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Easy and filling breakfasts are a lifesaver, and in our family, we love this whole grain, pro-metabolic Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Bake! It’s so nourishing, filling, and simple to prepare, you’ll want it every day!
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- The recipe is packed full of flavor with whole grains, grass-fed dairy, and filled with delicious apples to add a warming fall touch.
- This filling meal is the perfect start to your day, and will keep your energy stable for hours!
- This is a great make-ahead breakfast that can be pulled from the fridge and reheated. It keeps quite well in the fridge, and honestly, the flavor is enhanced after a day or two anyway!
Recipe Ingredients
- Rolled oats: Any old-fashioned rolled oats will work here, or substitute instant oats in a pinch.
- Whole milk: Stick with whole milk here. 2% and skim don’t have the fats we need, and won’t bind as well.
- Honey: I love using local honey! Raw or filtered, up to you.
- Butter: Grass-fed, high-quality butter has unbeatable flavor! I love Kerrygold (not sponsored, I wish!)
- Eggs: I always prefer free-range, cage-free eggs.
- Apples: Organic apples if you can get them, otherwise regular are fine.
Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Bake Recipe
Step 1: Preheat your oven to 350ºF. Combine all dry ingredients (oats, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda) in a mixing bowl. Gently mix to combine.
Step 2: Add the wet ingredients (honey, milk, butter, vanilla, eggs, and apples) to the dry and mix well.
Step 3. Carefully pour the mixture into your baking dish, and place it in the oven.
Step 4. Bake for 35 minutes, until golden brown and baked through. Use oven mitts as the dish will be hot.
Expert tips
- Want more? Consider adding pumpkin or persimmon puree to make this breakfast stretch even further.
- Use crisp apples. Choose firm, crispy apples like Honeycrisp, Granny Smith, or Gala for the best results.
- Measure liquids carefully. Remember, the liquid is key to a moist, even baked consistency. I’ve made it too runny and too dry before, but these measurements get it just right!
- Let it cool! Let your oatmeal bake cool for at least 10-15 minutes before cutting and serving. This allows the mixture to set and the flavors and texture to meld together.
Frequently Asked Questions
Instant oats work great too, and also carry plenty of nutritional value, so don’t feel overwhelmed if you’re just getting started into pro-metabolic eating. We do the best with what we’ve got, and both are still whole grains!
It can take some extra time versus the standard stovetop preparation, but it does make for a heartier dish. With the baking soda, you’ll get a nice lift to the oatmeal, which can otherwise get a bit dense when it is baked. The apples, eggs, and milk packed into this recipe also allow the oats to stand out more than if they were prepared over the stove. If you’ve never had baked oatmeal, I hope you’ll give it a try!
Yes, because oatmeal is full of fiber and complex carbohydrates in the whole grains, it starts your metabolism off on the right foot if you eat it first thing in the morning. The pro-metabolic diet suggests eating something within the first 30 minutes of waking. That could even be just a slice of grass-fed cheese and an apple while you prepare this metabolism-boosting breakfast.
Pro-metabolic philosophy is all about metabolism-boosting meals to keep blood sugar stable and your metabolism burning steadily throughout the day. Nutrient-dense meals like my cast iron shrimp are considered metabolic meals. In general, high protein content is highly regarded as pro-metabolic. It’s also about a healthy ratio of high-quality sources of protein, carbs and fats. So no, my protein cinnamon rolls would not make the pro-metabolic cut.
Related breakfast recipes
We love filling breakfasts, like our family favorite cast iron quiche. Check out these other breakfast recipes too!
- Cast iron breakfast casserole
- Venison breakfast sausage
- Sausage and egg breakfast skillet
- Cast iron pancakes
- French toast casserole
If you tried this Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Bake Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how
Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Bake
Ingredients
- 4 apples peeled, cored and diced
- 5 cups rolled oats
- 2 cups whole milk
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup honey
- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350ºF. Combine all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Gently mix to combine.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well.
- Carefully pour the mixture into your baking dish, and place it in the oven.
- Bake for 35 minutes, until golden brown and baked through.
Notes
- Consider adding pumpkin or persimmon puree to make this breakfast stretch even further.
- Choose firm, crispy apples like Honeycrisp, Granny Smith, or Gala for the best results.
- Remember, the liquid is key to a moist, even baked consistency. I’ve made it too runny and too dry before, but these measurements get it just right!
- Let your oatmeal bake cool for at least 10-15 minutes before cutting and serving. This allows the mixture to set and the flavors and texture to meld together.
- This recipe keeps quite well in the fridge and honestly, the flavor is enhanced after a day or two.
l love this recipe, I have made it many times and it tastes great!
I have made this recipe so many times, and it always turns out great!
Do you have any more specific advice for soaking the oats ahead of time? 🙂 Just mix it all together and let sit overnight in the fridge, or do something special just to the oats before the actual recipe listed here? Thanks!
Thanks for asking! While this recipe doesn’t require any soaking ahead of time, you can soak just the oats in water on the counter overnight!
The recipe is wonderful, I gave it a try today and loved it 🙂
So glad to hear!
I tried to make this according to the recipe, but of course, I had to flex: I didn’t have enough apples, so I used some frozen cherries with the apples and that worked. I don’t have a 12″ pan, just a 10.5″, so I didn’t put all the batter in. But that worked OK, also. And I only had about 1/8 C. honey. But we put maple syrup on the table, and that worked, too! And this was really YUMMY! It almost tasted like regular oatmeal, but it is amped up and I’m looking forward to the leftovers!
Frozen Cherries. Love it!