Chocolate Baked Oatmeal

This chocolate baked oatmeal with peanut butter is great for meal prep.  It’s sweetened with maple syrup, applesauce, and a sprinkle of chocolate chips.

This filling baked oat recipe uses simple ingredients including budget-friendly old-fashioned oats.  It’s dairy-free, egg-free, oil-free, and even gluten-free (just use certified gluten-free if needed). 

The chocolate oatmeal is soft and scoop-able right out of the oven, but once it has chilled in the fridge it firms up to be sliceable.  If you enjoy baked oatmeal you might like my vegan baked oatmeal with apples.  The oats can be made in advance and stored in the refrigerator or you can freeze slices for later, making the oatmeal a great option for meal prep.

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• Ingredient notes
• Tips
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Instructions
• How to serve
• Storage
• Related recipes
• Recipe
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Ingredient notes

Check this section out for needed notes and substitutions for ingredients in this chocolate baked oatmeal.

Old fashioned oats - The main ingredient to carry that chocolatey goodness.  Use rolled oats, not steel-cut or quick cooking.

Ground flaxseed - This is used instead of eggs to keep this dish egg-free.  Make sure to use ground flaxseed, not whole. Ground chia seeds should also work.

Non-dairy milk - Any dairy-free milk can be used to keep this dish dairy-free.

Cocoa powder - Natural cocoa or Dutch-processed cocoa can be used in this recipe.  I prefer the flavor of Dutch processed, but use the flavor profile you prefer or what’s on hand. For more chocolate-flavored oatmeal, try chocolate peanut butter overnight oats.

Unsweetened applesauce - This can be replaced with ½ cup mashed ripe banana in this baked chocolate oatmeal.  If you do substitute with a very ripe banana, it may make the oats sweeter, so you can reduce the maple syrup to ¼ cup if needed.

Maple syrup - Agave syrup can be used instead of maple syrup.  

Peanut butter - The nut butter gives the oats a little peanut butter flavor.  It can also be substituted with another nut butter or seed butter.

Tips

• Place the uncooked mixture promptly into a preheated oven before the oats start to soak up the dairy-free milk.
• If you don’t use a glass baking dish, then lightly grease the baking tray.
• If your peanut butter is thick, you may want to mix it with the applesauce and/or maple syrup so you don’t have clumps of peanut butter in the baked oatmeal.
• If you use semi-sweet chocolate chips it will be sweeter, if you use dark chocolate it will be less sweet.

Frequently Asked Questions

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C). Mix the rolled oats, cocoa powder, ground flax seed, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.

Then stir in the dairy-free milk, applesauce, maple syrup, peanut butter, and vanilla. Fold in the chocolate chips. Pour the mixture into an 8x8 glass baking dish and evenly spread the mixture out.  My oats don’t stick in a glass baking dish, if you don’t use glass lightly grease the baking tray.

Bake for 33-37 minutes or until the middle is almost set and the edges have firmed up. Let the baked oats cool for about 10 minutes before serving. They're soft right out of the oven but firm up as they cool.

How to serve

The baked chocolate oatmeal can be served warm or cold.  The warm baked oats will be soft and creamy, but they firm up as they cool (especially after chilling in the fridge). Have a slice for breakfast, a snack, or dessert.

They can be served just as they are, topped with more maple syrup, nut butter, or yogurt.  I like to serve a slice with unsweetened plain yogurt (which I sweeten with maple syrup), then I add fresh sliced strawberries and bananas.

Storage

Store leftover chocolate baked oatmeal covered in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.  They can also be frozen, just let them cool then store them in the fridge to firm up.  This makes it easier to slice them into serving sizes, then freeze them.

Slice the baked oats, then line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.  Place the slices on the lined cookie sheet and freeze.  They’re now frozen separately and can be placed in a freezer-safe container.  Alternatively to freezing separately, layer parchment paper between slices so they don’t freeze together.  Store in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Related recipes

• Vegan baked oatmeal with apples
• Lemon blueberry baked oat cups
• Blueberry oatmeal cups
• Raisin oatmeal bars
• Orange Cranberry oat bars

As always, I hope you enjoy this recipe for vegan baked oatmeal! If you like the recipe, feel free to rate it and leave a comment.

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