When you really want a muffin but need something robust and nutritious like oatmeal for breakfast, this is the ideal option. Use a banana that is quite ripe for the finest flavor. The banana can be swapped out with any fruit, including nuts and dried fruit (cranberries, anyone?). The bars are still delicious the next day. After the bars have cooled, store them in the refrigerator and reheat them briefly before eating.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Additional Time: | 5 mins |
| Total Time: | 50 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- ½ cup white sugar
- 3 cups old-fashioned oats
- 1 ¼ cups 2% milk
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 over-ripe banana, mashed
- 2 teaspoons packed brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8-inch square baking dish.
- Beat applesauce and white sugar together in a bowl. Add oats, milk, eggs, baking powder, and salt to applesauce mixture; beat until evenly mixed. Stir banana into oat mixture. Pour batter into prepared baking dish.
- Stir brown sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl; sprinkle mixture over banana batter.
- Bake in the preheated oven until firm, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before slicing into bars.
- You can still make this with a just-ripe banana or any other low sugar fruit, but you’ll probably need to add some brown sugar and vanilla to bump up the flavor.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 300 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 55 g |
| Cholesterol | 66 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Protein | 9 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Sodium | 323 mg |
| Sugars | 26 g |
| Fat | 5 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This incredibly tastes just like banana bread. You even get some banana bread type texture from the rise from the baking powder. I did add 1/4 tsp rum extract, because I like the flavor combination of rum and bananas. I can see playing with other ingredients in the future, like adding nuts, chocolate chips or dried fruit. Personally, I think I’ll try 1/3 cup sugar next time, as I think the bananas and applesauce add great sweetness on their own, and I am always looking for ways to reduce my sugar intake.
I’ve made this several times. I add blueberries and coconut flakes. Sometimes nuts too. Great recipe!
Made it to the recipe with extra Cinnamon and a splash of vanilla. It tastes like oatmeal and banana bread had a child. Will make it again with a few tweaks as noted in other comments. 9×9 pan and baked a little longer. apples sound like a popular choice and would go down well in my crowd. Trying to find a quick breakfast to make ahead that isn’t muffins and doesn’t involve eggs as my son won’t eat them.
Simply the best baked oatmeal that I’ve made. I added some frozen raspberries and a spoonful of peanut butter. it was awesome!
I added a sliced banana in it to get nice warm banana chunks. I also cooked them in a muffin pan for 30 minutes to make easy portion sizes
Yum! Added blueberries and peanut butter and they totally held up. Not dry and claggy like the baked oatmeal in my college dining hall, yet not runny either.
I used an extra banana instead of the applesauce and added 2 tsp. flax seed in the batter (undetectable but healthy). Also used walnuts with the topping, but I don’t recommend that. Notes for Next time: add mini chocolate chips or chopped apples as others suggested. Maybe try baking in a 9×9 pan. I chose this recipe over others because of the fiber content. Family thought it was so-so but I will try it again with changes. Primarily would like a grab-and-go morning snack. This is a dense consistency as it is Baked Oatmeal, had to increase bake time to 35-40 min.
I will make this again and again. YES I made a change or two. 1. Used extra banana instead of applesauce 2. used 1tsp Real Vanilla 1tsp Real coconut flavor 3. Used 1/4 cup shaved unsweetened coconut 4. Used 1/4 cup fine unsweetened coconut (Wanted a more tropical flavor. May add a bit of canned pineapple in the next batch to try) Made a double batch and was glad I did they were amazing!!!
Tastes just like banana bread! Both my toddlers like having this for breakfast or a snack. I did have to bake mine for closer to an hour so it wouldn’t be so sticky.
I toasted some coconut to add to the mix and added a handful of chocolate chips for my picky-eater toddler.
Made this for my husband who loves oatmeal. I didn’t have applesauce so I used 3 large very ripe bananas. Then added blueberries like suggested. It turned out wonderful. And make it on Monday and then you have it all week when your trying to get to work.
Good Stuff! I added fresh blueberries, dried apples and walnuts, replaced 2% milk with skim and used 2 bananas because I didn’t have applesauce. I had enough to fill the 8×8 and make a few muffins. They were moist and delicious. I have tried a few ways to make “healthy” breads from old bananas and so far this is the best.
Very good. Nice texture and flavor. Next time I am going to try it with cranberries and pecans!
I followed the recipe to a t and it was very good. I do think in my oven I’ll have to increase the cooking time to 40-45 minutes next time. I liked it best warm right out of the oven, but it was still yummy the next day. I’m using as a breakfast bar, but I could see serving it as a dessert too, especially if served warm with a little bit of whipped cream on top.
Great! delicious. I used spenda instead of sugar and low calorie margarine.
This recipe has become such a hit in our home! I make it every week. It’s such a good hearty, eat while you’re heading out the door kind of meal that serves our family well. I added fresh blueberries in my latest batch and it’s to die for.
I added 1/2 cup of raisins and 1/2 tsp of Allspice. It came out yummy. I baked it for the prescribed 35 minutes at 375. I think maybe needs to go for 40 minutes.
I really liked this recipe. Instead of using bananas I added diced apples and I really prefer it over the bananas. Very moist and freezes very well.
I made this wanting a healthy snack for the morning without too much sugar. I followed the recipe pretty closely only adding some extra cinnamon to the mix. it was fairly bland except for the chocolate chips I added. Despite saying all that, I really like the recipe just don’t expect a fluffy banana bread made with oats.
Very tastey. I had some slightly overripe bananas that I wanted to use up and I wanted something healthier than bread. It came out great. A few changes though: I had no applesauce so I left that out, I used 3 mashed bananas and 1/4th cup honey instead of the sugar, then I added a little nutmeg to the brown sugar/cinnamon mix. Def will keep thisin mind next time I have bananas
I had recently made Beckys Baked Oatmeal, from this site, and really liked it. I wanted to see if I could find a similar recipe with less sugar. This recipe had half that. It just didnt work for me. Personally, I felt it wasnt quite sweet enough despite finding most foods with sugar too sweet. It also had a more gummy and rubbery texture that was almost slightly eggy tasting. I only have the comparison of the one recipe, though, which went over very well in my home.