Baked Apple Cinnamon Steel Cut Oats
This easy 1-pot breakfast is perfect for serving a crowd or for stocking the freezer with easy grab-n-go yumminess. Recipe adapted from The New York Times.
Equipment
- Dutch Oven or heavy-bottomed oven-ready pot
Ingredients
- 1.75 - 2 pounds Apples, diced approximately 6 medium apples; I used honeycrisp and cosmic crisp, but use whichever you prefer.
- 8 tablespoon Butter 1 stick, divided
- 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt or fine sea salt; can reduce if you prefer
- 2 C Steel Cut Oats
- 1 tablespoon Ground Cinnamon plus extra for serving
- 1 teaspoon Ground Cardamom or ground ginger, or the warming spice of your choice
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract or paste or powder
- 2 C Apple Cider or apple juice, or water
- 4.5 C Boiling Water
- ½ C Cream or half n' half, or milk; plus more for serving
- ½ C Chopped Pecans optional, or nuts of choice
- ½ C Turbinado Sugar (Sugar in the Raw) or demerara sugar, or brown sugar
- Flaky Sea Salt optional, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Cube 2 tablespoons of butter and keep in the fridge until later.
- Melt 3 Tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Add the chopped apples and salt, stirring to mix. Sauté until the apples become golden brown and the liquid they give off mostly evaporates—about 15 minutes.
- Add 3 more Tablespoons of butter to the pot and melt. Add the steel cut oats and stir to coat. Toast them for 3-4 minutes, until they start smelling a bit nutty.
- Add the cinnamon and cardamom to the mixture. Stir and sauté for another minute, or until fragrant.
- Add the vanilla extract, apple cider/juice, water, and cream/milk to the pot, stirring to combine. ***MAKE AHEAD NOTE: If you want, you can stop here. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Bake in the morning, adding about 10 minutes of bake time to the initial bake.
- Bake uncovered in the preheated oven for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven.
- Evenly sprinkle the nuts (if using) over the top of the oats, then sprinkle the sugar evenly on top of that. Dot with the remaining 2 Tablespoons of butter.
- Return to the oven and bake for another 15-20 minutes, until the top is golden brown and bubbling. Carefully remove from the oven, spoon into bowls, and serve with a drizzle of cream/milk, an extra sprinkle of cinnamon, and a pinch of flaky sea salt. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition Information includes heavy cream and butter.
Storage & Reheating Instructions
- Split It! This baked oatmeal recipe is designed to feed a crowd—perfect for when you're hosting the holidays. Have a smaller family to feed? You can either halve the recipe, OR use half for meal prep.
- After adding the liquid to the pot, divvy the oat mixture evenly between 2 buttered 2-quart casserole dishes (or 8x8 baking pans). Bake one as instructed, but wrap the other one in several layers of plastic wrap, refrigerate until cool (about 3 hours), then freeze it for up to 3 months. I recommend adding instructions when you label and date it (i.e. defrost overnight, bake at 350ºF for 50 minutes from the fridge, sprinkle with ¼ cup sugar in the raw, ¼ cup nuts, and a tablespoon of butter dotted across the top, then bake for another 15-20 minutes).
- Leftovers can be stored in airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
- I also like to scoop out individual portions into freezer-safe microwaveable containers for an easy breakfast on the run. It will freeze well for up to 6 months.
- To reheat, you can either bake the entire leftover baking dish in a 300ºF oven for about 10-15 minutes, or microwave individual servings until warmed through.
- Light n' Lovely - Here are a few easy ways to lighten the caloric load:
- Swap in any percentage of dairy milk or non dairy milk alternatives like oat milk, soy milk, or almond milk for the cream. Depending on the variety of milk you choose, you might also get a nice boost of protein from it!
- Replace the first 6 Tablespoons of butter with avocado oil to get extra heart healthy fats. I do, however, recommend keeping the two Tablespoons you sprinkle on top at the end—butter really does make everything better.
- Use water instead of apple cider to cut back on sugar. Don’t worry, it’ll still taste wonderfully cinnamon apple-y!
- Dairy-Free - Swap in plant-based butter or coconut oil and use canned full-fat coconut coconut milk or vegan cream to make this apple cinnamon steel cut oatmeal vegan-friendly.
- No Fruit - The original recipe that inspired this dish was made without any apples. It is also super delicious! To make, melt all the butter you’d use to make the apples and toast the oats in the recipe above. Skip the fruit, toast the oats, and proceed with the recipe as written. Using apple cider and spices will imbue them with a flavorful undertone.
- Different Fruit - I have a feeling this steel cut oatmeal recipe will work well with a variety of fresh fruit, though you may want to change the spices and/or methodology depending on which ones you use. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Banana Slices - Use the “no fruit” variation as described above, but replace the apple cider with water. Before adding the sugar topping, layer sliced bananas on top of the par-baked oatmeal, then proceed as usual. The sugar layer will give the bananas a yummy bananas foster vibe!
- Fresh Berries - Feel free to swap in any mix of fresh or frozen berries. They play very nicely with cardamom, too! Omit the apple cider in favor of water or the juice of your choice.
- Stone-Fruit - Peaches, apricots and plums would all be delicious here. Again, swap in juice or water for the cider. You could also mix stone fruit and berries!
Nutrition
Calories: 384kcalCarbohydrates: 50gProtein: 6gFat: 19gSaturated Fat: 9gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0.4gCholesterol: 37mgSodium: 317mgPotassium: 179mgFiber: 7gSugar: 23gVitamin A: 450IUVitamin C: 4mgCalcium: 55mgIron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!