Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal with Berries
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This Easy Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal is a delicious and healthy breakfast full of fall flavors that can be made on the stove top or in the microwave. Ready in under 20 minutes, kid-friendly, easily made vegan or gluten-free — the perfect start for busy mornings!
Oatmeal is a total staple in my diet. It’s one of those tried-and-true comfort breakfasts that goes all the way back to my childhood. My typical breakfast is always oatmeal with some sort of mix-ins: apples/pears, nut butters or nuts, banana, berries, ground flaxseed, yogurt, the list is endless! But when I want to switch things up, I love making this easy pumpkin spice oatmeal with berries and pumpkin puree.
Whether it’s pumpkin season or not, you can pretty much have this year round thanks to organic, canned, pureed pumpkin that’s available at any local grocery store! Although, I have to admit, it’s very comforting to have pumpkin spice oatmeal recipe on colder mornings. It’s also a great way to use up any leftover pumpkin puree from your pumpkin pies!
Just be careful not to buy “pumpkin pie filling” – which is packed full of sugar and other preservatives that you don’t want to be starting your morning off with.
👩🏽🍳 Why This Recipe Works
- A fun way to change up your regular oatmeal
- Super Simple Meal Prep Recipe!
- Gluten Free
- Easily made vegan
- Healthy and Delicious
- Great for kids
- Easy to customize!
- A warm and comforting bowl of oatmeal!
🥘 Ingredients
This warm breakfast requires just a handful of ingredients easily found at your local grocery store!
Milk + Water: To give this oatmeal a creamy like consistency, I cook it with a combination of milk + water. As for what type of milk – any type works! You can use coconut milk, unsweetened almond milk, soy milk, oat milk, rice milk, or just regular milk to cook the quinoa in.
Oats: Opt for rolled oats, not quick oats, or steel cut oats.
Pumpkin Puree: Be sure to use pure pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling!
Fresh Blueberries: I used fresh berries blueberries, but you can customize this recipe based on your preferences!
Spices: I chose to use ground cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and a dash of salt. You could also add some ground nutmeg, ginger, or cloves!
Nuts: I used chopped walnuts, but you can use any nuts or seeds you like! Chia seeds, Flaxseed meal, Hemp Seeds, Pumpkin Seeds or Almonds would all taste great.
Sweetener: I used honey, but if you’re vegan use pure maple syrup. You could also use a bit of brown sugar, or coconut sugar. Feel free to add a pinch of sea salt to bring out the sweetness even more.
🍽 Equipment
Not only does this dish come together in less than 20 minutes, but it’s super healthy and super easy! It will keep you full all the way until lunch thanks to the fiber from the oats, pumpkin and berries; and added protein from the nuts and milk.
📖 Variations
- Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal Without Pumpkin Puree: If you don’t like pumpkin puree, you can still get all of that great pumpkin flavor by using more pumpkin pie spice instead of the pumpkin puree! You can also try sweet potato puree as an alternative.
- Pumpkin Spice Overnight Oatmeal Recipe: This recipe works great as an overnight oats recipe! Just add the raw rolled oats + all other ingredients into a mason jar, screw the lid on tightly, and store overnight in the fridge. The next day, just heat and eat!
- Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal Pancakes: Simply add pumpkin pie spice to these oatmeal pancakes!
- Protein Pumpkin Oatmeal: Add 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder and stir into this recipe right before heating it for the second time in the microwave.
- Make A Double Batch! While this recipe is for one, you can easily make a double, triple or quadruple batch depending on how many servings you need. This easy recipe scales really well – just multiply the ingredient amounts by the number of servings you need!
🔪 Instructions
Step 1: Make the rolled oats according to the package: you can either make them in the microwave or in a small pot on the stove. For the microwave, I combined the water + oats and microwaved on high for 2 minutes (more if the oats need to get fluffier before serving)
Step 2: In a large bowl, add your cooked oats, blueberries, pumpkin pie filling, spices and walnuts. Stir to combine.
Step 3: Add the milk and stir to combine. For thinner oats, add more milk!
Step 4: Drizzle the honey on top. If making this recipe vegan, add a drizzle of maple syrup. I like to actually eat mine without the honey stirred in, to get more of that delicious honey flavor in each bite. Heat one more time in the microwave to get the oatmeal as warm or hot as you like it!
And there you have it! The perfect, dessert-for-breakfast, healthy pumpkin pie oatmeal that’s only 300 calories, is super satisfying, is kid-friendly and adult-approved!
❓Recipe FAQs
Both of my kids think this oatmeal tastes just like pumpkin pie. The berries, bananas and honey provide such a nice sweetness in this recipe, it makes it super kid-friendly. And thanks to the warm spices like nutmeg and cinnamon, this will literally taste like dessert for breakfast! It’s an easy way to get a healthy meal in your kids to start the day!
Absolutely! There are a few reasons why this recipe is so good for you:
1) Whole Grain Oats: Oats are incredibly rich and nutrient dense, they make an ideal breakfast and give you energy for the day ahead. They are high in antioxidants and fiber and can help lower cholesterol and control blood sugars. Oatmeal is also extremely filling, so it’s perfect for helping to maintain a healthy weight and fending off mid-morning munchies!
2) Low in Added Sugar: Each bowl of this pumpkin oatmeal has only 2 grams of added sugar. But thanks to the natural sweetness from the berries, banana and pumpkin – it still tastes just like a pumpkin pie!
3) High in Protein and Fiber: Each serving of this oatmeal has over 11 grams of plant protein, and almost 7 grams of heart healthy fiber.
Yes! This oatmeal breakfast recipe is easily made vegan with a few adjustments. Use a plant based milk, like unsweetened soy or almond (just make sure there is no carrageenan added to it). Use a vegan sweetener such as maple syrup, agave nectar or brown rice syrup instead of honey.
Yes, oats are a gluten free grain. The issue comes in the packaging/processing and the risk of cross-contamination. Most oats are packaged/processed in facilities that work with grains that do contain gluten (wheat, barley, etc.). If you’re celiac or very sensitive to gluten, I recommend buying certified gluten-free rolled oats – which are guaranteed to be 100% gluten free and processed in its own facility.
Yes! Making oatmeal recipes in the slow cooker is great for when you are making multiple servings. Create simple overnight oats! You can place your ingredients into the slow cooker the night before and have breakfast ready when you wake up! It’s super simple to make oatmeal in the slow cooker by following a few steps! Combine all of the ingredients, and set the cook time for 8 hours on low.
💭 Expert Tips
- If cooking on the stovetop, use a pot that’s one size up from what you’d typically use. Oats cook better in a thin layer on the stovetop, so the more room they have the better (within reason – you don’t want to use a giant stockpot for these oats!)
- Don’t stir too much (if making on the stove!) – vigorous stirring of the oats will break them down and will turn them into a gummy texture.
- If you need to reheat this pumpkin oatmeal recipe (after storing it in the fridge), just add a couple tsp more milk or water (more if needed) and warm in the microwave on low heat until the oatmeal is warm and creamy.
- Rolled oats work great in this recipe, but you can use steel cut oats for more of a chewy texture!
- To make this recipe vegan, use an unsweetened, plant-based milk.
- Make sure you choose plain pumpkin puree with no added sugar!
🥞 More Healthy Breakfast Recipes!
- Grab and Go Breakfast Cookies
- Skinny Maple Granola
- Banana Blast Smoothie
- Apple Cinnamon French Toast
- Strawberry Shortcake Oatmeal
📋 Recipe Card
Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal with Berries
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup lowfat milk to make vegan, use unsweetened almond or soy milk
- 1/2 cup pureed pumpkin (make sure there is no sugar added)
- 1/4 tsp honey
- 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice (more to taste)
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 pinch cinnamon
- 1/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
- 1 tbsp crushed walnuts
- 1/4 of a banana, mashed (optional)
Instructions
- Make the rolled oats according to the package: you can either make them in the microwave or on the stove. For the microwave, I combined the water, salt and oats and microwaved on high for 2 minutes (more if the oats need to get fluffier before serving)
- Add your blueberries, pumpkin, spices, banana, and walnuts. Stir to combine.
- Add the milk and stir to combine. For thinner oats, add more milk!
- Drizzle the honey on top. I like to actually eat mine without the honey stirred in, to get more of that delicious honey flavor in each bite. Heat one more time in the microwave to get the oatmeal as warm or hot as you like it (about 30 seconds – 1 minute).
Notes
- If cooking on the stovetop, use a pot that’s one size up from what you’d typically use. Oats cook better in a thin layer on the stovetop, so the more room they have the better (within reason – you don’t want to use a giant stockpot for these oats!)
- Don’t stir too much (if making on the stove!) – vigorous stirring of the oats will break them down and will turn them into a gummy texture.
- If you need to reheat these oats (after storing it in the fridge), just add a couple tsp more milk or water (more if needed) and warm in the microwave on low heat until the oatmeal is warm and creamy.
- Rolled oats work great in this recipe, but you can use steel cut oats for a more toothsome bite!
- To make this recipe vegan, use an unsweetened, plant-based milk.
- Make sure you choose plain pumpkin puree with no added sugar!
