Home » Recipe Type » Breakfast » Baked Steel Cut Oatmeal
4.9 from 140 reviews
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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 whenBen 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 isthe kind of dish I hope so very much you will all whisk up tonightbefore hitting the hay, so you, too, have something to savor, with friends or without, all Saturday morning long.
PS: Favorite Blueberry-Almond Smoothie
PPS: Apple-Pie Overnight Oats
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
5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star
4.9 from 140 reviews
- Author: Alexandra Stafford
- Total Time: 1 hours 5 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4-6
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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
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
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Tasha D —Reply
I bake this almost every week at the beginning of the week and survive off of it for breakfast every morning. Okay, full disclosure, sometimes I also eat it for dessert :). I change up the fruit and nuts depending on whatever is on sale that week and it’s always delicious. I am so grateful for this post, like really.
Alexandra Stafford —Reply
So nice to read all of this, Tasha 🙂 🙂 🙂 I like it equally for breakfast or dessert as well. Thank for writing 💕💕💕
GAM —Reply
Delicious. I omitted cinnamon, used 1 1/2T butter, about 1/8C of maple syrup and didn’t add fruit until after baking.
Alexandra Stafford —Reply
Great to hear! Thanks for writing and sharing your notes 🙂
susand —Reply
This is the most wonderful oatmeal! It baked up perfectly and wasn’t mushy like so many baked oatmeal dishes are. Do you have any tips on storing leftovers and reheating?
Alexandra Stafford —Reply
Great to hear, Susan! This is embarrassing, but I don’t think I’ve ever reheated it… I just eat it cold. Do you have a microwave?
susand —Reply
LOL yes I have used it to heat it . I found you by another blogger who was crazy for your mother’s bread. It was the first of your recipes that I tried and it turned out perfectly.
I’m having a great time trying recipes that I think we will like! Thanks so much 🙂 Best wishes for a wonderful 2024!Alexandra Stafford —Reply
So nice to read all of this, Susan! Thanks so much for writing. Hope you do find more recipes you love. Happy New Year!!
Tania —Reply
This. THIS!
I was not sure how it was going to bake with the milk floating, but it was delicious! I am sad I took only a small portion for my breakfast at work!
I made some tweak because I wanted to try it even though I did not have everything on hand.
Almond became coconut.
Maple syrup became apple sauce.
Apple became plum.
I just love it when a recipe is so clervely created that you can switch some ingredients and it is still perfection.
But I can’t wait to try the original recipe as I am sure it is even more scrumptious.Alexandra Stafford —Reply
Great to read all of this! Thanks so much for writing and sharing your notes 🙂 🙂 🙂
Tania —Reply
I took a bigger slice at home for breakfast today and already went to buy everything I need for a second batch following the recipe 😉
Alexandra Stafford —Reply
Yay! Love this so much 🙂
Katherine Riolo —Reply
I don’t think I’ve ever been compelled to write a recipe review before, but this is just so darn good. Everyone fights over it. Is so hearty and satisfying and will keep you full for hours and hours. I followed the recipe to a T and it turned out scrumptiously.and now I make it 2-3 times per week. Thank you so much!!
Alexandra Stafford —Reply
So nice to read this, Katherine! Thanks for writing 🙂 🙂 🙂
Karen Hutter —Reply
My favorite 2023 recipe find! Amazing!!
Alexandra Stafford —Reply
Hooray 🎉🎉🎉🎉
Mary —Reply
I am anxious to try this recipe!
Can I use frozen mixed berries?
Do I need to adjust the recipe? Looking forward to a reply.Alexandra Stafford —Reply
Should be fine Mary! The frozen mixed berries may turn the batter a blue-ish hue when it bakes, but otherwise it should work just fine.
Theresa Keller —Reply
I made the baked steel cut oats today, didn’t have 2 cups of milk so I used 1 cup 1/2&1/2 & 1 cup eggnog, used homemade chunky applesauce for the fruit & almonds. It is delicious. Will take to work for breakfast with Greek yogurt .
Alexandra Stafford —Reply
Yum! Love the sound of all of this, Theresa! Thanks for writing.
Linda —Reply
On your Bakes Oatmeal, did you add additional nuts on top, or do they rise to the surface?
Thank you.Alexandra Stafford —Reply
No additional nuts — they rise to the top 🙂
Jan Taylor-Cameron —Reply
Hi,Ali. Made this recipe this morning, using 6 ramekins. Shared with friends this afternoon. They loved it! Used 1/4 cup of maple syrup as suggested, so that the ration of sugar to milk was good for one of my friends who is diabetic. I used quick-cooking steel cut oats, baked at 350F (fan) for 50 minutes. No issue with over-browning. This is definitely what we call a ‘do-over’. Thanks!
Alexandra Stafford —Reply
Great to hear, Jan! Thanks so much for sharing your notes — all so helpful for others.
Alexa —Reply
I left out the maple syrup because I really didn’t want to put sugar in there, and I think it was fine though I would be curious to try it with that in. Overall it was a little odd but I didn’t dislike it, and there was definitely too much salt so I would be reducing that in the future, but that could have been due to the lack of maple syrup. I put bananas as well as apples on top which was great. To compensate for the lack of sugar I would definitely put a lot more fruit in next time, and use less salt.
Katherine Riolo —Reply
This is our very favorite oatmeal ever. I make it a few times a week. My whole family likes it. I make it just as is except for I add two tablespoons of ground flax, two tablespoons of chia, and two tables beans of ground hemp hearts. And because of the little bit of extra greens I add one extra egg and a splash more of milk and it pinch more of salt. And it is just perfect. We love love love it. Sometimes I sub out honey for the maple syrup if I’m low. This is the most delicious and healthy thing and I crave it and it keeps you full for about half a day. It’s amazing.
Alexandra Stafford —Reply
Great to read all of this, Katherine! Thanks so much for writing and sharing all of these notes. All sounds delicious 🙂 🙂 🙂
Mary —Reply
If you sub regular rolled oats for steel cut, do you use the same amount of liquid?
Alexandra Stafford —Reply
Hi! The original recipe (from Heidi Swanson) calls for rolled oats, and she uses 2 cups rolled oats for 2 cups of liquid. So I’d keep the recipe the same but up the oats to 2 cups.
