This post may include affiliate links; see our disclosure policy.

These baked steel cut oats taste like pumpkin pie⁠—what better way to start your morning? They’re a healthy breakfast filled with whole grains.

Baked steel cut oats

This post was created in partnership with Bob’s Red Mill. All opinions are our own.

Would you believe we’ve never cooked steel cut oats until this recipe? I know, I know. We drink Chemex coffee and eat quinoa and wear Chambray shirts, yet our breakfast game has yet to be revolutionized by steel cut oats. Well, consider us steel cut oat virgins no more, because we’re now fans.

Steel cut oats

How to make baked steel cut oats

Steel cut oats are nothing like normal rolled oats. In fact, they’re a chewy whole grain like this freaky one. Not what we were expecting. However, when baked up in a custard-y “filling”, they’re absolutely delicious.

Our idea for this recipe was to combine they chewiness of steel cut oats with the velvety, spiced-up goodness of pumpkin pie. Luckily it worked like a charm. After cooling, the oatmeal sets up and can be cut into squares for devouring. It tastes just like a light version of pumpkin pie! And who doesn’t want to eat pumpkin pie for breakfast? It’s also fairly healthy. With a minimal amount of maple syrup as a natural sweetener, it’s a nice gluten-free whole grain option for the morning.

We created this recipe as part of an internet-wide celebration of pumpkin recipes in honor of October! Check out this list of links for friends around the web and their recipes. The recipe was also created in partnership with Bob’s Red Mill, one of our very favorite whole grain companies. We’d love to hear: are you a newbie to steel cut oats? Would you try this recipe? And if you did, what did you think?

Pumpkin Baked Steel Cut Oats
Steel cut oats

Looking for more pumpkin recipes?

Outside of this baked steel cut oats, here are a few of our favorite pumpkin recipes:

Looking for more breakfast recipes?

And here are a few of our favorite breakfast recipes:

This recipe is…

This pumpkin baked steel cut oats recipe is vegetarian and gluten-free.

Save this recipe!
Get this sent to your inbox, plus get new recipes from us every week!
Print

Pumpkin Baked Steel Cut Oats

Baked steel cut oatmeal
Save Recipe

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 11 reviews

These baked steel cut oats taste like pumpkin pie⁠—what better way to start your morning? They’re a healthy breakfast filled with whole grains.

  • Author: a Couple Cooks
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 60 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
  • Yield: 6 to 8 1x
  • Category: Breakfast
  • Method: Baked
  • Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 egg
  • 2 cups milk (or almond milk)
  • ⅓ cup maple syrup
  • ¾ cup pumpkin puree
  • 2 tablespoons melted butter, slightly cooled
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup raw steel cut oats
  • ½ cup pecans, chopped

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375ºF.
  2. Grease a 9 x 9 baking dish.
  3. In a medium bowl, lightly beat the egg. Whisk it together with the milk, maple syrup, pumpkin puree, melted butter, and vanilla. In a small bowl, mix together the spices, baking powder, and kosher salt. Whisk to combine the spices and baking powder into the wet ingredients, then stir in the raw steel cut oats. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan.
  4. Cover the pan loosely with foil and bake in the center of the oven for 30 minutes. Uncover the pan and sprinkle with the chopped pecans, then bake an additional 30 minutes until golden brown (60 minutes total).
  5. Serve hot, scooped into bowls, or let cool completely to room temperature and cut into squares for serving. You also can refrigerate and serve cold, which is our favorite way to eat it!

Did you love this recipe?

Get our free newsletter with all of our best recipes!

About the authors

Alex & Sonja

Hi! We’re Alex & Sonja Overhiser, authors of the acclaimed cookbooks A Couple Cooks and Pretty Simple Cooking—and a real life couple who cooks together. We founded the A Couple Cooks website in 2010 to share seasonal recipes and the joy of home cooking. Now, we’ve got over 3,000 well-tested recipes, including Mediterranean diet, vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, smoothies, cocktails, and more!

Leave a Comment

Recipe rating 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

68 Comments

  1. Gail Zeisloft says:

    How do I know this is done? Baked for an hour. Cooled a bit and under the top, it’s quite soft. Is it finished?

    1. Sonja Overhiser says:

      Yes, this recipe will be soft when finished! It has the texture of pumpkin pie filling.

  2. Cherie says:

    We love these oats. I make a double batch twice a month or so. I even premix all the dry ingredients and keep them in my pantry ready to go.

    I’ve modified the recipe slightly by adding a chopped apple or pear and a handful of raisins or craisins. Due to the extra sweetness of the fruit I halve the maple syrup.

    Delicious.

  3. Marjorie says:

    This recipe is so tasty! I doubled it but used an entire can of pumpkin (instead of just 1 1/2 c). It needed to cook an extra 10 minutes, but otherwise I didn’t notice a difference. I also left out the nuts and used 1/2 the amount of maple syrup. Family loved it!






  4. Nancy says:

    WOW! They really do taste like pumpkin pie!
    Thanks so much for this recipe. They are fabulous. I used “flax egg”, soy milk and coconut oil. They were so delicious. I may experiment with cutting back on the syrup a little bit and a tiny bit on the oil so I can feel they are more of a breakfast equivalent rather than a dessert. My go-to steel cut oat breakfast has blueberries, goji berries, cinnamon and ginger with no other added sugar.






    1. Alex Overhiser says:

      So glad you enjoyed!

    2. Nancy says:

      I made them again with a couple of tweaks to improve nutrition profile and still FABULOUS! This is going to be my quick grab breakfast and pie alternative this winter. :-)

      I did TWO flax egg equivalents and cut the coconut oil to 1.5 T (I think I can go to 1 T next time). I did a very shy 1/3 c of maple syrup to cut back the sugar a bit. And I increased the pumpkin to 1 cup. (I always use butternut squash instead of pumpkin in pumpkin recipes.) I added in a couple of extra tablespoons of steel cut oats since there was more liquid volume. I baked about 5 minutes extra. (I am making them in a 7×11 pyrex baking dish since I don’t have a 9×9.)






  5. Tracy Brammeier says:

    Can you modify for a muffin tin? Does it just change the bake time?

    1. Alex Overhiser says:

      That should work! The bake time would just depend on the thickness, so may take a few minutes longer.

  6. Sarah says:

    I really like this oatmeal and have made it several times now. I try to eat less sugar so I use only 2 tablespoons of maple syrup and increased the pumpkin to 1 cup. I like to top it with a generous sprinkle of fresh blueberries before baking it. Its delicious!






  7. Sue says:

    Just finished the last piece of this scrumptious breakfast! I wrapped up the cold squares and take to work. I did toast the oats first in the butter and then mixed everything up and let soak a few hours before baking. I might try it with grated apple or apple sauce sometime. Thanks for this recipe!

  8. Judy says:

    This turned out great! I couldn’t resist tasting it while still warm but I’m looking forward to trying it cold in the morning. Do you know the nutritional values for 1/8 serving?

    1. Alex Overhiser says:

      I added the info to the recipe card!

  9. Valerie says:

    This was very good; not sure I would bother making steel cut oats any other way now that I’ve tried them baked! What a great meal prep breakfast. I used an 8×8 pan, subbed flax egg and coconut oil to make it vegan, and added a handful of shredded coconut. Cut into six servings; topping with a splash of almond milk, peanut butter, raisins and 1/2 sliced banana for breakfast and it’s quite filling!

See More Comments