Banana Bread Baked Oatmeal

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Make this banana bread baked oatmeal recipe with your weekend meal prep and reheat for an easy weekday breakfast. Baked oatmeal also works as a more nutritious sweet main dish for weekend brunch! 

I can’t even count the number of times I made this banana bread baked oatmeal after we welcomed our second child. A baked oatmeal of some sort was almost a permanent fixture in our home the first 6 months. I loved how a few minutes of prep and some bake time gave me breakfast for the week. And very early on, in that haze of nursing and pumping, oatmeal is one of the best foods to eat. There are no new babies in the house, but I still make baked oatmeal, especially when things get busy like with back to school and all the holidays coming up! And this banana bread baked oatmeal recipe is always a hit.

The funny thing is, only 50% of my family likes bananas, but they all like this oatmeal bake. I think the combination of the oats, chocolate chips, and crunchy walnuts helps. It’s less “banana” and more “banana bread”, hence the title. Of course, as with any baked oatmeal recipe, you can customize! This banana bread baked oatmeal recipe is just one idea in probably thousands of possible combinations.

Before I share the recipe, here are some substitutions I’ve tried…

This will hopefully help those of you with questions about swapping ingredients for preference or allergy reasons.

You can use whatever milk you’d like. I have made this with cow’s milk, nut milk, and the half gallon coconut milk (not the can). They’ve all turned out well, it’s an even substitution. Usually I make this with unsweetened almond or cashew milk to save a few calories.

You can use whatever fruit you’d like. You’ll want about 2 cups of fruit. Banana and blueberries or blackberries are a great combination, or skip the banana and just use berries. I even made a tropical-inspired oatmeal with frozen mango (2 cups) and unsweetened coconut flakes (3 tbsp-ish) once. Use what you like.

Fresh or frozen fruit is fine. If you use frozen fruit, thaw first to drain some of the excess liquid, or decrease the liquid in the recipe by 2 tablespoons and add an extra couple minutes to the bake time.

If you want to omit the egg, add 2 tablespoons ground flax. When I was nursing, I’d often add a little flax anyway. One day I ran out of eggs and just used flax instead. Perfect. This really just helps add a little protein and keep the structure of the oatmeal for cutting.

You can skip the chocolate and/or nuts. But why? Chocolate has antioxidants, and I feel like those are good at breakfast. 😉 I don’t add the chocolate with berries though because of personal preference.

I recommend old fashioned oats over quick oats. Quick oats are cut a little finer, and my family prefers the texture of old fashioned. Steel cut oats can work too, add 1/4 cup of liquid and a little more bake time. We love steel cut oats, but old fashioned won out for this recipe.

Basically, you have LOADS of leeway to customize this and it will still turn out. The only thing I haven’t done is freeze the recipe. I’m sure you could, but it disappears within a few days, and keeps in the refrigerator up to a week. To reheat, cut the portion you’d like and then microwave. This is very grab-and-go friendly.

I hope you enjoy this banana bread baked oatmeal recipe. If you’d like to see it assembled (so quick!), check out the video below. The recipe is after that. I hope it helps you navigate the busier seasons of life too. We’ve got this. <3

And if you’re looking for some other quick breakfast recipes, check out my pomegranate chia pudding parfaits, oatmeal scones 2 ways (savory and sweet! – make this one ahead and reheat as needed), or chocolate cherry smoothie bowl.