Lemon Blueberry Baked Oatmeal

Name: Lemon Blueberry Baked Oatmeal
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 6
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 2 cups rolled oats; 1 tsp baking powder; ½ tsp ground cinnamon; 2 large eggs; ¼ cup maple syrup; ¼ cup melted unsalted butter (or vegan butter); 2 tbsp grated lemon zest (2 lemons); 3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice (1-2 lemons); 2 tsp vanilla extract; ¼ tsp fine sea salt; 2 cups milk (I use almond milk); 2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen); A knob of butter; 2-3 tbsp turbinado sugar (optional)

Jump to Recipe·Print Recipe·5 from 1 review

This Lemon Blueberry Baked Oatmeal is a delicious and easy breakfast, perfect for busy mornings! It's packed with juicy blueberries and fresh lemon flavor. The recipe can be doubled or made ahead and it's freezer-friendly! It's delicious on its own or with your favorite toppings!

Baked blueberry lemon oatmeal squares on blue plates with gold rim and a fork with a bite of the oatmeal resting on the side of the plate.

Jump to:

Why You'll Love This Baked Oatmeal
Ingredients
Variations and Substitutions
How to Make Lemon Blueberry Baked Oatmeal
Tips & Tricks
Serving Suggestions
Storing
Reheating
FAQs
Similar Baked Oatmeal Recipes
📖 Recipe

Why You'll Love This Baked Oatmeal

Delicious flavor combination - Blueberries and lemon is a delicious flavor combination, I had to turn it into baked oatmeal! I've shared these Lemon Blueberry Pancakes and this Blueberry Lemon Smoothie which were big inspirations for this oatmeal! If you're not sure about the lemon, I also have plain Blueberry Baked Oatmeal as well.

Easy and simple - This recipe is one of my favorites because of how easy and straightforward it is! You only need a few simple ingredients and it comes together in a few simple steps. You can make it ahead of time as well so it's already ready for you in the morning!

Great for a crowd - This is one of the easiest breakfasts you can make for a large group of people! It makes 6 servings and you can easily double it to bake two batches at the same time to get 12 servings!

Freezer-friendly - You can freeze the oatmeal and it will have the same texture once defrosted and warmed up in the oven! This makes it perfect for making ahead, I like to keep a few servings in the freezer for busy weekday mornings!

A square of baked oatmeal with blueberries and a lemon slice on top on a blue plate with a fork holding a bite of the oatmeal.

Ingredients

Rolled oats - You need classic old-fashioned rolled oats for this baked oatmeal. Quick-cooking oats are too processed and they could make the oatmeal too dense, and steel-cut oats wouldn't cook enough because they need much more liquid. Make sure the oats are certified gluten-free if necessary.
Eggs - I recommend using large eggs. They help to fluff up the oatmeal and make it more cake-like.
Milk - You can use any milk you prefer. I always use non-dairy milk like almond milk, cashew milk, rice milk, or oat milk. Whole milk is great too if that's what you normally use!
Blueberries - You can use both fresh blueberries and frozen blueberries. I like using frozen wild blueberries because they're smaller and spread throughout the batter better
Lemon - I highly recommend using freshly squeezed lemon juice because you will need freshly grated lemon zest as well. Use an organic lemon when using lemon zest whenever possible.
Sweetener - The oatmeal is lightly sweetened with maple syrup. You can also use honey. If you want to use agave, I recommend adding less because it's sweeter.
Butter - You'll need unsalted butter for greasing the baking dish and for the batter as well. Melted butter gives the oatmeal a little bit more flavor than cooking oil would and it makes for crispy golden edges and top.
Flavorings - You'll need a little bit of ground cinnamon and pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste to compliment the flavors of the lemon and blueberries.
Turbinado sugar - This is optional but you can sprinkle some sugar on top of the oatmeal before you put it in the oven. It caramelizes and creates a crunchy topping. I like using turbinado sugar because it has bigger crystals and don't melt completely after baking.

Variations and Substitutions

No added sugar - If you want to avoid sugar, you can substitute the maple syrup for a sugar-free liquid sweetener of choice and skip the turbinado sugar on top. You can also skip it all together and add an extra ¼ cup of milk instead.
Dairy-free - You can use dairy-free milk and butter with the same great results. I always use almond milk or cashew milk. I do use regular butter but it can easily be swapped for vegan butter.
Vegan - I haven't tried replacing the eggs with any vegan alternatives so I can't promise it will work but you can try using "flax egg" as a substitute. This may create denser oatmeal that might fall apart more easily.
Add-ins - You can add more berries, just like I did in this Mixed Berry Baked Oatmeal, or things like chopped nuts, seeds, chocolate chips, or even some protein powder. Keep in mind adding too much protein powder may make the baked oats too dry though. You can also add some Greek yogurt (or vegan yogurt) to add extra creaminess.

How to Make Lemon Blueberry Baked Oatmeal

Preheat your oven to 375F and prepare a 12x8-inch baking dish.
Whisk together rolled oats, baking powder, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, maple syrup, melted butter, lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla extract, and sea salt.

Rolled oats, cinnamon, and baking powder in a white bowl and eggs, melted butter, lemon zest, and other wet ingredients in another white bowl.

Add milk and whisk again.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir to mix.

Milk and rolled oats being whisked into the rest of the ingredients in a white mixing bowl.

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Stir in the blueberries just until incorporated. If they’re frozen, don’t stir the batter too much if you want to avoid them turning the batter purple (though that's pretty unavoidable).

Frozen blueberries being stirred into baked oatmeal batter.

Use a knob of butter to grease your baking dish and pour in the batter.
Sprinkle the batter with turbinado sugar if using.
Bake the oatmeal in the preheated oven for 45-50 minutes or until slightly golden.
Take it out of the oven and allow it to rest for 5 minutes before cutting it into 6 squares.
Serve the baked oats on their own or with your favorite toppings and enjoy!

Baked oatmeal batter in a glass baking dish before and after baking.

Tips & Tricks

Turbinado sugar on top - If you want to make the top of the baked oats extra crunchy and caramelized. don't forget to sprinkle it with some coarse turbinado sugar before baking. I use coarse sugar because it doesn't melt completely and stays a little crunchy even after baking. This is totally optional and can be left out if you want to avoid the extra sugar
Brush your pan with butter - Just like a cake or anything baked, it's best to brush the inside of the baking dish with butter to prevent the oatmeal from sticking. Oats tend to be sticky so I highly recommend doing this so the slices are easy to be taken out. It also helps the oats to brown on the bottom.

Serving Suggestions

There are lots of different toppings you can add to this baked oatmeal, below are a few ideas! Because it has blueberries, vanilla, and spices, it can be served on its own as well and be just as delicious as it would be with toppings!

Yogurt
Nuts and seeds
Berries or other fruit
Nut butter, seed butter, jam
Sauteed berries or other fruit like apples or pears
Ice cream if you want to turn it into a dessert

Baked oatmeal with blueberries cut into 6 squares in a glass baking dish.

Storing

Fridge - Store any leftover oatmeal in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days. I like to place a small piece of parchment paper in between the slices if I'm storing them on top of each other so they don't stick together.

Freezer - The oatmeal is very freezer-friendly and perfect for meal prep! Store pre-portioned leftovers in a freezer-safe container either in a single layer or place parchment paper or foil in between each slice. They can be frozen for 3-4 months when stored properly.

Reheating

While you can reheat the oatmeal from frozen, it's much quicker to defrost it in the fridge overnight and reheat it from the fridge. Preheat your oven to 300F and transfer the baked oats to a small sheet pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes or until warmed through. If the oatmeal is frozen, it will take 15-20 minutes or longer, depending on the size of the slice.

FAQs

Why are my baked oats so dry?

This is most likely because you didn't add enough liquids. Either the eggs you used were too small or you didn't add enough milk. It could also be because you baked it for too long or at a too high temperature.

Can I make the recipe vegan?

You can use dairy-free butter and dairy-free milk and have it come out perfect. The recipe does have eggs and I haven't tried an egg free version so I can't guarantee results but I can imagine an egg substitute like flax egg would work well here. I think even mashed banana would work well because baked oatmeal tends to be forgiving and the ingredients don't need to be as precise as other baked goods.

A square of baked oatmeal with blueberries and a lemon slice on top on a blue plate with a gold rim.

Similar Baked Oatmeal Recipes

If you want to make something similar to this blueberry lemon baked oatmeal, try any of the four baked oats recipes below. To see all the latest ones, along with other forms of oatmeal (like overnight oats or classic stovetop oatmeal), head over to Oatmeal Recipes.

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