Make Ahead Freezer Friendly Easy Baked Oatmeal Cups – A Meal Prep Recipe {WW 5 Purple, 7 Blue, 8 Green, Vegetarian, Gluten Free}

Next to the overnight oats, I think these Baked Berry Oatmeal Cups are the easiest make-ahead breakfast out there!

If I don’t have a plan, I’m a complete mess in the morning. I will run and grab anything that is in front of me and then I end up overeating. 🙁 Can anyone relate? Seriously, I become moody and irritable without a plan. Who knew that the lack of planning can play that much impact on your overall mood?

These oatmeal cups are not only the meal prepper’s best friend, but they are also nutritious and versatile. You can put virtually any fruit in them to bake each week. It is much more fun to have something different than having the same old breakfast every single morning. Let your imagination run wild here! I love a great “grab and go” breakfast!

🍓 Ingredients

The two I’m making are blueberry almond and blueberry, raspberry, white chocolate. I’m currently really loving blueberries so I tried to incorporate them into both of these baked oat cup recipes!

Oats: It’s best to use old fashioned oats to get the right texture. Otherwise, the oatmeal cups may fall apart and be a little mushy.

Sweetener: We use a combination of honey, white chocolate chips, and brown sugar. They are perfectly sweet and delicious.

Berries: I like using a combination of blueberries and raspberries, but you could substitute them for your favorite fruit or berry.

I made one batch of the oatmeal cups and divided them into two for the different toppings.

You can also split it up and fold in the berries rather than poking them in from the top, like I did in this recipe. Both ways work but I needed to poke from the top so you all could see what was in each cup! There are no steadfast rules here.

I do add a tad bit of sour cream to these. I learned that trick from Martha Stewart’s Banana Bread and fell in love. Ignore the ratings! This bread is to die for!!  It is delicious!!! So I got hooked on adding a bit of sour cream to my baked goods and it really makes them moist!

⏲️ Instructions

These are easy to make and taste so good that you will want to add them into your breakfast rotation.

Combine the old fashioned oats, brown sugar, baking powder and cinnamon in one bowl and stir.

In a separate bowl, combine the milk, eggs, sour cream, honey and melted butter. You can see in the photo that part of my butter is not 100% melted and that is ok. It just needs to be really runny so it can mix into the dry ingredients without having separation.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently mix. Fill into muffin pans that have been well sprayed with nonstick spray and cook at 350 F for 18-20 minutes. When they come out of the oven, I like to slide a knife around all of them to loosen them up so they don’t stick to the pan. After about 5 minutes, I take them out and allow to cool on a rack. Remember to cool on the rack so that the cups will cool evenly.

❄️ Freezer Directions

Once the oatmeal cups have cooled completely, place them on a baking sheet to place in the freezer for several hours to freeze. Remove from freezer and place in a freezer grade ziplock bag. To ensure that they won’t get frostbitten, you can also wrap them in foil or a cling wrap and then place in a ziplock bag.

They will stay fresh for 3-4 weeks.

To defrost, take them out of the freezer the night before to allow them to start to defrost. In the morning, place on a plate and microwave on high for 30 seconds. Depending on your individual microwave, you may need a bit more. Test after the 30 seconds to see.

🍍 Other Tasty Add-ins

• Mangos
• Pineapple, mangos and coconut
• Chocolate chips and coconut
• Chia seeds and fruit
• Mix in a bit of instant coffee to them. If you do this, add in a little bit of oranges and make it a “mocha valencia” version named after Starbucks drink!
• Mix in a bit of instant coffee and add chocolate chips for more of a mocha version.
• Strawberries and banana are natural combination
• Bananas and pecans for a banana bread flavor
• Layer peanut butter and jelly in the center for a PBJ version

The options here are really endless and I hope you get the idea that you can do anything and to have fun making these!

🧁 Can I Use Muffin Liners?

I don’t suggest it. When you spray the muffin cups you are helping to create that crispy outside exterior you see in the photos. If you chose to use the muffin liners, you would lose that. Just remember to spray generously.

🥛 Can I Substitute a Different Milk?

Absolutely! We love making our own almond milk and coconut milk as they are both so creamy mixed with oats. This time, we chose to use regular 2% milk to show that it will come out perfectly using a dairy milk. But those that love the nut milks out there, we are with you! Go ahead and use them with no concerns in this recipe.

💡 Meal Prepping

Baked oatmeal cups are fantastic for meal prep. Make them on a Sunday and they will keep until Friday in a ziplock bag. Separate them into smaller bags for a grab-and-go from the refrigerator. Heat them up for 30 seconds in the microwave for a warm and filling breakfast.

🔍 Related Recipes

Delicious Carrot Cake Muffins – These incredible muffins are going to fill you up while keeping your taste buds intrigued.

Healthy Blueberry Zucchini Muffins – Start your morning off with one or two of these muffins and you will be in food heaven.

Sweet and Simple Lemon Lavender Scones – You can whip up these scones in just 20 minutes! Talk about an incredible way to start the day.