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These easy baked oatmeal cups have very little added sugar and plenty of whole grains. They're a kid-approved easy make-ahead healthy breakfast or snack!
Why this recipe works
These oatmeal cups are often on my counter, and always in my freezer. Here's what makes them so special:
- Healthy & satisfying: Each cup has 5 grams of protein, and 4 grams of fiber. They'll keep you going all morning long!
- Very adaptable: You can replace all of the mix-ins, like dried fruit and coconut chips, with your favorites. Or just make them really plain with more oats.
- Quick & easy: I provide plenty of instructions on how to make the recipe, but really it's just combine dry ingredients, mix in wet, transfer the raw batter to a greased muffin tin and bake. They don't even need any baking powder or baking soda.
- Little to no added sugar: I like to add 1/4 cup of brown sugar, but you can use unrefined coconut sugar, or leave it out entirely without sacrificing any texture at all.
what's in it
Ingredients and substitution suggestions
These baked oatmeal cups are super adaptable. Here are the key ingredients you'll need, plus info on how to substitute some if you need or want to:
- Eggs: There are 4 eggs in this recipe, and that's a lot to replace successfully. If you're really experienced at replacing eggs, you can try replacing each with your favorite substitute, but I really can't promise results.
- Rolled oats: Whole grain old fashioned rolled oats are the basis for these oatmeal cups, of course. You can use them as is, but I prefer to pulse them in a blender or food processor to make them more like quick-cooking oats for a softer textured oatmeal cup. Steel cut oats are really too thick for this recipe. There are oatmeal alternatives like quinoa flakes or coconut chips that might work to make these oat-free.
- Coconut flakes: I don't like baking with shredded coconut, since it doesn't taste anything like coconut to me. Go for the big, flat coconut flakes. If you can't find them or just don't like them, you can just use more oats in the same amount, by weight.
- Salt: Brightens the flavors and balances the sweetness.
- Ground cinnamon: Adds some depth and aroma. Totally optional, though!
- Sugar: I like to add a bit of coconut palm sugar or light brown sugar for some more sweetness and a bit more flavor, but you can leave it out if you don't want any added sugar. You can also use 2 tablespoons (42 grams) maple syrup or honey instead. Especially if you leave out the sugar, I recommend adding 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract for more flavor.
- Small dried fruit: I really like dried cranberries here, but I've also used diced dried apricots, raisins, chocolate chips, or chopped dried apples. Pick your favorite, or a combination. You can even replace some of them with chia seeds.
- Butter: You can easily swap butter for an equal amount, by weight, of virgin coconut oil. The recipe also works with vegetable shortening, but you'll get the most flavor with butter.
- Bananas: Bananas give the muffins sweetness and structure. I have made these with half applesauce, half bananas, and it works well. You might also be able to use pumpkin puree.
My Pro Tip
Expert tips
Process the oats a bit
I had always made these muffins with old fashioned rolled oats, full stop. But more recently I've started pulsing the oats a bit in a blender or food processor so they resemble quick-cooking oats. They combine more easily with the wet ingredients, and the oatmeal cups have a more tender texture that way.
Try a combination of mix-ins
I usually make these with dried cranberries instead of raisins (raisins often seem disappointing to me in baked goods, like they should have been something more interesting), but you can use any small dried fruit you like. Chopped dried apples with the added cinnamon make a really nice apple cinnamon flavor. Or try chocolate chips, miniature chocolate chips, chopped pecans, chopped walnuts, or more coconut flakes.
Freeze ripe bananas for later use
When your bananas are ripe but you don't want to bake with them or eat them, freeze them! Peel them, chop them into 1-inch chunks and freeze them in a single layer on a lined baking sheet. Then pile them into a freezer bag and freeze until you need them. Then, thaw at room temperature or in the microwave, and mash to bake!
For more oatmeal based snacks, try my oatmeal breakfast bars too.
Baked Oatmeal Cups Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 ¾ cups (275 g) old-fashioned rolled oats, gluten free, if necessary
- ⅝ cup (50 g) unsweetened coconut flakes
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ cup (40 g) coconut palm sugar, or light brown sugar in an equal amount by weight (optional)
- ⅝ cup (100 g) small dried fruit, (I have used dried cranberries, raisins, and diced dried apricots)
- 5 tablespoons (70 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled (or virgin coconut oil or vegetable shortening)
- 3 (300 g) peeled ripe bananas, mashed
- 4 (200 g (weighed out of shell)) eggs, at room temperature, beaten
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease the wells of a standard 12-cup muffin tin and set it aside.
- I prefer to pulse the rolled oats in a food processor or blender a couple of times to make them the size of quick-cooking oats. This is an optional step, but it makes for softer baked goods.
- In a large bowl, place the oats, coconut flakes, salt, cinnamon, optional sugar and dried fruit.
- Mix the dry ingredients to combine well.
- Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the butter or coconut oil, mashed bananas, and eggs.
- Mix to combine. The batter should be thick, but soft.
- Divide the batter evenly among the prepared wells of the muffin tin, and smooth the tops with a wet spoon or spatula.
- Place the tin in the center of the preheated oven and bake until the muffins feel firm when pressed gently in the center (about 20 minutes).
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. A toothpick or small offset spatula can be useful in removing the muffins from the wells.
- Serve immediately or wrap tightly and store at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the freezer for longer storage.
- Defrost in the refrigerator overnight or at room temperature before serving.
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Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
FAQs
Yes, they're gluten free if you use gluten free rolled oats.
Yes! I recommend pulsing your rolled oats a few times in a blender or food processor so they're the texture of quick oats for a more tender muffin. But you can always just start out with quick-cooking oats. Just be sure to measure out 275 grams, though, since the same amount of quick oats will measure less than 2 3/4 cups of rolled oats.
Yes, well, sort of! I haven't had a lot of success using 300 grams of applesauce in place of bananas entirely. The muffins are kind of heavy. But half mashed bananas and half applesauce works. I plan to try using 250 grams of applesauce in place of 300 grams of mashed bananas, and I think that might work. Pumpkin puree might work too! For a similar recipe that is made without banana, try our oatmeal breakfast cookies.
They may have not baked long enough if the inside seems gummy. Or, you may have overmixed the raw batter, but most likely, it's underbaked.
Yes! Use coconut oil or shortening in place of butter, and they'll be dairy free.
No! They don't taste strongly of the bananas. But if you're at all concerned, try using half mashed bananas (150 grams) and half smooth applesauce (150 grams) and you'll barely detect the banana flavor at all.
My Pro Tip
Storage & refreshing
These oatmeal cups are absolutely perfect for making ahead of time. They stay fresh for up to 3 days if you wrap them tightly and keep them on the countertop. For longer storage, I suggest freezing them.
Since these are not fragile at all, once they're cool, you can pile them right into a freezer-safe ziptop bag and freeze them. Try to squeeze as much air as possible out of the bag so they don't get freezer burned. They'll keep for up to 2 months or so that way.
If you've stored them at room temperature but want them to taste like they were just made, sprinkle them lightly with lukewarm water and put in the toaster oven at 300°F until warm. If they were frozen, defrost at room temperature or microwave at 60% power for about 45 seconds. Refresh in the toaster.
Can’t wait to try this recipe. Can I add unflavored protein powder so they have even more protein?
No, I’m afraid you can’t add protein powder to a baked recipe without altering the other ingredients significantly as that would dry out the oatmeal cups and make them taste terrible.
looking forward to making these, look very tasty and am sure my grandchildren are going to love them
I hope they do, Eve!
This is the best recipe – no matter what I decide for mix-ins, it always turns out tasty. Several people have asked for the recipe when I take them for coffee.
I love that, Mary! They really are so versatile. Thank you so much for sharing that!
I have made these oatmeal cups as-is many times and really enjoyed them with the raisins and coconut. This time I tried a different version with them! There are a couple of store-bought gluten free oatmeal muffin bites w/ the jam in the center that I enjoy but they are sickeningly sweet for me so I decided to make my own version using your oatmeal cup recipe. I left out the dried fruit but instead I finely diced strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries and mixed with a little cornstarch and sweetener. I filled the muffin tins half with the plain oatmeal mixture, made a little well in the center and added a spoonful of the fruit mixture, then filled the rest up with oatmeal mixture and baked. They turned out really well. I didn’t write down any ingredient amounts to duplicate this experiment so I would love for you to invent a real recipe for the fruit filled oat muffins! (I love the apple pie version too…)
Made this for this morning, did not use coconut but added chopped walnuts. Very good toothsome muffins! These are going in my freezer for early morning tee time quick breakfasts! Thank you!
P.S. I appreciate the weight measurements in your recipe!
You’re very welcome, Paula! These are so perfect as a make-ahead freezer breakfast. Thank you for sharing your experience, and love using walnuts!
I made these for my husband who is gluten intolerant. He absolutely loved them. These are super moist, and the bananas don’t overpower. I added dried cherries which added a a subtle tang .
I have a hard time finding recipes that are gluten-free he actually enjoys so yay! I’ll be making them on a regular basis. Thank you!
Can you use a flax egg instead of real eggs?
Hi, Jenny, as I discuss in the ingredients list in the text of the blog post, 4 eggs is a lot to replace in a single recipe. You can try flax eggs, but I really don’t know if it would work. I hope that’s helpful!
These are yummy and great to store in the freezer for a quick breakfast!
So glad you enjoyed them, Mary! They really are perfect for stocking the freezer. Thanks for sharing your experience.
These were a delicious alternative to my usual overnight oats. I omitted sugar and added a heaping spoon full of almond butter. Once cooled, froze these. Grabbed and took to work for breakfast with my coffee. Will make again!
So glad to hear that you enjoyed the recipe, and that it worked so well even when you added some almond butter. It really is a very flexible recipe. Thanks for sharing that experience, KQ!
Looks good and healthy!
Can this recipe be made without unsweetened coconut flakes or is there a substitute (that I can digest)? thank you.
Hi, Lynne, yes! You can just use more oats in the same amount, by weight. You don’t have to make these with coconut flakes at all, but just be sure to replace them with oats. Hope that helps!