This warm and creamy applesauce oatmeal consists of a cozy mix of oats, applesauce and fresh apple chunks caramelized in warm spices. It's the perfect fall breakfast on colder days when you're craving something warm, yet wholesome. It's also ready in no time!
For the base of this applesauce oatmeal you'll only need 4 simple ingredients. This creamy oatmeal is also vegan and dairy-free. It can be enjoyed as a healthy breakfast or also as a simple pick-me-up snack in the afternoon.
For more oatmeal recipes see Overnight Oats with Water, Almond Milk Overnight Oats or Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- It's a nutritious meal that tastes similar to warm apple pie.
- It's a great healthy and simple breakfast option that includes some whole grains, fruits and healthy fats.
- It's meal-prep friendly- perfect if you're not a morning person!
Ingredients & Substitution Notes
- Oats: For best results, I recommend using old-fashioned, rolled oats. You could also use instant oats or quick oats but they will need less liquid. Feel free to use gluten-free oats to keep this a vegan oatmeal recipe.
- Unsweetened Applesauce: Adds some delicious apple flavors. I recommend using unsweetened, natural applesauce that consists of 100% apples without any additives. Both store-bought or homemade apple sauce works fine.
- Milk of Choice: Our favorite milk to use in this recipe is unsweetened oat milk. But any non-dairy milk alternative will work here such as almond milk, soy milk or cashew milk. The oatmeal can also be made with regular whole milk if you don't need it to be dairy-free.
- Maple Syrup: Is used as a sweetener in this recipe. Can be replace with honey, agarve syrup or your preferred sweetener of choice. For a refined sugar-free oatmeal, you could use a mashed banana instead. Make sure to use pure maple syrup without any additives like artificial preservatives. It's worth checking the label here!
- Cinnamon (optional): This is optional but tastes absolutely amazing in combination with apple. Can be replaced with pumpkin spice or apple pie spice.
- Apples (optional): They are our topping of choice for even more intense apple flavors.
How to Make Applesauce Oatmeal
This healthy applesauce oatmeal requires very little effort and is a great option for when you're short on time.
There's also no special equipment needed.
STEP 1: Caramelize apples (optional). This step is optional but I highly recommend adding some caramelized apples as a topping. Add apple pieces, maple syrup and a splash of water and cinnamon (optional) to a small saucepan.
Let simmer on low heat until apple pieces are soft and caramelized. Then set aside.
STEP 2: Make the oatmeal. Put water, applesauce, maple syrup and cinnamon to a saucepan. Do NOT add milk at this point.
Let simmer on low heat until slightly thickened (5-7 minutes).
Then add your milk of choice.
And let simmer for another minute. Set aside to cool.
Top Tip
- Simmer oats in water first: I prefer cooking oats in water first and adding the milk later. This will prevent the from being goopy.
Variations
- Make it vegan: Simply choose a plant-based milk of choice to keep this oatmeal recipe vegan.
- Make it refined sugar-free: Instead of maple syrup, you could add a mashed banana to naturally sweeten the oatmeal.
- Make it gluten-free: Opt for certified gluten-free oats to make this recipe gluten-free.
Toppings
- More Fresh Fruits: Feel free to add more fruits of choice here- typical fall fruits like pears, pomegranates or figs would be a great fit. But I also love fresh berries such as blueberries, raspberries or blackberries as a topping.
- Dried Fruits: I love chopping up some dried fruits such as dried apricots, prunes or dates and adding it to my oatmeal as a topping.
- Nut Butter: such as homemade Roasted Almond Butter or peanut butter make an amazing oatmeal topping!
- Granola: add some store-bought or even better, our Applesauce Granola on top. This will add some additional texture and crunchiness!
- Yogurt: Add a scoop of your yogurt of choice (Greek, soy...) for an extra creamy texture and some protein.
- Vanilla Extract: Add ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract for more flavors.
Meal Prep Options
This applesauce oatmeal is meal prep friendly and could be prepared the evening before. Simply store it in an airtight container or a mason jar with a lid on in the fridge overnight. The only thing to keep in mind here is that the oats might have soaked up even more liquid overnight. You might need to add an additional splash of milk in the morning before enjoying it. If you want to enjoy it warm, simply reheat it on the stovetop on low heat or in the microwave.
FAQs
Oats are technically gluten-free, however, they can be contaminated with gluten since they are often processed in factories that also process other grains. This is why they aren’t labelled “gluten-free”. While some people suffering from celiac disease can eat pure oats without having digestive issues, others still can’t. The reason for this could be that oats contain avenin- a protein similar to gluten.
Absolutely! You can make an applesauce overnight oatmeal out of this one! That way you’ll have a delicious breakfast ready for a busy morning! Simply store it in an airtight container or a mason jar with a lid on. The only thing to keep in mind here is that the oats might have soaked up even more liquid overnight. You might need to add an additional splash of milk in the morning before enjoying it.
While this is a stovetop recipe, I’ve also heard people making it in the microwave. I assume you will have to microwave the apples (with sweetener, water, cinnamon) first. Then go on microwaving the oats. However, I have never tried preparing this recipe in a microwave but would be happy to hear back from you if you tried it!
Adding salt helps to enhance the flavors even more. Make sure to only use a tiny pinch.
I find that cooking your oats in a mix of water AND milk gives them this suuuper sticky texture. I prefer letting them simmer in water first and adding the milk towards the end of the cooking process.
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📖 Recipe
Healthy Applesauce Oatmeal
Ingredients
Caramelized Apples (Optional Topping)
- 1 apple, diced
- 4 tbsp (or more) maple syrup *or other sweetener, see notes
- pinch of cinnamon
- splash of water
Applesauce Oatmeal
- ¾ cup of rolled oats (large flaked) *see notes
- 1½ cups water *depending on how creamy you like your oats
- 1 cup (unsweetened) apple sauce
- 4 tbsp (or more) maple syrup
- ½ cup milk of choice *oat milk, almond milk, dairy milk
- pinch of cinnamon *optional
- tiny pinch of salt *optional
Instructions
- Place apple chunks, maple syrup, cinnamon and a splash of water into a small saucepan.
- Let simmer until apples are soft (gradually add a bit more water if needed), then remove apples from sauce pan and set aside.
- Put oats, water, apple sauce, maple syrup, cinnamon & salt into the same saucepan. Start by adding 1 ½ cups of water and work your way up, depending on how thin you like your oatmeal.
- Let simmer on low heat for about 5-7 minutes until oats have absorbed most of the liquid. Then add milk of choice and let simmer for another 2 minutes.
- Let cool for 5 minutes (oats will thicken even more). Taste and adjust sweetness.
- Throw in caramelized apples. Add a drizzle of maple syrup/ more applesauce/ nuts/granola on top and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Oats: I prefer using old-fashioned oats for all of my oatmeal recipes. If you choose to use instant oatmeal or quick oats cooking time and the liquid needed might vary quite a bit!
- Maple Syrup: Feel free to use another sweetener of choice such as honey, agave syrup or other.
- Toppings: I highly recommend adding toppings such as slice of fresh fruit, dried fruits, Homemade Almond Butter, store-bought or homemade granola (try this Applesauce Granola) or other nuts and seeds.
- Make it vegan: Simply choose a plant-based milk of choice to keep this oatmeal recipe vegan (we prefer oat milk).
- Make it refined sugar-free: Instead of maple syrup, you could add a mashed banana to naturally sweeten the oatmeal.
- Make it gluten-free: Opt for certified gluten-free oats to make this recipe gluten-free.
- Meal-Prep: You can easily prepare this oatmeal the evening before and store it in the fridge overnight. Add a splash of milk in the morning and enjoy! Add the toppings shortly before serving.
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