Protein Baked Oats

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This high protein baked oats recipe is loaded with delicious flavor and fantastic healthy ingredients. Its cake-like texture is an indulgent way to enjoy an easy breakfast. Great for meal prep, vegan, gluten free and so simple to make!

Oatmeal is one of those healthy breakfast staples that I just can’t get enough of. It’s satisfying and comforting, great for meal prep, and it’s easy to mix in different flavors based on your preferences!

The only problem is, oatmeal on its own doesn’t have a ton of protein, so if you don’t mix in some high protein ingredients, you may end up being hungry just a couple hours later.

While it’s easy to take any protein powder and stir it into a regular bowl of oatmeal, I thought it would be even better to create a specific high protein baked oats recipe that’s an all-in-one protein rich breakfast!

If you prefer a wholesome oats recipe without the banana, you might enjoy my baked oats without banana recipe as well, and if you’re looking for ways to incorporate more protein and oats into your morning, you should also try these peanut butter banana overnight oats!

You can make a big batch of this baked oatmeal with protein powder at the beginning of the week and have healthy baked oatmeal, hot or cold, ready to go for the week ahead.

Feel free to serve it on it’s own, or alongside a larger breakfast spread that includes this breakfast fruit salad, vegan roasted potatoes, this vegan frittata, and vegan chocolate chip muffins!

Satisfying, healthy, tasty and decadent – these baked protein oats are perfect for the entire family!

👩🏽‍🍳 Why This Recipe Works

• Great for meal prep, enjoy the next morning
• Tastes like a fluffy cake, but is actually a healthy breakfast!
• Great source of protein
• Perfect for oatmeal lovers
• Will satisfy your sweet tooth
• Low sugar, unrefined added sweetener
• Vegan and gluten-free
• Tons of variations!

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🥘 Ingredients

These simple ingredients are easily found at your grocery store and may very well already be in your kitchen. Find the full ingredients list and detailed instructions for how to make protein baked oats on the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

• Almond Milk: You can use any non-dairy milk of choice for this recipe, but I like unsweetened almond milk because it’s a low-calorie plant-based option. Other plant-based milk you can use is soy or unsweetened oat milk, cashew milk or coconut milk (if you don’t mind a slight coconut flavor). If you don’t need the recipe to be vegan, you can also use regular low-fat or whole milk.
• Maple Syrup: Maple syrup adds a natural, subtle sweetness to this recipe without any added refined sugar. You can also leave this out if you want a sugar free baked protein oats recipe.
• Bananas: Mashed banana adds both sweetness and works as a binding agent for the dry ingredients in this healthy protein baked oatmeal.
• Peanut Butter: Peanut butter adds a rich, creamy texture, but also works with the banana to bind your oatmeal bake together.
• Vegan Vanilla Protein Powder: Vanilla protein powder will give your baked proats a punch of protein and healthy flavor!
• Rolled Oats: This whole grain is high in fiber and is the main ingredient in this healthy recipe. If you want your protein baked oatmeal recipe to be gluten-free, be sure to get certified gluten-free oats.
• Baking Powder: Baking powder helps create some space within your ingredients for a little fluffy texture. It’s job is to create small pockets of air so your baked oatmeal isn’t too dense.
• Cinnamon & Vanilla Extract: Vanilla extract and cinnamon both enhance the flavor of the other ingredients in these vanilla protein baked oats. Neither are necessary ingredients for the structure of baking this recipe, but it will change the flavor if you leave it out. You can also add a pinch of sea salt to bring out the flavor even more.
• Vegan Chocolate Chips, optional: Chocolate chips are optional, but they are an excellent addition to make this recipe. Make sure you get vegan chocolate chips and for an even healthier choice, go for vegan dark chocolate chips.

🔪 Instructions

Preheat Oven, Blend Ingredients: Preheat the oven to 320F/160C. Grease an 9 inch baking dish, set aside. Place all ingredients, except chocolate chips, into a high-speed food processor and pulse until the banana and ingredients are well incorporated.

Pour Oat Mixture Into Baking Pan: Pour batter into prepared dish, sprinkle with vegan chocolate chips if using, and bake for 25-30 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.

Cool & Serve: Allow to cool before slicing into 9 pieces. Serve these vegan protein oats topped with a drizzle of nut butter, a dollop of coconut yogurt or your favorite toppings.

How To Meal Prep Baked Oats

Bake And Reheat: Follow the recipe as directed and bake the oatmeal completely. Let it cool, and once it cools, transfer to an airtight, oven safe container. You can do this between 1-3 days in advance of when you’re planning to serve it. When you are ready to serve, heat the entire baked oatmeal or individual portions in the oven or toaster oven at 350 degrees F for about 5-10 minutes until warmed through. You can also warm this protein oat bake in the microwave, but it won’t have that “fresh out of the oven” feel.

Prep And Keep: Blend everything in the blender, transfer to an airtight container, and place in the fridge. It will keep for 1-2 days in advance. When you’re ready to serve, pour the batter into the baking dish, sprinkle with chocolate chips, bake and serve.

Prep And Freeze: Follow the recipe as directed, cut into individual squares, wrap each square in plastic wrap and add to an airtight container. Place in the freezer, it will keep for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to reheat, warm the slices of this low calorie oat bake in the oven or toaster oven at 350 degrees F until completely warmed through (likely about 10 minutes).

💭 Expert Tips

• If you don’t have a blender, you can hand-mash the bananas with the fork and mix all ingredients by hand. It won’t have the same cake-like texture, but it will still bake up well and be delicious. To make it easier to mix protein into other ingredients without lumps, mix protein into a small amount of your almond milk before adding it to the rest of the ingredients.
• If your oats come out soggy, you might have added too much milk, or they need to be cooked longer.
• Make sure to use rolled oats!! Steel cut oats, quick oats, or instant oats won’t blend up as well.

📖 Variations

There are so many different ways to switch up your vegan protein baked oats! Here are some of our favorite flavor combinations:

• Double Chocolate Chip Protein Baked Oats: To make this oatmeal recipe a more chocolatey delight, add chocolate protein powder to your blended ingredients. Then add the indicated chocolate chips as well. If you want to skip the protein powder, add cocoa powder instead.
• Baked Oats Without Protein Powder: If you want to skip the protein powder in these baked protein oats, just leave that out but adjust the wet ingredients. Start with 1 and 3/4 cup of almond milk and add more as needed. If you want to increase the protein without protein powder, use unsweetened soy milk instead.
• Sugar Free Baked Oats: For no added sugar baked oats, use sugar free maple syrup, and sugar free vegan chocolate chips!
• Protein Baked Oats No Banana: To skip the banana, simply replace it with a flax egg to keep your low-calorie baked oats vegan. 1 tablespoon of flaxseed mixed with 3 tablespoons of water equals one egg. Or substitute 1/4 cup of apple sauce.
• Nutella Baked Oats: Get a rich, chocolatey, hazelnut flavor by swapping out your peanut butter for vegan Nutella.
• Extra Mix-Ins: You can literally add in anything to baked oats with protein powder — try fresh berries, more chopped banana, fresh fruit, chopped nuts, almond extract, pumpkin pie spice, cacao nibs, hemp seeds, chia seeds, flax seeds, nut butters (like almond butter or cashew butter), and more! Nuts and seeds have the added benefit of adding more healthy fats into these vanilla proats!
• Add More Protein: Double the amount of protein powder you add to this low calorie baked oats recipe for 18 grams of protein in each serving. If you do add more protein powder, make sure to also add a little bit of extra milk so it doesn’t dry out while baking. You can also add protein by topping your baked protein oatmeal with protein rich toppings like nut butter, sunflower seed butter, nuts, seeds, or even Greek yogurt, if you don’t need this recipe to be vegan.

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🥣 More Delicious Oatmeal Recipes!

• Spicy Oats Recipe
• Chocolate Chip Baked Oats
• High Protein Overnight Oats
• Vegan Baked Oatmeal
• Peanut Butter Baked Oatmeal
• Healthy Blueberry Banana Bread
• Chocolate Oatmeal
• Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal
• Matcha Overnight Oats
• Quinoa Oatmeal
• Low Calorie Granola

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