Healthy Baked Oatmeal (Dessert For Breakfast!)

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This healthy baked oatmeal recipe is perfect for a cozy breakfast. With whole grain oats, milk, eggs, and berries, this oatmeal bake comes together in under 30 minutes, using ingredients you probably have on hand. My kids enjoyed 4 batches of this in a matter of a few weeks while I tested the recipe. 😉

Just like my chocolate chip overnight oats, oatmeal breakfast bars, or banana oat pancakes, this dish has a delicious balance of protein, fiber, and sweet flavor. It will keep you full all morning long and all week long, because it stores well for easy breakfast meal prep!

Not only is baked oatmeal nutritious and delicious, but it uses ChocZero Cookie Butter Spread to deliver a warm cinnamon cookie flavor to every bite. It’s like cookies for breakfast! The best thing about this cookie spread is that it tastes so indulgent — even though it’s completely sugar-free.

Get Cookie Butter Here

Baked oatmeal in a pan next to s and delicious, but it's made with ChocZero Cookie Butter Spread.

Why You’ll Love This Baked Oatmeal Recipe

Cinnamon cookie flavor, muffin-like texture
Simple ingredients
Less than 30 minutes from stove to table
No stovetop cooking required
No added sugar, unlike many baked oatmeal recipes
Gluten-free (using GF oats), with dairy-free and nut-free options
Easy to customize
Tastes like dessert for breakfast!

Ingredients & Substitutions

This section explains how to choose the best ingredients for a healthy oatmeal bake, what each one does in the recipe, and substitution options. For measurements, see the recipe card below.

Rolled Oats – If you have a gluten intolerance, look for certified gluten-free oats. You can also use quick oats. Avoid steel cut oats, as they will cook up too dense for this recipe.
Baking Powder – Prevents the final bake from becoming too dense and heavy.
Cinnamon – Use high quality cinnamon for the best flavor.
Sea Salt – Balances the sweet flavors.
Eggs – Use room temperature eggs. If vegan, you can substitute the eggs with flax eggs. Mashed banana would also work as a substitute, but won’t hold together as well as eggs do.
ChocZero Cookie Butter Spread – You could use peanut butter (or any nut butter) in place of the cookie butter, but the oatmeal won’t be sweet and the flavor is much better using the cookie butter.
Butter – You want melted butter so that it blends into the batter evenly. Use an unsalted variety. You could also use melted coconut oil for a dairy-free option.
Vanilla Extract – Use high quality pure vanilla extract for the best flavor.
Milk – Use room temperature milk. Any kind of milk (dairy milk, almond milk, coconut milk, hemp milk, etc) will work.
Dried Cranberries – To keep this oatmeal bake even healthier, use sugar-free dried cranberries. However, these are totally optional.
Pecans – Optional, but I like the flavor chopped pecans add to this oatmeal. You could use walnuts, hazelnuts, or macadamia nuts as well. For a nut-free option, omit altogether or substitute sunflower seeds or pepitas.

How To Make Baked Oatmeal

This section shows how to bake oatmeal that is healthy, with step-by-step photos and details about the technique, to help you visualize it. For full instructions, including amounts and temperatures, see the recipe card below.

Prep. Preheat the oven. Grease a 9×9 baking dish with oil, butter, or cooking spray.
Stir dry ingredients. In a large bowl, stir together the rolled oats, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
Whisk wet ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, cookie butter, melted butter, and vanilla, until smooth. Whisk in milk.

Wet ingredients mixed together in a bowl.

Combine. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir to combine.
Incorporate add-ins. Fold in dried cranberries and/or pecans, if using.

Wet ingredients and dry ingredients mixed together in a bowl.

Dried cranberries and pecans added to wet ingredients.

Bake. Pour oat mixture to the baking dish and spread evenly. Cook easy baked oatmeal in the oven to your desired doneness (the pictures show the longer baking time; see notes below).
Add toppings if desired. For a decadent finish, drizzle the top with (optional) additional cookie butter. You can also add more nuts and dried cranberries if you like. Cut into individual portions to serve.

Baked oatmeal recipe with cookie butter drizzled on top.

How Long To Bake Oatmeal?

Oatmeal bake time depends on the consistency you prefer: bake for 18-20 minutes for soft oatmeal with a bread pudding texture, or 22-24 minutes for firm oatmeal.

Tips For The Best Baked Oatmeal Recipes

What’s better than waking up to the smell of freshly baked oatmeal? Not much! Here are some tips for the best baked oatmeal ever:

Don’t make batter ahead. If you do, the oats will absorb the liquid and you’ll get mushier results.
Don’t skip the butter. It keeps every bite soft and moist.
Adjust the baking time. Make sure to adjust baking time depending on if you like firm or soft baked oatmeal.

Baked oatmeal drizzled with cookie butter spread.

Flavor Variations

Banana Baked Oatmeal – You can easily change up the flavor of this easy baked oatmeal to a banana flavor. Just add a mashed banana and omit dried cranberries.
Chocolate Chip – Replace the dried cranberries with chocolate chips. (These are my favorite sugar-free ones that taste great for healthy baked oatmeal!)
Baked Apple Oatmeal – Omit cranberries, and add diced apples, maple syrup and pure almond extract instead of vanilla. Add brown sugar (or Besti Brown) for more flavor.
Brownie – Make brownie batter and add a cup of rolled oats.
Blueberry Oatmeal Bake – Swap dried cranberries for fresh (or dried) blueberries.
Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal – Reduce eggs to 1, reduce milk to 3/4 cup, and add 1/2 cup canned pumpkin. Use pumpkin pie spice instead of cinnamon.

Storage Instructions

Store: Place leftovers in an airtight container and pop it in the refrigerator. It will last for up to 4 days in the fridge.
Reheat: To keep its cake-like texture, place leftover oatmeal on a microwave-safe plate and cover it with a piece of damp paper towel. Microwave for 15 seconds, then continue in 10-second intervals until warm.

Can You Freeze Baked Oatmeal?

Yes, you can freeze baked oatmeal recipes. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight before reheating.

Baked oatmeal square on a plate with a fork.

More Healthy Breakfast Recipes

Love sweet breakfasts, but want to skip the sugar crash? Try these healthy options for ways to stay fueled all morning long.

Healthy banana muffins with one unwrapped.

Recommended Tools

Square Baking Dish – The best size with even cooking. Looks great from oven to table, too.

Healthy Baked Oatmeal Recipe

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7 Comments

Susan
0 March 27, 2023Reply

Made this yesterday for my weeks breakfast. So easy to make and so tasty. i substituted blueberries for the cranberries. definitely have to make this again.
Betsy O'Berry
0 February 15, 2023Reply

What would be a substitute for the ChocZero Cookie Butter? Regular butter? Peanut butter? Would like to try this recipe without investing in an ingredient I may never use again.
- Wholesome Yum D
  0 February 16, 2023Reply
  
  Hi Betsy, Cookie butter is more like peanut butter than regular butter.
- Susan
  0 April 24, 2023Reply
  
  I used peanut butter the 2nd time I made this, and it was ok, but the cookie butter is much better in this recipe.
Paula K
0 February 9, 2023Reply

My new go-to breakfast! My family loves this, with and without the cranberries!
Andie
0 February 9, 2023Reply

This recipe is a great meal prep recipe! I made a huge batch and kept it in the fridge and my kids loved it!
Matt
0 February 9, 2023Reply

So yummy! I love a good baked oatmeal recipe and this one is spot on. Easy to make and the texture and taste are so great.