Apples, oats, and a little bit of spice join forces in these Baked Oatmeal Cups, portable baked oatmeal cakes. Delicious in a bowl of cream or just eaten out of hand, they are the perfect breakfast treat.
The individual servings can be gobbled down immediately, or cool and freeze them for later noshing. You can even freeze them unbaked! They are great for a Meal Prep Breakfast or easy Holiday Brunch on a Budget.
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If you love Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal, then you’re going to love these Baked Oatmeal Cups with Apple. Highly portable and packed with tasty goodness, they are the perfect way to enjoy oatmeal on the go.
Whether you serve them for breakfast, lunch, or a midnight snack, you know you’ll be fueling up on whole grains and real whole ingredients. No fake food here!
Why Make This
Baked Oatmeal Cups are an easy make-ahead breakfast. Whether you make a batch tonight to bake tomorrow or freeze them (baked or unbaked), these baked oatmeal cups are a fun and
They are easily portable. These are great for packing to work or lunch. Or even for giving as gifts.
You can change them up to suit what you have. While the recipe is written for adding apples, you can actually stir whatever fruit, nuts, chocolate, or even veggies that you have. My kids LOVE when I stir in shredded carrot! Who knew?
Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make Baked Oatmeal Cups:
rolled oats – For best texture, use old fashioned oats. If you’ve got extra, you can make Instant Oatmeal Packets and Breakfast Cookies.
brown sugar – I like brown sugar for its light caramel flavor, but you can use whatever sugar you like, such as white sugar, honey, or maple syrup. Remember you can make brown sugar if you like.
leavening: baking powder and salt – These add flavor and a bit of lift to your baked oatmeal cups.
spices: ground cinnamon and nutmeg – These spices are natural partners for apples, but feel free to add whatever baking spices you like.
applesauce – Applesauce adds sweetness and helps the texture of the baked oatmeal. Applesauce cups from the grocery store are convenient to keep on hand for this recipe or you can make Slow Cooker Applesauce. You can substitute mashed brown bananas if you like.
plain yogurt – I use plain Greek yogurt in this recipe for extra protein, but you can use whatever you like, including complementary flavored yogurts.
milk – I use 1% milk but you can use whatever you normally keep on hand, including plant milks or even buttermilk.
neutral oil – Use an oil that won’t add flavor to the cups, such as sunflower, canola, or avocado. You can also use melted butter.
vanilla extract – A pricier ingredient on the list, vanilla can be omitted or reduced, but if you have it, it adds great flavor.
eggs – The eggs add great body to this recipe, but you can use Flaxseed Meal Egg Substitute if you need or want to bake without eggs.
apples – Apples are delicious in Baked Oatmeal Cups. Use a good baking apple such as Braeburn, Pink Lady, or Jonathan. See the variations below for other fruit options to mix in.
Variations
Feel free to vary both the spices and the fruit you add to the oat mixture. You can also stir in chopped nuts, seeds, or nut/seed butters. Consider these options:
- berries such as blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries
- chopped fruits such as pears, mangos, and pineapple
- shredded veggies such as carrots, zucchini, or squash
- different spices such as nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves
- nuts and seeds such as walnuts, peanuts, pecans, almonds, pepitas, and sunflower seeds
- baking chips such as chocolate (white, dark, milk, or semisweet), peanut butter chips, cinnamon chips, or espresso chips
If you need this to be gluten-free: Be sure to use specifically gluten-free oats. Read all labels to ensure safety from cross-contamination.
To make this vegan: Follow the ingredients list for Vegan Baked Oatmeal.
Step-by-Step Instructions
It’s super easy to make Baked Oatmeal Cups with Apple! Here’s how to do it:
Prep step – Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan or line it with paper liners.
1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg.
2. In a second mixing bowl, whisk together the applesauce, yogurt, milk, oil, vanilla, and eggs.
3. Pour the wet ingredients onto the dry, and add the apples. Fold gently to combine.
4. Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin pan. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden. Cool on a rack prior to serving.
To make baked oatmeal as a breakfast casserole: Spoon the mixture into a greased 9×13-inch pan and bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until golden.
Freezing Instructions
To freeze the cups unbaked, line the muffin pans with papers. Freeze the oatmeal cups prior to baking in the pan. Once frozen, remove the oatmeal pucks from the pan and store in an airtight container in the freezer. To bake, pull out as many frozen cups as you like, place them back into muffin tins, and bake, adding a few minutes to allot for the frozen cups.
To freeze baked cups, wrap the cups well in an airtight container and store in the freezer. Reheat in the microwave to serve.
FAQs
Baked oatmeal cups can be frozen baked or unbaked. If baked, cool completely on a wire rack before packaging to freeze. If freezing unbaked, place the prepped cups in the pans in the freezer until firm. Remove the frozen cups from the pans and store in an airtight container in the freezer. When ready to bake, place the cups back in the pan and bake from frozen.
Meal planning for toddlers takes some thought to taste, portions, and safety. Pack as many nutrients as you can into your baked oatmeal cups, such as using Greek yogurt. Bake the mixture into mini cups to make for smaller sized portions. Avoid adding nuts, seeds, or other possible choking hazard type foods.
There are several different substitutes for eggs in baking, including flaxseed meal, silken tofu, applesauce, and mashed banana. For silken tofu, applesauce, and banana subs, use 3T for each egg called for in the recipe.
Recipe Costs
Knowing how much it costs you to prepare a recipe can help you decide if it’s the type of recipe to make regularly or one you might want to save for special occasions. Let’s crunch some numbers and see how this recipe pencils out.
- rolled oats – $1.00
- brown sugar – $0.06
- baking powder – $0.08
- spices: ground cinnamon and nutmeg – $0.10
- salt – $0.01
- applesauce – $0.35
- plain yogurt – $0.30
- milk – $0.17
- neutral oil – $0.08
- vanilla extract – $0.25
- eggs – $0.30
- apples – $1.00
While your costs may vary depending on how and where you shop, you can expect to pay about $3.70 for a dozen baked oatmeal cups with apple, about $0.31 each.
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Baked Oatmeal Cups with Apple
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 cup rolled oats
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ cup applesauce
- ½ cup plain yogurt
- ½ cup milk
- ¼ cup neutral oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 egg
- 2 apple peeled, cored, and finely chopped, about 2 cups
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan or line it with paper liners.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg.
- In a second mixing bowl, whisk together the applesauce, yogurt, milk, juice, oil, vanilla, and eggs.
- Pour the wet ingredients onto the dry, and add the apples. Fold gently to combine.
- Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin pan. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden. Cool on a rack prior to serving.
Notes
- berries such as blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries
- chopped fruits such as pears, mangos, and pineapple
- shredded veggies such as carrots, zucchini, or squash
- different spices such as nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves
- nuts and seeds such as walnuts, peanuts, pecans, almonds, pepitas, and sunflower seeds
- baking chips such as chocolate (white, dark, milk, or semisweet), peanut butter chips, cinnamon chips, or espresso chips
Nutrition
This post was originally published March 8, 2012. It has been updated for content and clarity.
Wendy Lee
I have made this recipe, exactly as written, so many times now. It is a life saver for busy weeks. Just pop the muffin in the microwave and go. Bonus – they smell great while baking. Thanks for always posting such great recipes.
Jude
Made yesterday, while I had the oven on for other things, and served this morning. Great taste and so easy! I’ve frozen the rest for later in the week. Thanks for the recipe!
Jessica Fisher
So glad you enjoyed it.
Cindy
How much whipping cream does this recipe call for? We all love oats here!
Jessica Fisher
I usually drizzle a little over the hot cakes or whip about a cup mixed with some sugar, honey, or maple syrup.
Kathie
I can’t comment because I haven’t made these YET. Question, though: could I substitute sour cream (always have that on hand) for the yogurt (I need to gain weight due to health issues)?
Jessica Fisher
I would think so.
Brighid
Made them today with sour cream and it worked out just fine!
Jessica Fisher
Good to know! Thanks.
Lise
Very yummy recipe – I subbed 3 very ripe mashed bananas and about a quarter-cup pumpkin for the apples and applesauce, and they turned out great! Thanks!
Jessica Fisher
Fun ways to change it up! Thanks for letting us know.
Kathie
I’m going to try your banana suggestion and add some milk chocolate chips. (I’m trying to gain weight due to health issues and need all the calories I can get!) I’ll also be using whole milk. I’m wondering how they would be using unconstituted evaporated milk and leaving out the brown sugar. Any opinions on that?
destiney
so going to add these to my recipes for freezer baking. which is my new love. I am the worst morning person so getting the kids to school is hard ussuly because i am still half asleep and my brain is not functioning so i <3 meals i can pull from the freezer and simply reheat. and since we have givin up the cereal addiction compleatly (yay) these are a life saver plus now i know what to do with all the apples i keep getting in my weekly basket!
Donna
Jessica, your raspberry oatmeal has become a weekly “must have” in our house (I actually make it with triple berry frozen mix from Costco…so good) and I’ve been thinking I need to try it with apple! Thanks for the recipe! Love the muffin pan idea! I’m going to do that this week. I’m teaching a healthy eating class to a bunch of seniors next week and was going to make this baked oatmeal for them….will do the individual muffin cups and show them how to freeze them! Thanks!
Jessica Fisher
Yeah! How great to know. 🙂
Laura@ Stealthy Mom
Running with scissors!!!! (Technically, quinoa is not a grain.) I really like your themed recipe swaps. The potato swap was the first time I came across you blog, and of course I pinned it! It is fun to see so many ideas come from an ingredient, like an episode of Iron Chef, right here on your blog. Thank your for hosting!
Jessica Fisher
Yes, I know. As I mentioned in the post, quinoa is a seed, not a grain, but we’re letting it come to the party anyway. 🙂 Thanks for participating.
Laura@ Stealthy Mom
I also shared one of my favorite breads. I’ve been seeing Red River Cereal on store shelves here in the states, and just get giddy!
Hattie
Here’s a recipe for really easy granola–I don’t know if it’s terribly frugal, though. The dried fruit and nuts could make it pricey. I tried this recipe in an attempt to use up the rest of a CostCo size bag of pecans that I bought for my holiday recipes. The original recipe called for almonds, walnuts, and cranberries, but we like it this way. I suppose for the amount of granola it makes, the cost of the fruit and nuts may be spread out enough.:)
Nutty Granola
½ C canola oil
1/3 C hot water
2/3 C honey
6 C rolled oats
2 ¼ C chopped pecans
3 C dried fruit of choice (we like the bags of mixed cherries, blueberries, and cranberries)
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, hot water, and honey. In a large bowl, stir together the oats and pecans. Pour the honey mixture into the oat mixture and stir until the oats and pecans are evenly coated. Spread out the granola onto 2 baking sheets.
Bake for 10 minutes, stir, and bake 10 more minutes, or until toasted. Allow granola to cool completely before stirring in the dried fruit. Granola will harden as it cools. Store in an airtight container.
Michelle @ Simplify, Live, Love
This recipe looks really good. I’m always on the lookout for easy breakfast ideas. Do you ever prep this ahead of time (say night before) for quicker breakfasts in the morning?
I linked up recipes for homemade flour tortillas and also for wholewheat sesame crackers. I have lots more grain recipes on my blog, including a 9 grain bread recipe: http://www.simplifylivelove.com/2012/01/9-grain-bread.html and a lot more. Thanks for hosting!
Jessica Fisher
Yes, you could make it the night before and refrigerate it.
Jen Fitzpatrick
I’ll swap with you! You can come be the “bad guy” at my house and I’ll do the “bad guy” stuff on the site!
It’s been one of those weeks where patience needs to be available at all times……………………