Peanut Butter Baked Oatmeal

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If you're looking for a nutritious and filling breakfast recipe, look no further than this peanut butter baked oatmeal! This make-ahead breakfast has a great texture, is sweetened with bananas and maple syrup, and can be flavored with chocolate chips or many fruit and nut options.

Peanut butter baked oatmeal in the square pan.

Baked oatmeal bars are one the mainstays in my regular breakfast rotation. I've been alternating for awhile now between protein overnight oats, vanilla cinnamon steel cut oats, and some flavor of baked oatmeal, depending on the season. Big on oats at the moment!

That baked oatmeal post I linked to just above is my base recipe for all of the baked oatmeal recipes on my site, this peanut butter baked oatmeal included. It's easy to throw together, versatile in what you add, and best of all, nutritious. I'd rather save the butter, sugar, and oatmeal trifecta for real deal oatmeal cookies, you know?

With a little tweaking to accommodate one-third cup of peanut butter, this baked oatmeal hits the spot for all the peanut butter lovers out there.

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Reasons to Love This Recipe
Recipe Ingredients
Step-by-Step Instructions
Recipe Tips and Tricks
Frequently Asked Questions
More Baked Oatmeal Recipes
Peanut Butter Baked Oatmeal
Comments and Reviews

Reasons to Love This Recipe

This recipe is nutritious. It uses mashed banana in place of butter and a modest amount of pure maple syrup instead of larger quantities of granulated or brown sugar.
You get delicious peanut butter flavor, which pairs very nicely with banana and maple syrup.
With a reliably simple and straight-forward method, this recipe produces baked oatmeal with the perfect texture (not too mushy or too dry) every time.
This baked oatmeal holds up very well to freezing/thawing/reheating, making it a great option for meal prep or a make-ahead breakfast.

Recipe Ingredients

An overhead picture of these peanut butter baked oatmeal ingredients on a marble board.

Oats: Old-fashioned oats are used here, also known as rolled oats. This variety of oats softens just the right amount with the liquid/bake time here for comfortable chewing. Quick or instant oats are more processed and may become too wet and soggy in this recipe so they are not recommended.
Baking Powder: Make sure it's not old or expired as it does a lot of heavy lifting in this recipe.
Bananas: Use overripe bananas here for their sweetness. The more brown spotting, the better. Three smaller bananas will do it, with ounce measurements in the recipe card below so you can sub in larger ones without issue.
Milk: Any milk is fine to use here. I usually use 1-2%, but I've used oat milk just fine. Using non-dairy milk will ensure this recipe is dairy-free.
Maple Syrup: Along with the bananas, this provides all the sweetness you need (outside of mix ins if you like). A portion of honey can be substituted in.
Peanut Butter: I usually use creamy peanut butter, but a more natural variety should work too. Just be sure to stir it up well before measuring it out for this recipe so too much oil doesn't work its way into the batter.
Mix Ins: Over the years I've become partial to mini chocolate chips, but any dried fruit or nuts will work, too.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Prep - Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9-inch square pan with cooking spray or line with parchment paper and set aside for now. Add the bananas to a mixing bowl.
Beat Bananas - Using a hand mixer (or a fork or whisk with some elbow grease), beat the bananas until creamy. You can leave them a little chunky if you like, but my preference is not to have discernible banana pieces in baked goods so I mix them until very smooth.

Two ripe bananas in a small mixing bowl.

Add Wet Ingredients - Pour in the rest of the wet ingredients: milk, peanut butter, eggs, maple syrup, and vanilla extract.
Whisk - Whisk everything well until smooth and combined.

All wet ingredients added to the bowl with mashed banana.

Well mixed together wet ingredients in a bowl.

Mix Dry Ingredients - Add the dry ingredients to a separate mixing bowl: oats, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Whisk to combine.
Stir Together - Pour the wet ingredient mixture into the bowl of oats and stir well to moisten the oats evenly. Stir in any chocolate chips, fresh/dried fruit, nuts, etc.

Oats and dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.

Baked oatmeal mixture stirred together in a mixing bowl.

Pour Into Pan - Pour the baked oatmeal mixture into the prepared baking dish. Use a spatula or spoon to level the top into an even layer.
Bake - Bake the oatmeal for 35-45 minutes, or until the edges have turned golden brown and the center of the baked oatmeal has set. Let it cool in its pan before slicing, serving, and storing.

Recipe Tips and Tricks

Easy clean-up: When lining the pan with parchment paper, leave enough of an overhang along two opposite sides of the pan so you can easily lift the slab of baked oatmeal up to transfer it to a cutting board to slice.
Cool before slicing... Let this baked peanut butter oatmeal cool completely before slicing in squares. This helps the pieces hold their shape more easily and not crumb everywhere.
...and storing. Make sure it has cooled completely before storing. This prevents the residual warmth from causing condensation to form in the storage bag/container, which can lead to the oatmeal bars becoming soft or otherwise unpleasant.
Storage directions: Store in an air-tight container or zip-top bag with all excess air pressed out. These bars can stay at room temperature for 3-4 days or refrigerated for 1-2 days longer. Freeze in the same manner with parchment or wax paper between layers for 3 months (or longer).

The oatmeal baked in a pan before slicing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you freeze these bars?

Yes, they freeze very well. Once cooled, cut the bars, wrap them in foil, then place them in an air-tight sealable plastic bag or container so that they don't start to taste stale if they're in the freezer for some time. They'll be fine for at least 3 months at the proper conditions. Reheat them the microwave until slightly warm for a homemade breakfast treat made much quicker (no refrigerator thawing necessary).

What can you add to peanut butter baked oatmeal?

Chocolate chips make a delicious mix-in to this recipe, but fresh or dried berries, small-diced apple pieces, and/or nuts are good, too. One-third of a cup of peanut butter provides a definite peanut flavor so do keep that in mind when you're ingredient mix-and-matching, but it's not overwhelming where it's the only thing you taste.

How do you serve these peanut butter oats?

Peanut butter baked oatmeal can be served chilled from the refrigerator, at room temperature, or warmed up in the microwave. Consider topping it with an additional drizzle of maple syrup, more peanut butter, or a drizzle of jam for a peanut butter and jelly baked oats situation.