I have been following Slimming World for a few weeks now in my ongoing attempts to lose weight. I cant stand boring or bland food, so am constantly looking for nice things to eat that are allowed. I’ve written before about how delicious overnight oats are, and can be enjoyed on SW, but one of the things I have discovered is something else to do with oats in the morning. Baked Oats and I’m loving them!

Baked oats are simple to make, suitable for all the family and as healthy as anything. If you are feeding everyone at breakfast, you could make one large dish to put on the table.

Baked Oats – The Base Recipe

The recipe card gives the recipe for baked oats that all flavour variations come from. It’s very good on its own, and there are a great many different flavours to try too

If you are following Slimming World, use yogurt instead of milk, and sweetener in place of sugar, then your lovely baked oats are Free.

Did I like baked oats when I tried them?

These baked oats are absolutely delicious. They are filling, feel like something naughty and keep me going until lunch. Some people bake them in three ramekins and eat them through the day, some in muffin tins and have them like cake. I like mine hot from the oven and eat them all in one go for a sustaining breakfast

Flavours for baked oats

There are lots of lovely variations, I’ve used 100g of lots of different fruits. One is 100g cherries, fresh or frozen, tsp almond essence and a sprinkle of chopped almonds on the top

How do you like that picture – that one came out well didn’t it! Shame I can only find a small copy of it after losing the blog. Will try and get another one

My favourite is 100g strawberries, fresh or frozen, and a tsp vanilla essence. Another small picture

I’ve called this version Carrot Cake. I added a grated medium sized carrot (didn’t peel it as it was in good condition) and 1.5 tsps mixed spice.  A handful of raisins would be wonderful in this, but I wanted to keep it Free

(lost the picture, will try and get another one)

 

I have also enjoyed a version where I grated a whole apple in then added a generous sprinkle of lemon zest from the little pot I keep in the freezer. If I am using a lemon, but only need the juice, I zest the lemon first and keep it in a very small pot on  the freezer. A sprinkle of lemon zest is an amazing flavour booster on all sorts of things. Apart from these baked oats, I often add a sprinkle to a salad, or to fat free yogurt for a salad dressing, together with garlic and Alleppo pepper

This raspberry and dark chocolate version was amazing! Molten chocolate  and warm raspberries, mmmm. Just add 25g of dark chocolate and 100g raspberries to the base recipe.

Add any fruit that will cook well, stick to 100g of fruit, that seems to be the perfect amount. If you are having cooked fruit, you are supposed to Syn that, but I don’t count that as I would eat 100g at breakfast anyway.

Possible combinations include –

• apricot and almond
• cranberry and orange
• raspberry and white chocolate
• blackberry and apple
• plum and cinnamon
• cranberry and apple
• mincemeat.
• If you aren’t following Slimming World, you could do versions containing chunks of chocolate, how good would that be, warm and gooey from the oven!

Prefer savoury flavours?

Savoury baked oats was an idea I had one day, and I love those too now!

• spinach and chill
• curry paste and grated carrot / chopped onion and potato / sweet potato and ginger.
• Or 100g of any veg with ginger, garlic, chilli and turmeric.

I have a Pinterest board for overnight oats and baked oats, so there are more ideas over there, pop over for more inspiration

I’ll be revisiting this post now and again as I try more versions. Do try them, they’re really good.

Other ideas using oats you might like

Muffins made with mincemeat and oats

Vegetable Crumble. Root veg in a tomato sauce, topped with oats, cheese and salted peanuts

 

Oaty Biscuits. Delicious, very versatile and totally irresistible!

Peanut Oat Cakes with Roasted Onions and Green Pea Hummus