SunButter Baked Oatmeal Cups! The ultimate healthy make-ahead breakfast with good stuff like oats, hemp seeds, chia, applesauce, and endless topping ideas!
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I have been SERIOUSLY underestimating baked oatmeal. And for that I am sorry.
To you. To baked oatmeal. To myself.
And it’s not like one of those things I simply forgot about for 6 months and then got to rediscovered and eat daily for weeks until the love affair faded into a comfortable part-of-my-breakfast-life-but-not-my-whole-breakfast-existence rhythm. We’re talking it’s been years of underestimating. It’s not cute.
Here is what I *think* happened…
- Grew up eating instant oatmeal packets.
- Realized it contains about as much sugar as ice cream. Chose ice cream.
- Made my own hot oatmeal. Realized I live in Florida so hot oatmeal = sweating through breakfast 90% of the year.
- Discovered overnight oats (which are easier and faster and don’t make me feel as nap-y afterwards)
- Never looked back. Never considered other ways to oatmeal.
But baked oatmeal. It’s the perfect middle ground between baked good and bowl breakfast. It can be made in muffin form (my favorite form). It was born to be meal prepped. It can be customized 327 different ways. It can double as a snack or – with enough chocolate chips – a dessert.
I should’ve made/posted this years ago. But let’s not waste time on regrets that we could spend baked oatmeal-ing.
It’s not that I never made baked oatmeal before, I have. It just never HOOKED me…if you know what I mean. And I think that is because I wasn’t making it with SunButter.
A lot of vegan baked oatmeal recipes use mashed banana or flax eggs to hold everything together, but adding a seed or nut butter makes things extra muffin-y and delicious in a way that I find much more lovable.
Because SunButter is my hands down favorite nut/seed butter, of course that’s what I used here. If you still haven’t tried it, the flavor is similar to peanut butter but less overpowering and just…well…better! In my opinion. Although based on the response I get anytime I post a recipe with it, you guys seem to love it too. And it makes this yummy hand-held breakfast or snack nut free too.
Now if we’re getting real specific, the no sugar added variety is my true jam. Only 2 ingredients (roasted sunflower seeds + salt), but the silky texture and perfect salt-sweet balance…ugh so good.
The SunButter makes these baked oatmeal cups tastier than any baked oatmeal you’ve had before, but the flavor is neutral enough to work with any/all toppings – nuts, seeds, coconut flakes, jam of any flavor, berries, banana slices, dried fruit, chocolate chips, etc.
While I sincerely hope you relationship with baked oatmeal has not been as neglectful as mine, if so now is the time to change that. This is your moment. SunButter Baked Oatmeal Cups are here to help.
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SunButter Baked Oatmeal Cups
- Prep Time: 00:10
- Cook Time: 00:25
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 12 cups 1x
- Category: breakfast
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: american
Description
SunButter Baked Oatmeal Cups – the ultimate healthy make-ahead breakfast with good stuff like oats, hemp seeds, chia, applesauce, and endless topping ideas!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (120g) unsweetened applesauce*
- 1/2 cup (125g) No Sugar Added SunButter
- 1/2 cup (120g) nondairy milk
- 1/4 cup (35g) coconut sugar
- 1 1/2 (cup (150g) rolled oats
- 1/4 cup (30g) hemp seeds**
- 2 tbsp (20g) chia seeds
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- Toppings of choice: nuts, seeds, jam, frozen berries, chocolate chips, etc.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Spray/grease a 12 cup muffin pan with coconut oil.
- Whisk together the applesauce, coconut sugar, SunButter, and milk.
- Add the oats, hemp seeds, chia seeds, cinnamon, and salt. Stir to combine.
- Fill each muffin tin with a heaping spoonful of batter.
- Add toppings of choice and press in lightly.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350ºF or until golden brown around the edges.
- Cool for 10-15 minutes before removing from the pan. Enjoy!
- Keep leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week, or freeze for longer storage.
Notes
*Or substitute with pumpkin puree or mashed banana.
**Or seeds/nuts of choice.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 153
- Sugar: 5g
- Fat: 8g
- Saturated Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 15g
- Fiber: 3g
- Protein: 5g
Keywords: vegan, gluten free, meal prep, healthy, snack, easy, muffin
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I really love that you are making nut free recipe.
It is so hard to find great snacks for the lunchBox.
Kids love it !
TOASTED COCONUT SNACK BARS
Thanks
I wasn’t even trying to make these nut free, but YES! And I will keep that in mind and try to make more nut free snacks to come, but I hope you and your kids love these🤗
Will try these next week 🙂
Think there’s a mistake with the timing above the recipe- is it 10 seconds prep and 25 seconds cook time? (I’m probably reading it wrong) These look really good!
Sorry I’m so stupid: it’s obviously in minutes! Please ignore 🙂
No worries! I find the time formatting weird too tbh, but that’s how the recipe plugin I use does it🤷🏻♀️
Sunbutter FTW once again! I have also neglected baked oatmeal for the most part because I made it once 10 years ago and it was dry and disappointing so I was like “I’d rather have a REAL muffin or creamy oats.” But then I started making more decadent versions (like the one from Blissful Basil cookbook!) and I realized it can be really awesome when the right ingredients and ratios are used 😉 And this version looks epic so I need to get my hands on some Sunbutter, pronto!
Maybe that’s what happened to me too–traumatized by lackluster baked oatmeal many years ago and never gave it a second chance lol. Oooh I love Ashley’s recipes, I bet her book is awesome. A little extra decadence or SunButter is totally worth it if you ask me for oatmeal this easy and make-aheadable🤗
I love baked oatmeal. You might like this variation too – it’s really good.
https://ohsheglows.com/2014/03/19/heavenly-carrot-cake-baked-oatmeal/
Mmmm carrot cake!! Okay I gotta try that because it basically looks like cake for breakfast which I am all about🤗
I adore baked oatmeal, and sunbutter…but I’ve never tried them together! Cannot wait to try these! 🙂
I truly believe it is what baked oatmeal has been missing🙌
This recipe is amazing … I am definitely going to make it. I absolutely love everything OATS !!
Thanks for sharing
Yes oats are so amazing, right?! I hope you love them🤗
I like sunbutter and i like baked oatmeal cups so yay for this recipe. BUT – you did not even whisper the possibility of your sunbutter baked goods turning GREEN!!!!!! Has it never happened to you? It did to me and my daughter shrieked “they’re mouldy!” I knew they weren’t so googled it and for some reason known to chemistry, it is a thing! They tasted fine – the things i made were actually quite similar to these in a way – but it was a TAD off putting!! 🙂
Oh yes this happens to me all the time!! But thats a chemical reaction with baking powder/soda so it won’t happen here since we aren’t using either. Lemon juice can sometimes help too, or make chocolatey sunbutter things to hide the color😉
Ahhhhhhhh! Thank you for that! All the stuff I read did not make it clear that it was the baking soda reaction that was to blame! But since you mention chocolate……any excuse! 🙂
Man, every recipe of yours seems to have the problem of dispersing before it even makes it to the oven! 😳😋 with this one I didn’t have hemp on hand and was too lazy to attempt muffin form, so I did a 1/4 c of ground flax and cookie form with chocolate chips to top them off of course. They’re in the oven right now as I type this. We’ll see how they turn out like this! 🤔 🤤
★★★★★
Hahaha sounds like a pretty good problem to have😉 Your version sounds delicious and extra easy, which I am always a fan of! Cant wait to hear how they turned out…
Hi Natalie,
Love oats and Sunbutter and will definitely make this! Thanks for sharing.
Not even sure this is considered healthy but a few years ago made peanut butter fudge. Instead of regular p. butter replaced it with Sunbutter. OMGosh, talk about yum! 😋
Thanks again and take care!
I hope you love these little cups, the chocolate chip and blueberry ones are my fave😋 And ugh that sounds SO GOOD! I have been converted to sunbutter > pb, its just irresistible stuff for baking and straight eating from the jar!
Do you by chance make any recipes without sugar or maybe substituting different flours?
Can I ask about chocolate chips? Do you recommend a certain brand or have a go to favorite?
Thanks. Happy baking! 😀
I do both, yes! I have lots of date or fruit sweetened recipes, these are definitely a reader favorite: https://feastingonfruit.com/the-best-healthy-chocolate-cupcakes/ And I use lots of alternative flours as well, what sorts of flours do you like to use?
My favorite chocolate chips hands down are Hu Gems: https://hukitchen.com/collections/gems They bake and melt just perfectly and only 3 ingredients 🙂
Thanks for the reference of chocolate. Do you use any other flavor (?) of chocolate or brand?
As of now, I’m not baking because I’ve pretty much wiped out everything on my menu in regards to eating sweets. Looking at new recipes or healthier options. So in answering your question about flours that I like to use, I happened on one by chance years ago and that was using the food processor for oatmeal. Had lots and wanted to use, kept some back for a coating as well. Sorry to say I haven’t tried other flour(s).
Looking to bake some healthy travel snack recipe(s) that hold up well, possibly in some heat, have no dairy, eggs, or salt.
Can you please help direct me to resources or offer any wisdom in this adventurous endeavor?
I apologize if I missed this any where on your site but do you have a recipe/baking book to purchase?
Thank you.
I use Enjoy Life as well, its also vegan but not as clean on ingredients or as high quality in flavor imo. But good!
These are full of oats and would be a great travel snack, no dairy or eggs in any of my recipes and you can always skip the salt if you prefer. This is another great easy oat snack: https://feastingonfruit.com/no-bake-sunbutter-energy-balls/
Hope that helps, and no I do not have a book at this time hopefully soon!
Natalie,
Thank you for the Sunbutter recipe. Can you use fresh ingredients, like berries instead of dried? Or take it a step further and dry the berries and use those??
So .. with chocolate, may I ask if you had to pick between Hu or Enjoy Life, which one would you choose? Flavor is important and how well it incorporates with other ingredients. Unless you have another chocolate choice?? Noticed a lot of the recipes that are vegan, gluten-free, oil-free, paleo, keto, etc use unsweetened cocoa. Would you use this too or not?
There are a lot of different flour(s) to choose – almond, chickpea, flaxseed, chia seed, coconut, etc., is there any one type that works well with all recipes; like “all purpose” flour?
Yes, I’m looking forward to a cook/baking book from you (hopefully) soon.
Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.
Take care.
You can absolutely use fresh berries here or dry your own, but that swap won’t work across the board since in some recipes fresh berries will add too much extra moisture to the recipe. Hu is my hands down favorite if I had to pick, it melts better, tastes better, better ingredients, there is no competition for me. Enjoy life are slightly sweeter so if you prefer that maybe go for those. And cocoa is not really a sub for chocolate chips, but again it really depends on the specific recipe. Alternative flours are not all interchangeable, you are best going with what the recipe calls for. Coconut flour is VERY dry where as almond is VERY moist for example so will never be 1-for-1 subs for one another. A pre-mixed gf or paleo blend will be the closest thing to AP flour, but still not perfect. Hopefully that helps!
Hi,
Thank you again for the info sent.
With the Hu chocolate, there was a variety of flavors offered on their site, could you please tell me if (you used any); did the flavors come out in the recipe or maybe it was subtle? In regards to the chocolate, have you used any that have a hint of heat but comes out near the end? Any recipes or thoughts?
Touched on most flour(s), can I ask where Oatmeal flour comes into play or like you said, use whatever is asked in the recipe.
Thanks again for taking the time to answer my questions.
Take care.
So for baking I typically use the Hu Gems or the Simple bar, those are the most neutral flavor and best for melting and baking in my opinion. But in certain recipes the hazelnut butter or raspberry can be delicious, I’ve chopped them up in cookies before–so good! I have never used spiced chocolate, no. But you could try it absolutely.
Oat flour is great in some instances, but also can turn out really gummy and sticky if you don’t use it right or if the recipe is too low fat. So again, I would use it only in recipes that call for it!
Any time, happy to help 🙂