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Slow cooker apple cinnamon oatmeal is the epitome of Fall. Warm cinnamon and sweet apples will make your house smell absolutely incredible. The best part? Throw the ingredients in your slow cooker before bed and you’ll have the coziest apple cinnamon oatmeal when you wake up!
The Ultimate Fall Cozy Weather Recipe: Apple Cinnamon Oats
This slow cooker apple cinnamon oatmeal pack all the flavors of Fall into a warm, cozy bowl. They’re loaded with all the Fall flavors that you’re accustomed to such as cinnamon, apples, and pecans. I love how easy this comes together. It’s nearly hands-off and you wake up in the morning to the most amazing smell in your house. It’s like having a house full of Bath and Body Works candles.
The best way to utilize this is when you’re having overnight guests or just want to sleep in a bit on the weekend. Everyone wakes up at different times and instead of being concerned about, “what’s for breakfast?” if you have a batch of 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!
What You’ll Need:
- Apple – fresh apples! I would go for Fuji, Gala, Honeycrisp, or whatever variety you like. I would stay away from Red Delicious (I think the exterior is too waxy) and Granny Smiths.
- Milk – cow’s milk or dairy-free works!
- Apple Cider – please, NOT apple cider vinegar. Apple cider!! If you can’t find apple cider, you can substitute for apple juice.
- Steel cut oats – I love the texture of steel cut oats and it’s the perfect candidate for an overnight slow cooker oats recipe such as this because it doesn’t get super mushy and steel cut oats typically take longer to cook anyway.
- Brown sugar – dark brown sugar to be exact. I love the depth of flavor the dark brown sugar gives.
- Ground cinnamon – I love the warmth of cinnamon.
- Ground flaxseed – for that extra fiber, ya know?
- All the toppings – nuts, maple syrup, more apples, and do you dare add some whipped cream?!
Recipe Tips and Variations
- Definitely spray the insert of your slow cooker well so you aren’t scrubbing off the sugary browned edges (this is normal) for hours. However, if you do forget and this does happen, allow the insert to soak for a couple hours and use a little Bar Keeper’s Friend or create a paste with baking soda and Dawn dish soap.
- If you don’t have steel cut oats, you can substitute with old-fashioned rolled oats but I would not recommend substituting with quick cook oats. They would cook entirely way too fast and not hold their shape very well. I fear they would be too mushy and gummy.
- On your serving of oatmeal, sprinkle some chia seeds on top for extra fiber and protein.
- Speaking of protein, you could mix in some vanilla protein powder into your personal serving if you need to start the day with extra protein.
difference between steel cut oats, old fashioned oats/rolled oats, and quick cook oats
It comes down to texture, processing, and cooking time.
Steel cut oats are oat groats that have been cut into two or three pieces and they’re relatively unprocessed while old fashioned/rolled oats are made by steaming and rolling the oat groats for faster cooking. Quick cook oats are the same but cut into smaller pieces for even faster cooking.
Storage and Reheating Instructions
Allow leftovers to cool then store in an airtight container and keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. To reheat, you’ll want to splash a little liquid (milk or creamer) before reheating in a pot on the stovetop or in a microwave-safe bowl until warmed through. The liquid will help loosen up the gluten that naturally gets thicker when chilled.
Slow Cooker Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 apples, cored and cut into ½ inch cubes
- 1 ½ cup (366 g) 2% milk
- 1 cup (236 g) apple cider
- ½ cup (119 g) water
- 1 cup (160 g) steel-cut oats, a heaping cup
- 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, or more if you prefer more
- 1 tablespoon ground flax seed
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Optional toppings: 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 3-4 hours or high for 1.5-2 hours. Keep on warm until ready to serve. Depending on how long it has been sitting on 'keep warm', you may need to add some liquid to loosen it up.3 apples, 1 1/2 cup (366 g) 2% milk, 1 cup (236 g) apple cider, 1/2 cup (119 g) water, 1 cup (160 g) steel-cut oats, 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 tablespoon ground flax seed, 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Serve warm with your desired toppings.Optional toppings: nuts, dried fruit, bananas
Video
Nutrition
Photography by Eat Love Eats
Would all these ingredients fit into a casserole crockpot?
I’m not sure what a casserole crockpot looks like? How big is it?
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.
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!
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!
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.
There isnt any instructions, can someone tell me please.
There is a link to the recipe within the post.
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? :)
How nice would it be to wake up to a big bowl of this oatmeal in the morning. It looks super comforting!
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!
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.