This oat and quinoa breakfast bake is filled with cherries and almond for the perfect fruit filled crunch to make this healthy breakfast extremely fulfilling and delicious. This recipe is naturally vegetarian and you can use gluten free oats to make it work for everyone at your table!
Well hello friends! Its been a while and so much has changed in my world since my last cranberry sauce post around Thanksgiving time. First and foremost, Stella Rose was born a few days later!!! We are absolutely OBSESSED with her and I love being a mom. She is a chubby little dark haired beauty and couldn't be more perfect.
Little Stella had a rough start in life and I'll share more details sometime soon when I get the strength to relive it all. These days, she is doing great and I share way too many pictures of her over on my Instagram stories for anyone that's into cute baby pics, videos, and ramblings.
Now, onto this beauty of a breakfast casserole. My plan was to share this quinoa breakfast bake for a Christmas morning meal idea buuuut, for the previously mentioned reason, that didn't happen. Luckily, this recipe isn't seasonal and can be enjoyed any time of year. Its sooo incredibly good too!
I know I've shared before in past breakfast recipes about my beef with sweet breakfasts not having enough protein to keep me full for more than an hour. I went off about it in my almond pancake post and, well, pretty much every other sweet breakfast recipe I've ever shared. I'm a creature of habit, what can I say? Well, I'll spare you from it this time, but just know, this quinoa breakfast bake is truly a breakfast of champions that will keep you full for hours. Yes, you heard me, hours. Perfect for weekend shenanigans where you need that kind of energy.
The protein comes from a few different sources. First and foremost, quinoa, the master of the grain based proteins. Steel cut oats, almonds, almond milk, and eggs help round out the protein profile, making for one hearty dish. Topping it with yogurt brings even more to the protein party.
This quinoa breakfast bake has more protein than most power smoothies and is much more satisfying if you ask me. I'm a carb loving queen though so having a carb laden breakfast that is actually good for me is about as good as it gets.
This recipe is easy to make too. As you can see below, you start by dumping a few ingredients into a baking dish. You beat eggs, milk, and a few spices and seasonings in a bowl and then pour that into the dish on top of the cherries and grains.
Then you try to be patient while it bakes, pull out of the oven, top with yogurt and enjoy! Easy-ish right? Totally.
One thing I love about this recipe is how well it reheats. Make a batch on the weekend (how about tomorrow morning?!) and then reheat for quick weekday breakfasts. Its a meal planning masterpiece I tell you.
And if you're as skeptical as I was about doing quinoa for breakfast, don't be. When combined with steel cut oats, its way less grainy and the dual texture is near perfection for a dish like this. The egg and milk makes it a bit more casserole like and sticks the grains together to make it more cohesive.
And in shots like the one below, it almost looks like a dessert. Make you can fool your significant other or kiddos? Maybe?
If that pic didn't give you enough ammo to pass this quinoa breakfast bake off as a dessert, maybe a few more pics will do the trick. And if all else fails, replace that yogurt with whipped cream and drizzle a tiny bit of honey on top. That'll sell it for sure.
Have a great rest of your weekend!
Cherry Oat Quinoa Breakfast Bake
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup sliced or slivered almonds
- 1 lb. sweet cherries, pitted I used thawed frozen cherries*
- 1/2 cup steel cut oats
- 1/2 cup quinoa
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups unsweetened almond milk
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 2 tsp. almond extract
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp. ground cardamom
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- 1 cup vanilla yogurt optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375° F.
- Toast almonds in a large flat pan over low heat, stirring every 30 seconds to 1 minute until they start to smell toasty (about 5 mins once pan is hot). You can also toast by placing in microwave for about 45 seconds or baking in preheated oven for 5-6 mins.
- Spray a 8” x 8” baking dish (or equivalent) with cooking spray or use a paper towel to rub with oil to prevent sticking.
- Evenly layer half of the cherries in baking dish. Sprinkle half of the almonds on top of the fruit.
- Rinse quinoa and steel cut oats in a strainer. Put quinoa and oats in the baking dish on top of the cherries and almonds and spread out into an even layer.
- Sprinkle remaining half of cherries and almonds on top of the quinoa and oats.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk eggs until light and frothy. Add almond milk, maple syrup, almond extract, cinnamon, cardamom, and salt. Whisk to mix thoroughly.
- Slowly pour mixture over layered fruit and grains in the baking dish.
- Place pan in oven and bake for about 50 – 60 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes before cutting and serving. Cut into 9 squares and serve with either sweetened yogurt or whipped cream.
Ok, this is really good. I am 110% surprised that I like it so much, as I am not normally a quinoa fan. I only had about 1/4 lb of cherries, so I threw in a half cup of blueberries and half of a Pink Lady apple, finely chopped. Also used walnuts instead of almonds, and left out the syrup and cardamom as I didn't have any,. I just bought a jar of Ceylon cinnamon last week and it smelled so good when I opened the jar, that I doubled the cinnamon. Very delicious. I used a 9x9 Pyrex and it made 12 squares.
I think it would be good just using apples alone. I also wonder if I could leave out the syrup, almond extract and spices, and use Silk's dark chocolate almond milk instead of plain? That stuff is tasty. A chocolate cherry quinoa oatmeal bake...I may try that soon.
Thanks for the recipe.
The combo of chocolate and cherry sounds so good in this! I'm definitely going to have to try that soon! Haha, Any excuse to work chocolate into my breakfast and I'm on board!