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This Baked Carrot Cake Oatmeal is hearty, well-spiced, and perfectly-sweetened. Made with only 10 ingredients in just 1 bowl! Who says you can’t have dessert for breakfast?
What if I told you that you could have a healthy and wholesome breakfast that actually tastes like dessert?! My friends, allow me to introduce you to *the ultimate* Baked Carrot Cake Oatmeal. This breakfast is basically a warm morning hug, leaving you feeling cozy and perfectly satiated. Plus it’s packed with sneaky veggies that even a veggie-hater will love!
INGREDIENTS FOR BAKED CARROT CAKE OATMEAL
You’ll only need 10 wholesome ingredients and 1 bowl for this breakfast deliciousness.
- Rolled Oats give the best chewy texture for this recipe. Quick oats are too mushy, in my opinion.
- Shredded Carrot: the star of carrot cake, and what gives this oatmeal some natural sweetness and beloved carrot-y flavor
- Dried Fruit: I kept things classic and used raisins here, but if you can also use dried cherries, chopped dates, or even chopped dried pineapple.
- Nuts: because who doesn’t love some creaminess and crunch? Both walnuts and pecans are commonly used in carrot cake, so you can use either. Shredded coconut would also work well here too!
- Maple Syrup adds the perfect amount of sweetness and a deep, caramelized flavor.
- Spices: the warm embrace of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and vanilla brings out all the delicious flavors of carrot cake that we know and love.
HOW TO MAKE BAKED CARROT CAKE OATMEAL
Although baking your oatmeal may seem more complicated than the traditional stovetop method, it’s actually one of my favorite “set it and forget it” breakfast dishes. You don’t have to stand over the stove, constantly stirring to make sure your oatmeal doesn’t burn at the bottom of the pan. Just pop this baby in the oven and go on with your morning routine, while you’re delicious carrot cake breakfast bakes!
- Mix the ingredients in one bowl
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until golden and fragrant
- Enjoy warm or cold and top as desired.
This Baked Carrot Cake Oatmeal might just be my new favorite way to start the day. You end up with the heavenly taste of carrot cake, but as a hearty, wholesome breakfast. Made for those mornings when you’re short on fresh fruit, but still looking for a sweet, nutritious start to the day. It’s perfect for breakfast meal-prep or making on a relaxing morning.
In terms of leftovers, this will last in the fridge for up to 5 days. Enjoy warm or cold – if you choose to reheat, just pop it in the oven or toaster. My favorite way to enjoy this oatmeal is with some toasted coconut, a dollop of coconut yogurt, and a pour (or two ????) of non-dairy milk.
If you’re looking for more oatmeal recipes, you’ll also love this Maple Pecan Baked Oatmeal, this Lemon Poppyseed Oatmeal, and this Strawberries and Cream Oatmeal!
Finally, if you make this recipe and decide to share it on Facebook or Instagram, don’t forget to tag me @FromMyBowl + #FromMyBowl! I love seeing your delicious recreations 🙂
Baked Carrot Cake Oatmeal
This Baked Carrot Cake Oatmeal is hearty, well-spiced, and perfectly-sweetened. Made with only 10 ingredients in just 1 bowl! Who says you can’t have dessert for breakfast?
Ingredients
- 2 cups (475 ml) non-dairy milk of choice (homemade or store bought)
- 2 tablespoons ground flax seed (or sub chia seeds)
- 1/3 cup (60 ml) grade A maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (optional)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups (200 g) rolled oats
- 1 1/2 cup (75 g) shredded carrot (about 1 large)
- 1/4 cup (40 g) raisins (optional; omit or sub other dried fruit)
- 1/2 cup (65 g) roughly chopped pecans or walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F and set a 9” x 6” (or similar) baking pan aside.
- Add the non-dairy milk, flax, maple syrup, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, vanilla, baking powder, and salt to a large bowl and whisk until well-combined. Add the oats, carrot, and chopped nuts to the bowl and mix until evenly incorporated, then transfer to the baking dish.
- Bake in the middle rack of the oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until the oats are golden and fragrant. Serve warm, or as desired. Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 5 days, reheating in the oven or toaster if desired.
Notes
- Substitutions: ground flax can be substituted with chia seeds. Maple syrup can be swapped out for another liquid sweetener, such as agave or date syrup. Pecans/walnuts can be replaced with another nut or seed of your choice!
This oatmeal is so delicious! The walnuts add such a nice crunch and it is delicious topped with more milk and maple syrup.
★★★★★
Hi!
Can you assemble the oatmeal the night before and then bake it the next morning? I love the idea of meal prepping and having a big dish of baked oatmeal to enjoy during the week, but putting this together (even though I LOVE it’s a one-bowl mix) in the morning before work is a bit much. Being able to assemble it Sunday night and bake it Monday morning would be awesome. Will it hold, or will the oats absorb too much liquid if left overnight?
Thanks!
Hi Kaitlyn, you can definitely prep it in advance but the baking time would most likely reduce because the oats will be absorbing liquid overnight. I would start checking for doneness at around half of the recommended cooking time
This recipe is really great, thanks for sharing!
I had this lime 5 days in a row for breakfast, I just heated it up in the microwave and poured oatmilk over.
The only thing I recommend changing is soaking the raisins in hot water for a fee minutes before adding them – this makes them a bit softer and juicier, reminiscent of apple strudel.
★★★★★
Thank you so much for the 5-star review!
I love this oatmeal! It’s become a go to meal prep at my house!
★★★★★
That’s awesome!
this was the first recipe in YEARS that I’ve eaten without ‘tracking’. cannot thank you enough for this nourishing & incredible breakfast—it was enjoyed by our entire family!
★★★★★
So glad everyone was able to enjoy it with you!
I loved this before I even tasted it – My house smells AMAZING!!!! And you know it’s an easy recipe if even I can handle it. 🙂
★★★★★
I love when baked goods fill up the house! Glad you found it easy!
Can’t wait to try this recipe! Do you have nutrition info, specifically calories/protein/carbs/fat for macro tracking?
Out of personal philosophy we don’t track calories/nutritional info for recipes but you can use Cronometer to plug in any recipe and get the information you’re looking for!
This was SO good. So much flavor with minimal and simple ingredients… it seriously tastes like dessert. It’s also really adaptable to adding additional flax and chia seeds to bulk up the nutrients even more. This is definitely going to be a breakfast staple in this house going forward!
★★★★★
Love hearing that! Also, glad that you were able to add in some extra stuff and make it more of your own!
Love this! I’ve been eating oatmeal for breakfast, in one form or another, almost every day for years. When I saw this one, I couldn’t wait to try it. I realized that I had some extra vegan cream cheese so I made some “frosting” for it, too. Yum! My new favorite, thank you!
★★★★★
Love it! Glad you enjoyed it!
I am newly vegan and my husband has not enjoyed any of the vegan recipes that I have made so far. I halved this recipe because I didn’t want too much left overs in case I was the only one who ended up eating this. Boy was I wrong! My husband and I both loved it! It was absolutely delicious and I will definitely be making it again. I baked it in an 8×8 pan at the same temp for 30 mins and served it with a little bit of coconut milk; it was absolutely amazing! Thank you so much for sharing!
★★★★★
Love to hear that – I’ll call that a success story when a non-vegan and vegan can enjoy a meal together! So happy!
This tastes absolutely amazing! I can not stop eating it! I did not have maple syrup, or any type, so I went for mixing in chopped dates to add some sweetness and it turned out wonderful!
★★★★★
Dates are just generally such a great thing – especially for sweetening!
Hi! This recipe looks great and I can’t wait to try it. Do you think it would freeze well if portions were individually wrapped and frozen?
You can freeze oatmeal! If you’re meal prepping it should work just fine.
Thank you! These turned out great 🙂 stored half in the fridge and half in the freezer for later!
★★★★★
Awesome!
This kind of kills me because this is the second recipe I’ve seen for a carrot cake oatmeal, the other one being from Rip Esselstyn. Both of these coming after I have been making something almost identical as both of your recipes come after I’ve been making one bowl at a time in my Breville oven in the morning. I’m going to have to try both recipes because I need to make it in a bigger batch then one bowl at a time.
★★★★★
Hope you enjoy the recipe!
As a big carrot cake fan, I look forward to trying this. I might even try preparing it the night before and baking it the next morning. Have you tried baking this in a muffin tin? I’m curious if it would hold together enough to make a breakfast-on-the-go option.
We didn’t try muffin tins, I’m not sure they would hold together so well as an on the go option (in the form of a muffin) without some modification to make it a little dryer.
This looks awesome! Do you think you could substitute steel cut oats?
The steel cut oats aren’t going to absorb as much of the liquid, so it will be a different approach. However if you personally enjoy steel cuts and the way they cook, then I’m sure it would be just fine!