This cherry almond baked steel cut oats is a great breakfast to prepare ahead of time and have ready for the whole week.
You ever have one of those weeks coming up where come 3pm on Sunday this nagging sense of dread just starts to build up knowing Monday is inching that much closer?
That would be this week for me.
And it’s stupid too because the reason for it all is a long weekend vacation (for my 30th birthday on Saturday which, now that I think about it might actually be adding to the whole dread thing) that I know will be fun.
But all the preparation leading up to Friday morning just makes me completely want to stab my eyeballs out over the next 96 hours.
There’s to-do lists in my head, to-do lists written down on paper, to-do lists on my phone and probably about 20 things that haven’t even made it onto one of those lists yet.
And none of it is stuff that I can easily ask Ulysses to help out with because he’ll just look at me like I have 5 heads when I explain that yes, cleaning the house is a necessity before we leave because otherwise I’ll be dreading a dirty house the entire 7 hour car trip home next Monday and that won’t be fun for either of us.
This is a glimpse into my psyche…it can get a little crazy up in here.
So, instead of having to waste precious brain power on what to eat for breakfast for the next few days, I took care of that with these baked steel cut oats.
It’s got the flavors of this breakfast bake, but with the awesome chewy texture of steel cut oats.
The cherries definitely funk up the color but don’t be scared, they do wonders for the taste.
This is one of those things where if you invest a little bit of time on Sunday preparing (most of which is inactive), it’ll more than pay off for the rest of the week.
I love oatmeal bakes (and overnight steel cut oats) for that exact reason, they’re the perfect breakfast meal prep!
Try this baked turmeric oatmeal or this baked apple oatmeal for other variations.
Or, better yet, chocolate baked oats which are basically cake in breakfast form!
Then you can spend what time you would’ve been thinking about breakfast (which, if you’re like me is an embarrassingly long amount) figuring out what day and time you can fit in a manicure with the least chance of it being ruined before the trip even starts (highly unlikely).
Cherry Almond Baked Steel Cut Oats
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup steel cut oats
- 3 cups milk, any combination will do, I used 1/2 coconut from carton & 1/2 almond milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 cup frozen cherries, chopped
- 1/4 cup dried cherries
- 1/4 cup sliced almonds
- 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×12 or similar sized baking pan.
- Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix together.
- Pour into baking pan and bake for about 50-60 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature.
- Either eat warm immediately (oats will be a bit more liquidy) or, refrigerate overnight to set and serve in the morning either cold or warmed up with a bit of milk.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe! I’m the wife of a deployed soldier, and I’m running my way through his deployment (while also working a crazy-wonderful-busy job in a branding agency). A coworker and runner recommended steel cut oats to me for healthy energy through long work days and intense training runs. I tried them for the first time last night using your recipe, and I loved them. Thanks so much for sharing!!
This recipe looks great and goes right along with my oatmeal kick, of late – not to mention fitting beautifully into my Weight Watchers lifestyle! One thing I noticed is that there is no sweetener (other than the fruit) – do you put something on it when you eat it to sweeten it up or is it not needed?? Thanks!
The extracts do a pretty good job of giving it a sweet flavor without needing sugar but if you want it a little sweeter I’d use a tablespoon or two of maple syrup.
Thanks for your response! I had already begun making it and chose to add 1/3c brown sugar. I was pleased with the results! I also left out the nuts and coconut (sorry, not a fan :P) and used frozen raspberries b/c I had them on hand. It came out pretty well, but I’d like to make it again using the frozen cherries, the raspberries were a little too tart. I also think I’ll make it in a 7×11 pan so that the pieces are a little thicker. This is the first time I’ve had baked STEEL-CUT oats, and I really liked the texture they provided. Thanks so much!!
Brown sugar sounds good too :) It’s probably a good thing you went that route since you used raspberries. Imagine the tartness if you hadn’t!? Glad you liked it. I think it’s a pretty basic recipe to tweak so have fun playing around :)
New to your blog and I am so glad I found it! Your recipes are amazing! I’ve been getting bored of my plain oats, so I will definitely try this.
Thanks Leonor! Welcome :)