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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
Doubled the recipe and used almond milk to replace the dairy. Cooked it on low for about 6 hours overnight, then switched to warm when I got up. Used a crock pot liner and it did not burn, that was a major concern for me. It sat in the crock for another hour on warm while waiting for everyone to get out of bed. It was a big hit. What an easy and delicious way to serve breakfast to a group of 11. I think what sets it apart from other recipes is the apple cider JUICE. It gives the oatmeal an extra apple taste.
Loved making this at 11 pm, cozying down for bed, and then eating it in the morning in front of my envious corgis. I overcooked it by a couple of hours and it turned out drier than I would have liked so I recommend adding extra liquid if you want to sleep in.
These were so simple, easy and yummy! I used my Ninja Foodi slow cooker setting and it was so easy to just scoop into a mason jar to bring to the office the next morning. I added walnuts and a scoop of plain Greek Yogurt on top and loved that. If you like it sweet maybe add more brown sugar but I found it to be perfect.
i have quick cooking oats. will that do? shorter time in the crock pot maybe?
you can, it’s just not recommended. it’ll cook super fast. like 1-2 hours and i’m not sure if the consistency will be good – might be a tad too mushy…but that’s kind of what oatmeal is, right? haha
They turned out a mushy mess…what went wrong
could you please elaborate and/or be more descriptive? it’s hard to diagnose general statements like that as i wasn’t there with you as you made the recipe. some answers to these questions may be helpful:
1. what kind of oats did you use?
2. how much liquid did you use?
3. how long did you cook this for?
4. did you use a slow cooker or something else?
Can I make this with regular oats?
yep, should be fine!
I made this and it taste and smells like apple cider vinegar
yes because you used apple cider vinegar, which is not called for in the recipe. apple cider is called for, which is like a juice.
Apple cider?? This ingredient is putting me off slightly, can you taste it when it’s cooked?
i’m confused. you’re looking at a recipe for overnight apple cinnamon oats so the predominant flavor is going to be apple, which is what is in apple cider. so yes, i would say you can definitely taste it!
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!
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