Chocolate Baked Oatmeal for breakfast? - Yes, please! These delicious oats are loaded with good-for-you ingredients like fresh cherries, walnuts, and cacao powder. It's a healthy Oil-free vegan breakfast recipe your family will love.

No doubt, oatmeal is one of the most popular breakfast recipes for most people. Just take my 3-minute Oatmeal bowl - easy, healthy, and delicious.
But what happens if you want to make your breakfast a little bit fancier?
You could always make my best-ever vegan waffles. Or...
Enter Chocolate Baked Oatmeal! Yes, chocolate for breakfast, how can anyone refuse this? Add cherries, and walnuts and you've got a full range of nutrients to start your day off right.
This delicious No-Bake Oatmeal comes together in just 10 minutes and with 9 healthy ingredients. It's great for Sunday brunch with family or friends, or as a make-ahead breakfast that just needs to be reheated.
Ingredients
My favorite thing about this Chocolate Oatmeal Bake is that all ingredients are really healthy so you can be satisfied about your dietary choices.
- oats - for this recipe it's best to choose rolled oats, or old-fashioned oats. Quick oats might become mushy. Use Gluten-free oats if you need to;
- rising and binding ingredients - baking powder and chia egg or flax egg. And if you're not vegan you can use a regular egg;
- something crunchy - I love adding Walnuts, because they have the highest concentration of good Omega-3 fatty acids. You can replace Walnuts with Pecans, Pistachios or Almonds.
- chocolate component - what makes this oatmeal really chocolaty and flavorful is a combination of Cacao powder and chopped chocolate. Also, make sure you pick Cacao powder over Cocoa powder. It's less processed and contains higher amount of nutrients. As for the chocolate, I recommend dark chocolate bark. My recent favorite is Hu Chocolate, that's made without refined-sugar, oils and other bad ingredients; Enter the code IRYNA15 for 15% off www.hukitchen.com.
- sweetener - in my sweet recipes I always try to use Maple syrup instead of regular sugar. Maple syrup is a natural sweetener and contains several minerals and nutrients that you won't find in sugar;
- liquid ingredient - I used Almond milk but Oat milk, Soy milk or any other plant milk will work;
- fruit - I made this oatmeal bake with fresh pitted cherries, however you can use blueberries, blackberries or other berries. You can even make this with frozen fruit.
This Cherry Baked Oatmeal is juicy, hearty and delicious. You almost feel like eating a dessert for breakfast. And that always sounds yummy.
To me, baked oatmeal always tastes better when it's warm. So I recommend to either consume it immediately or if you plan to enjoy it the next day, make sure to place it in a fridge and then reheat.
Storing And Reheating
To ensure a maximum freshness, I recommend to store the leftovers in the refrigerator for no more than 2 to 3 days.
If you're planning to finish the leftovers, you can either pop the pan with the oatmeal in a preheated to 350 F oven for about 15 minutes or reheat for 20 seconds in a microwave.
Another option would be to add the leftovers in a sauce pan with a bit of milk and reheat until it's warm.
Recipe Variations
This wonderful baked oatmeal recipe can be customized to your liking or the availability of ingredients.
- Crunchy ingredients - in addition to Walnuts, you can stir in some sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds; Coconut chips would also be a great option to scatter on top.
- Fruit - you can make this with fresh berries/fruit only or use a combination of frozen and fresh fruit;
- Creaminess - if you like this fruity baked oatmeal to be even creamier, you can stir in a spoon or two of almond butter or coconut cream.
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Recipe
Recipe
Healthy Chocolate Baked Oatmeal With Cherries
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Chia seeds Note 1
- 2 ½ tablespoon water Note 2
- 2 c rolled oats
- 1 tablespoon cacao powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ c walnuts chopped into smaller pieces, Note 2
- ½ c Maple syrup
- 2 c almond milk oat milk or other nut milk may be used
- 2 ½ c fresh cherries pitted, Note 3
- 1 oz chocolate chunks I recommend Hu Chocolate, use code IRYNA15 for 15% off
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 F.
- In a small bowl mix together chia seeds and water. Leave for 5 minutes to expand.
- In a large bowl stir together oats, cacao powder, baking powder and walnuts.
- Add in almond milk, Maple syrup and "chia egg" and stir to combine.
- Spread 1 cup of cherries on the bottom of a 1 ½ qt baking dish. Pour the oatmeal mixture over the cherries. Scatter 1 more cup of cherries and chocolate chunks over the oatmeal.
- Bake for 35 minutes.
- Remove chocolate oatmeal from the oven, top with the remaining ¼ cup of cherries and serve immediately.
Hanneke Bakker says
loved it! made a few little changes, more cocoa powder 1/4 cup. And about 1/4 cup of agave instead of the maple syrup. Tastes like oatmeal in chocolate custard with cherries.
Iryna says
Henneke, thank you so much for your comment! I'm happy you enjoyed this recipe:)
Beck says
Absolutely perfect breakfast! Made it several times now and love it for meal prep! I do 1 cup of frozen raspberries and 1 cup of frozen cherries and it turns out so good every time. Thanks for the recipe!
Iryna says
Beck, thank you so much for your comment and 5-star rating! I'm happy you loved this recipe!
Kate says
Best oatmeal bake I have ever had! It seriously tasted like dessert! So happy to find a healthy breakfast my 5 year old loved!
Iryna says
Thank you for your wonderful comment and 5 star rating Kate! I’m so happy that you enjoyed this recipe!
Natalia says
I just cooked It 2 days ago with the slight modification of recipe from original, put sour cream with kefir instead milk and it comes out delicious. Thank you for a great breakfast.
Iryna says
You're welcome! So glad you liked it!