Make Ahead Freezer Oatmeal Cups

I only spent about 30 minutes prepping these delicious make-ahead freezer oatmeal cups. It’s incredibly satisfying to open the freezer and see a gallon bag full of breakfasts ready to go. It makes me feel incredibly organized, even if the rest of the house is a disaster!

If you’ve been looking for a super-easy breakfast – this is it. I feel like I’m always saying that to you guys, but I’m always on a mission to save time in the morning, so this is my latest idea.

These oatmeal cups are portable (easy to take to work!), you can add your favorite toppings, and they can be made from leftovers! Keep in mind, these are not the baked kind of oatmeal cups. You can think of these as cooked porridge cups – they’re ready to reheat whenever you need them.

I remember buying a box of steel cut oat cups from Trader Joe’s a while ago, and they were so handy, but I knew I could save a few bucks if I were to just make them myself.

🥣 Ingredients

You don’t need much to make these oatmeal cups. This is a basic recipe you can customize with your favorite toppings, which you can add before freezing the cups, or when reheating.

✅Steel-cut oats

✅Water

✅Toppings (optional) – These can be anything you and your family like: fruit, nuts, seeds, raisins, cinnamon…etc.

🍽️ Instructions

👉Step 1: Cook steel-cut oats using your favorite method. Let cool. I placed 1 cup of steel cut oats into the rice cooker with 4 cups of water and turned it on to the “white rice” setting. If you have a “porridge setting” cook for 2 hours.

Here are a few alternative instructions:

• Old Fashioned Night Before Method: Boil one cup of water per ¼ cup of steel cut oats. Boil water and add the oats, stir and shut off the stove. Add the lid and go to bed. The oats are perfect the next morning.
• Pressure Cooker Method: Use two cups of steel cut oats to five cups of water and stir. Seal and cook for four minutes and let it naturally release.
• Stove Top Method: Boil 2 ½ cups of water in a saucepan. Once it comes to a boil, pour in one cup of steel oats and stir. Simmer for 20 minutes. Keep your eye on it as it likes to bubble up a lot.
• Slow Cooker Method: Place ratio of 1.5 cups of steel cut oats to four cups of water in a slow cooker. Turn on low for 7-8 hours.

👉Step 2: If you’d like to mix in any toppings (like fruit, raisins, cinnamon, etc.) add them in before portioning it into cups. Add the oatmeal into muffin tins and freeze for at least three hours, or until it is solid.

👉Step 3: Remove from freezer and press a spoon or a butter knife along an edge to pop the cups out. Put them into a gallon freezer-safe bag. I also like to double wrap these in Saran if I know I won’t eat them immediately.

📌Note: I don’t grease the muffin tins, because I don’t want the extra “stuff” on the oatmeal cups, but I’m sure it would make popping them out easier. Definitely use a silicone muffin pan if you have one.

If you’re having trouble getting them out, carefully run the bottom of the muffin tin under cold water, being sure not to wet the oatmeal cups (cover the front with a dishcloth), then use a spoon or butter knife to pop them out.

If you want rounded tops, just add extra oats to the top and use a spoon to make a dome shape. I honestly just did that for the pictures. They look pretty while frozen, but it’s just going to look like a regular bowl of oatmeal in the end. 🙂

🔥 Heating Instructions

✔️Place two oatmeal cups in a microwave-safe bowl.

✔️Add in two tablespoons of water.

✔️Microwave for about 3 minutes.

✔️Break apart the oatmeal cups and stir in your desired amount of milk.

✔️Microwave for an additional minute.

📌 Expert Tips

🔸The best tip I can give you when you make these is to use a silicone muffin pan so they will release once you have them frozen. The photos shown is how they’ve been made prior to realizing the error of my ways.

🔸Add a little bit of sugar, fruit and nuts to these before you freeze them so you have a complete breakfast ready to microwave when you pull it out of the freezer. I used to put the toppings on later but this is a big time saver.

🔸This is a great recipe to use when you have “a little of this and a little of that” left in your pantry. You know when you have just a smidge of sliced almonds left. Scour the pantry and clean out when you go to make these.

🍓 Fun Flavor Combos To Try

These make-ahead freezer oatmeal cups are plain on purpose. This is the base recipe I rely on, but most of the times I like to add a fun flavor.

You can stir these mix-ins right onto the oats before freezing so you can have a complete breakfast ready-to-go, or add them fresh after reheating.

Plain oatmeal is fine, but why settle for fine when you can have “Apple Pie” for breakfast? You can stir these mix-ins right into the oats before freezing so they are ready to go, or add them fresh after reheating.

⭐Apple Pie – Diced apples (dried or fresh) + a teaspoon of brown sugar or maple syrup + a generous sprinkle of cinnamon.

⭐Peanut Butter Banana – A tablespoon of peanut butter + sliced banana.

⭐Berries & cream – Frozen berries + a splash of vanilla extract.

⭐Carrot cake – Grated carrots + raisins + walnuts + a pinch of nutmeg.

⭐Tropical breeze – Dried mango + dried pineapple + shredded coconut.

❓ FAQ