Why choose “team apple” or “team pumpkin” when you can have both in this warm and comforting Pumpkin Apple Baked Oatmeal!
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When the apple orchard and pumpkin patch collide!
There is really nothing like fall in the Mid-West – the quintessential autumn activity place to be! There are u-pick apple orchards on every country road, and typically a pumpkin patch on the same corner. My countertops are perpetually covered in apples and little pumpkins through the first part of winter, and I truly wouldn’t have it any other way!
Team apple or team pumpkin?
It can be a pretty heated debate between classic apple pie lovers and those die hard PSL devotees! I say why choose when they go so well together?! I have had so many apples to go through over the last few weeks, so we have been enjoying putting the best of our apples together with the pumpkin flavors we love, and the result has been a hearty, insanely delicious pumpkin apple baked oatmeal that the girls keep asking for again and again!
What does this pumpkin apple baked oatmeal taste like?
I like a cake-like texture to my baked oatmeal – not too mushy, and not dry. This baked oatmeal has a similar texture to my staple, all-year-round baked oatmeal that we have been making for years, but with the warm and sweet flavors of fall spices. I love the little bursts of apple chunks throughout, purposely make them on the bigger side, and they are the softest little sweet bites resembling apples in an apple crisp or pie! You can, of course, shred the apple or dice them smaller if you think the kids will like that texture better.
The Method :: The dry ingredients for Pumpkin Apple Baked Oatmeal
Get your pumpkin apple baked oatmeal started by blending up some pecans and pumpkin seeds in a food processor. You’ll want to make this into a “meal,” essentially making a nut/seed “flour.” So blend it up into tiny bits, but don’t take it all the way to a nut butter. Once you blend the pecans and seeds up, you can whisk them up with the rest of the dry ingredients. This baked oatmeal is a great balance of fiber and slow burning carbs from sprouted oats, and healthy fats and some protein from the nuts and seeds.
The Method :: The Wet Ingredients for Pumpkin Apple Baked Oatmeal
Once the dry ingredients are all set, add in the wet ingredients and stir to combine. I love a chunky bite of apple in my baked oatmeal, but if that texture will throw your crew off, shred them in or dice them small. Once you mix up the batter, pour it into the baking pan, and you’re ready to get the topping on!
The Method :: The topping for Pumpkin Apple Baked Oatmeal
The topping is completely optional, but it does make this baked oatmeal feel a little more special than your average weekday baked oatmeal! It gives it more of a coffee cake feel, making it special enough for a holiday or any fall weekend! Blitz up some pecans, coconut sugar, cinnamon, and cold butter in your food processer so there are bits to sprinkle all over the baked oatmeal.
The Method :: Baking the Pumpkin Apple Baked Oatmeal
Bake the oatmeal for a good 40-50 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the baked oatmeal cool for 5-10 minutes before cutting. You can enjoy the pumpkin baked oatmeal as is, or drizzle with maple syrup! I love a dollop of yogurt too!
Swaps and switches
- Pecans feel just like the holidays to me! But, I know so many of you can’t have nuts. My suggestion would be to swap the pecans for some buckwheat flour or sunflower seeds, or a combo of both ideally. Baked oatmeal is pretty fool proof, so play around with the amount freely – it is pretty hard to mess up!
- If you cannot have eggs, you can add more pumpkin as well as egg replacer to adjust for this. You might not get as fluffy of a result but it will definitely still work.
- If you do not have access to coconut sugar, you can swap for sweetener of your choice – honey, maple syrup, date sugar, etc. The amount of sweetener is divided up among a good 12-15 slices, and the taste has a pleasant but not too strong sweetness. If you want it sweeter, simply add more sweetener.
Prep ahead and freezing tips
This beautiful pumpkin apple baked oatmeal makes a great holiday breakfast or brunch item not only for how seasonal, special, and delicious it is, but because it is very easy to prep ahead! Get the ingredients into your pan and put it into the fridge for up to a day before baking off. Or, you could bake it off, cool it, and slice into squares to freeze for later.
Pumpkin Apple Baked Oatmeal
Ingredients
For the Pumpkin Apple Baked Oatmeal ::
- 2 cup pecans
- 1 cup pumpkin seeds
- 3 1/2 cups oats not quick oats. I use sprouted oats for best digestion
- ½ cup grassfed collagen optional
- 1/3 cup coconut sugar turbinado, maple sugar, or maple syrup would be fine here
- ¼ cup chia seeds
- 2 tsp aluminum free baking powder
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 1 ½ cups coconut milk
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 3-4 cups chopped apples I don’t peel mine but you can.
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 4 eggs
For the Topping (Completely optional but yummy!)
- 1 cup pecans
- 1 tbsp coconut sugar turbinado, cane sugar, or maple sugar will work here
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ cup cold butter cut into 5 chunks
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×13 baking dish with butter or coconut oil.
- Put the pecans and pumpkin seeds into your food processor or blender and blend/pulse until the pieces are very small like a meal.
- Whisk the blended pecans/pumpkin seeds, oats, collagen, coconut sugar, chia seeds, baking powder, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt in a large mixing bowl.
- Add the coconut milk, pumpkin puree, chopped apples, vanilla, and eggs, mix until combined, and pour the baked oatmeal mixture into your baking dish.
- To make the topping, put the pecans into your food processor and blend until the pecans are the size of peas. Add the rest of the topping ingredients and blend/pulse until the butter is distributed and about the size of peas – it is ok if there are a few larger or smaller chunks of butter.
- Sprinkle the topping over the baked oatmeal mixture.
- Bake the pumpkin apple baked oatmeal at 350 degrees for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean and the top is golden. Let the baked oatmeal cool a good 10 minutes before slicing.
Notes
- Pecans feel just like the holidays to me! But, I know so many of you can’t have nuts. My suggestion would be to swap the pecans for some buckwheat flour or sunflower seeds, or a combo of both ideally. Baked oatmeal is pretty fool proof, so play around with the amount freely – it is pretty hard to mess up!
- If you cannot have eggs, you can add more pumpkin as well as egg replacer to adjust for this. You might not get as fluffy of a result but it will definitely still work.
- If you do not have access to coconut sugar, you can swap for sweetener of your choice – honey, maple syrup, date sugar, etc. The amount of sweetener is divided up among a good 12-15 slices, and the taste has a pleasant but not too strong sweetness. If you want it sweeter, simply add more sweetener.
