These Gingerbread Baked Oats are bursting with festive flavors like cinnamon and ginger and sweetened with some maple syrup for a warming breakfast. It is perfect for the Christmas season and is all done in one bowl! These festive baked oats are light and fluffy with the option of topping them with a creamy yogurt topping.
Look how cute these gingerbread people are peeking out of these Christmas baked oats! Our kids absolutely LOVE these for breakfast, and it's a really easy way to bring a bit of festive cheer in to breakfast time, but keep it healthy too.
Baked oats are really adaptable, and this gingerbread baked oatmeal recipe is one of our favorite variations. They are also great for your weekly meal prep, because they reheat well. We add small slices of it to school lunch boxes too. The smell when these baked gingerbread oats are cooking as well - AMAZING!
Looking for more Christmas breakfast recipes? Why not try our indulgent Croissant French Toast Bake or super easy Santa Pancakes?
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Ingredients and Substitutions
A full ingredients list, along with US Customary and Metric measurements, can be found in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- Oats - This is blended into a flour to give the baked gingerbread oatmeal an almost cake-like texture. You could leave the oats whole like in our Blueberry Baked Oats recipe, but we love the texture when they are blended. Use rolled oats, not quick cooked oats.
- Baking powder - This helps the recipe is rise and get nice and fluffy.
- Spices - We used ground cinnamon and of course, ground ginger to give it the gingerbread flavor. You could add some ground cloves to.
- Maple syrup - This is how we sweetened it, but you could use honey or another liquid sweetener instead.
- Egg - Use a medium sized egg.
- Vanilla - Use vanilla extract rather than essence, as it has a natural flavor.
- Milk - We used skim milk, but you could use a non-dairy milk like almond milk to keep it dairy free.
- Greek yogurt - This is optional, but if you want to add the creamy topping, then mix this with a little extra maple syrup and spread on top of the cooked oats.
- Nuts - We sprinkled some crushed walnuts on the creamy topping. Pecans work well too.
Variations
If you want to give it more of a gingerbread flavor, then add a little molasses to the mixture.
You could add some dark chocolate chips to give a chocolatey flavor.
If you are adding the creamy topping, and you want to make it a little more indulgent, then you can mix half Greek yogurt and half cream cheese with some maple syrup - it's like a cheesecake topping.
You could also just mix together a little powdered sugar (icing sugar) with some milk and drizzle that on top. Or even drizzle over some melted white chocolate.
How To Make Gingerbread Baked Oats - Step by Step
Prep: Preheat your oven to 180°C/160°C(fan)/350°F/Gas 4. Grease a 15x22cm (6"x9") baking dish.
- Step 1: In a large mixing bowl, add the oats, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, vanilla, maple syrup, egg and milk. Mix well to combine.
- Step 2: Pour the mixture into the greased baking dish. Top with gingerbread people, if using.
- Step 3: Cook for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
- Step 4: If you are topping the baked oats, combine the yogurt and maple syrup in a bowl.
- Step 5: Spread the yogurt mixture over the cooled oats and sprinkle over the crushed nuts.
Serving Suggestions
We just serve these as they are, especially if we are adding the topping. However, you could also crumble this on top of a yogurt bowl with some berries and a drizzle of maple syrup.
Extra Tips
- You can make individual portions of this by pouring the mixture into 4 greased ramekins. You might not be able to get a whole gingerbread person into it though.
- For even more of a festive flavor, you could add some ground cloves and molasses.
- Make sure to grease your baking dish with butter before pouring the mixture in, as this will make it easier to get out.
- Add some chia seeds to the mixture for a bit of a protein boost.
- The nutritional information listed in the recipe card is for the baked oats only. The Gingerbread people and yogurt topping are not included.
- To ensure this recipe is definitely gluten free, use oats that are certified gluten free.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can store leftovers in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 3 days and then eat cold (if you have added the yogurt topping). You can also wrap individual slices (without the topping) and put them in a freezer bag and they will keep for up to 3 months. You can then defrost them at room temperature and reheat in the microwave or air fryer.
You can mix all the dry ingredients together in advance and then just add in the wet ingredients before putting in the oven. I wouldn't recommend mixing everything together in advance, as the oats will soak up all the liquid and it won't bake the same.
More Oat Recipes
If you’ve tried this Baked Gingerbread Oatmeal, let us know how you got on in the comments below.
Tag us in your creations on Instagram @hungryhealthyhappy - Use the hashtag #hungryhealthyhappy too.
Recipe
Gingerbread Baked Oats
Ingredients
For the baked oats:
- 90 g (1 cups) Oats
- 2 teaspoon Baking powder
- 1 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
- 0.5 teaspoon Ground ginger
- 3 tablespoon Maple syrup
- 1 Egg
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 250 ml (1 cups) Skim milk
- 4 Gingerbread people - optional
For the topping (optional):
- 125 g (0.5 cups) 0% Fat Free Greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoon Maple syrup
- 8 Walnuts - crushed
Instructions
To make the baked oats:
- Preheat your oven to 180°C/160°C(fan)/350°F/Gas 4. Grease a 15x22cm (6"x9") baking dish.
- In a large mixing bowl, add 90 g Oats, 2 teaspoon Baking powder, 0.5 teaspoon Ground ginger, 1 teaspoon Ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract, 3 tablespoon Maple syrup, 1 Egg and 250 ml Skim milk. Mix well to combine.
- Pour the mixture into the greased baking dish. Top with 4 Gingerbread people, if using.
- Cook for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
To make the topping:
- If you are topping the baked oats, combine 125 g 0% Fat Free Greek yogurt and 2 tablespoon Maple syrup in a bowl.
- Spread the yogurt mixture over the cooled oats and sprinkle over 8 Walnuts.
Recipe Tips
- You can make individual portions of this by pouring the mixture into 4 greased ramekins. You might not be able to get a whole gingerbread person into it though.
- For even more of a festive flavor, you could add some ground cloves and molasses.
- Make sure to grease your baking dish with butter before pouring the mixture in, as this will make it easier to get out.
- Add some chia seeds to the mixture for a bit of a protein boost.
- The nutritional information listed below is for the baked oats only. The Gingerbread people and yogurt topping are not included.
- To ensure this recipe is definitely gluten free, use oats that are certified gluten free.
Nutritional Information
The nutritional information provided is approximate and is calculated using online tools. Information can vary depending on various factors, but we have endeavoured to be as accurate as possible.
As all appliances vary, cooking times are a guide. Please note that by changing the serving size, the cooking time may also need to be altered.
Eli says
Is this definitely meant to be 2 tablespoons of baking powder? Just seems a lot
Dannii Martin says
Apologies - that was a typo. Thanks for letting us know. I have changed it to 2 teaspoons