Vegan Baked Blueberry Oatmeal

If you're like me and love food and breakfast, but mornings are not your time of day, you've found the right recipe! I'm a huge fan of overnight oats, but sometimes all I want is a hot breakfast to start the day. This baked blueberry oatmeal is 100x better than the instant packets that are full of preservatives and in my personal experience, often not dairy-free.

If you have a busy life or travel for work, this recipe is perfect. Prep takes me maybe 15 minutes if I'm feeling extra lazy or am tired from a long day. This hearty, fruity oatmeal stores and reheats well, so if I have a busy week coming up I'll make a large pan and pack a bunch of smaller containers for the week ahead. This keeps me from being tempted to grab a packaged breakfast or binge on sweets later in the day. Plus it tastes like starting the day out with a treat!

This oatmeal bake is full of fruity goodness that adds a touch of sweetness, but not too much. The type of non-dairy milk, nuts, and fruit can all be interchanged. Why not try out blueberries one time and raspberries the next? Maybe you have pecans on hand instead of sliced almonds, go ahead and experiment! The recipe below is for a triple batch, which will fill a 9x13 (2" tall) glass baking pan perfectly. I will also post the single batch measurements at the bottom of this post for a 8x8 pan.

Vegan breakfast will never be the same.

Again, this is a triple batch!

And.....GO!

Vegan Baked Blueberry Oatmeal

Ingredients

• 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 3/4 cup sliced almonds, divided in half
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• Pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup maple syrup (agave can be used, but it doesn't have the same flavor)
• 3 cups vanilla coconut milk (or any desired non-dairy milk)
• 3 flax eggs (link in first step of instructions)
• 6 tbsp. Earth Balance, melted and cooled slightly
• 3 tsp. vanilla extract
• 4-6 ripe bananas, peeled and sliced
• 3 cups blueberries (or fruit of choice), divided in half

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375ºF.
2. Make a flax egg and place it in the refrigerator for around 20 min. The best way I found to make a flax egg was from Bonzai Aphrodite. But as I've stated, I'm lazy so I do use pre-ground flax meal and have yet to notice much of a difference from fresh ground flax.
3. Grease your 9x13 baking pan and spread the sliced bananas in a single layer over the bottom of the baking dish. Top with half the blueberries.
4. In a large bowl, combine the oats, half the sliced almonds, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In a heat-proof measuring cup, combine the maple syrup, non-dairy milk, flax egg, butter, and vanilla.
5. Sprinkle the dry oat mixture over the bananas & blueberries in an even layer. Pour the liquid ingredients evenly over the nuts.
6. Sprinkle the remaining sliced almonds and blueberries over the top. bake for 35-40 min, until the top is browned and oats have set. Allow to cool for 10 min before serving.

This recipe was adapted from both Heidi Swanson's "Super Natural Every Day" and Leah Short's blog, "So How's It Taste?"

❀

8x8 Pan Ingredients (Directions same as above):

• 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 31/4 cup sliced almonds, divided in half
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• Pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup maple syrup (agave can be used, but it doesn't have the same flavor)
• 1 cup vanilla coconut milk (or any desired non-dairy milk)
• 1 flax egg (link in step 2 of instructions)
• 2 tbsp. Earth Balance, melted and cooled slightly
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2-3 ripe bananas, peeled and sliced
• 1 cup blueberries (or fruit of choice), divided in half