Who’s ready for an epic, fall-inspired baked oatmeal recipe? You? Good, me too.
I’m still not over zucchini season and this recipe is the perfect transition from summer into fall. A couple of years back I shared this absolutely incredible Spiced Apple Zucchini Bread with Cream Cheese Glaze and everyone fell in LOVE, including my team and family.
SO last year I decided to make a twist on that delicious bread with this wonderful spiced apple zucchini baked oatmeal. It’s filled with cozy spices like cinnamon and allspice (my fav), has some fun optional mix-ins like raisins and nuts, and is drizzled with a lovely, light cinnamon vanilla glaze. Life’s too short to not glaze your baked oatmeal.
Bonus points: this zucchini apple baked oatmeal can easily be turned into on-the-go oatmeal cups and is freezer-friendly! AKA the best meal prep breakfast for transitioning you from summer into fall. I know we’re not quite ready for pumpkin season, so start with this beautiful seasonal breakfast and we’ll talk fall in a few weeks.
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Everything you’ll need to make this apple zucchini baked oatmeal
This easy zucchini apple baked oatmeal is naturally sweetened and made with plenty of warming spices that you’re going to love. Here’s everything you’ll need to make it:
- Zucchini: yes, we’re adding that beautiful veggie, and no, you won’t be able to taste it! Shredded zucchini gives the baked oatmeal moisture and that zucchini bread flavor.
- For extra moisture: we’re adding applesauce (I love cinnamon applesauce!) which also gives it a lovely apple flavor, plus a little almond milk and melted butter or coconut oil.
- Eggs: you’ll need 2 eggs to help the baked oatmeal bake up properly.
- Maple syrup: this baked oatmeal is naturally sweetened with a little pure maple syrup.
- Oats: old fashioned rolled oats are what make this a baked oatmeal.
- Spices: get the ultimate cozy flavors from a mix of cinnamon, allspice, ginger & nutmeg.
- Apple: you’ll mix diced honeycrisp apple right into the batter, and feel free to add more slices on top!
- Baking staples: don’t forget the vanilla extract, baking powder, and salt.
- Mix-ins: I also love folding in raisins and chopped pecans or walnuts, but these are optional.
- For the glaze: oh you know we love a glaze. This one is made with vanilla yogurt, powdered sugar, a little almond milk, cinnamon, and vanilla extract.
Customize your zucchini apple baked oatmeal
I always recommend sticking with the recipes as best as possible (especially for baking) but there are a few easy ways to customize this baked oatmeal that I can recommend:
- To keep gluten free: simply use gluten free rolled oats.
- To keep dairy free: use melted, cooled coconut oil in the batter instead of butter, and use a dairy free yogurt in the glaze.
- To keep nut free: use a regular, nut free milk and simply leave the optional nuts out of the batter.
- For the milk: I used unsweetened almond milk to keep the baked oatmeal dairy free, but feel free to use any milk you’d like.
- For the powdered sugar: feel free to swap for 1/2 tablespoon of maple syrup or honey.
- For the glaze: this is optional! You could also drizzle your baked oatmeal slice with additional maple syrup — it will still be amazing.
Can I use other oats?
I would not recommend using steel cut oats because the texture in this zucchini apple baked oatmeal will not be the same. Feel free to use quick oats if you have them on hand, but I’d recommend adding a bit more than the recipe calls for.
Can I make it vegan?
I haven’t tested this recipe using flax eggs, but let me know if you do in the comments! Then be sure to follow the substitutions above for keeping the baked oatmeal dairy free. Learn how to make flax eggs here!
How to make apple zucchini oatmeal cups
I love making this baked oatmeal into oatmeal cups for the perfect on-the-go breakfast that’s easy to pack! To do so:
- Prep your pan. Add muffin liners to a muffin tin and spray with cooking spray to prevent sticking.
- Divide the batter. Divide the zucchini apple oatmeal bake batter into the muffin tin — you should get around 10-12 oatmeal cups.
- Bake & serve. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the oatmeal cups are set and enjoy!
Store it for later
Be sure the zucchini apple oatmeal bake has cooled completely, and then cover the pan with tinfoil before transferring it to the refrigerator. It will stay good covered in the refrigerator for 4-5 days. You can also store individual slices in airtight containers for ease, and simply reheat individual slices in the microwave for 30-60 seconds.
How to freeze this apple zucchini baked oatmeal
- To freeze: once the baked oatmeal has completely cooled, cut it into 6 or 8 squares and wrap each square in plastic wrap and tinfoil. You can also freeze the entire baked oatmeal for later by wrapping it well and placing it in the freezer.
- To reheat: when you’re ready to eat it, place an unwrapped frozen square of apple zucchini baked oatmeal on a microwave safe dish and microwave it at 30 second intervals for 1-2 minutes. To reheat the entire baked oatmeal, simply reheat it in the oven for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees F while it’s covered with tinfoil.
More oatmeal recipes you’ll love
- Almond Butter Peach Blueberry Oatmeal Cups
- Fluffy Yogurt Pancakes (high protein, gluten free)
- Peanut Butter Zucchini Bread Baked Oatmeal
- Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Baked Oatmeal
- Healthy Apple Pancakes (made right in the blender!)
Get all of my oatmeal recipes here, and even more zucchini recipes here!
I hope you love this apple zucchini baked oatmeal recipe! If you make it be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked it. Enjoy, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Spiced Zucchini Apple Baked Oatmeal with Cinnamon Vanilla Glaze
Ingredients
- Wet ingredients:
- 1 medium zucchini*
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (i love using cinnamon applesauce!)
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons melted butter or melted and cooled coconut oil
- Dry ingredients:
- 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats, gluten free if desired
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon ginger
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup finely diced honeycrisp apples (from 1 medium honeycrisp apple, diced)
- Optional: 1/4 cup raisins
- Optional: 1/3 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts
- For the cinnamon vanilla glaze:
- 2 tablespoons vanilla yogurt (or sub dairy free yogurt)
- 1 tablespoon powdered sugar (or you can sub 1/2 tablespoon maple syrup or honey)
- 1-2 teaspoons unsweetened almond milk, to thin
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- For topping:
- Optional: Thinly sliced apples
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 8x8 inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- *First, measure out 1 heaping cup of shredded zucchini from your medium zucchini, then place shredded zucchini in a paper towel or cheese cloth and squeeze out all of the moisture/water. This is very important!
- In a medium bowl, mix together the shredded zucchini, applesauce, eggs, almond milk, maple syrup, vanilla, and melted and cooled butter or coconut oil until well combined.
- Next stir in dry ingredients: oats, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, nutmeg and salt; stir well to combine. Fold in diced apples, raisins and pecans/walnuts.
- Spread out oatmeal in a prepared pan. Add thinly sliced apples on top if you’d like. Bake for 35-40 minutes until edges are slightly golden and center is set.
- In a small bowl, mix together the greek yogurt, powdered sugar, milk, vanilla and cinnamon; mix to combine. Add more milk if necessary so you can drizzle on top of the oatmeal. Serves 6-8. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on August 12th, 2022, and republished on September 11th, 2023.
48 comments
Another great recipe. Thanks for sharing.
Can’t wait to try this out.
Aw thank you! SO excited for you to try it 🙂 Let me know when you do!
We LOVE your peanut butter zucchini bread baked oatmeal, I make it a few times a month! Looking forward to trying this new one!
So happy to hear that, and can’t wait for you to try this one!!
This is delicious! My family and I love the recipe….thank you!!
SO happy you all loved it, Alison — thank you!
Love!
The coconut oil isn’t mentioned in the step by step! I added it to wet ingredients. I didn’t have apple sauce so I pureed some ripe peaches and added them. Overall these were wet but I baked them a bit longer and they turned out well. My first AK recipe and I hope to make many more!
Sorry about that — we’ll update that right now! Glad you enjoyed it, though 🙂 Did you make sure to squeeze the water out of the zucchini before adding it to the rest of the batter? That’ll help reduce a lot of moisture in the oatmeal!
Hi Monique!
Where does the 2 tablespoons of butter or oil supposed to be added into?
Oops, sorry about that! It gets added with the wet ingredients in step 2. We’re updating that now in the recipe!
This recipe is soooo good! It tastes just like apple crisp but so much healthier. My 15 month old also loved it.
Amazing recipe…. Trying this out this weekend.
Could I mix it all together and then bake it in the morning or would it mess up the consistency?
The baking powder may lose its potency if you do that, so I’d recommend prepping the dry + wet ingredients separately, then mixing + baking in the morning!
I follow the blog for a while now and I tried most of the baked oatmeal and I love them all. It’s easy and perfect to have it ready but I was waiting for new flavour to try. This one didn’t disappoint. It’s delicious. I already made it twice. Love this recipe. Thank you!
Thanks, Zuzana! SO glad to hear you love them all and that you had a chance to try this one 🙂
Made this the other morning and my daughter and I absolutely loved it! Sorry I didn’t take a picture but it was easy to make and delicious.
Aw no problem, thank you for the review! So happy you both enjoyed it 🙂
Delicious! Thank you for sharing this recipe! Such a great combination of ingredients. I did make one adjustment. Because I’m allergic to cream-of-tartar, which is in baking powder (and yes, I’ve had more than one test to figure that one out!!), I used 1/2 t. soda and 1/4 t. xantham gum. Worked perfectly.
So glad to hear that worked well! And that you loved it! Thanks for leaving a review, Sheryl 🙂
I love that this recipe doesn’t skimp on the spices! Definitely add the raisins and nuts (if you can). I subbed pecans for walnuts and Ripple for almond milk (for a bit more protein) and served them with nut butter instead of the glaze. Made an amazing breakfast and mid-day snack.
Perfect! Love this baked oatmeal with a little nut butter on top, too 🙂
This is so filling and good, been eating it all week! Thanks as always!
Warm and cozy flavors and lovely texture. Perfect early fall recipe!
This recipe was delicious and filling. My husband especially loved it and mentioned multiple times how much he enjoyed the glaze topping. We will definitely be making it again!
Oh YAY I’m so happy you both loved it! Thanks, Rebecca 🙂
I can’t seem to find zucchini anymore at the grocery store 👎🏻 Will this recipe still work without it?? Thanks!
Hi! I’d recommend making this recipe instead — you can bake the batter in a baking pan instead of a muffin pan 🙂
Delicious recipe! Great way to serve apples to little ones!
Perfect, so glad this is a hit! ❤️🙂
This is SO freaking good I cannot believe it doesn’t have 100+ reviews. I could not restrain myself from having another bowl, but it’s full of good for you ingredients so no guilt! Run, do not walk, and go make this immediately!!!!!
This looks amazing! Can I grate the apples instead of dicing them?
Hi! I *think* it should work but it will add moisture to the oatmeal and may take a bit longer to bake. Let me know if you try it!
I made this with a chopped peach instead of an apple and it was incredible. One of the best baked oatmeal recipes I’ve made.
Ahh LOVE the idea of adding peaches to this, Leanne. Thank you for sharing, glad this turned out great for you!
Delicious! I will make this again and again. Glaze adds the right touch of sweet.
Yummmmm
This baked oatmeal is so good. I add pecans and use dairy free almond milk yogurt. It’s easy to put together. The flavors are wonderful. I love baked goods with zucchini but for those who think it’s odd, you don’t notice it at all. I’ve frozen individual pieces and it warms up nicely in the microwave later on. This is definitely on repeat at my house.
Fantastic recipe. My 18 month old LOVES it (as do I!)
So happy to hear that!
Keep alllllll the baked oatmeal recipes coming!! You do it the best! I can’t wait to make this one. I already rated it 5 ⭐️ because I know it will be delicious. Going to make this week!
So glad you love them! Check out all of my baked oatmeal recipes here 🙂
This is so good! Made this before but I prepped it for christmas morning this time. instead of apples i used pears. So delicous 🙂
So happy to hear that!
Delicious! I made it without egg and dairy free due to allergies, so a flax egg works great if anyone is curious. Really nice and spiced.
I’m so glad those swaps worked out well!
Great recipe. Even added a little zucchini and it still turned out great (always trying to sneak my greens in for the littles). My toddler loves this even without the glaze.
Love that!