Chocolate Baked Oatmeal with Peanut Butter

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! The chocolate baked oatmeal is sweetened with maple syrup, applesauce, and a sprinkle of chocolate chips. 

They're easy to make and you only need one bowl. The delicious breakfast recipe is soft and scoopable right out of the oven, but once it has chilled in the fridge it firms up to be sliceable.  Serve them with a side of fruit, yogurt, or add coconut whip for an easy dessert. 

If you enjoy baked oatmeal you might like my apple vegan baked oatmeal, pumpkin baked oatmeal, or mixed berry vegan baked oatmeal.  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.

Recipe features

• Dairy-free, egg-free, oil-free, and gluten-free!
• Easy and quick to prepare!
• Mix everything in one bowl!
• It has chocolate and peanut butter, need I say more?

Ingredient notes

Check this section out for needed notes and substitutions for this oatmeal recipe.

Old fashioned oats - The rolled oats are the main ingredient for this simple recipe to carry that chocolatey goodness.  Use rolled oats, not steel-cut oats, or quick-cooking oats.  Use certified gluten-free oats if needed.

Ground flaxseeds - The flax seeds are used in the oat recipe 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 unsweetened dairy-free milk can be used to keep this dish dairy-free.  Try it with almond, oat, soy, or coconut milk (the refrigerated kind, not the canned full-fat version).

Unsweetened cocoa powder - For a rich chocolate flavor natural cocoa or Dutch-processed cocoa can be used in this chocolate baked oatmeal.  I prefer the flavor of Dutch processed, but use the flavor profile you like 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 substitute with a very ripe banana, it may make the oats sweeter, so you can reduce the maple syrup to ¼ cup if needed.  The applesauce keeps these delicious chocolate oats oil-free.  I haven't tested it but pumpkin puree could probably work too.

Pure maple syrup - To sweeten the chocolate oats we're using maple syrup, but agave syrup can be used.  

Natural peanut butter - The nut butter gives the oats a little peanut butter flavor.  It can also be substituted with almond butter, cashew butter, homemade hazelnut butter, or seed butter.  I use natural peanut butter that is only peanuts and/or salt with no added sweeteners or oils. 

They tend to have a natural oil separation that needs to be stirred back in.  Even after the initial stir the contents at the bottom can become drier than the top, so stir before measuring.

Vegan chocolate chips - To make this double chocolate add semi-sweet chocolate chips.  To keep it dairy-free use a vegan brand, such as Enjoy Life.  If you want to add some to the top, reserve a couple of tablespoons and sprinkle them on top before placing the oatmeal into the oven.  

Vanilla extract - Just to add a little for more depth of flavor.

Tips

• Place the uncooked mixture promptly into a preheated oven before the chocolate oats start to soak up the dairy-free milk.
• If you don’t use a glass baking dish, then lightly grease the baking tray with cooking spray or line it with parchment paper.  In my case, the oats came out fine whether I greased the glass baking dish or not.  Both ways the pan did need to soak to be cleaned.  So if you want to prevent that, use parchment paper.
• If your peanut butter is thick, you may want to mix it with the applesauce and 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 chips it will be less sweet.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to make chocolate baked oatmeal

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

Then stir in the dairy-free milk, applesauce, maple syrup, peanut butter, and vanilla into the oat mixture. 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 or use parchment paper.

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.

Storage

Store leftover chocolate baked oats covered in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.  They can also be frozen. Let them cool, then store them in the fridge to firm up.  This makes it easier to slice them into individual portions to freeze.

Slice the baked oats into single servings, 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 airtight 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

• Lemon blueberry baked oat cups
• Blueberry oatmeal cups
• Raisin oatmeal bars
• Orange cranberry oat bars
• Pumpkin baked oatmeal

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.