Baked Oatmeal Cups are your healthy, yummy breakfast grab ‘n go! Easy to make, vegan, whole-grain, oil-free, and nut-free.
These baked oatmeal cups will serve you for breakfasts – and also snacks, packing lunches, activities, and travel.
Oatmeal is usually a sit-down meal. I get frequent requests for healthy breakfasts that are “grab
Also requests for more variety in breakfast. You guys feel the same?
In our Plant-Powered Families group, the topic of quick and varied breakfasts comes up often.
Most of us rely on a few routine breakfast foods: cereals, toast, bagel, oatmeal, maybe a green smoothie.
These baked oatmeal cups are a simple ‘grab
The ingredients are simple, yet offer some customization to swap in other add-ins for variety.
These baked oatmeal cups don’t have to be the same thing over and over!
In addition, kids love them and they aren’t messy to eat. They hold together nicely for easy toting and packing in lunches.
Ingredient Talk: Baked Oatmeal Cups
One ingredient in these baked oatmeal cups that requires some discussion is the brown rice syrup.
Whenever I use brown rice syrup in a recipe, I get a lot of questions about substitutions.
Is it difficult to find brown rice syrup in your area? I’m not sure why readers ask how to substitute so frequently.
Here’s the thing with a sweetener like brown rice syrup: it’s very thick and sticky, much like corn syrup in consistency.
Maple syrup and agave nectar are not good substitutes when consistency is important.
In these baked oatmeal cups, consistency is important. If you use maple syrup or agave, it will be too thin. As a result, the baked oatmeal cups won’t hold together well.
Therefore, the best substitute is a thick coconut nectar. With coconut nectar, I have found the consistency can vary. Some are thinner. So check the jars/bottles in the store. Tip back and forth. If it’s thin like maple syrup, take a pass. If it flows slowly more like brown rice syrup, that’s your pick!
Here’s the recipe, I hope you enjoy. x Dreena
Baked Oatmeal Cups
Ingredients
- 3 cups rolled oats
- 1/3 cup oat flour
- 2 tbsp ground chia seed I use ground white chia, ground black chia seeds also ok
- 1 tsp cinnamon see notes for ideas
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp rounded sea salt
- 1/2 cup pureed overripe banana puree in a mini-food processor or with an immersion blender, or mash very well
- 1/2 cup brown rice syrup see note
- 1/2 tbsp molasses can use blackstrap or regular
- 2-3 tbsp pumpkin seeds optional, see note
- 3 tbsp non-dairy sugar-free chocolate chips or raisins optional, see note
Instructions
- Prepare 15-16 muffin cups, lining with muffin liners. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, combine the oats, oat flour, ground chia, cinnamon, baking soda, and sea salt. Stir to combine. Add the remaining ingredients and stir until thoroughly combined. Using a cookie scoop, place mounds of the batter (about 1/4 – 1/3 cup) in each cup. Use a spatula or your fingers to lightly pack in mixture (dampen fingers to make it easier). Bake for 20 minutes. Remove and let cool in pan for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Enjoy warm or cooled. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.
- Makes 15-16 granola cups.
Notes
- Spice Note: Instead of cinnamon, try 1/2 tsp of nutmeg, or a combination of 1/4 tsp ground cardamom and 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg. If you use and love vanilla bean powder, try 1/2 tsp vanilla bean powder as a substitute, or in addition to, these spices.
- Brown Rice Syrup Note: Don’t substitute maple syrup here, it’s not thick and sticky enough. Other alternatives to brown rice syrup are coconut palm nectar and barley malt syrup.
- Pumpkin Seeds Note: Seeds/nuts are optional, and you can try other options such as sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, or chopped nuts like pistachio, almonds, or pecans. Chocolate Chip Note: Totally optional if you don’t want to add chocolate. You can also substitute raisins or other dried fruit like cranberries, goji berries, dried cherries, dried berries, chopped dates, chopped apricots.
- Idea: For more flavour variations, add a small amount of pure flavour extracts or citrus zest. For instance, try adding 1/2 tsp of orange zest with 1/2 tsp orange extract – would be lovely with dried cranberries! Or, try 1/2 tsp almond extract with dried cherries and chopped almonds as add-ins.
Let me know what add-ins you like in these, and any other variations you make!
photos credit: Angela MacNeil
Sonya says
My son is 5 and for weeks these oat cups are the only thing he’s wanted to eat for breakfast and I love it
Heather says
I made these this week, my six year old scarfed them down and he’s medium picky. Ok maybe he scarfed down half because someone else I won’t name ate the other half! Delicious!
Dreena says
LOVE to read that, thanks Heather!
Kelly Caiazzo says
Made these today using the recipe as is without modifications and they were delicious! They hold their shape well (I followed her instructions for pressing them into the cups with dampened fingers) and are filling and just sweet enough.
They’re like the best crossover between a granola bar and a muffin, full of whole grain goodness from the oats that’s super filling. I’ll definitely make these again! They’re a great way to mix things up from my pumpkin snackle obsession!
Dreena says
Oh, thanks for sharing your thoughts, Kelly, and I’m so happy you enjoyed them! TY 🙂
JoAnn Berenbach says
Could th use date paste instead of brown rice syrup?
Dreena says
yes, that should work fine
Theresa H says
Brown Rice Syrup is not available where we live, so I used honey. The muffins held together very well with the honey. We are also diabetic, and Brown Rice Syrup has a high glycemic index of 98, compared to 64 for table sugar. Honey glycemic is about 50. Thank you for the recipe, our family enjoyed these!
Jules Shepard says
I’ve just pinned this recipe and am VERY excited to give it a try! I love easy and healthy breakfast options – thanks for sharing!
Betsy Dorsi says
I cannot find brown rice syrup in Connecticut. In fact, its hard to find many ingredients here. Some I can order on line but the syrup came in a glass jar and was broken–a very messy package. It was too much work to send it back! I sure hope more Vegans come to Connecticut or more of us convert–we need more demand in order to get more quality stores!
By the way, my daughter (age 14) and I LOVE your recipes! Plant Powered Families is our favorite cookbook!
Kelly Caiazzo says
I’ve found it at Whole Foods in both Maine and Massachusetts – maybe worth checking if there’s one close to you in CT? I feel like if I can find it in Maine you’ve got to have it somewhere in the state! It’s great for granola bars as well as this recipe so it’s nice to have if you do find it.
Sonya says
Try Fiddleheads in New London. Just picked up some brown rice syrup there last week.
Laura says
Could you use molasses instead of the brown rice syrup? it’s usually super thick.
Dreena says
Hi Laura, great Q. Yes, it’s perfect in texture. However, it’s quite strong in flavor. If you love molasses and don’t think it will be too heavy-tasting for you, give it a go!
Sandi says
My whole family would love to have these muffins for breakfast!! Can’t wait to try these.
Julie says
Hey Dreena ~ can date paste or syrup be used in place of the brown rice syrup? 😉
Maggie says
Julie, if you try date paste, please report back. I am another who won’t buy the arsenic-laden rice syrup, so this recipe seems no-go for me unless something else works. Kind of a bummer. I really hope pureed dates end up being a decent, thick stand-in!
Jocelyn says
I’ve made them twice with date syrup from the Date Lady and they can out great.
Cathy says
Thank you Jocelyn. So glad to hear date syrup works.
Erica D. says
I can’t stress vanilla bean powder enough! It adds so much flavor to recipes like this!
Dreena says
Yes, yes, we’ll sing vanilla bean praises together!
Alisa Fleming says
I was just thinking about giving oatmeal cups another go! I tried a recipe that had been submitted to my site for a recipe contest, and it was an epic fail. So I’ve been hesitant on making the cups again. Yours look so perfect though!
Laurie says
One reason some of us avoid brown rice syrup is the arsenic levels in rice, that concentrate in the syrup. I do use the ground flax and banana and find no need for either extra sweetness or binding. Thanks Dreena!
Tammy says
Do you have nutritional value for this or any other recipes?
Marian says
I love this idea, Dreena, but can’t use the added sweetener. Is there anything else you think I might substitute to hold it together? Do you think a flax seed meal “egg” would work? Thanks for posting so many great recipes!
Dreena says
Yes, for sure, if you are okay with banana, I’d add more natural sweetness with extra banana. You can add a touch of ground flax or chia to that as well. Obviously the final product won’t be as sweet, but I imagine you are okay with that. Extra cinnamon or vanilla will also lend more sweetness. Good luck!
jenna urben says
This recipe is right up my alley! My husband and I would eat these up so quickly 🙂 We love baked oatmeal and easy breakfast and snack recipes. I need to get some molasses and try this asap
Shari says
Hi Dreena,
I don’t like bananas. Do you think applesauce would work in its place?
Amy says
I make these every single week and I can confidently say that you won’t taste the banana! There are so many other flavors going on… I think the banana probably adds sweetness but without a strong banana taste.
Dreena says
Thanks Amy! From the FOK app I’m guessing? I’ve added a few more ‘goodies’ to these, but overall very close to that recipe. I agree, the banana taste is not so noticeable, more so a binder.
Dreena says
Hi Shari, pls see recent note from Amy and my reply – applesauce can also be subbed, but banana has more ‘binding’ to it. Maybe try 1/2 and 1/2 to see, the banana flavor is not that strong. 🙂