If you’re in need of a simple, healthy breakfast in bulk or something to feed the family over the weekend, this baked protein oatmeal has you covered. It’s high volume (filling), high protein, and has real peanut butter inside so you know it’s tasty.
And before you dive in, I’ll add that even if you just need one serving, the recipe is super easy to cut down to fit your needs.
High Protein Baked Oatmeal Ingredients and Substitutions
This oatmeal bake is as easy as throwing everything in a bowl, mixing, and baking. So, I’ll just briefly touch on a few ingredients you might have questions about modifying.
Protein Powder
The recipe calls for vanilla with added cocoa powder. But feel free to use a chocolate protein powder if that’s what you have on hand. You might add an extra 1/3 scoop to account for the loss of cocoa.
One of the most important things to keep in mind when using other protein powders is scoop size.
The recipe calls for PEScience Select which is a blend of whey and casein. If you’re using a whey-only protein powder, you may need to add a bit more protein powder or reduce the milk slightly.
This protein oatmeal bake is hard to mess up since you’re kinda under baking it, though. So don’t sweat it too much!
Rolled Oats vs Quick Oats
A lot of my protein oatmeal recipes (like the infamous Butterfinger Proats from my Protein Oatmeal Guide) use quick oats for fast cooking. If you wanted to use quick oats instead of rolled oats, that should work fine but the oatmeal bake might cook a bit faster.
Peanut Butter and Canned Pumpkin
Ah, the real MVP—peanut butter. You could use almond butter like in my low carb brownies for these high protein baked oats, but I wouldn’t recommend using something like a powdered peanut butter. You’ll need some fat to balance the protein powder and avoid a dry and tough finished product.
The canned pumpkin is there to add some fat-like properties without the actual fat and calories of something like peanut butter. You’ll never know it’s there but if you wanted to use something else, try unsweetened apple sauce, another fat source, or just more peanut butter.
To see apple sauce in action, check out my protein carrot cake recipe.
I’ll also add that if you wanted to reduce the fat even further and deal with a slightly less delicious oatmeal bake, you could use the powdered peanut butter and use more pumpkin. You can also use a full fat milk to accommodate for some lost fat from other ingredients.
All right, let’s get to cooking. If you make this oatmeal bake, I’d love to see it! Snap a pic and tag me on Instagram @mason_woodruff.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Oatmeal Bake
Oatmeal and protein powder mixed with peanut butter and dark cocoa—all baked for one gooey breakfast treat.
Ingredients
- 1/2 C (40g) Rolled Oats
- 1 1/2 scoop (47g) Vanilla Protein Powder*
- 2 Tbsp (10g) Unsweetened Dark Cocoa Powder
- 1/4 tsp Baking Powder
- 3 Tbsp (50g) Peanut Butter
- 1/4 C (60g) Canned Pumpkin
- 1/3 C (80mL) Unsweetened Cashew Milk (or your choice of milk)
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 350F.
- Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- Add the pumpkin, peanut butter, and milk. Stir well.
- Transfer the ingredients to a 6.5" cast iron skillet or similar sized baking dish. (Different dishes will affect cook time.)
- Smooth the top of the mixture and bake for 12-15 minutes, depending on the dish and desired center. I purposely left out any food safety concerns so you can have this like gooey oatmeal or more done like a breakfast cookie.
Notes
1/2 the oatmeal bake has 8 Smart Points. Nutrition facts do not include any additional drizzle. For the drizzle, I melted a tablespoon of peanut butter and chocolate chips.
*I used PEScience Select protein powder. You can use my affiliate discount code mason to save 15% on PEScience products.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 2 servings Serving Size: 1/2 the oatmeal bakeAmount Per Serving: Calories: 350Total Fat: 15gCarbohydrates: 27gProtein: 27g
SarJay
Wednesday 27th of March 2024
This is fantastic! I have a sweet tooth and this hits the spot! Fudgy and just sweet enough. Love the protein level and it's easy to make! Awesome recipe!
katie lloyd
Wednesday 28th of July 2021
I made this for dessert after dinner (i made about 1/3rd of the recipe), and it was delish! I ended up putting the peanut butter in the middle of the oats instead of mixing it in, so it made a little lava cake, and it ended up tasting amazing!
Juliya T
Tuesday 18th of May 2021
Really good! I used applesauce and coffee for the liquid. Put homemade raspberry jam on top. Will make again :)
Michaela
Friday 30th of April 2021
I make this all the time! I use powdered peanut butter (with some stevia to sweeten) and a little extra pumpkin and then crumble a reeses on top and it’s so good!
Madison
Wednesday 14th of April 2021
I really like this recipe, but I found it was just a little 1 note sweet (a hazard of protein powder cooking). I'm messing around with adding a little salt and sprinkling some kosher salt on top for a more salted chocolate peanut angle! Still obviously very good, otherwise I wouldn't bother tinkering