Baked Steel Cut Oatmeal
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This baked steel cut oatmeal is one of my all-time favorite recipes. The whole thing can be assembled the night before and popped in the oven the following morning. Or it can be assembled and baked immediately. It is infinitely customizable to your preferences — you can make it dairy-free, vegan, with or without nuts, and with any fruit your heart desires 🙂
Yesterday, while three movers packed away our lives into boxes, I snuck one last dish into the oven, a mixture of steel cut oats, cinnamon, maple syrup, and coarsely chopped almonds, a dish I have been addicted to in some form or another since March.
For months, I made this baked oatmeal using rolled oats and, as suggested, always mixed up the dry ingredients the night before baking, which allowed for easy preparations in the morning. But about a month ago I discovered that when steel cut oats replace the rolled oats, the morning effort disappears altogether: the entire dish — egg, milk, melted butter, baking powder and all — can be assembled the night before baking.
I love this oatmeal. When it bakes, the mixture separates into distinct layers, the nuts forming a crisp-like topping, the berries bobbing underneath, the creamy oats and custard forming the foundation. The steel cut oats, flavored with cinnamon and maple, remain firm and chewy, which along with the nuts offer the loveliest texture throughout. I could eat the whole pan in one sitting.
I love these oats with berries. I love them without. I love them freshly baked. I love them cold, straight from the fridge. I like them with walnuts. I love them with almonds. I could eat them at every meal. I like them so much that when Ben tells me he can’t make it home for dinner, I think, “Yes, I get to eat my oats!” And while these oats are the perfect kind of thing to make for a crowd, at the moment I’m not at all upset that my children don’t like them. This is the kind of dish I hope so very much you will all whisk up tonight before hitting the hay, so you, too, have something to savor, with friends or without, all Saturday morning long.
PS: Favorite Blueberry-Almond Smoothie
You can make these oats with or without berries:
I like my Pyrex 8-inch square baking dish for this one:
By mid morning the pan usually looks like this:
By noon:
By early afternoon:
Individual bowls of steel cut oats:
This is also delicious with apples:
Baked Steel Cut Oatmeal
- Total Time: 1 hours 5 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4-6
Description
Inspired by Heidi Swanson’s recipe in Super Natural Every Day via Orangette
I like my Pyrex 8-inch square baking dish for this one. You can also use six 6-oz ramekins.
If you are mixing this at night and baking in the morning, follow the recipe through step 2, omitting the fruit. Store mixture in baking vessel or in a Tupperware. In the morning, give the mixture a stir. Scatter berries (if using) into an 8-inch baking dish. Pour milk-oat mixture over the berries; then proceed with recipe.
As I noted, I like these baked oats both with berries or other fruit and without, so don’t hesitate to make them if you don’t have any berries on hand — they are so good on their own. I have used both almonds and walnuts. I do toast the walnuts. I don’t toast the almonds — it doesn’t seem to matter. The mixture can be assembled the night before, though it doesn’t have to be.
Update, Oct 2014: Almonds are my preference. Peeled, sliced apples are also my preference. I omit the cinnamon. I also now do 1/4 cup maple syrup as opposed to 1/3 cup.
If you are making individual portions, I think the easiest method is this: mix dry ingredients as instructed in step 1; spoon about three tablespoon of the dry ingredients into six 6-oz ramekins; then pour liquid over top. The liquid will reach the top of each ramekin. To prevent a catastrophe, I suggest lining a 9×13-inch baking dish with parchment paper and placing the filled ramekins in the dish to bake.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup steel cut oatmeal
- ½ cup (60 g) almonds (sliced, untoasted are great) or walnuts halves, toasted and chopped
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon, optional
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt or kosher salt
- ¾ to 1 ½ cups (90 to 185 g) blueberries, optional—I like using 1 peeled, sliced apple
- 2 cups (475 ml) milk, 2% or whole
- 1/4 to 1/3 cup (80 ml) maple syrup, I find 1/4 cup to be sweet enough
- 1 large egg
- 3 tablespoons (45 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- See notes if you are refrigerating this overnight. Otherwise, preheat the oven to 375ºF. In an 8- or 9-inch baking pan, mix together the oats, the nuts, baking powder, cinnamon, if using, and salt. Place the sliced apples or berries on top.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, maple syrup, egg, butter, and vanilla. Pour the milk mixture over the oat mixture, and shake the pan to distribute.
- Transfer pan to the oven and bake for 55 to 60 minutes (Note: Several commenters have had issues with browning too quickly, so I advise checking after 30 minutes, and if it looks as though it is browning quickly, turn oven down to 350 and check periodically for doneness), or until the top is golden and the oat mixture has set. Remove from the oven, and allow to cool for a few minutes before serving.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 55 minutes
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
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608 Comments on “Baked Steel Cut Oatmeal”
Delicious. I only had quick cooking steel cut oats, so I was a little concerned about the liquid ratio being off, but I followed the recipe exactly with apples and pecans as my fruit/nut option and it turned out perfectly.
Great to know this! I often have quick-cooking steel cut oats on hand. So glad you liked this. It’s one of my favorites.
I made this morning and used coconut oil instead of the butter, no other substitutions. It turned out great and I love that I can make it ahead of time and heat up portions before work each morning. Thanks for the great recipe! I look forward to trying some of your salad dressings.
Omg, made this today! I LOVE it! I omitted the salt and butter but added a cup of homemade unsweetened applesauce! This is a heavenly dish…thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the recipe, we LOVED it! I used 2% milk as it was all I had and it turned out great but I want to try it with whole milk next time because you said it’s even better. I did bake it for 40 minutes on 375 and then turned oven down to 350 to bake the remaining 20 minutes just because it did look like it was browning quickly. Anyhoo, it turned out perfect and I can’t wait to make again.
Have hated oatmeal my entire life. Came across this recipe on Pinterest when I was looking for a make-ahead breakfast food for my husband. Tried this and love that it comes out more like baked rice than porridge. It’s the first oatmeal I’ve ever liked to eat. I’ve also made variations with chopped apples and honey instead of maple, strawberries and blueberries, and some others. The basic baked recipe is wonderfully adaptable. Thank you so much for sharing it. 🙂
I found your blog and this recipe and I think it’s LOVE!!! I like to eat oatmeal kind of pre breakfast so that my vitamins and morning meds don’t make me sick to my stomach. This is easily the best I’ve ever had! It reminds me of bread pudding that my mom used to make for us kids for breakfast! I do make a few adjustments to make it super healthy though. I double the liquid part because I also add 1/2 cup Chia seeds. I use diabetic friendly sweetener so I also add a bit of maple flavoring. If I add fruit, I will peel and chop an apple. I love the sliced almonds so much that I haven’t tried any other nut so far but if I do, it will probably be pecans. Obviously because I add the chia seeds, I always make it Saturday night to bake Sunday morning!
Thank you so much for this awesome recipe! It is so yummy and extremely versatile!
I’m not a huge fan of oatmeal–it’s a texture thing. But I was hopeful baked oatmeal would be different enough to eat. I made this recipe a few days ago and I thought flavor wise, it was delicious. I would almost want to put 1 cup of berries. YUM. It makes the dish I think. I brought this to work and many my co -workers ate it for breakfast!
I didn’t bake in an 8×8. I don’t have one but it have a similar small pan to bake. I probably baked it for 50-60 minutes at at a temp in between 350-375. My oven it’s not very precise. No burning at all! I wonder if those who did have burning was partial due to letting it set sit it’s the fridge overnight. The oat soak up some of that milk and flavor.
I also ate this 2 days later at work, added a little milk and warmed up. I thought it tasted BETTER than the first day.
Thanks for the recipe! I look forward to making many more.
I am so happy to hear this. This baked steel cut oatmeal is one of my all-time favorites. Whenever I have houseguests, I make it — people seem to really like it. And yes re berries — so good here!
Thank you for writing in and sharing your results. Woohoo for yummy leftovers!
Hello. This may be a silly question. And I read trough most of the comments and couldn’t find the answer. But can this be frozen? Anyone try it? I would like to batch cook this!
I haven’t tried freezing this, Roxana, but I feel like you could. It makes great leftovers so I imagine it will do well in the freezer. Let me know how it turns out if you try!
Funny–this is a late comment, but I was just about to post a comment about how we do the baked oats in my house–recipe doubled in a lasagne pan and leftover squares frozen. The texture is affected a little, but it’s still really really good. I like to eat the extra custardy parts fresh and then freeze the denser middle squares. I add a bit of milk when i microwave them.
Just a note to say thanks for this… Made it this morning and loved it! I added a shredded apple and left out the berries because I had fresh ones I wanted to put on top after it came out of the oven. I also added an egg yolk, which gave it a sort of custardy richness. What a great base recipe that can be tweaked in all kinds of fun ways!
Wonderful to hear this, Sarah! And that is exactly what I love about this recipe — it can be adapted in so many ways.
I made this recipe last week for the first time and absolutely loved it! Since fall is rolling around in New England, where I live, I am curious if you have ever tried making this with pumpkin puree? If so, what adjustments did you make to the rest of the ingredients? Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!
Hi Meredith,
I have never tried this, but I say go for it. I would start by adding a 1/4 or 1/2 cup and go from there. I suppose the only adjustment I would make to the rest of the ingredients would be with the maple syrup. Is the pumpkin purée sweet? If it is, just cut back the syrup a little bit. Otherwise, time and temperature should be the same. Let me know how it turns out!
This pumpkin puree is unsweetened, and not pumpkin pie filling, so it’s actually pretty mild. I will definitely let you know how it turns out. I’m doing an apple version this week, since they are currently in season.
Does anyone have an idea of the nutritional information for one serving of this? I’m looking for calories, fat and carb content. I have Type 1 Diabetes (quite different than Type 2) and need to dose myself for each meal I eat. I’m usually pretty good at estimating the meal content to calculate my food to insulin ratio, but I am always way off on this.
Dana, I’m sorry, but I don’t. I’ve heard great things about this site however: https://www.myfitnesspal.com/
This looks wonderful! I am so excited to try it, but I am wondering about calories, carbs, protein, and fiber. I eat breakfast around 7:30 and I think I will die by lunch without high protein and fiber! I’m also in the process of loosing weight so I watch my calories, carbs, and sugar. I appreciate any reply. Thanks.
Incredible. Hubby was looking for something exactly like this to fill in for his Panera steel cut oatmeal and he says this is much better. I even love it and that’s saying something! We’ll be making this every week I’m sure with different fruit and nut combinations. What a great find. Thank you so much!
So happy to hear this, Sarah. It’s one of my favorites, too!
Made this recipe this am. I added 1 1/2 c blueberries and it was a little watery, but met with approval from both my 7 year old and my 4 year old, making it my new winter breakfast go-to. Thank you for a recipe that lets me avoid feeding them those awful Quaker packets this winter!
In case anyone is wondering about freezing (I noticed an earlier comment asking about this) I’ve been making these oats for years and I always double the recipe and freeze the leftovers (after eating breakfast out of the pan for a few days). They microwave really well, maybe affecting the texture, but still delicious. I also bake for 50 mins only with a doubled recipe. Don’t know how hot my oven runs, but a full hour tends to dry it out more.
Another note–I use less syrup (a heavy 1/4 pour) and 2 tbs of butter instead of 3. I also tend to use a lot more fruit, so that adds sweetness, especially when it’s banana (I use a light 1/4 pour when I use banana). My favorite combo is pear, less cinnamon and some nutmeg. Or almond extract! Omg, divine. Mango is also good, and of course any berry.
How long does this last in the fridge?
I would say at least 2 to 3 days. They won’t go bad after 3 days, but I feel oats struggle a little bit texture wise after day 1.
I love steel cut oats and eat them nearly every morning. This recipe is quite intriguing; I like the protein that the egg adds and it looks like subbing coconut milk works. My question: would omitting the sweetener completely affect the outcome? I don’t add sweetness to anything so taste would not be an issue. (I find fruit and berries to be sufficiently sweet.) However, sometimes leaving an ingredient out causes major failure..especially in baked goods.
Your thoughts?
Just found your site, btw, and will be taking a tour shortly. And I think your photographs are wonderful;)
Thank you for your nice comment, Sue! I think you absolutely can leave out the sweetener. It is purely for flavor. Also, if you are looking for more protein, I think you could add another egg.
Wonderful recipe! I altered mine slightly with 1/2 steel cut oats and 1/2 8 grain cereal and added cranberries, almond slivers, and apples. Delightful!
Yum! Love this idea. I have bob’s 10 grain cereal on hand right now. I will try it.
I read through all the comments, which I always do before I try a new recipe. I have always made Bob’s steel cut oatmeal in a crockpot overnight. But your recipe sounds so much more tasty with a different texture. My question is I have a bag of frozen cranberries and would like to try the recipe with them as the fruit element as one of your readers/commenters suggested, but I wonder if they would be too bitter without adding a lot of sweetness. I have only made cranberry sauce with sugar and orange segments, and I have used dried cranberries in salad. I don’t want to waste a whole lot of ingredients if whole unsweetened cranberries would be too tart. What do you think?
I think you could definitely use the fresh cranberries without adding any more maple syrup or other sugar. If it’s too tart when you taste it, you can always sprinkle on brown sugar or more maple syrup to taste. Let me know how it goes!
I absolutely LOVE this recipe! I’ve made it several times exactly as described and also with a few yummy variations. My most recent variation included skim milk, Brummell and Brown, banana, almonds and an extra egg. I also presoaked the oats in water over night. The result is super yummy with more of the yummy custard-like goodness. I highly recommend this recipe! It never lasts long at my house!
I’d like to try this using low fat buttermilk? What do you think ??
Mary, I don’t know! I’m worried the buttermilk will break — when you heat buttermilk stovetop, it breaks. I’ve never tried cooking buttermilk in the oven with anything but the temperature of the oven makes me a little bit nervous.
I would like to thank and commend you for posting what you actually changed in the recipe. I put 20 years in the restaurant business with the last few creating new recipes for new restaurants or new menus for existing restaurants. I know this is kind of nit-picky but, in my opinion, their are too many self proclaimed “chefs” out there who will take credit for “recreating” or “redesigning” a recipe when they the only thing they did was add and/or delete ONE ingredient. How much creativity does that take? Seriously? NONE! I will definitely be trying this recipe and bookmarking your site.
Thanks so much for writing in, Dennis! I am a big believer in giving credit where it is due. I also find it interesting to know where recipes originate and how they evolve. I would agree — I’ve seen a lot of recipe “theft” on the web and not giving credit when there deserves to be credit. Hope you like this! And the site … welcome!
Looking for plan ahead breakfast for my daughter, this looks delicious! How long do you think it will keep in the fridge and still taste good re heated?
Erin – I put mine into 5 individual glass containers with an airtight lid. I pull one out of my refrigerator every morning, pour a little bit of cashew milk on it, then reheat for a minute in microwave. I have tried this recipe various ways (e.g., subbing the types of milk – almond, cashew, oat; reducing the ratio of maple syrup down to 1/4 cup, using honey instead of maple syrup; increasing amount of oats to 1 cup; omitting the egg and almonds; reducing amount of butter used), all with success. I have not had any issue with it keeping in refrigerator Monday through Friday. I tried freezing it, but seems to change the texture of the oats slightly once thawed.
Thanks so much for chiming in here with all of these great thoughts! So appreciated.
Hi! Have you ever added protein powder? Just wondering how much I should add. Thanks!
I haven’t, but I say just wing it — use what you do for other things as a guide. GOod luck!
I’ve made this recipe several times and it’s my go to base recipe for baked oatmeal. When I’m in a rush, I add a splash of milk and reheat. I don’t add cinnamon but have played around with the fruit/nut mixture depending on what I have on hand. I’ve also tried it without the overnight soak; the steel cut oats aren’t as creamy and are the same consistency as preparing them on the stove top. Love the recipe. Thank you for sharing!
So happy to hear this, Raven! It’s getting to be the time of year for baked steel cut oats … it’s truly one of my favorites. Thanks for writing in!
Do I need to soak the oats and milk before baking or can I just mix and bake? I’m a little confused but want to make it for breakfast this week with bananas. I’m not making the individual portions. Thanks!
This is a delicious ? recipe. It really doesn’t last more than a day in my house. Barely makes it to the refrigerator! Thank you soooo much!!
So happy to hear this, Marisa! I love this one, too.
So yummy!
I made this with steel cut oats that were soaked overnight in warm water and yoghurt and omitted the milk (as i normally do that for oat prep and then went looking for a bake recipe). It still worked!
I did add an extra egg because mine were small and cooked it in glass dish inside a pan of water so it had a yummy custard layer.
My 13 month old loves it! I love it. I will be making this over and over as a break from regular oats. Thanks
So happy to hear this, Emma! I’ve been actually wanting to try adding another egg to create a more custardy texture. Will do this next time! Interesting soaking method, too— will try that as well!
This looks amazing! I’d like to make it for a larger group. Do you think it would work to double for a 9×13 pan, and if so, how would that change the time/temperature? Berries aren’t in season here right now -would frozen work? Thanks!
Hi Angela,
I think doubling would work well, and I think you’d just have to keep an eye on it regarding the time. I wouldn’t change the temperature. It might not take that much longer. Also, I love it with apples if you’re looking for a seasonal variation. Here’s a photo with apples: https://alexandracooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/15046989743_df75543585_o.jpg Hope that helps!
Omg! This was to die for, and I don’t even like oatmeal or sweets :P, I was just trying to find some use for the 3 containers of steel oats I got back when I was trying to eat a little healthier. I know all the maple syrup and butter doesn’t help, but I really don’t care cause it was delicious. I put a scoop of honey strawberry Greek yogurt on top of my warm oats and devoured the whole thing. Definitely recommend it. If you haven’t tried this recipe yet, please do 🙂