Enjoy vegan chocolate baked oatmeal for breakfast with this hearty, naturally sweetened brownie batter oatmeal recipe!
It's no surprise at this point how much our family loves baked oatmeal.
I've shared plethora of vegan baked oatmeal recipes on the blog over the years.
Some of our personal favorites, if you're interested, include:
- Peanut Butter Banana Baked Oatmeal,
- Zucchini Bread Baked Oatmeal, and
- Make-Ahead Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal.
However, my all-time favorite baked oatmeal recipe is this Vegan Brownie Batter Chocolate Baked Oatmeal!
Chocolate and oatmeal for breakfast?!
Count me in!
Let me show you how to make it.
Ingredients You'll Need for Chocolate Baked Oatmeal
This brownie batter chocolate baked oatmeal is naturally sweetened with ripe bananas and a touch of maple syrup.
Then the addition of nut butter (I love to use tahini!) adds richness and makes these baked oats extra satiating.
To make this vegan brownie batter baked oatmeal recipe, you'll need the following ingredients:
- Ground flaxseed
- Ripe Bananas
- Cocoa (or cacao) powder
- Nut/seed butter (tahini and cashew butter are my favorite!)
- Maple Syrup
- Vanilla extract
- Baking powder
- Cinnamon
- Salt
- Non-dairy milk
- Rolled oats
Whenever I'm in a pinch, I omit the vanilla and cinnamon to save on time. This chocolate baked oatmeal still tastes great!
How to Make Baked Oatmeal
Baked oatmeal really is so easy to make. To make it, you're going to use the same method you use in most baking recipes. You'll first whisk together the wet ingredients before adding in the dry ingredients.
Pour the batter into a baking dish and bake until set.
Let me show you how to make this particular chocolate baked oatmeal recipe:
- Step 1: Preheat your oven to 375F and spray an 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish with cooking spray. Set it aside.
- Step 2: In a small bowl, whisk together 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed with 3 tablespoons of water. Set it aside to thicken. This will be your "flax egg".
- Step 3: In a large mixing bowl, mash your ripe bananas. Add in the cocoa powder, nut butter, maple syrup, vanilla baking powder, cinnamon, salt and the thickened flax egg and whisk well to combine.
- Step 4: Add in the rolled oats and stir to combine.
- Step 5: Pour the batter into your greased baking sheet and spread the batter out into an even layer.
- Step 6: Bake the oats for 25-30 minutes or until set.
- Step 7: Scoop the baked oats into a bowl and top with your favorite toppings. Enjoy warm!
How to Store Leftover Baked Oatmeal
Chocolate baked oatmeal is a great food to meal prep at the start of the week as it stores beautifully in both the fridge and freezer.
- Fridge: To store leftover baked oatmeal in the fridge, simply cut it into squares and put it in an airtight container in the fridge. It should keep for 5-6 days. To reheat the oatmeal, place a square on a microwave safe place and zap it on high until warm.
- Freezer: Alternatively you can store baked oatmeal in the freezer. Cut the oatmeal into serving sizes, wrap each serving in plastic wrap and place the servings into a freezer-friendly zip-lock bag. Place the bag in the freezer. The oatmeal can be frozen for up to 6 months. To thaw a piece, take one of the servings out of the freezer and let it thaw in the fridge overnight. The next day, remove the baked oatmeal from the plastic wrap, place it on a microwave-safe plate and warm it in the microwave until heated through.
My Favorite Chocolate Baked Oatmeal Toppings
We love to top our baked oatmeal with ALL the toppings.
More specifically, we love to pair this chocolate baked oatmeal with some of the following toppings:
- Sliced banana
- Berries
- Peanut butter (or any nut/seed butter)
- Non-dairy yogurt
- Granola
- Maple syrup
- Chopped nuts and/or seeds
- Cacao nibs or chocolate chips
Vegan Brownie Batter Chocolate Baked Oatmeal
Treat yourself for breakfast with this hearty, naturally sweetened Vegan Brownie Batter Chocolate Baked Oatmeal!
Ingredients
- 1 flax egg (1 tablespoon ground flaxseed + 3 tablespoons water)
- 1 cup mashed banana (from 2-3 ripe bananas)
- ⅓ cup cacao powder
- ¼ cup nut butter*
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¾ cups non-dairy milk
- 3 cups old-fashioned oats
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
- Grease a 9-inch cake pan and set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed with 3 tablespoons water. Set aside to thicken. This will be your "egg."
- In a mixing bowl, mash your bananas.
- To the bananas, add in the cocoa powder, nut butter, maple syrup, vanilla, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Whisk everything together until a uniform batter forms.
- Next whisk in the non-dairy milk until smooth.
- Add in the 3 cups of old-fashioned rolled oats and stir until combined.
- Pour the batter into your prepared cake pan and bake for about 25-30 minutes or until cooked through.
- Serve warm with more maple syrup, nut butter and non-dairy milk!
Notes
*I like to use black tahini, but any more neutral nut butter like almond or cashew butter would work great!
**Old-fashioned rolled oats give this baked oatmeal the perfect texture. I haven't tried using quick oats. Do not use steel cut oats.
Veganized and adapted from Budget Bytes.
Nutrition Information
Yield 6 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 358Total Fat 11gSaturated Fat 3gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 6gCholesterol 42mgSodium 338mgCarbohydrates 54gFiber 7gSugar 17gProtein 12g
Nutrition information is a rough estimate provided by Nutrionix and should be used for informational purposes only.
Tracy says
Hi! Do you bake it at 350 or 375? You mention both in the recipe.
Faith VanderMolen says
Sorry about the confusion Tracy! I honestly think either temp would work, but I believe the correct temperature is 375F! I edited the post to have the temps match. Thanks for catching that typo! I hoped the recipe worked out for you!
Anna says
Thanks for sharing this recipe, came across it randomly whilst searching for overnight oats. It turned out great! Especially the next day the flavours sink in much better. Unfortunately I don’t always have ripe bananas on hand, is there any way to make this without bananas, or replace with something else?
Faith VanderMolen says
I often love leftovers more as they are more flavorful. I'm so glad you enjoyed this recipe! And applesauce should work! I often sub applesauce in baking when I don't have ripe bananas on hand.
Paula says
I finished the leftovers today, and gotta say, these are amazing to make and freeze, they taste delicious warmed up with milk & toppings!
I want to make them again, but unfortunately have no oven right now, would they be alright in the microwave? (Maybe with the grill function too?)
Thank you!
Faith VanderMolen says
I'm so glad you enjoyed this recipe Paula! And I haven't tried it in the microwave, but I'm sure it would be delicious. The texture might be different and less dry/cakey, but worth a try! Let us know how it goes and how long it took you to microwave it!
Michelle Duncan says
Yummy! Made it for breakfast. Used full coconut milk and almond butter as that’s all I had and it’s nice and creamy! Not like brownie batter but yummy chocolate banana flavor! Thanks!
Faith VanderMolen says
Those sound like amazing substitutions! Thanks so much for sharing Michelle!
Kay says
Didn't taste like brownie batter to me, but it's definitely chocolaty and delicious. I might need to sliiightly bake it a little less, or maybe it was the nut butter that wasn't as moist, though regardless I love it and was so pleasantly surprised considering I don't tend to like most vegan desserts/sweet things.
Thank you so much for this recipe and will definitely be making it again as it's such an easy and tasty breakfast!
Faith VanderMolen says
I'm so glad you enjoyed it Kay! I guess something that's baked can't really taste like brownie batter, but I though the name sounded catchy:) You could definitely try out different nut butters, but either way I'm glad you'll be making it again!
Yifeng says
Just made this and it tasted like brownie with a different texture! This us my first time making baked oats and am loving the results. I used whole oats instead of rolled oats (not sure if there's any difference) and it came out crunchy in top and chewy and creamy inside.
Faith VanderMolen says
So glad you enjoyed this recipe Yifeng! The texture sounds amazing...just like it should be!
Gabs says
Sooo good
Faith VanderMolen says
Yay! Glad you like it!
Michelle D says
I just made this for my very picky husband. It is REALLY good! I love that there is also no sugar. I added some extra ground flax in when I added the oats, and I baked it in a silicon pan so I didn't need oil. We are slicing it into kind of like cake slices so we can grab and go. It is also a nice dessert food! Thanks so much!
Faith VanderMolen says
So glad to hear that you and your husband both enjoyed this recipe Michelle! Thanks so much for sharing!
Souha says
Hi I'm new to this beautiful community and this baked oats looks absolutely amazing I'm definitely trying it but I would like to know the calories for the serving and thank you so much for all the amazing recipes
Faith VanderMolen says
Hi Souha! Thanks so much for introducing yourself! I just updated the post so that the recipe card includes the nutrition facts. They may not be completely accurate, but hopefully that helps. Thanks!
mary says
can i substitute bananas with apple sauce?
Faith says
Hi Mary! That's a good question. I haven't tried it so I can't say what the result would be, but I think it's a great substitution option and you should try it! If it works out for you, please let me know!
Liv says
First, this looks absolutely amazing! Second, I love your idea of having a restful Sunday to set yourself up for a productive week ahead. I've traveled for the past 3 or 4 weekends in a row now and definitely find myself scrambling more, especially in the beginning of the week, since I haven't had that weekend time to rest or catch up/even get ahead on things!
Faith says
Thanks Liv! And restful Sundays have changed my life. I look forward to them so much and they are so needed for me to realize that me resting won't make the world fall apart haha. I hope you can get a full day of rest in soon after your back to back busy weekends!
Brittany says
Do you know how to differentiate quick oats from rolled oats in China / Chinese? I live in China and find it hard to know which is which because some of the ones that look like rolled oats say they’re quick oats on packaging. Maybe the oats in the veggie markets are usually old fashioned?
Faith says
Hi Brittany! I usually just have to look and feel them. I have found that oats in the market are more old fashion, aka not processed and super tough/thick. I can also find old fashioned in the bulk bins at our Walmart. Then the oats I buy in the smaller super markets in a bag are often quick oats. I hope that helps!