Simple slow cooker cinnamon oatmeal recipe is here for your family for breakfast this week. This one is with Old Fashioned oats or follow our slow cooker steel cut oats with apples for a wonderful start to the morning.
This tastes like a healthy cinnamon roll! It is easy to throw together the night before for Christmas breakfast or on the weekend. Dress it up with fresh fruit on top and even your kids will love this and other Crockpot recipes. (affiliate links present)
Below we will explain this method. If you love easy breakfast ideas this is going to be a hit. On Christmas Eve we started a tradition where we made this the night before. Then when company came over I had an oatmeal bar set up with all the toppings, and served with breakfast quinoa too.
There really aren’t a lot of ingredients needed when you make this. The reason why we don’t use quick oats is that they get soft pretty quickly and I wanted to be able to make it the night before. It’s just one less thing to think about when you have a lot going on, especially during the holidays.
Ingredient Notes
- 3 c old fashioned rolled oats is what we are using and healthier with more fiber than quick. You can find gluten free varieties too
- Water or any liquid you’d like works with this, I mean you could use Sprite for a sweeter touch
- Milk or almond milk or a dairy free version to make it creamy
- Ground cinnamon is the seasoning that we used with this
- 2 tbsp maple syrup, agave, honey or brown sugar for sweetness
- 1 peeled and diced apple is an optional add in
Variations
You can let your imagination go with this one. With all different kinds of milk, even chocolate, berries, dried fruit, nuts, pumpkin seeds, etc…
with steel cut oats
If you want to know How to Cook Steel Cut Oats instead we have several methods for you here, those take longer.
with quick oats
The two ways I will use quick cooking oats is if I am making Instant Pot oatmeal or throwing it into the microwave real fast. It is good for that but after making it the other two ways I do like a bit more “grit” to it and not so soft.
Slow cooker apple cinnamon oatmeal
You may want to spray the inside of your Crock pot with a bit of olive or coconut oil. If you want fruit, chop apples into small bite size pieces (or omit if you want). Spread dry old fashioned oats in and then pour your water over the top with some milk. For sweetness use regular or sugar free brown sugar with cinnamon.
Cook overnight (for 8 hours) on low. Loosen with a bit of fresh milk on top with some of your favorite fresh fruit, seeds, and even peanut butter!
in the Oven
If you love a touch of fruit, give our peach baked oatmeal a whirl. In this batch I used 1 apple peeled and diced into small bite size pieces. If you would rather bake this in the oven for a faster dish use the link above for the baked version in a casserole dish.
Slow Cooker Cinnamon Oatmeal
Equipment
- 1 slow cooker
Ingredients
- 3 c old fashioned oats
- 3 c water
- 1 c milk, or almond milk
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 2 tbsp maple syrup, or brown sugar
- 1 apple, optional
Instructions
- Spray inside of crockpot with olive oil. Chop apple into small bite size pieces. Spread dry old fashioned oats into crockpot. Pour water over oatmeal.
- Pour milk over oatmeal. Stir everything together. Add maple syrup (or brown sugar), cinnamon and chopped apples. Stir everything together.
- Cover and cook overnight for 8 hours on low. Scoop cooked oatmeal into bowls. Can loosen with a bit of fresh milk on top and top with your favorite fresh fruit, seeds, and nut combinations.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
What happens if you oversleep and it goes longer than this? Well it will begin to dry up more than you’d like but wouldn’t be completely ruined. Better an hour less than an hour more but could be saved with some milk on each serving, stir to loosen, and a swirl of whipped cream wouldn’t hurt. 😉
Other Breakfast Recipes
- If you are making this as a Christmas brunch menu item I will share a few others we have made that are always a hit. You’ll want some protein that day too in order to keep everyone going, especially if it is an all day affair. For that I suggest our slow cooker breakfast casserole with eggs, cheese and hashbrowns.
- You can make crispy air fryer breakfast potatoes to balance out the softness of this dish.
- Feel free to have all different types of fresh fruit as possible available to liven up each bowl with no added sugar but natural sweetness for sure. 1/2 cup for each person is about right if you’re planning on shopping for this.
- If you have a few who love what grandma made, you can make a pot of our Instant Pot grits too.
And then decorating the table lends to the holiday and fun for everyone too. You can print recipe below which lists nutritional facts and saturated fat. Keep in mind that only calculates exactly what is listed.
Can this recipe be doubled?