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This cherry baked oatmeal is one of our best loved breakfast recipes! It’s delicious and easy to make and almost tastes like cherry crisp.
Love cherries? Here are a great way to use them in a delicious breakfast recipe: cherry baked oatmeal! It’s spiced with cinnamon and cardamom, making for delicious sweetly spiced bites.
This baked oatmeal recipe takes 45 minutes to bake—but it’s only 10 minutes to whip together, and it saves for breakfasts for the rest of the week. To us, having a tasty, wholesome breakfast in the refrigerator is worth it.
Related: Gluten Free Breakfast Ideas for Everyone | Our Favorite Vegan Breakfast Ideas
How to make cherry baked oatmeal
This baked oatmeal recipe takes 45 minutes to bake—but it’s only 10 minutes to whip together, and it saves for breakfasts for the rest of the week. Though we don’t often make breakfast recipes, we’ve found time to fit it in: by making it on the weekend, or on a weeknight to save for the next few days. To me, having a tasty, wholesome breakfast in the refrigerator is worth it. (To be honest, I also ate it for dinner a few nights. Just saying.)
We’ve had a few people test this recipe already who also agreed. Reader Lauren sent us a message: “The cherry baked oatmeal was a major hit in our house! My 3 year old ate it up 2 mornings in a row (my 9 month old also enjoyed it!) It’s so nice to have hands-off breakfasts that come together quickly and taste delicious.”
Also try: Banana Baked Oatmeal
About this cherry baked oatmeal
Here are some of the features of this baked oatmeal recipe that make it special:
- It features dried Montmorency tart cherries—which bring a natural sweetness.
- It’s got cardamom, which lends it a lightly-floral essence. Combined with cinnamon, it’s just enough to not be overwhelming.
- It has a vegan option: it’s just as good omitting the egg and using almond milk. (Several readers have tried it as a vegan baked oatmeal and given a thumbs up!)
- It’s naturally sweet, sweetened with tart cherries and maple syrup.
- It’s naturally gluten-free, simply put together
As a note, Montmorency tart cherries are a variety of cherries, not a brand, that have a distinctive sour-sweet flavor. They’re different from fresh sweet cherries and are most often found dried or in juice, since they’re delicate and typically go right to processing. (More with cherries? Go to 12 Tasty Cherry Recipes.)
Dietary notes
This cherry baked oatmeal recipe is vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, gluten-free, naturally sweet, refined sugar free. (For vegan, follow the substitutions in the recipe.)
Cherry Baked Oatmeal
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
Description
This cherry baked oatmeal is one of our best loved breakfast recipes. It’s delicious, simple to make, naturally sweet, vegan, and gluten-free.
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried Montmorency tart cherries
- ½ cup pecan pieces (or chopped pecans)
- 2 cups rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 egg, beaten (omit for vegan)
- 2 cups milk (use 2 ½ cups almond milk for vegan)*
- ⅓ cup pure maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375ºF.
- If desired, roughly chop the dried cherries. In a large bowl, mix the cherries, pecans, oats, baking powder, cinnamon, cardamom, and kosher salt.
- Grease an 8- or 9-inch square pan and pour in the oat and cherry mixture.
- In a small bowl, whisk the egg (if using). Mix in the milk, maple syrup, and vanilla. Slowly drizzle the milk mixture over the oats, and mix to combine if necessary.
- Over the top of the oats, drizzle the melted butter or coconut oil. (If desired, add a few more cherries to the top for presentation.)
- Bake 35 to 45 minutes until the top is nicely golden and the oat mixture has set. Remove from the oven and let cool for about 10 minutes.
- To serve, cut into pieces. If desired, top with a drizzle of milk and extra maple syrup. Store leftovers refrigerated.
Notes
For the vegan variation, use 2 ½ cups almond milk; the extra ½ cup offsets the omission of the egg. Make ahead: Mix up the dries and store in a sealed plastic bag or container; mix up the wets and store in a ball jar or sealed container. When ready to bake, prepare the pan, add the wets and dries, and drizzle with melted butter or coconut oil.
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
More breakfast recipes
This tart cherry cardamom baked oatmeal is another one of our favorite breakfast recipes to date (the other recent favorite is the homemade breakfast cereal below). Here are a few more breakfast recipes:
- Homemade Breakfast Cereal
- Perfect Oatmeal or Steel Cut Oats (or Best Oatmeal Recipes)
- Acai Bowl Recipe
- Pumpkin Oatmeal
- Turmeric Vegan Blueberry Muffins
- Toast with almond butter and Chai Tart Cherry Jam or Cranberry Jam
- Carrot Cake Breakfast Cookies
- Healthy Banana Bread Muffins
- Tart Cherry Post Workout Protein Bowl
- Homemade Instant Oatmeal
- Healthy Granola
- Banana Oatmeal Pancakes
I’m vegan so I made the necessary swaps (soy milk for milk, flax meal for egg). I also had frozen tart cherries so I used those. I love pecans in my oatmeal but I was out so I used sliced almonds.
This came out fantastic. Next time I’ll try it with the dried cherries and pecans but overall great inspiration and very flexible.
The frozen tart cherries do make this feel decadent like cherry crumble meets baked oatmeal and would be a great addition to a holiday breakfast or brunch. I think if I were to do so I’d make some stewed cherry sauce and toasted nuts to serve it with.
Awesome. My kind of recipe. Natural sweetness and goodness. I didn’t use as much maple syrup but added unsweetened coconut chips. I am going to have a difficult time with my portion control. Haha. So yummy.
So glad you enjoyed!