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If you love baked oatmeal but don’t want to turn on the oven, this Slow Cooker Baked Oatmeal is a wonderful alternative.
Made with pantry staples like oats, eggs, cinnamon, and milk, it cooks gently in the slow cooker until warm, tender, and lightly golden around the edges. The texture is somewhere between a bowl of oatmeal and a soft oatmeal muffin—comforting, hearty, and perfect for busy mornings.
I like to make a batch on the weekend, slice it into portions, and enjoy it throughout the week. It’s delicious on its own or topped with fresh fruit, a spoonful of yogurt, or a drizzle of maple syrup.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Easy make-ahead breakfast
- Hands-off slow cooker cooking
- Great for meal prep
- Easy to customize with your favorite fruit and nuts
- Freezes well
- Family friendly
Ingredients & Notes
- Oil – Adds moisture and tenderness.
- Unsweetened applesauce – Replaces some of the oil while keeping the oatmeal moist.
- Brown sugar – Adds just enough sweetness. You can reduce the amount or substitute your preferred sweetener.
- Ground cinnamon – Adds warm, cozy flavor.
- Salt – Balances the sweetness.
- Eggs – Help bind everything together.
- Milk – I often use vanilla almond or coconut milk, but skim, low-fat, or dairy-free milk all work well.
- Rolled oats – Old-fashioned oats provide the best texture, though quick oats can also be used.
- Baking powder – Gives the baked oatmeal a lighter texture.
How to Make Slow Cooker Baked Oatmeal
Ideal slow cooker size: 2- to 3-Quart.
- Prepare the slow cooker. Coat your slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray.
- Combine wet ingredients. In a large bowl whisk together the oil, applesauce, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, and eggs until well blended and creamy. Whisk in the milk.
- Stir in dry ingredients. Add the oats and baking powder and stir until well mixed.
- Transfer to slow cooker. Pour into your greased slow cooker.
- Cook. Cover and cook on LOW for 3 to 5 hours, until the edges are golden brown and the center is set. (Mine was done in 4 hours.)
- Serve hot or let it stand in the slow cooker for up to an hour and then cut it into pieces for serving.
Recipe Tips
- Coat the slow cooker well with nonstick spray.
- Cooking times vary, so begin checking around the 3-hour mark.
- Let the baked oatmeal rest for 15–30 minutes before slicing for cleaner portions.
- Every slow cooker cooks a little differently, so don’t be surprised if yours finishes sooner or later than mine.
Variations
One of my favorite things about this recipe is how easy it is to customize. Try stirring in:
- Chopped apples
- Blueberries or mixed berries
- Peaches
- Bananas
- Raisins or dried cranberries
- Chopped pecans or walnuts
- Chocolate chips for an occasional treat
Storage & Freezing
Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Individual portions reheat beautifully in the microwave (affiliate link), making this an excellent meal-prep breakfast.
You can also freeze individual squares for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator or microwave (affiliate link) until warmed through.
If you’ve made this Slow Cooker Baked Oatmeal, please give the recipe a star rating below and leave a comment letting me know how you liked it. And stay in touch on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the latest updates.
How Many Calories and WW Points?
According to my calculations each serving has 268 calories and 9 WW Points.
To see your WW Points for this recipe, track it in the WW App!
(You must be logged into WW on a smartphone or tablet.)
7 PointsPlus (Old plan)
You can also lower the Points by decreasing the sugar, or using a low-calorie sweetener substitute.
Slow Cooker Baked Oatmeal
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup oil
- 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1-1/2 cups skim milk (I used vanilla coconut milk beverage)
- 3 cups uncooked oatmeal (rolled or quick oats)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
Instructions
- Ideal slow cooker size: 2- to 3-Quart.
- Coat your slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl whisk together the oil, applesauce, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, and eggs until well blended and creamy. Whisk in the milk.
- Add the oats and baking powder and stir until well mixed.
- Pour into your greased slow cooker.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 3 to 5 hours, until the edges are golden brown and the center is set. (Mine was done in 4 hours.)
- Serve hot or let it stand in the slow cooker for up to an hour and then cut it into pieces for serving.
Notes
(Must be logged into WW on a smartphone or tablet.) 7 PointsPlus (Old plan) Possible additions to your crock pot baked oatmeal:
- 1 cup chopped fresh apple
- 1 cup frozen berries
- 1 cup chopped fresh or frozen peaches
- 1 cup chopped banana
- 3/4 cup dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, dates, figs, apricots, etc)
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe Source: Fix-It and Forget-It New Cookbook: 250 New Delicious Slow Cooker Recipes (affiliate link) by Phyllis Pellman Good.
Do you have a regular, not muffin, just in a casserole dish? and time and temp? Thanks.
Hi Annemarie, I think you could use this recipe and bake in a baking dish at 350 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes until golden and set. And here’s a link to a few more Recipes for Baked Oatmeal done in the oven in a casserole dish or square baking pan – https://simple-nourished-living.com/2011/12/baked-oatmeal-recipes/
8x 8 or 9x 13? Thanks for your recipes, love all I have tried. 🙂 Annemarie
Hi Annemarie, I used a 9×9 inch pan. I think an 8×8-inch will work.
How much pumpkin would you add to this? Would you use un place of the applesauce? Alter time for cooking?
Hi Annmarie, If you want to modify the recipe for crock pot baked oatmeal, I would decrease the milk to 1 cup. Leave out the applesauce. Add in 3/4 cup pumpkin and 1 – 2 teaspoons cinnamon or to taste. If you want to lower the points you can leave out the oil too. Hope this helps.
Can you make the with steel cut oats and if so would you change anything? Thanks.
Hi Kathy,
I really don’t know about steel cut oats. I’ve never tried. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen a recipe for a baked oatmeal with steel cut oats, come to think of it!
I so want to try this Baked Oatmeal for breakfast, but how in the world can I cook it to be ready at 8 am? Not big on delaying breakfast till noonish, if I’m home and awake to mind the crockpot….
Hi Linda,
Good Question! Here’s what I did. I made the baked oatmeal in the afternoon. Then I let it cool. Covered it and put it in the fridge. Then the next morning I cut it into wedges and rewarmed the wedges, one at a time in the microwave. Mine was warm in about 45 seconds on high. Early risers could mix everything together in the ceramic insert the night before. Cover and place it in the fridge and then plop the ceramic insert it into the crockpot to begin cooking as soon as they wake up for a late morning weekend breakfast.
Hope this helps!!
Thanks so much for getting back to me so quickly! I will try it and also look up the other recipe. I just found your sight today. The 100 weight watchers recipes link was on Facebook. So glad to have found you! Your recipes look delicious! Thanks again!!!
I would like to try this in the oven and in muffin tins. Do you have a guess about temperature and cook time. I would be the only one eating these and It would be nice to be able to freeze some of them. I also like that fact that they would be pre-portioned.
Hi Molly,
I have a recipe for banana bread baked oatmeal muffins cups ( https://simple-nourished-living.com/individual-baked-banana-bread-oatmeal-muffin-cups/) that bake in about 25 minutes. So, my guess is 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes. Hope this helps.
since it is just me most of the time and my daughter some time, can I freeze this into several packs for later?
I Becky, I haven’t tried it, but it should work fine.
I made this tonight but after 5 hours it didn’t set. I only own a 1.5qt slow cooker so I halved the recipe. I also used a little bit less sugar because I only had regular applesauce. I’m not really sure what happened. Do you have any suggestions for next time?
Hi Tiana,
Sorry to hear that! I’m not sure what might have happened, unless your slow cooker isn’t getting up to temperature or you mis-measured something. I’ve been known to make mistakes when cutting recipes in half, forgetting something. In fact, I just did it last week with a chocolate sauce. I meant to make a half batch but before I realized it had dumped in the whole amount of milk so had to go back and add in the whole amount of chocolate too so it wouldn’t be too runny!! Was it close to set, needing just another hour or so??? Sorry I can’t offer more help.
Wow!!! Had no clue you would get back so quick 🙂 thanks so much! I will try this again tomorrow and add some blueberries 🙂
Hello! I tried this recipe this afternoon as I’m trying to get back on WW and going back to work. I followed directions except once it was done I left it in the crock pot and put it in the fridge and left it for six hours because I had a dr apt. I just cut it and put it in a bowl, it taste great, but the bottom quarter of an inch doesnt have oatmeal, its mush, like the oil and eggs are stuck there. Not sure what I did wrong? Maybe, leaving it in the crockpot for so long? Got released from the cardiologist to head back to work Monday, trying out recipes so i can stay on plan when i go back 🙂
Hi Bethany,
I’m not sure either. Leaving it in the crock for so long while it cooled would have caused condensation to build up, which probably caused the mushiness. This is the same reason that instructions for baked goods like muffins and breads tell you to remove them from the pan to cool completely. Otherwise they’ll get soggy! Good luck to sticking with the plan while getting back to work 🙂
Looks delish! I love that it comes out baked like instead of a bowl of oatmeal consistency, who knew you could do that in a crockpot! Thanks!
I know, Kelli, I love baked oatmeal and this crock pot recipe really rocks as far as I’m concerned. Hope you like it too.