Vegan Pumpkin Baked Oats

If you're looking for a cosy fall breakfast that’s both healthy and delicious, these vegan pumpkin baked oats are the perfect choice. Made with simple ingredients and packed with seasonal flavours, this easy recipe offers a nutritious start to your day without any hassle.

This is a traditional baked oatmeal recipe that doesn’t require a blender; however, you can certainly use one! As always, I’ll give you a multitude of options so you can adapt this scrumptious vegan breakfast to your liking!

Contents

• Ingredients
• Equipment
• Instructions
• Short Video Instructions
• Substitutions
• Variations
• Storage
• Top Tip
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

Additionally, this healthy meal is gluten-free (if using certified gluten-free oats), refined sugar-free, oil-free and doesn’t need more than 7 ingredients!

In this recipe post, I'll guide you through how to make this vegan pumpkin baked oatmeal, a warm and satisfying dish that combines the heartiness of oats with the comforting taste of pumpkin, perfect for these cool autumn mornings.

Ingredients

I like to choose wholesome ingredients for these healthy baked oats with pumpkin while keeping the recipe as simple as possible. As already mentioned, I’ll provide some alternatives, too (see ‘substitutions’ and ‘variations’).

• oats (traditional rolled or quick oats)
• plant-based milk (such as almond milk or oat milk) or water!
• pumpkin puree
• mashed banana
• maple syrup
• pumpkin pie spice (or cinnamon, ginger, clove and nutmeg)
• sea salt

Optional Ingredients

• pecan or walnut pieces
• vegan chocolate chips
• nut butter (almond butter or natural peanut butter)
• cocoa powder
• vanilla extract

(see recipe card for quantities)

Oats: This recipe is made with traditional rolled oats but quick oats will work, too. I prefer rolled oats over quick oats as they’re more on the wholemeal side and less processed. And organic is always best.

Another option for you is oat flour—which you can easily ground yourself at home if you have a high-speed blender or powerful food processor (see ‘substitutions’ below for more details).

Plant-based Milk: Honestly, I just use water because one, it’s cheaper and two, I don’t think it makes a huge difference in taste.

Of course, if you disagree, you can absolutely use almond, oat or soy milk—any milk really! It does not matter, as long as you like the taste of whichever version you end up choosing.

Pumpkin Puree: If you live in the US, you should be able to buy canned pumpkin purée. Just make sure, there aren't any additives in it—sugar or ‘natural’ flavours in particular.

Alternatively, you can easily make your own homemade pumpkin puree! When made fresh, pumpkin puree also adds more nutritional value. I love roasting pumpkin chunks and puree them with a stick blender. Or you can just boil pumpkin and mash it with a fork. Easy!

If you need a more detailed instruction, you can check out one of my other pumpkin recipes, such as this vegan pumpkin banana bread (a yummy autumn breakfast too!) where I explain it more.

Banana: A ripe banana works best because you can easily mash it. An overripe banana is, of course, fine, too! I like adding a banana for its flavour and sweetness—we do not need it for binding! You can also omit it altogether and substitute it with more pumpkin puree!

Maple Syrup: I love adding maple syrup for more sweetness. The pumpkin puree and banana already make these vegan pumpkin baked oats fairly sweet but I do like it sweeter, especially on these chilly mornings in the colder months. For sugar alternatives see ‘substitutions’ or leave out for sugar-free.

Pumpkin Pie Spice: You should be able to get the spice blend in your grocery shop. I prefer mine organic and I also make sure there are only spices in it and no additives such as rice flour.

Alternatively, you can add separate spices (this is what I usually do). You add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and ½ teaspoon of each ginger, clove and nutmeg. All of them are ground spices.

Sea Salt: Everything tastes better with a sprinkle of salt. I prefer sea salt or rock salt as these are the most natural salts and they’re not iodised.

Equipment

You’ll need a small baking dish. The one you see in the pictures is a square ceramic dish (a little bigger than 20 cm / 8 inches). A small rectangular casserole dish works too (I made it once in a 21 x 13 cm / 8.2 x 5.1 inch).

A smaller dish than the above-mentioned sizes is definitely okay. I don’t recommend a larger one as the baked oats will become fairly flat. Or you will need to make a one and half batch!

I do prefer the ceramic dish as I don’t have to line it with parchment paper and I can put it through the dishwasher. But a square brownie pan/tin, for example, will do, too.

Alternatively, you can make it in several ramekins. The baking time will be different with the little ones—probably, rather 20 than 30 minutes—you’ll need to keep an eye on your oven.

If you choose the blended version of these vegan pumpkin baked oats, then you’ll need a food processor or a big enough blender.

Instructions

Step 1. Preheat your oven to 175 °C/ 350 °F. Grease the baking dish with a little bit of oil or vegan butter or line it with baking paper.

In a large bowl, mash the banana with a fork first. Then add the other ingredients—in whichever order. No need to separate the dry ingredients from the wet ingredients ;). Combine well. If you like, you can add some (or all :D) of the additional ingredients listed above too.

Step 2. Pour the oat pumpkin mixture into the prepared baking dish and sprinkle with additional vegan chocolate chips and walnut pieces (all optional).

Step 3. Bake for about 30 minutes. The top should be golden brown, slightly having a crusty look, and feel a little dry.

Step 4. Enjoy your healthy vegan pumpkin baked oats warm and fresh out of the oven, and with some whipped coconut cream or plant-based yoghurt if you like.

Short Video Instructions

Blended Vegan Pumpkin Baked Oats

For the blended version, I recommend adding baking powder as it makes sense here (not so much when you use rolled oats—they won’t rise)! Your baked oatmeal will rise this way, turning your breakfast into a fluffy, baked delight!

Step 1. Preheat your oven to 175 °C/ 350 °F. Grease the baking dish with a little bit of oil or vegan butter or line with parchment paper.

Step 2. Place all ingredients (except for chocolate chips and nuts, if using) in your blender or food processor and blend until smooth and well combined. Little oat chunks are fine as they will soften while baking.

If the batter is fairly thick, add a little bit more plant milk or water. If it’s too runny, for whatever reason, you can add some more oats. But wait for a couple of minutes first. The mixture most likely will thicken with time!

Step 3. Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish. Stir through optional ingredients such as vegan chocolate chips and walnut pieces and leave some to place on the top.

Step 4. Bake for about 30 minutes. The crust should break slightly and should feel springy and firm to the touch.

Step 5. Enjoy your healthy pumpkin baked oats warm, and with some whipped coconut cream or dairy-free yoghurt.

Meal Prep

To save you time on those busy mornings, you can prepare these vegan pumpkin baked oats ahead. Proceed until step 2, before you put the dish in the oven.

Cover the baking dish with a beeswax wrap or plastic wrap and place it in the fridge. This is similar to overnight oats. Alternatively, you can also pour the mixture into a container and store it in there overnight.

If you’re only cooking for one, you can make this whole batch as meal prep and only bake a quarter of the batter per day in a ramekin dish. By the way, I’ve got a single-serving recipe for baked oats here on my blog! There, you’ll find the version with pumpkin as well (see ‘variations’).

Substitutions

Oat Flour: These vegan pumpkin baked oats can be made with oat flour as well, as already mentioned. This way, you can have the blended version without the use of a blender!

You can simply replace the amount of rolled oats with the flour. The weight and measurements are the same. However, you may need to add a little bit more liquids as the oats, in their ground state, soak up more, and faster!

When using oat flour, I do recommend adding 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder as well to achieve fluffy baked oats.

Gluten-free: Make sure, the oats you’re using are certified gluten-free. If you want an alternative, you can also try quinoa flakes. But I reckon you’ll need to sweeten them more, plus use less liquids!

Banana: If you don’t like bananas or are allergic to them, you can substitute them with a ¼ cup / 60 g pumpkin puree—or unsweetened apple sauce!

Or, another alternative is 1 flax egg (1 tablespoon ground flax seed mixed with 2 tablespoons of water) or chia seeds (1 tablespoon chia seeds plus 3 tablespoon water). This is purely for nutritional benefits rather than the need to bind the mixture!

Plant-based Milk: As mentioned earlier, just water will do the trick, too. Or mix a few tablespoons of yoghurt with the water. Canned coconut milk can also be used and will make the baked oats creamier.

Maple Syrup: Any other liquid sweetener is fine such as brown rice syrup or agave syrup! You can even substitute it with coconut sugar or brown sugar if you prefer.

I recommend a ¼ cup / 50 g of sugar plus ¼ cup / 60 ml more plant milk or water to get the ratio right.

Variations

Chocolate Pumpkin: Add ¼ cup / 25 g cacao/cocoa powder and chocolate chips. You could also make a ‘marble’ version and separate the batter—having one with chocolate and one without. When you pour the batter into the dish, alternate with spoonfuls of the two colours.

Peanut Butter Chocolate: Add ¼ cup / 60 g of peanut butter to the mix and stir through 3 tablespoons of vegan chocolate chips (or vegan chocolate chunks) and/or 2 tablespoons of cacao or cocoa powder.

Traditional Baked Oats: For more recipe ideas and how to make traditional vegan baked oats, see this recipe post here.

Storage

You can store leftovers in an airtight container or leave them in the baking dish and cover them with beeswax or plastic wrap. Leftovers will keep for at least 5 days in the fridge.

Yes, you can also freeze these vegan pumpkin baked oats, in an airtight container, for up to 3 months.

Top Tip

In case you’ve missed it, this healthy breakfast can be easily turned into a meal prep for the week (see ‘Instructions’ and scroll down to ‘Meal Prep’).

Also, this yummy oats recipe makes a delicious and healthy dessert, especially when made with oat flour or as a blended version! It’s almost like a cake!

📖 Recipe