This is the recipe that made me fall in love with baked oatmeal. Filled with tart cherries and pepitas, it's nutrient-dense (and dairy-free!) Thank you to the Cherry Marketing Institute for helping me to share this recipe with you.
Whenever someone tells me that they skipped breakfast that day, I start to twitch a little. First of all, skipping any meal (or snacks, for that matter) is just not in my wheelhouse. That’s the price of just loving food SO MUCH. But if I even considered skipping breakfast, my family would stage an intervention, primarily out of self-preservation. They know what Mum is like when she is hungry. Cra-a-a-b-b-y!
Despite my mood…um…issues linked to missing breakfast, it’s also been shown that regularly eating a nutritious breakfast can lead to great improvements in weight control, energy and overall performance.
Do you know the saying “Eat the rainbow”? It refers to eating fruits and vegetables with a range of colors to provide your body with a wide array of nutrients. Well, I don’t know about you, but my breakfast tends to look decidedly brown before I dress it up. Brown cereal, brown oatmeal, brown toast…blah.
It’s easier than you think to take your breakfast from blah to nutrient-packed, simply by tossing in a few ingredients, such as raw or toasted nuts and dried tart cherries. Tart cherries contain and Vitamin A and anthocyanins, which are antioxidants that have been linked to a number of health benefits, such as decreasing inflammation, soothing arthritis symptoms and easing exercise-related muscle pain.
Now let’s back up to the “oatmeal” part of my breakfast routine for a moment. In the spirit of complete honesty, I have never been able to convince myself to enjoy oatmeal. That always bums me out because oatmeal is such a fantastic, heart-healthy breakfast.
Well, miracles do happen and I am here to tell you that I absolutely LOVE this baked oatmeal. Once it came out of the oven, I couldn’t leave it alone. The texture was dense, not mushy or runny (my previous oatmeal pet peeves) and the flavor was fantastic. Between the tart dried cherries that plumped up while baking and the caramelized edges of the oatmeal, I was in heaven.
The beauty of this recipe is that you can make it on the weekend, then heat up pieces for breakfast during the week. Just store it in the fridge to keep it fresh.
Tart cherries can be found in well-stocked grocery stores, as well as healthy food stores, such as Whole Foods. We always have tart cherries available in at least two forms in our house. My husband tops his cereal with dried tart cherries every morning and I snack on a mixture of handful of dried cherries and raw almonds to hold me over from lunch to dinner. As I mentioned in this post about running a half-marathon, my husband and I drink tart cherry juice two times each day to help with recovery from our long runs, and our kids love it when we add the tart cherry concentrate to smoothies.
For more information on tart cherries and recipe inspiration, be sure to visit the Cherry Marketing Institute site, and follow Choose Cherries on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
Other healthy breakfast recipes:
Cookin' Canuck's Skinny Southwestern Crustless Quiche {Vegetarian}
Cookin' Canuck's Whole Wheat Carrot Muffins
The Vegetarian Food Lab's Mexican-Style Avocado Toast
Foxes Love Lemons' Make-Ahead Breakfast Muffins
Spicy Southern Kitchen's Whole Wheat Pancakes
Printable Recipe
Baked Steel Cut Oatmeal with Tart Cherries & Pepitas
Ingredients
- ¾ cup steel cut oats
- â…“ cup pepitas
- 2 tablespoons ground flax seed
- 1 teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 cups unsweetened almond-coconut milk
- â…“ cup pure maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil slightly cooled
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup dried tart cherries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly coat an 8x8 baking pan with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, stir together the steel cut oats, pepitas, ground flax seed, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond-coconut milk, maple syrup, coconut oil, egg and vanilla extract.
- Stir the almond-coconut milk mixture into the oat mixture. Stir to combine.
- Add the dried tart cherries and stir again.
- Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking pan. Bake until the oatmeal is set and golden brown, 55 to 60 minutes.
- Let the mixture cool for 10 minutes. Cut into 9 squares. Serve with additional almond-coconut milk, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Disclosure: As an ambassador for The Cherry Marketing Institute, I was compensated for this post. All opinions are my own.
Kate @ Diethood
Sounds like you're hAngry! 😉 That's what happens to me! I get all kinds of angry when I skip a meal.
This breakfast bake sounds so, sooo good!! I’d love to have at that slice right about now!
Dara
"Hangry" is right, Kate! I always have to make sure I have snacks handy to ward off the grumpiness. 🙂
Carolyn
Love tart cherries and they are so healthful! Great breakfast recipe
Dara
Thanks, Carolyn! I totally agree about tart cherries. I love when things that taste so good are also good for me!
Kim (Feed Me, Seymour)
I must admit that I am sometimes a breakfast-skipper. Lately though, I've realized how hungry I get if I don't have something. So I've been bringing different things to work. I'm really excited to try this! It looks filling and delicious!
Dara
Kim, I know a lot of people do skip breakfast. For me, not only do I get cranky, but I also find that I binge-eat later in the day if I don't eat breakfast. I hope you have a chance to try the oatmeal!
Deborah
I am definitely going to try this. I'm not normally an oatmeal fan, either (same reasons as you) so hopefully this will change my mind!! And I adore dried cherries - they sound like the perfect addition!
Dara
Deb, I was so surprised at how much I liked this. Baking the oatmeal (and I think the steel cut are even better for this), gives it a much different texture than standard oatmeal. And yes...I can't get enough of dried cherries!
Lydia @ Suitcase Foodist
I am with you on the no skipping breakfast thing. I LOVE the idea of this baked oatmeal - anything warm in the morning...
Dara
Thanks, Lydia! Skipping breakfast does not go well for me. 🙂
Kim Taylor
This looks wonderful, Dara! Can you please tell me where you usually buy the tart cherries?
Dara
Thank you, Kim! I either buy them at Whole Foods, at Costco or through Amazon, but you can find the dried tart cherries at most supermarkets.
missymops
I've never really liked oatmeal either. But if this recipe turned you into a believer, then I need to try it, too. And guess what? I have a bag of dried tart cherries in my pantry right now. It's meant to be!
Dara
I hope this is the recipe that helps you enjoy oatmeal. I was so surprised that I loved it as much as I did!
The Food Hunter
I love baked oatmeal and tart cherries. I will need to try this recipe.
Dara
Thank you, Theresa! I hope you have a chance to try it.
Kathy Penney @ Penney Lane Kitchen
I just cooked with steel cut oats for the first time this week! Love the addition of the tart cherries for flavor here!
Dara
The texture of the steel cut oats is really great, isn't it? And yes, the tart cherries really add something special, especially since they plump up so beautifully when baking.
Brian @ A Thought For Food
Why don't I have this prepared for my breakfast? It's just what I'm craving! This just might be happening next weekend. Can only imagine how wonderful our house will smell while this is baking.
Dara
The aroma is awesome, for sure. My boys walked into the house when I was baking it and immediately opened the oven to see what I was making. I hope you have a chance to try it, Brian!