Lemon Blueberry Baked Oatmeal
This Lemon Blueberry Baked Oatmeal is the perfect breakfast meal prep with gooey blueberry filling. Easy to make and bursting with fresh flavor.
I loved baked oatmeal and hope you love it too. If you are oat curious and want a fun way to reap the benefits of their nutrition, this oatmeal recipe is just for you.
Oatmeal in all of it’s forms excites me, and hoping I can make you an oatmeal convert too.
Why You’ll Love This Vegan Baked Oatmeal
- This recipe comes out so perfectly gooey thanks to the fresh blueberry jam folded into the surface of the oats.
- It’s a great recipe if you are not a big fan of traditional oatmeal, but still want to include oats for the health benefits. Baking them gives them the perfect muffin like consistency, which completely improves the texture.
- Perfect for meal prep and super easy to make and customize to preference.
Key Ingredients and Substitutions
- Flax Egg: This is our binder that helps our oatmeal stay together. You can also create the same mix using chia seeds to replace the flax seeds.
- Oats: I recommend a combination of both rolled and quick oats. I do not recommend steel-cut oats for this recipe.
- Lemon: Both the juice and zest of a fresh lemon. The zest is really important as that helps to infuse more of the sweet lemon flavor into our oats.
- Almond or Cashew Butter: Make sure it is a runny nut butter as it will make blending into the batter easier. If you need a nut-free substitution, try this recipe with sunflower seed butter instead.
- Maple Syrup: I tested this recipe with the maple syrup, so if you plan to substitute I would recommend a liquid sweetener swap like agave or brown rice syrup. I did not test this with dry sugars, but you can try this with equal amount light brown sugar.
- Blueberries: I used frozen blueberries since they are currently not in season, but you can make the same jam using fresh blueberries. You can also try this same method with other berries.
How to Make Lemon Blueberry Baked Oatmeal
Start by creating your blueberry jam. Add your frozen blueberries to a pan along with your maple syrup and cornstarch. Allow to cook down and thicken for about 3-5 minutes over a low heat and then remove from heat and prepare the oatmeal base.
Combine your dry ingredients including the lemon zest to a medium sized mixing bowl. To the bowl, add in your wet ingredients. Then, mix everything until well incorporated.
Pour your batter into a lightly greased or non-stick 9-in x 9-in baking dish. Place dollops of the blueberries on top of the batter. You can swirl the patches of blueberries as desired, but don’t overmix.
Place the oats in the oven and allow to cook all the way through. You can prepare the yogurt drizzle, and once the oats have cooled down a little bit, you can serve yourself a slice and drizzle the yogurt sauce on top.
Tips for the Perfect Baked Oatmeal
- Use a combination of rolled and quick oats for the best texture. The quick oats help to make this oatmeal fluffier in texture, while the rolled oats help to give it the sturdy structure.
- You can make your own quick oats by adding your rolled oats to a food processor and blitzing it a few times to help break down the oats into smaller pieces.
- If you’d like to make this recipe higher in protein, replace the almond milk with unsweetened soy milk or pea-protein milks like Ripple. I also like stirring in about 3 tablespoons of hemp seeds into the batter or serving a square with a high protein vegan yogurt.
Frequently Asked Questions
To make this recipe gluten-free, make sure to use gluten-free oats. Oats on their own often can be cross-contaminated with wheat when grown, so dedicated gluten-free oats can be helpful for those dealing with Celiac’s disease.
The flax seeds are a replacement for eggs normally suggested in standard recipes. The flax egg can be replaced using chia seeds in the same fashion or you can also replace with a binder like cornstarch (1 tablespoon equivalent) or aquafaba (about 6 tablespoons for the same equivalent of the flax egg in this recipe).
Once your oatmeal completely cools, store leftovers in an airtight container and place in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Yes! Cut the oatmeal into individual squares and place in airtight containers once completely cooled. Place in the freezer for up to 1 month. To reheat, remove a square from the freezer and thaw or reheat in a microwave to warm it up.
How to Serve
You can serve a square of this oatmeal with the suggested lemon vegan yogurt drizzle or serve the square with plain vegan yogurt and more fresh fruit if desired. If you’d like to be more satiated, I would make sure that your vegan yogurt has protein. Some good low sugar options would include:
- Siggi’s Plant-Based Yogurt (contains 10 grams protein per serving)
- Silk’s Unsweetened Soy Yogurt (7 grams of protein per serving)
- Kite Hill Greek-Style Yogurt (contains 15-17 grams protein per serving)
More Vegan Breakfast Ideas Using Oats
- Cinnamon Roll Baked Oatmeal
- Chocolate Cherry Granola
- Easy Baked Apple Oatmeal
- Coconut Cardamom Baked Oatmeal
- Apple Crisp Stuffed Baked Apples
- Lemon Blueberry Muffins
Lemon Blueberry Baked Oatmeal
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This Lemon Blueberry Baked Oatmeal is the perfect breakfast meal prep with gooey blueberry filling. Easy to make, bursting with fresh flavor and vegan.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp ground flax seeds
- 4 tbsp water
- 1 cup gluten-free rolled oats
- 1/2 cup gluten-free quick oats
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Juice and zest of one lemon
- 1/3 cup almond or cashew butter
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp almond extract or 1 extra tsp of vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups almond milk
Blueberry Jam
- 1 cup frozen blueberries
- 1 tbsp maple syrup, optional
- 1/2 tsp cornstarch
Lemon Yogurt Drizzle
- 1/4 cup vegan unsweetened yogurt
- Extra lemon zest and 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp maple syrup or more to sweeten to preference
Instructions
- Heat up a small sauce pan and add in your frozen blueberries and maple syrup. Stir until the blueberries have released their juices and thawed. Stir in your cornstarch and continue to stir for an additional 2 minutes to help them thicken, then remove from heat. They will continue to thicken as they cool.
- Set oven to 350F. In a small bowl combine your flax seed and water and allow to gel for 5 minutes as you prepare the remaining ingredients.
- To a medium sized bowl, add in your rolled oats, quick oats, baking powder, salt and lemon zest. Give everything a good mix to combine.
- To the dry ingredients, add in the nut butter, maple syrup, lemon juice, extracts, flax egg and almond milk. Give everything another mix until everything is well combined.
- Pour the batter into a lightly greased 9-in x 9-in baking dish. Drop dollops of blueberry jam over the surface of the batter and gently swirl overtop (do not overmix).
- Place the baking dish in the oven for 40 minutes. The oats should be golden and the center of the oatmeal should appear set and firm. If jiggly, bake for an additional 5 minutes.
- As the oats cool out of the oven, prepare the yogurt drizzle by combining all the ingredients in a small bowl until smooth. When serving, pour your lemon yogurt overtop your oatmeal slice and enjoy.
Notes
To make nut free, swap out the nut butter for sun butter, the almond extract for more vanilla extract, and almond milk for a nut free alternative like coconut beverage, soy milk or pea-protein milk.
If you wish to skip making the blueberry jam, you can just stir in your frozen blueberries into the batter instead.
You can make your own quick oats by adding your rolled oats to a food processor and blitzing it a few times to help break down the oats into smaller pieces.
Allow oats to set and cool for 10-15 minutes before cutting into them.
If you tried this recipe or any other recipe on the blog, then let me know what you thought in the comments below! And if you loved it, don’t forget to rate it too. Feel free to follow on Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok for the latest nutrition tips and recipe videos.
★ Catherine
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These were delicious!
This is so delicious!
So glad you enjoyed it! 🙂