This healthy protein baked oatmeal recipe is gluten-free, vegan, and packed with plant-based protein. It's also naturally sweetened and full of fresh fruit for a breakfast that’s both healthy and delicious!
What if you could have oatmeal for breakfast but not actually stand in front of the stove stirring it until it's done? I'm here for it. Especially during the summer.
I've got the oatmeal lover's solution: BAKED OATMEAL! Or, in this case, healthy protein baked oatmeal.
If you've never tried, it's honestly the best. You stir everything together, transfer it to a baking dish and walk away. In about 35 minutes, you'll have a big batch of soft, fluffy oatmeal that will last you all week long. It's kind of like a casserole, but better.
And you can flavor it a million different ways! We're making a batch of protein baked oatmeal and adding in my two favorite fruits: banana and blueberries. It's sweet, it's flavorful, and it's the perfect way to start your day!
What You’ll Need
Scroll down to the recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
- Oats – If you’re avoiding gluten, be sure to buy gluten-free oats.
- Boiling water
- Bananas – The riper the bananas, the sweeter your baked oats will be!
- Flax egg
- Syrup – I love the flavor of maple syrup for this recipe.
- Protein powder – Unflavored or vanilla both work here.
- Hemp seeds
- Blueberries – Use fresh or frozen.
- Sliced almonds
- Ground cinnamon
- Vanilla extract
- Almond milk – Or any plant milk you like or have on hand.
What Type of Oats Do I Need for Baked Oatmeal?
The best type of oats to use for baked oatmeal is either traditional rolled oats or thick-cut rolled oats. You could also use quick-cooking oats, but I don't think you'll get the same chewy texture. It might be a little mushier.
Steel cut oats are also doable, but they'll require a longer baking time and perhaps also a longer soaking time.
If you're not an oat fan at all, you can also use quinoa, like in my Triple Berry Quinoa Breakfast Bake.
How to Make Protein Baked Oatmeal
Here’s what you’ll need to do to make healthy baked oatmeal for breakfast.
Prepare. Preheat your oven to 350ºF.
Soak the oats. Combine the oats and boiling water in a mixing bowl. Let the oats soak for 10 to 15 minutes.
Combine the rest of the ingredients. Mash the banana in a separate bowl, then stir in the flax egg, syrup, and protein powder. Pour this mixture into the bowl with the oats, then stir in the remaining ingredients.
Bake. Pour the oat mixture into a 9×13 baking dish, top with sliced bananas and blueberries if desired, and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until set. Cool slightly, then cut and serve.
Tips for Success
Here are some hints and tips for making perfect protein baked oatmeal:
- Mash the banana well. A few chunks are okay, but you want it to be fairly liquid-y before mixing it into the other ingredients.
- Making individual portions. If you'd like, you can divide the oat mixture into muffin cups and reduce the baking time.
- Checking for doneness. Unlike traditional oatmeal, baked oats aren’t creamy. When the oatmeal is done baking, the center should be set and the edges should be golden brown.
Baked Oatmeal Variations
The fabulous thing about this healthy protein baked oatmeal is that there are so many ways to customize the recipe. Here are some of my favorite ideas:
- Use different fruit. Keep the bananas (they add sweetness!) and swap out the blueberries for diced apples, peaches, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, or pears. Dried fruit, like raisins or cranberries, work too.
- Use different nuts or seeds. The almonds can be substituted for pecans or walnuts, or you can use pepitas or sunflower seeds.
- Top it! Serve baked oatmeal with a drizzle of warm almond butter, vegan yogurt, fresh fruit, lemon zest, toasted nuts, or coconut whipped cream.
How to Store and Reheat Baked Oatmeal
What's great about protein baked oatmeal is that it lasts for at least 6 days in the fridge, so it’s perfect for meal prep.
One batch of this protein baked oatmeal will make at least 8 to 10 servings and it can be reheated all week long. I recommend storing your baked oatmeal in a glass container. (I love this set of glass meal prep containers—they stack well, are totally airtight and are great for things like this.)
To reheat your oatmeal, simply pop it in the microwave or oven and bring it to temp. You can also eat it cold!
Can This Recipe Be Frozen?
You can freeze your baked oatmeal in individual portions for up to 3 months. Reheat it in the microwave or oven when you're ready to serve it.
More Vegan Oatmeal Recipes:
Blueberry Banana Protein Baked Oatmeal
Ingredients
- 2 cups oats
- 2 cups boiling water
- 2 large bananas (+ 1/2 for topping)
- 1 flax egg
- 1/4 cup syrup
- 1/4 cup protein powder
- 1/4 cup hemp seeds
- 1/2 cup blueberries
- 1/4 cup sliced almonds
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups almond milk
Instructions
- Add the oats and boiling water into a mixing bowl. Allow to sit for 10 – 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, mash the banana in a separate bowl until as smooth as possible. Stir in the flax egg, syrup and protein powder. Pour this mixture over the softened oats and stir to combine.
- Add the remaining ingredients into the bowl and stir again to combine.
- Pour the oat mixture into a 9×13 baking pan. Top with sliced bananas and more blueberries if desired.
- Bake at 350ºF for 30 – 35 minutes. Allow to cool slightly, then cut into squares (or scoop out) and enjoy.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Love this recipe, just made it for the 3rd time and it came out perfect every time. I use a little less milk (like 1 1/4 cup) and it comes out perfectly firm. Hubby loves it too, thank you!
I wish I could get the recipes through email. I do not have a printer
Thanks for such a great recipe! I’ve made this a few times now and everyone in the family loves it. Hearty and filling. For the oats soak, I combine in a mixing bowl: 2 cups of rolled oats + 0.5 quick cooking steel cut oats + 1 cup boiling water + 1 cup hot plant-based milk. Sometimes I throw in 1/4 cup of unsweetened applesauce along with the mashed bananas. I like to put in chopped walnuts + pecans + raisins. I decrease the amount of plant-based milk at the end to approx. 0.5-1 cup (depending on how dry or wet the mixture looks). Turns out perfect every time! Not soggy at all! If I increase and make 1.5x then cooking time takes a bit longer (e.g., 50-60 min) but still never mushy or soggy – always perfectly baked and delicious!
I am new to Vegan cooking and I don’t understand “Flax Egg”. I see that it has a link to Flaxseed, which I have but do you have to mix with something to make an ‘egg’ or what amount do you use? Thank you!
Here is a tutorial on them! https://www.simplyquinoa.com/how-to-make-a-flax-egg/
Hi. If I sub applesauce for banana, how much applesauce do I use?? Thanks !!
1/2 cup of applesauce per banana 🙂
Hi. Love this but not sure I want the banana flavor. Can I omit? Or sub? Applesauce ?
Thanks!!
Definitely! You can use 1/2 cup of applesauce per banana 🙂
I’m allergic to hemp seed. What other seed would you recommend adding instead?
You could use chia or flax!
Just curious. Why is baking powder not needed?🤔
it just helps make it a little lighter. Feel free to skip tho!
Hi, can I use applesauce instead of mashed bananas?
Definitely!
This was so good!! The whole family loved it, even my picky toddlers. I loved it hot fresh out of the oven and cold as leftovers.
Woohoo!! So glad you ALL enjoyed!
I don’t have hemp hearts but I do have hemp powder. Will that work fine?
That should be fine!
Mine was mushy too and I had to keep baking it for a longer time. I ended up feeding my family with it while it was mushy and they loved it but I do want to make it how it is supposed to be. I followed the recipe exactly. Would it help if I soaked the old fashioned rolled oats for longer than 15 minutes? It seemed like when I put the almond milk in the end it was much soupier than your video. Maybe instead of 1 1/2 cup of almond milk just 1 cup?
You might have needed to soak for longer. Did you watch the video by chance? When you add the oats in, there should be barely any water left over 🙂
I had the same issue with mine – very watery. But the oats soaked and absorbed all the water. It wasn’t until I added the almond milk that it seemed like too much water. Is 1.5 cups right?? It seems like you don’t add that much in the video.
I’ve found that to be the right amount for the size pan I’m using– but you could definitely use less if you want your oatmeal thicker!
Very tasty! I made this with steel cut oats. It took 4 cups of water to soak. And about an extra 15-20 minutes to bake. Thanks for the recipe!!!
Yay so glad it worked! I’ll have to try that next time 🙂
What is a flax egg? And can I use any dairy milk alternative (like coconut milk)? I have kiddos with nut allergies.
It’s a vegan egg replacement and should be linked in the ingredient list 🙂 and yep, any milk will work!
Just want to double check on the amount of servings in a 9×13 dish. The recipe says 8 but in the photos, it shows 12. It says 213 calories per serving… is that 8 or 12 in a dish?
The ones calculated are for 8! I felt like the 12 that I cut were a teeny bit small, but if the 12 looks like the right for you, then I’d say go with that!
Hi I too have just made this and followed the recipe and directions exactly- it’s still gloopy and wet inside- and I left it in for 20 extra minutes!
So weird! I’ll test it when we get to our next Airbnb and see what’s going on!
As many others have stated, I have baked this thing far longer than suggested, and it’s still very wet. I think we will try making it again without soaking the oats so that they can actually absorb all the extra liquid that goes into the recipe.
Hmmm others haven’t had that trouble – I’m not sure what’s happening. I’ll retest when I’m back in the states and update accordingly!
I had this same issue. Ended up baking it for over an hour, and it was still runny. I was determined to eat it anyway, so I popped it into the fridge, and the next morning it had tightened up. It’s very tasty. When I make it again, I’ll probably do the same thing, but actually back off the bake time by ten minutes, since now that it’s tightened up I can tell it’s slightly overbaked. I think Vegan baking is a little bit of art and a little bit of science. It’s amazing how people can have such vastly different results!
So interesting!! Did you also use regular rolled oats??
No, definitely used quick oats!
I think I figured it out. You can use Quick Steel Cut Oats, but you CAN’T use regular quick oats, or you end up with soup that has to be cooked for an hour and a half and then left to thicken in a cold fridge. The quick steel cut oats were amazing!
Hi! Can you use gluten free oats?
Sure can!
I don’t have protein powder, but the bigger problem is that I can’t eat bananas. Any baked oatmeal recipes that can be made with some kind of substitute? Thanks!
I think you could leave out the protein and replace the banana with pumpkin!
The recipe for vegan protein baked oatmeal called for protein powder Will any brand work or did you use a specific kind?
Any kind will work! xx
Like many others I too ended up with a soupy batter which didn’t bake even after an hour. It’s sitting in the fridge now and hoping the consistency becomes better.
I’m sorry about that. I will re-test the water quantity!
Hi ! This oatmeal is a perfect way to start your day. It’s so moist and chewy, perfectly sweet and with an amazing flavor mix. This was very delicious, I just substituted protein powder for whole spelt flour and I also divided the recipe by 2 because I’m alone to eat oats in my family (what a pity !). They really miss something. I mean … it’s so good ! And healthy, right ?
Thank you for the recipe !
WOOT! It’s soooo good! I can’t wait to make more flavor options for you guys in the new year!
I just made this oatmeal bar recipe. It was really soupy! Its still in the oven and after 50 min is still not done! Was 1 1\2 cups milk correct? This made the batter really wet!
Can I leave out the protein powder?
Yep!
I did soak the oats. The only change I made was a light brush if coconut oil on the pan to prevent sticking.
Hmmm I’m not entirely sure then…!
I have baked your recipe for over an hour and it is still soupy in the inside is there something wrong with the combined mixture of the extra milk or is the temperature too long too low
Did you soak your oats?
That looks delicious and the recipe is going straight on my “soon to do” list ???? but do you think I could omet the protein powder? Or can I replace it with something else?
Yep! But you might want to reduce the almond milk a bit 🙂
Pretty good! The center was still a bit gooey even after baking an extra 5-10 min so I wasn’t able to cut and freeze/save as bars. I also used a real egg instead of a flax egg. Definitely serve with Almond butter and more bananas to really make it special. Thanks for sharing!
Hmmm I wonder if the egg had anything to do with that! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
How do you think it would takes omitting the sugar all together?
I think it could be fine as long as you’re using the banana!