Throw the ingredients in your slow cooker before bed and you’ll have warm overnight apple cinnamon oats ready when you wake up.
I remember when I first wrote this recipe, overnight oats were just becoming a thing and it’s interesting nearly seven years later, they are still ever-so popular.
There are so many unique “flavors” out there now and even I’ve got some:
Why slow cooker overnight apple cinnamon oats?
Well, in general, overnight oats are one of my favorite things to make because it’s so hands off.
The best way to utilize this is when you’re having overnight guests.
Everyone wakes up at different times and instead of being concerned about, “what’s for breakfast?” if you have a batch of slow cooker overnight apple cinnamon oats ready when everyone wakes up, they can serve themselves a bowl with their coffee.
It helps the entire household out and you won’t have any hangry guests or anyone rummaging through your pantry for something to tame that hunger!
Can I use another fruit?
You could but this is for apple cinnamon oats so maybe another hard fruit that compliments apples well?
Can I use regular old-fashioned oats?
Yes.
Can I use quick cook oats?
No.
I don’t have apple cider/I can’t find apple cider
You can use apple juice!
Do I have to spray the insert of my slow cooker?
Probably best idea to because otherwise everything gets all sugary caramelized and crusted on the insert and scrubbing is going to be annoying.
You can also use a slow cooker insert liner.
Can I make this in the Instant Pot?
I haven’t tried this with the pressure cooking function but the slow cooker function on the Instant Pot would work.
Is it safe to have a slow cooker run overnight?
Absolutely. People leave their slow cookers on during the day to cook their meals.
Again, freakier things have happened so I’m not liable for anything.
I kept waking up in the middle of the night from the apple cinnamon smell but it didn’t bother me – my stomach was what was bothering me! It was wanting some of that oatmeal!
I’m going to be making more varieties of this in my crockpot because of all the leftovers I get with it. I love scooping a hefty amount in Tupperware and bringing it into work for a warm breakfast. It’s filling too so I’m not starving by 11am.
Slow Cooker Overnight Apple Cinnamon Oats
Ingredients
- 3 apples, cored and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1 1/2 cup 2% milk
- 1 cup apple cider
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 cup steel-cut oats, heaping
- 2 tbsp dark brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tbsp ground flax seed
- 1/4 tsp salt
- Optional garnishes: nuts,dried fruit, bananas
Instructions
- Coat the inside of your crockpot generously with cooking spray. You will NOT want to miss this step cause otherwise you will be standing over the sink scraping the little sucker.
- Add all the ingredients to the crockpot (minus the garnishes), stir, cover, and cook on low for 7 hours.
- Serve hot and with garnishes, if desired.
- 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.
I love how you do with the crockpot!
Have you ever made beans from scratch in a crock pot? I’m thinking about putting some chickpeas in there this morning and hope that when I come home, I can make hummus!
The one time I made overnight oats in the crockpot they came out terrible (burned on the sides) and I never tried again. But I think it’s because my old crock was cheap and lacking in settings. I upgraded recently and I think I may have to give this a try!
Mine were slightly burned on the sides but I like them like that cause I like crusty stuff (haha that sounded gross), so maybe try it for 6 hours instead of 7? or do it during the day so you can watch it the first time and then you can determine how many hours it will take you so then you can leave it overnight and not fear burnage :)
If your having a problem with burning just cook on low for 1 or 2 hours before bed then switch to warm setting for the rest of the night. Oats are perfectly cooked with no burning on the sides. Hope this helps!
To prevent crusty/ burned sides when cooking oats in the crock, to put the oatmeal ingredients in a separate glass or ceramic bowl that will fit into the crock and fill the crock with water up to the top edge of the bowl. They will cook overnight beautifully without the sticky burnt mess. Good luck!
The perfect solution to our fear of leaving the crockpot on while we’re at work! Overnight crockpotting!
I seriously love that you made an apple slow cooker dish! This is insanely perfect. Thanks so much for making this for the party!! :)
Where and how much do you use of all the ingredients for the overnight apple cinnamon oats recipe? Can’t make this without it Rachel?
Hi Beverly, as stated in the post, you click the photo of the apple or click the highlighted text that links to the recipe on Rachel’s blog. Enjoy!
Love doing oatmeal in the crockpot! Mine always get kinda brown around the edges too, but I don’t care–I just stir it in and mix it all together. I have read if you put it in a smaller dish inside of the crockpot, that doesn’t happen. Too much work for me. ;)
I love oatmeal and this sounds amazing. My crockpot often wakes me up in the middle of the night too with smells of goodness!!
I want to be all up in that like white on rice. BADABING! (I’VE LOST IT)
That’s how I organize posts too!
I know I’m having oatmeal for breakfast this morning. =P
These sound great! Off to check out the recipe. =)
We’re totes on the same wavelength today!
and this pretty much killeth me.
Wow, this sounds amazing and I can never get enough of that apple cinnamon smell! I’d probably sleep by the crockpot all night ;)
I think this would be a GREAT dish for when guests are visiting, that way I wouldn’t have to spend so much time in the kitchen. Pinned!
I’ve never made oats in a crockpot before! Julie, I love that idea. warm oatmeal on a chilly fall morning.. there is certainly NOTHING like it. I love you photos, too :)
I have never made anything sweet in the crockpot and I don’t know why! This looks amazing!
Oatmeal is our breakfast staple…excited to try a new version.
I saw your comment above, and I totlaly like the crusty edges as well. YUMMMM!
Yes, bring on the crock pot recipes!! These flavors are outstanding!
I’m definitely loving crockpot week! And I would LOVE to wake up to the smell of apple cinnamon and then dig into this in the morning before work! :)
Looks delicious!!! When I tried slowcooker oats before they ended up too burned so it’s now 3 in the afternoon and I just started cooking this to see how long I need to cook it. Can’t wait for the fall smells!
Umm this sounds incredible! Apple cinnamon is one of my favorite flavors of packaged oatmeal. When I am running late in the morning and don’t have time to prep breakfast, it’s usually what I eat because we have a Costco-sized box in our break room. This sounds like a much better alternative! Minimal prep!
Oh my…this sounds soo yummy. I can literally smell it.
I think this would be one thing to get be out of bed early :)
This. Looks. Incredible. I’ve actually never slow-cooked something overnight, but I can imagine as all this apple cinnamon goodness wafts through the house, I’d probably be up at four am with a spoon, digging desperately into this.
I can’t think of anything better than the idea of waking up to my apartment smelling like apples and cinnamon and my breakfast waiting for me!
How nice would it be to wake up to a big bowl of this oatmeal in the morning. It looks super comforting!
I love the idea of waking up to the smell of apples and cinnamon baking. Is it weird to want to set the crockpot in my room while this bakes just for extra smells? :)
There isnt any instructions, can someone tell me please.
There is a link to the recipe within the post.
How many does this serve..ok to double the receipe? How much longer do you think it will take to cook?
Planning a girls weekend..this will be perfect..
This serves 6-8, depending on your portion size. You would just double the cooking time if you doubled the recipe.
How would you slow cook this in the oven??
This recipe wasn’t made for the oven, but I imagine if you really wanted to, bake it at 225 degrees for several hours? Honestly, I can’t tell you how to do this because I’ve never done it before but if you’re willing to experiment then I think that temperature would be a good place to start!
hi, i can’t seem to find the actual recipe for the overnight apple cinnamon oats
Hi, in the text above, it says “please click here or the image to get the recipe” :) hope that helps!
I made this recipe this morning. When I was putting all the ingredients in the crockpot, I questioned the amount of cider vinegar (1 cup) because it seemed like a lot., but since it was a first time effort, I did exactly as the recipe dictated. Unfortunately, I should have listened to my instinct. The oatmeal was inedible. We tried everything to mitigate the vinegar taste, but nothing worked. I can only ask, was there a mistake in the amount, and, if so, what would the correct amount be? Also, is cider vinegar really necessary at all?
Hi Sam, I’m sorry about your oatmeal! However, if you take a look at the recipe again, it is not apple cider vinegar. It’s apple cider. Which is like apple juice but it’s an unfiltered version. If you aren’t familiar with apple cider, here is a good explanation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_cider
Boy, how dumb do I feel!!! Upon re-reading I see that I misread. That would, of course make a big difference in taste. All I can do now is laugh and try again! Thank you so much for answering so quickly.
Would all these ingredients fit into a casserole crockpot?
I’m not sure what a casserole crockpot looks like? How big is it?
I’ve never left a comment about any recipe ever, until now, but I wanted to thank you. Our family LOVES this oatmeal. I’ve been making it at least once a week for the past 2 months, and each time my kids act excited and surprised in the morning (about oatmeal!!!) . We like it topped with a little butter. Yum! Thank you!
Can you use apple juice instead of apple cider and perhaps leave out the sugar ?
Oh, that is a good thought! Definitely could. If you leave out the sugar entirely, make sure to add some when you eat it (if it doesn’t taste right).
What is the Flax seed supposed to do, other than completely ruin everything?
What was the purpose of this comment, other than to be a troll? If you don’t like flaxseed or care for it…then don’t use it! Or, if you really want to know its benefits, you could Google it.
The steel cut oats… are they the regular ones or the quick cooking?
Regular! :)
Can you make this recipe without the milk?
You can, but I would advise adding more water and apple cider since steel cut oats need a lot of liquid to cook.
I made this tonight and it was delicious! My 5 year old son loved it too. I think it will now be a regular, but I will double it for sure. I peeled the apples first, and added some white sugar to taste before eating. We actually made for dessert/ late-night snack tonight, so I cooked it at warmer setting for 3 hours instead.
Well I didn’t cost my pot with anything 1st, hopefully it won’t be too much of a bear to scrub out! Can hardly wait to taste it now though:)
Made this! Turned out exactly how I think it was expected to be. I have a small crock pot but it didn’t change anything. I wish I had added lessnof the cider, made it too sweet for me (I usually eat my oatmeal with No sugar). I used a liner and nothing burned or stuck.
Can use almond milk Instead of regular milk?
Yes, it should work.
I found the finished product rather “Gluey”. I’m thinking it was over cooked. I think next time I would try making it during the day to get the right cooking time. I do not have a programmable crockpot nor do I have a warm setting. I also added a touch more brown sugar and a splash of milk before eating.
Do I need to peel the apples and do you prefer one apple over other kinds?
You don’t have to peel apples if you don’t want to. I usually keep the skin on. I love gala apples
I decided to use only 2 apples because they were quite large. Also, I did not have any cider or juice on hand, so I increased the milk by a couple of ounces. I stirred in a small handful of walnut pieces, as well. My slow cooker did the job in under 6 hours. However, even though I sprayed it well, and stirred a couple of times during cooking, I stuck badly and took a long time to clean up. Still, I love this breakfast!