Made with just a handful of healthy ingredients these apple and cinnamon baked oats will leave you satisfied until lunch!  They’re also the perfect make ahead breakfast for rushed mornings!

Are you always looking for new ideas for a healthy breakfast – something that’s just easy to grab and go?  One of our staples is baked oats.  We love oats.  Like LOVE love them.  Hot, cold, overnight oats, in cookies, smoothie thickener, Cinnamon and Apple Baked Oats – you name it, we will probably chuck oats in it.  Tasty, filling, versatile and with quite a few health benefits:

• Oats are full of antioxidants – essential for a healthy diet, protecting the body from harmful molecules called free radicals
• They also have a low glycemic index – great if you’re trying to level and maintain troublesome glucose levels
• They’re high in fibre
• Oats are a great energy boost – they contain complex carbohydrates and are packed with protein which fill the body with energy and because they’re absorbed slowly in the body they help keep you fuller for longer!
• They contain a healthy dose of iron – essential for red blood cell formation

Not bad for a little oat huh?!

It’s also currently spring and while Phil and I love our fresh smoothies, these still chilly mornings call for something that not only has all these health benefits but also ‘sticks to your ribs’ a bit – and oats are just perfect for this.  I fell in love with baked oats with these Acai and Strawberry ones.  Which I then I added chocolate to and turned them into something that should be dessert but you can legitimately sit and eat for breakfast.  Ahhh, thank  you adulthood.  Healthy breakfast that looks and tastes like dessert.

But for variety’s sake and because I can eat all things cinnamon all year round, friends I give you spicy, sweet, appley, definitely moreish Apple & Cinnamon Baked Oats.  If it were up to me I’d have thrown in a handful of sultanas too but I have someone who, while he’s learning to accept sultanas aren’t chewy bits of horror,  still believes he doesn’t like them.  It’s getting better, he’ll eat them in Vegan Christmas Cake very happily.  Just don’t tell him they’re in there 😉

If you’re concerned that the cooked apples actually look more like they’re BBQ flavour it’s because I’ve used Saigon cinnamon.  It’s one of the sweetest and strongest varieties of cinnamon and has a vivid orange/red colour when powdered.  Hence the BBQ look!

Healthy Baked Oats Tips

Like these Healthy Breakfast Muffins, using spotty bananas provides natural sweetness and cuts down the need for much more added sugar.  For baked oatmeal I use liquid sweetener like agave, maple syrup or if you’re in the UK Sweet Freedom’s Fruit Syrup.

Whilst I love the recipe as it is, it’s also very easy adapted – sprinkle blueberries (fresh or frozen) on top instead of the apples or try extra sliced bananas.

Serve with a dollop of vanilla coconut yoghurt for an extra special easy healthy breakfast.

Don’t forget to let me know in the comments if you try this recipe.  I hope this becomes one of your healthy breakfast favourites too!

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