down, in her persistent, borderline desperate, but always cute sort of way. “Hey! Hey hey hey! Hello in there! Let’s go outside!” She gets her walk, and I catch some blooms as the sun sets.
I’ve also been forgetting to eat breakfast, which is a dangerous game. I got a big slap on the wrist for it last week, when I was photographing food and had to pause and sit down for a while. Shaky, lightheaded, sweaty—hypoglycemia symptoms are not cute, and never welcome. It was a reminder that I really have to eat well. We all do, or it will catch up with us eventually. My symptoms just come on sooner than most.
That’s why I started cooking in the first place. I couldn’t afford to eat out for every meal, but I had to eat well. So, naturally, I had to learn how to cook. Frontier Co-Op asked me how I cook with purpose—I cook with wholesome ingredients, so I’m properly fueled for my days. Then, I find greater purpose in sharing those recipes with you all.
I feel good about sharing recipes that make me feel good. As a reminder to eat breakfast, I made some blueberry baked oatmeal for the week.
Healthy Baked Oatmeal Notes & Tips
This baked oatmeal recipe is loaded with wholesome ingredients—oats, nuts, maple syrup and blueberries. A couple of eggs bind it all together, and a light drizzle of butter on top makes it taste like a treat.
This baked oatmeal keeps me full all morning long, especially when I serve it with a big dollop of Greek yogurt.
Change It Up
I loved it as written below, but the recipe is highly adaptable. I used frozen blueberries (right from the bag), but you can use any fruit you’d like. You could also change up the nuts and spices.
I think an apple version would be great in the fall, and raspberry-banana might be fun with cashews and coconut milk in the summer.
I used Frontier’s cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. I love that their spices have stories that you can trace back through their labels. Like, the Fair Trade ceylon cinnamon that I used in this recipe came from a co-op of farmers in Sri Lanka. The vanilla comes from Madagascar, where Frontier helped dig 49 wells to provide clean water to nearly 25,000 people.
Please let me know how you like this recipe in the comments. I hope it becomes a staple in your kitchen, too!
Craving more healthy oat breakfast recipes? You’ll love these:
- Favorite Overnight Oats
- The Very Best Granola
- Homemade Bircher Muesli
- Apple Steel-Cut Oatmeal and Perfect Steel-Cut Oats
Watch How to Make Baked Oatmeal
Blueberry Baked Oatmeal
- Author:
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 40 mins
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 6 to 8 servings 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: By hand
- Cuisine: American
This naturally sweetened baked oatmeal recipe features blueberries (or any fruit you’d like), wholesome oats, nuts and warming spices. You can bake some now and enjoy oatmeal for the rest of the week! Recipe yields 6 to 8 servings.
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup roughly chopped pecans
- 2 cups old-fashioned oats
- 2 teaspoons Frontier Co-op ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon fine-grain sea salt (or ½ teaspoon regular table salt)
- ¼ teaspoon Frontier Co-op ground nutmeg
- 1 ¾ cups milk of choice (almond milk, coconut milk, oat milk or cow’s milk all work)
- ⅓ cup maple syrup or honey
- 2 large eggs or flax eggs
- 3 tablespoons melted unsalted butter or coconut oil, divided
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 12 ounces or 1 pint fresh or frozen blueberries (or 2 ½ cups of your preferred berry/fruit, chopped into ½” pieces if necessary), divided
- 2 teaspoons raw sugar (optional)
- Optional toppings for serving: plain/vanilla yogurt or whipped cream, additional maple syrup or honey for drizzling, and/or additional fresh fruit
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9-inch square baking dish. Once the oven has finished preheating, pour the nuts onto a rimmed baking sheet. Toast for 4 to 5 minutes, until fragrant.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the oats, toasted nuts, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Whisk to combine.
- In a smaller mixing bowl, combine the milk, maple syrup or honey, egg, half of the butter or coconut oil, and vanilla. Whisk until blended. (If you used coconut oil and it solidified in contact with the cold ingredients, briefly microwave the bowl in 30 second increments, just until the coconut oil melts again.)
- Reserve about ½ cup of the berries for topping the baked oatmeal, then arrange the remaining berries evenly over the bottom of the baking dish (no need to defrost frozen fruit first). Cover the fruit with the dry oat mixture, then drizzle the wet ingredients over the oats. Wiggle the baking dish to make sure the milk moves down through the oats, then gently pat down any dry oats resting on top.
- Scatter the remaining berries across the top. Sprinkle some raw sugar on top if you’d like some extra sweetness and crunch.
- Bake for 42 to 45 minutes, until the top is nice and golden. Remove your baked oatmeal from the oven and let it cool for a few minutes. Drizzle the remaining melted butter on the top before serving.
- I prefer this baked oatmeal served warm, but it is also good at room temperature or chilled (I’ll leave that up to you!). This oatmeal keeps well in the refrigerator, covered, for 4 to 5 days. I simply reheat individual portions in the microwave before serving.
Notes
Recipe adapted from my baked oatmeal with blackberries and bananas, which was originally adapted from Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson.
Make it gluten free: Be sure to use certified gluten-free oats.
Make it vegan: Use non-dairy milk, flax eggs and coconut oil.
Make it nut free: You can skip the nuts, or use pepitas (green pumpkin seeds) instead.
▸ Nutrition Information
This post is sponsored by Frontier Co-Op and I received compensation for my participation. Opinions are my own, always. Thank you for supporting the sponsors who support C+K!
Vegetable enthusiast. Dog lover. I'm probably making a big mess in my Kansas City kitchen right now. 
Stacy
I did a version of this that omitted the butter and used 1/3 cup Greek yogurt, 1/3 cup ricotta, and 3/4 cup milk as the dairy, and I mixed the wet and dry ingredients before pouring over the fruit. I also use 1/4 cup of honey, which is plenty combined with the sweetness of the fruit. It has basically become my favorite weekday breakfast, and I’ve made it several times and changed it up with different fruits (chopped poached pears, apples, soaked and chopped dried fruit (but only use 1 1/4 cup of dried)). I also used slivered almonds once when I was out of pecans, and it was great. I usually bake in an 8×8 pan, and I find that baking at 350 for about 35 minutes is usually right (golden brown on top and reasonably firm in the middle). This baked oatmeal is not only absolutely delicious, but it has a great amount of protein and keeps me going all morning.
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you for sharing your variation, Stacy!
Food Guru
I’m going to try your version. This feeds my sweet craving without the guilt and the sugar hangover — many thanks:)
★★★★★
Wendy Dettrey
I made this and it is so yummy!
★★★★★
Liz
I’ve made this recipe a couple times before switching up the fruit, and LOVE it. My favorite breakfast to have set up for the week. This last time I made it, I swapped 2 bananas for the blueberries and it tasted like banana bread. 10/10 recommend!
★★★★★
Stephanie
This recipe is SO GOOD! I made it with haskap berries instead of blueberries and cardamom instead of nutmeg. I am doubling the recipe this weekend for a getaway with other families – I know everyone will love it!
Kathleen
Can I do this with steel cut oats? Hubby bought some & I hate how long they take to cook. I’m hoping to try this out & use them up! Love your recipes btw, thanks for always sharing ❤️
Kate
Hi Kathleen, I’m not sure without trying it. Sorry! Likely need more liquid and baking time.
Lara
A healthy sprinkle of steel cut oats on cold cereal is delicious.
Bridget
This is delicious! I did do a few substitutions to make in less fat, more protein. I did 3 eggs instead of 2. Only 2 tbsp maple syrup. And instead of coconut oil I did 2 tbsp unsweetened Applesauce. Also half blueberries, half raspberries. Topped with some vanilla yogurt. Yum! 42 minutes s was perfect for a 10×10 pan. I get 6 servings out of it, and each are 224 calories with my substitutions.
★★★★★
Stephanie
Thank you SO MUCH for posting this! I love this recipe so much but was coming back to it to see what I could do for some substitutions for lower cal. :) This is great!
★★★★★
Andrea
Just made this and I could only taste a corner because my intermittent fasting started before it was done but that taste I had was amazing! Can’t wait until tomorrow to have a whole piece!
★★★★★
Maria
This was great! I doubled it and baked it in a 13×9 at 400 because I live at a high altitude. It was done in an hour. I increased the butter to a full cup (for a double batch) and just poured the melted butter over the dry mixture before pouring on the rest of the wet ingredients. Otherwise I find that the melted butter clumps back up when you mix it with the cold milk and eggs.
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you for sharing, Maria!
N
Can you make this with instant oats?
Kate
Yes, I think so!
Stephanie H.
I used frozen berries from our summer picking days and this turned out great! The smell in the house while it was baking made me so happy. My local food co-op carries Frontier herbs and spices in bulk. Tremendous value for such great quality.
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you for sharing, Stephanie! I’m happy to hear that.
Katie Erin
Made this recipe today for the first time, and it’s so good I had it for breakfast and dinner. Will be part of the rotation at our house for sure. Thanks so much for sharing it!
★★★★★
LAUREN
I love all of your baked oatmeal recipes…they are on regular rotation in my house. Have you tried freezing baked oatmeal before? I am trying to prepare for a surgery and won’t be able to cook for a little while but know very little about what is good to freeze and what isn’t. I am going to definitely stock pile whole wheat pancakes, muffins and breads since you said those were OK to freeze as well.
★★★★★
Kate
I’m excited you love them! I have not tried freezing this and not sure how well that would turn out.
Natalie
I’ve made this multiple times now, I really like it. More than once, I have made a batch, cut it & frozen it. Either leave it on the counter overnight, or microwave it in the morning, both work well- & the kids love it before school!
★★★★★
Lauren
Oh that’s so helpful thank you!
D
I have frozen baked oatmeal and it is fine.
Glenna
I’ve made this before it’s amazing! I’m planning to make it again for a get together and I’m wondering if it can be made a day ahead of baking and put in frig.
★★★★★
Greta
I wish I had found this recipe sooner; it’s so delicious!. I premixed the wet and dry ingredients as others suggested, and it came out beautifully. I want to eat this every day for breakfast!
★★★★★
Barbara
Loved this! I totally spaced on adding the sweetener (thanks to my DD) and didn’t remember until half way through baking. Oops! Glad I at least remembered to use some Turbinado sugar on top! Found it was a little salty, but didn’t feel it needed much more sugar. Will definitely be making this one again!
★★★★
Tricia
Love the baking pan in the picture! Where did you find it?
Kate
Crate and Barrel! https://www.crateandbarrel.com/everyday-square-baking-dish. I love it!
Marta
This was FAN-tastic! Made as written except subbed a mashed banana for the maple syrup. Family of 4 devoured the whole pan. Will definitely make again. I’ve been a huge fan of your savory recipes for years but recently started exploring your sweeter recipes and they are equally satisfying.
★★★★★
Cici
Made this to rave reviews from my blueberry-loving spouse as we continue to stay at home. Glad we have plenty for another meal–looking forward to that already. Thank you, Kate, for the ultimate comfort-food breakfast! Only changes: a slight reduction in amount of fruit, and since sugar is an issue for us, used Lakanto maple syrup (monk fruit). Served with yogurt as suggested….YUM!
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome! I’m glad you could look forward to this one, Cici.
Farmer Phyl
I had high hopes for this recipe, but was disappointed. I followed the recipe as written with no substitutions. It isn’t crunchy like granola, or creamy like oatmeal or custard. It didn’t have a texture like cookies, cake, or crumble. It was heavy like yeast bread that didn’t rise. Did give it 2 stars because the flavor was good.
★★
Kate
I’m sorry to hear that you didn’t like this one, Farmer! I appreciate your feedback.
Beth
Hello! I want to make this but realized the almond milk I have is (very) expired. Do you think water would work in place of milk? Trying to limit my trips to the store and get creative! Thanks.
Kate
Hey Beth! Yes, I think water will be fine! Stay well. :)
Beth
Thank you! I made it with water and it turned out great!
★★★★★
Gord
Made 1/2 recipe of it this morning. Tasted fine. Seems like a lot of time and effort to make a bowl of oatmeal with blueberries.
Next time I’ll make a pan of oatmeal on the stove, add nuts, spices and maple syrup. Then top with Greek yogurt when it’s done. Save at least 30 minutes, and can make the number of servings necessary for the number of people eating (usually two).
★★
Alicia Cullinane
So awesome, you brought me to like oatmeal again. Thanks for all you do, sorry for the rude comments above, people have too much time on their hands!
★★★★★
isabelle
Good, thanks for the recipe. But there was too much salt.
I recommend to others using just a pinch of salt because the salt was overwhelming.
★★★★★
Kate
Thanks for your feedback! I’m sorry you didn’t love the salt measurement, but yes always adjust to your taste in the future.
Esther
This was delicious!! I made the vegan version and added banana slices to the top before baking it. Absolutely perfect for a snowy mid-April weekend
★★★★★
Julia
This would be good but it calls for way too much salt. My mom had to spit her piece out it was too salty. I also think it calls for too much milk because all of the blueberries just rose to the top. Would recommend only a pinch of salt and maybe a quarter cup less milk.
Katherine Tilley
Can you prep this the night before and leave it in the fridge overnight?
Kate
Yes, I believe so!
Sonja Cantu
Big fan of Cookie and Kate!
Yesterday, I made the oatmeal bake using frozen berries and it is so delicious and a keeper recipe I will make again and again, especially for guests staying over as a make ahead breakfast option.
I made three tweaks: 1) added 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut, 2) tossed added sugar to my frozen berries, 3) reduced salt.
The coconut gave the recipe an added chew- And texture, so I recommend considering adding this to the recipe. I decided to add a little sugar to the frozen fruit since i Don’t find the frozen fruit to be that sweet. Maybe a tablespoon of sugar. Finally, Regarding the salt, given that typical oatmeal recipes call for a pinch of salt, I would agree that reducing the salt to a couple of pinches is all that is needed since the recipe is not that sweet.
Overall,I absolutely love the recipe and found it convenient to have in the fridge to reheat in the morning. My husband could see having this for dessert at night with ice cream and my teen daughter put maple syrup on it for breakfast.
I like it as is and will experiment with different fruit. Thanks Cookie and Kate for this wonderful recipe! By the way, I love your cookbook and have given it away as gifts!
★★★★★
Kelly
This is the second time I’m making this recipe now because my family LOVES it so much. Originally I just made it for myself as quick & healthy breakfast, but my family ate it up in two days.
★★★★★
Chelsea
Could I sub a banana for the honey?
Kate
Hi Chelsea! I don’t think that would work the best here, sorry. You could try it, but it won’t likely mix in as well and provide the right moisture content to get this just right.
Eliese
Hi there! Could I make this in muffin tins for individual servings instead of a pan? I’ve made several baked oatmeals and my family loves all. Can’t wait to try yours!
Kate
Hi Eliese! I think that’s a great idea, but haven’t tried it myself. Just keep an eye on it while baking, since it will definitely be done sooner than indicated in the recipe (bake “until the tops are nice and golden”).
Diana Elliott
I make this regularly, and pass the recipe on to everyone. Sooo convenient. Gives many meals for the effort. Tastes great and is healthy. I just use 3 T of honey though, figuring those who want more sweetness can add on top once served. I also found my spices floating on top of the wet ingredients and ending up uneven once baked. So now i just lay berries in bottom of pan, sift dry ingredients straight on top, then pour wet ingredients on top. Works great.
Melissa
I put boysenberry syrup and milk on top, amazing if you want it to be sweeter lol
★★★★
Stefanie
The tastiest baked oatmeal I’ve made! Huge plus for the exclusion of brown sugar!! Will continue to bake this with all kinds of variations. First time= chopped walnuts, frozen blueberries, and diced apples. Thank you!
★★★★★
Kate
Wonderful to hear, Stephanie. I appreciate you taking the time to review!
Kelley
This was delicious! I loved the strong cinnamon notes–it tasted delicious and made my apartment smell heavenly, too. I made it with strawberries and sliced almonds, and used a little less maple syrup and salt. It was plenty sweet and I loved the texture. I will definitely make this again!
★★★★★
Sarah M
Not sure if something went wrong? Mine was like blueberry flavored goo. It looked like something a ghost would slime someone with. Followed recipe as written exactly. Oh well.
★★
Kate
Hi Sarah, I’m sorry to hear that! Did you make sure everything was combined? How long did you bake it for?
Jennifer
Loved it! Two of us could have eaten the whole pan, but we saved the rest for the next day. I will cut down on the sweetener as it seemed a little sweet for my taste. Can’t wait to try other fruits and maybe use some water instead of all almond milk (my usual milk). Also, I didn’t toast the nuts first, and they came out fine. Thanks for another great recipe.
★★★★★