If you're looking for a healthy and filling breakfast recipe, then look no further than this peanut butter baked oatmeal! It has a great texture, is naturally sweetened, and can be customized with many fruit and nut options.
Baked oatmeal is one of the few regular exceptions I make to my savory breakfast routine. On a semi-frequent basis I'll toss aside my avocado toast, scrambled eggs, or breakfast burrito and dig into healthy baked oatmeal bars.
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. I'd rather save the butter, sugar, and oatmeal trifecta for real deal oatmeal cookies, you know?
Reasons to Love This Recipe
- This recipe is healthy! It uses mashed banana in place of butter and a modest amount of pure maple syrup instead of larger quantities of other processed sugars.
- 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 a make-ahead breakfast.
Recipe Ingredients
- 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/instant oats are more processed and may become too wet and broken down in this recipe so they are not recommended.
- 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 2%, but I've used oat milk without issue. Using non-dairy milk will ensure this recipe is dairy-free.
- 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.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F/177°C. Line an 8" x 8" pan with parchment paper and set aside for now. Add the bananas to a mixing bowl.
- 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.
- Pour in the rest of the wet ingredients: milk, peanut butter, eggs, maple syrup, and vanilla extract.
- Whisk it well until smooth and combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to a separate mixing bowl: oats, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Whisk to combine.
- Pour the wet ingredient mixture into the bowl of oats and stir well to moisten the oats evenly. Stir in any fresh/dried fruit, nuts, etc. if using.
- Pour the baked oatmeal mixture into the prepared baking dish. Use a spatula or spoon to level the top into an even layer.
- Bake the oatmeal for 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
- Mix-ins: I usually keep this peanut butter baked oatmeal super simple and go with raisins, but the sky's the limit for whatever you'd like to add in - dried fruit, small chopped fresh fruit, nuts, etc. 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.
- When lining the pan with parchment paper, leave enough of an overhang along two opposite sides of the pan so you can easily lift it up once baked to transfer to a cutting board to slice.
- Let this baked oatmeal cool completely before slicing in squares. This helps the pieces hold their shape more easily and not crumb everywhere.
- Similarly, let it cool 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.
Recipe FAQs
How do you store baked peanut butter oatmeal?
This baked oatmeal will stay just fine in an air-tight container out at room temperature for several days, or in a container or wrapped in foil in the refrigerator or freezer.
Can you freeze peanut butter baked oatmeal?
Yes, it freezes 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. Reheat in the microwave until slightly warm for a homemade breakfast treat made much quicker. (I don't usually even thaw them).
Related Recipes
If you’ve enjoyed this recipe, I’d love for you to leave a star rating in the recipe card and/or a comment review below!
Peanut Butter Baked Oatmeal
If you're looking for a healthy and filling breakfast recipe, then look no further than this peanut butter baked oatmeal! It has a great texture, is naturally sweetened, and can be customized with many fruit and nut options.
Ingredients
- 3 small/medium overripe bananas (about 11.5 oz with peels, 8.5 oz without in total)
- 1 cup milk, your preferred variety
- ⅓ cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup maple syrup (or honey)
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 cups old-fashioned (rolled) oats
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup raisins or other dried or fresh fruit, nuts, etc.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9" x 9" baking dish with parchment paper, leaving enough overhang on either side of the dish so that you can easily lift the baked oatmeal out of the dish later on for slicing.
- In a mixing bowl, add the bananas. Using a hand mixer (or do this in a stand mixer if you prefer), beat the bananas until mostly smooth, until no big banana chunks remain. Add the milk, peanut butter, eggs, maple syrup, and vanilla extract and beat until creamy and smooth.
- In a separate mixing bowl, add the oats, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Stir to combine evenly.
- Pour the mixed wet ingredients into the bowl with the oats and stir until everything is evenly combined and the oats are all moistened. Stir in the raisins or whatever fruit/nut mix-ins you're using.
- Pour out the baked oatmeal mixture into the parchment-lined pan and smooth the top into an even layer. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the top and center has set and the edges are browned. Let the baked oatmeal cool in the pan before carefully lifting out and slicing.
Notes
Ingredient Notes
Bananas: The riper, the better. Many brown spots (or a nearly completely browned peel surface) are perfect as they indicate an overripe banana, which brings more sweetness.
Milk: Any milk variety works here. Using a non-dairy milk will keep this recipe dairy-free.
Oats: Old-fashioned (a.k.a. rolled oats) are used as they soften to a perfectly chewy baked oatmeal without being mushy. More processed quick or instant oats would likely end up too mushy in consistency so are not recommended here.
Peanut butter: If using a "natural" peanut butter variety, stir it up very well to evenly distribute the oils before measuring it out.
Recipe Tips
- Storage Instructions: Let the baked oatmeal cool before slicing into bars and storing in an air-tight container or bag. These bars will stay at room temperature for up to several days, or in the refrigerator for a few days longer.
- Freezing Instructions: Wrap bars in foil and place in an air-tight container/bag. Freeze for several months, reheating until warmed in the microwave for serving(no thawing is needed, but they can be placed in the fridge overnight if you like).
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