Slow Cooker Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal {Guest Post}
Growing up, I’m pretty sure I lived off of cold cereal for breakfast. And even now, it’s sometimes easier to throw a quick breakfast together instead of a whole big she-bang of what I’d really love…something hot, flavorful and maybe with a side of bacon. Because bacon and breakfast are soul-mates. So when Julie of Table for Two said she’d be making apple cinnamon oatmeal, I was super excited. The weather is getting cold so a nice warm breakfast would be incredible. Bonus, it’s an overnight slow cooker dish! Seriously perfect.Â
Hi everyone! Julie here from Table for Two. I’m so excited to be sharing with y’all today an apple recipe that is quick and easy!! I’m thrilled Rachel asked me to be apart of the Apple a Day series because my FAVORITE fruit is an apple! I had an apple every day growing up and my parents probably swore I was going to turn into an apple, haha. So this series is perfect for me and I’m so excited that fall is just around the corner and apple season is in full swing!
This dish is made in the crockpot so you basically set it and forget it. It makes your entire house smell like fall and the flavors are incredible! I loved having this for breakfast and it makes really great leftovers! Just heat it up and you have yourself another lovely and comforting bowl of oatmeal for breakfast!
Slow Cooker Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal
Ingredients
- 3 apples cored and cut into 1/2" cubes
- 1 1/2 C milk
- 1 C apple cider
- 1/2 C water
- 1 C steel-cut oats
- 2 Tbsp dark brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 Tbsp ground flax seed
- 1/4 tsp salt
Toppings
- nuts
- dried fruit
- bananas
Instructions
- Coat the inside of your crockpot generously with cooking spray.
- Add all the ingredients to the crockpot (minus the toppings), stir, cover, and cook on low for 7 hours.
- Serve hot, with optional toppings.
- To reheat: put oatmeal in microwave-safe bowl and add a splash or two of milk to re-moisten it up. Zap it for 30 seconds, take it out, stir it around, then zap for another 10-20 seconds.
You can find Julie on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
Check out more of Julie’s recipes: Buffalo ranch chicken pasta, Cinnamon sugar donuts and Southwest chicken chili.
I love breakfast slow cooker recipes! I’ll definitely be giving this one a shot. :)
Yummmmmmm! I love apple oatmeal and to make it in a crockpot… who would’ve thought!
thank you for having me!! it pushed me to make my first apple recipe this season :) and it was a delicious one! haha
I love waking up to apple oatmeal in the slow cooker. It just makes the entire house smell amazing!
This looks delicous! Do you know how many servings? I have kids coming home this weekend and i would like to make it. Yhanks!
I checked with Julie on the serving size. She said roughly 6-8 but obviously that can vary a bit depending on portion size. I hope that helps! :)
Yhanks and thanks too. :)
yummm!!
I love the start of apple season and I love overnight oats. Julie makes me hungry once again!
Love love! I use my slow cooker more for breakfast than dinner, so I am sure to be making this
Seriously delicious looking! I looooooove loading up my oatmeal so that it doesn’t actually feel like I’m eating oatmeal :)
This looks delicious!!! I love apple things. I’ve tried overnight oats in the slowcooker once before also and they didn’t work out. I actually just made this and turned it on and it’s 3 in the afternoon. Going to test it out! Thanks for all the great apple recipes!
I love overnight oatmeal! I accidentally threw my steel cut oats out a few months ago and never restocked so that needs to happen soon. This looks fantastic!
That’s wonderful , the problem of my breakfast is solved, I am tired of routine cereals .
thanks guys
Do you have nutritional info for this recipe? Thanks.
I do not, however I’m sure there are some good nutritional calculators available that may help you.
I love making overnight oats!
I make a batch using 2 cups of oats every week and hubby and I both have hot breakfast to take to work all week!
I turn my slow cooker into a “double boiler” to make it.
Put enough water in the bottom of the crock to keep it from going dry overnight, float a stainless steel bowl in the water and cook the oatmeal in that.
Easier cleanup and the leftovers easily pop into the fridge!
Do you have to use steel cut oats or can you just use regular quaker oats?
DON’T use regular oats!! it will be awful. I did the recipe last week doing that, and I almost gagged! I bought steel cut oats tonight and have it in the crockpot right now!! hope it’s better :)
I tried to sub regular oats in this and it ended up looking like old queso. Had to throw the whole thing out. :( Maybe I’ll try it again with steel cut someday.
Definitely stick with steel-cut oats as Julie listed in the recipe.
Tried this today, absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing.
Just made this.. I followed the recipe ingredient for ingredient and it turned out like soup!! Almost as if the oats needed to be doubled or even trippled. Not happy I wasted all those ingredients :(
I’m sorry to hear you had trouble with Julie’s recipe. Others had success with it, so I can’t be sure what went wrong for you.
What would happen it you left it in for an extra hour? I need my eight hours, so I’m hoping not to get up early to turn it off!
It probably wouldn’t hurt but I can’t be sure since it was Julie’s recipe. If your slow cooker has an automatic warm setting after cooking, then don’t worry.
Hey guys-wondering about omitting the milk? Can I add more water?
hey :) can I cut the recipe in half? it’s just me and my husband and we don’t eat that much lol :) will I still cook it for 7 hours? or should I make the whole thing and maybe freeze the rest? :)
If you have a smaller slow cooker, then you can absolutely cut it in half. I wouldn’t recommend cutting it in half and still using a larger slow cooker however as they’re best utilized when at least half full. Enjoy!
Is there a difference between apple cider and apple cider viinegar??
Yes. Be sure to use apple cider (juice), as called for in the recipe. Do not use apple cider vinegar, which you would find with the other varieties of vinegar in the salad dressing aisle.
This may sound silly, but surely that’s not alcoholic apple cider that’s listed in the recipe?!
It’s regular pressed apple cider, not to be confused with alcoholic hard cider. They are very different things. You’ll find apple cider in the refrigerated juice area of your store. However, depending on where you live, it may be out of season for you. In the northern states it’s available year round.
I have another apple cider question. Are there any replacements for it? I live in New Zealand and I’m pretty sure we don’t sell it. We have alcoholic and apple cider vinegar. Help…
The best alternative would be regular apple juice. It won’t have quite the same flavor, but you could increase the spices to your liking if necessary.
I like my apple oatmeal with raisins, pecans, cinnamon, nutmeg, maple syrup and a drizzle of King Arthur Flour’s Boiled Cider. I’m definitely going to try your recipe, I normally use old fashioned oats but am intrigued by the steel cut variety!
Enjoy!
Pros: delicious! Easy to throw together! Made the house smell great all night :-)
Cons: THere’s no way this makes 6-8 servings. 3 maybe. Also, I would highly recommend using a slow cooker liner bag. Even after heavily spraying with cooking spray, so much oatmeal stuck to the sides. Lots of cleanup.
So glad you enjoyed it! Serving sizes can definitely vary quite a bit from one household to another.
Can I substitute the milk for almond milk or another dairy alternative?
I imagine it might be okay, but there’s only one way to know for sure! I hope you enjoy it! :)