Blueberry Apple & Walnut Baked Oatmeal- oats, walnuts, blueberries, and apples are baked together in this hearty breakfast dish that's so good it almost tastes like dessert! Make a batch on the weekend and enjoy it all week long.
I love using oatmeal in my recipes. Not only is it really good for you, it's also extremely versatile! I make everything from blueberry oatmeal cookies to gluten-free strawberry oatmeal blender pancakes, to crockpot apple cinnamon oatmeal and easy overnight oats. I even make scrambled oats!
But my favorite way to eat oatmeal has to be baked oatmeal. If you've never experienced the wonders of baked oatmeal, you must try this Blueberry Apple & Walnut Baked Oatmeal.
Whole grain oats, walnuts, blueberries, and apples are baked together in a hearty and comforting breakfast dish that tastes so good it almost feels like dessert. And the best part is, it tastes even better the next day!
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The Perfect Make-Ahead Breakfast
I’m always looking for healthy breakfast ideas that will give me energy to get through the day. I work long shifts in the ER so keeping my stamina up throughout the day is really important.
I like to pack my own meals on work days. That way I don’t have to rely on what the hospital cafeteria is serving up.
This baked oatmeal is the ideal breakfast for me because I can bake it on the weekend for my whole family. Then I can take the leftovers to work the rest of the week.
If you're looking for more make-ahead breakfast ideas, try my chocolate baked oats, healthy make-ahead breakfast burritos, berry chia pudding or banana chocolate chip muffins.
Packed with Superfoods
This recipe is packed with superfoods! Superfoods are foods that are rich in compounds that have the power to positively affect our health, ward off disease, and increase longevity.
- Oats are nutritious whole grains that are packed with fiber. Fiber helps keep things moving along smoothly in our intestinal tract. A diet high in fiber also helps reduce cholesterol, regulate blood sugar levels, regulate blood pressure, and lower your risk of heart disease.
- Blueberries are superfoods too. They provide vitamin C, fiber, and powerful disease-fighting antioxidants. I love using blueberries in popsicles, smoothies, and fruit crisps.
- Walnuts are also packed with a wide variety of important nutrients. Did you know that one ounce of walnuts has 2.5 grams of the omega-3 fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), 4 grams of protein, and 2 grams of fiber? This combination helps keep you feeling full and satisfied.
Doctor's Tip: Discover the remarkable health benefits of overnight oats! From promoting heart health to aiding in weight management, oats are packed with nutrition to kickstart your day!
How to Make Blueberry Apple & Walnut Baked Oatmeal
Baked oatmeal is so easy to make! Here are the steps. Scroll down to the recipe card below for full recipe amounts and instructions.
- Mix your dry ingredients together (rolled oats, baking powder, cinnamon and salt).
- Mix your wet ingredients together (milk, Greek yogurt, egg, maple syrup, coconut oil or butter, and vanilla extract). A lot of recipes just use milk but I like to add some Greek yogurt to my dish. This adds a nice boost of protein.
- Scatter some blueberries, chopped apple, and walnuts around the bottom of an 8x8-inch baking dish. Top them with the dry ingredients. Then pour in the wet ingredients.
- Press it all down so that the dry ingredients are submerged in the liquid. Finally, top the dish off with some more blueberries, apples, walnuts, and a dusting of cinnamon, and pop it in the oven.
In 40-45 minutes, you’ll have a delicious, hot, baked breakfast dish that’s bursting with flavor. And your kitchen will smell delicious!
Chef's Tips
This baked oatmeal can easily be adapted to suit all types of diets!
- To keep the dish vegan, you can use plant-based milk and yogurt, a flax egg, and coconut oil.
- If you're watching your sugar intake, you can leave out the maple syrup or use any sweetener of your choice.
- If you're following a gluten-free diet, use certified gluten-free oats.
Baked Oatmeal Has Endless Variations
Once you get the basic recipe for baked oatmeal down, you can make endless variations using your favorite ingredients.
In the summer, you can make baked oatmeal with sweet summer berries or luscious stone fruit like plums, nectarines, apricots or cherries. In the fall, you can make a batch with apples and cranberries.
My Peach Baked Oatmeal pictured here is a reader favorite that you must try! Warm, cinnamon-infused oatmeal is studded with sweet peaches and topped with thick, creamy vanilla yogurt. Yum! It's super easy to make and your whole family will love it!
How To Serve This Dish
I love to eat baked oatmeal warm with a some milk drizzled on top and a dollop of Greek yogurt and maple syrup. But it’s also really satisfying eaten cold, straight out of the fridge the next day (or as a midnight snack if you can’t wait until morning!).
The Greek yogurt adds a nice boost of protein to keep you full and satisfied all morning long.
A hearty and satisfying breakfast that’s bursting with flavor, whole grains, protein, fiber, and antioxidants. What more can you ask for?
Looking for even more apple recipes? Check out my Best Apple Recipe Round Up!
Recipe FAQs
Yes, this baked oatmeal is the perfect make-ahead dish! You can assemble the whole dish the night before and refrigerate it. The next day, just pop it in the oven and bake as directed.
Yes, you can freeze baked oatmeal. You can wrap the dish with plastic wrap and freeze the whole thing or cut it into pieces and freeze the individual portions. The whole dish can be reheated in the oven. The individual portions can be reheated in the oven or microwave.
Yes, you can use quick oats in this recipe as some of my readers have noted. Quick oats are just rolled oats that go through further processing to decrease cooking time. They're partially cooked and then rolled out thinner than old-fashioned oats. Using quick oats may give the baked oatmeal a slightly finer, more cake-like consistency, which is delicious!
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Recipe
Blueberry Apple & Walnut Baked Oatmeal
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup walnuts, divided use
- 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon plus extra for garnish
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ¼ cups milk, any type (I used 2%)
- ½ cup plain low fat Greek yogurt
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup maple syrup or other sweetener of your choice
- 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil or unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups blueberries, divided use
- 1 ½ cups finely chopped, peeled apple, divided use
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- Spray an 8 x 8-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Finely chop ½ cup walnuts and place them in a bowl along with the oats, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
- Whisk the milk, yogurt, egg, maple syrup, coconut oil and vanilla together in another bowl.
- Arrange 1 cup blueberries and 1 cup chopped apple in the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Scatter the oat mixture evenly on top. Pour in the milk mixture and press to submerge all of the dry ingredients in the liquid. Roughly chop the remaining ½ cup walnuts and scatter them on top along with the remaining ½ cup blueberries and ½ cup apple. Sprinkle with cinnamon.
- Bake 40-45 minutes, until the top is golden and the oats are set. Serve warm or at room temperature. Serve as is or topped with milk, Greek yogurt or maple syrup.
Nutrition
About the author
Dr. Sonali Ruder
Meet Dr. Sonali Ruder aka The Foodie Physician- ER doctor, chef, culinary creator & mom.
Sue says
In the oven now, smells so yummy! Realized I'd forgotten the unsalted butter (softening in microwave) so I drizzled it across the top and continued cooking. Used twice as much plain Greek yogurt as had too little oat milk. Added some instant espresso to dry mix. Left out the maple syrup entirely.
We'll see.......
patricia rogers says
Very interested in making this 'dessert' and wondering if you think it would work with strawberries?
Thanks
Dr. Sonali Ruder says
I like that idea! Yes, you can definitely use sliced strawberries or any type of berry. A combination of strawberries and bananas would be great too. Let me know how it goes!
Michelle says
I tried water instead of milk and yogurt….it was great too!
Dr. Sonali Ruder says
That’s great! Glad to hear it worked well with water too. Thanks for your comment! 🙂
Nancy says
Love, love, love this recipe and make it all the time now. I have quick oats I need to use up. Can you substitute quick oats for old fashioned oats or will it be too soggy?
Dr. Sonali Ruder says
That's great, Nancy! I'm so happy you love the recipe! I've never made this with quick oats but I think it would work. The dish will probably just have a finer, more cake-like texture. If you try it, let me know how it goes! 🙂
Nancy says
So I made this using quick oats and I’m happy to report that it came out great! I just love this recipe. I do a few tweaks to make it a little sweeter using vanilla Greek yogurt, adding a tablespoon of brown sugar to the oat mixture and two teaspoons of vanilla. I also use a lot of cinnamon! Even with these tweaks, I think it’s still plenty healthy and has me eating my oatmeal everyday. Thanks Dr. Ruder!!
Dr. Sonali Ruder says
Hi Nancy! Thanks so much for the update! I’m happy to hear that the recipe works well with quick oats. And your tweaks sound delicious!
Jan says
So simple and so delicious
Dr. Sonali Ruder says
Thank you for your comment! So happy you enjoyed it!
Kristine says
This looks amazing. I need to know the serving size for that amount of calories. I am trying to maintain my loss of 60+ lbs. How many servings in the recipe! Can't wait to try it.
Thanks
Dr. Sonali Ruder says
Good for you! Yes, the recipe makes 8 servings so one serving is 1/8 of the dish. I hope you enjoy it!
Shanna says
I made this with a few adjustments It is great!
Changes:
1.5 times apples, blueberries, walnut
Agave syrup instead of maple
I can’t believe its not butter instead of butter
Added: Garam Masala and lemon juice
Dr. Sonali Ruder says
Thanks for your review, Shanna! The addition of garam masala is so interesting! So happy you liked the dish 🙂
Nancy says
This is delicious. Love it. Will definitely make it again!
Dr. Sonali Ruder says
That’s great! I’m so happy you liked the dish, Nancy! Thanks for leaving a comment 🙂
Patricia says
This recipe is awesome. I hate oatmeal, but with all the fruits,nuts you really don't taste it.
Can you freeze this ? Or will it be soggy
Dr. Sonali Ruder says
I’m so happy you liked the recipe, Patricia! Yes, this dish freezes well. You can freeze the whole thing or cut it into pieces and freeze the individual portions. Thanks for leaving a review!
Nancy says
This was delicious. I shared with a friend who you were one of the recipe afterwords and is planning on making it for her mother. Are used to nonfat milk and substitute sour cream for the Greek yogurt because that’s what I had. I also used pecans instead of walnuts. Really delicious
Dr. Sonali Ruder says
Thanks for your comment, Nancy! I'm so happy you enjoyed the recipe. I've never used sour cream before- I'm glad it worked out well. The pecans sound like a delicious substitution!
Judy Johnson says
I have another baked oatmeal recipe without fruit in it and it calls for 1/2 c. of brown sugar. I think I will try that the next time I make this and omit the maple syrup. I like my baked oatmeal a little sweeter!
Dr. Sonali Ruder says
Sounds good! The great thing about this recipe is that you can easily adjust the amount of sugar to your taste. I hope you love it!
Kim says
Could you omit egg & use something for a replacement? I really want to make this, but we cannot have eggs.
sonaliruder says
Yes, you can use a flax egg. To make a flax egg, mix 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed with 3 tablespoons water in a bowl. Let it sit for 5 minutes and then use in recipe to substitute for 1 egg. Let me know how it goes if you try the recipe!
Fran says
Made this for breakfast this morning and it was delicious! So good, that we had a small piece for dessert tonight with a little vanilla ice cream!
Beth Nicol says
looks really good. I'm wondering if I could cut way back on the maple syrup. I've been on a no added sugar regime and that sounds awfully sweet! (I do love maple syrup, tho) I'll give it a try because this looks so good!
Dr. Sonali Ruder says
Yes, you can definitely leave out the maple syrup 🙂
KERRY BUSBY says
You may want to try sugar-free maple syrup. I buy Maple Grove Farms and it is awesome!
Dr. Sonali Ruder says
Great suggestion!
Rifat says
Thank you so much for this enlightening post, I have significantly got some thing right here and I will bookmark this page for your next upcoming post.
Janet says
I see a dietation for a variety of issues and she gave me this recipe - as it sits in the intersection of something healthy and suitable for an adult with the palate of a 12 year old. Also, it helped me discover that I actually LOVE fresh blueberries - so thank you so much! Very delicious!
Anna says
Can you use frozen blueberries or will that be too liquidy/messy?
sonaliruder says
Yes, frozen blueberries will work!
Milly says
Delicious!!!
I made this with several changes:
• I put it in the slow cooker for four hours on low and it came out perfect.
• I left out the sweetener and it was sweet enough in my opinion.
• I forgot the oil.
• I used 1 1/4 cups lite coconut milk in place of milk and yogurt.
• I added extra blueberries to the top.
• I halved the amount of walnuts.
It was so good that my sister who hates oatmeal said she could even stand it. I will be making it again!
Thank you very much!
sonaliruder says
That’s great! So glad you liked it!
Mich says
O.M.G.....I love love love this recipe !!!! It's my new fav .This is the second time I have made it ..I use a little less syrup and use a red delicious apple. Otherwise I make exact recipe 😋It is The Best !!!!
sonaliruder says
Thank you!!! So happy that you love it!
Catherine says
Is it possible to make this dairy free by using coconut yoghurt instead of Greek? I’ve made this many times and it’s delicious I don’t want to miss out now I’m dairy free ;( Thanks - Cat
sonaliruder says
I’ve never tried it but it should work fine. Otherwise, you can leave out the yogurt and add extra milk.
Pat says
How much extra milk if not using yogurt?
Dr. Sonali Ruder says
I would use the same amount, 1/2 cup.