Carrot cake baked oatmeal is a healthy breakfast recipe that has all the flavors of carrot cake, but gluten free, dairy free and refined sugar free!
Last week I shared this picture of these carrot cake baked oatmeal bars and Winston on Instagram.
Man oh man, did I get some great responses. Mainly that you were all ready to get your hands on this recipe, and how cute Winston was.
Well, the recipe share is finally here today, and Winston will always take all the cuteness compliments he can get. Oh, and treats, lots of treats.
But today, this treat is for you, and it’s a good one!
Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal: 10 minute recipe
I think my favorite part about these carrot cake baked oatmeal bars, besides being addictingly delish, is just how easy they are to throw together.
We start out with a whole bunch of gluten free grains: oat flour, whole old fashioned oats and quinoa.
The fun part is that the quinoa doesn’t even have to be cooked. With all the other ingredients that aid in making these bars nice and moist {yes, I just went there with that word}, the quinoa becomes nice and soft.
Speaking of moisture, I snuck in a fun little ingredient to make these baked oatmeal bars nice and orange: sweet potatoes!
You read that right. Baked sweet potatoes add natural sweetness, and also help with making your baked goods super tender. Just take my favorite sweet potato apple muffins as example.
Applesauce and turbinado sugar bring additional sweetness to the carrot cake baked oatmeal party, making these bars sweet, but healthy enough for breakfast.
Finish the batter off with shredded carrots {obvs.} and you’re done!
Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal: toppings
While these bars are incredible straight out of the oven, they’re pretty dang tasty with a few fun toppings.
Enjoy them with a hefty drizzle of almond butter {what Winston was really after in that photo above}. Or maybe a side of Greek {or Coconut for our dairy free friends} yogurt and fresh blubs.
How do you plan to top your carrot cake baked oatmeal bars? Are you going to be a purist and go with no topping? Or are you going to go all out with fresh fruit and yogurt? Let me know in the comments!
Looking for more easy, healthy breakfast ideas? Check these out:
Strawberry Ricotta Sweet Breads
- 1 medium sweet potato
- 2 cups old fashioned oats
- ½ cup uncooked quinoa
- 1 cup oat flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 ½ Tbsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. ground cloves
- 1 tsp. ground ginger
- ¼ tsp. salt
- ⅔ cup unsweetened applesauce
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ⅔ cup turbinado sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1 cup shredded carrots*
-
Preheat oven to 350° F and grease an 9” x 9” pan with baking spray.
-
Fork the outside of the sweet potato and place on a microwave safe plate. Microwave the potato for about 6-8 minutes, until soft. Slice the potato open and let cool.
-
Meanwhile, in a medium-size bowl, whisk together the oats, quinoa, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and salt. Set aside.
-
Scoop out the sweet potato flesh {should be about ½ cup} and add to a large bowl. Stir in the applesauce, oil and coconut sugar until combined.
-
Add the egg and vanilla and stir to combine. Stir in the carrots.
-
Stir the dry ingredients into the wet until incorporated.
-
Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 33-35 minutes, until golden brown on top, and the edges are starting to pull away from the pan.
-
Remove and let cool.
-
Slice and store in airtight containers for an easy grab and go breakfast.
*Note: if you’re using matchstick carrots, I would suggest pulsing them through a food processor to chop them up a bit and make them finer.
