Baked Oats

 
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Is The Latest Tik Tok Trend Worth The Hype?

By Mason Braasch, Lifestyle Staff Writer


Since joining Pinterest in 2012, and Tik Tok in 2020, I’ve been a serial consumer of food recipes and trends. However, I never follow through with making the actual food; until now. 

My “For You” page has been flooded with the newest food trend: baked oats. 

Baked oats are a healthy breakfast dish that creators claim tastes like cake. The videos of these oats always make my mouth water, but as I scrolled through the decadent videos, I couldn’t believe that a mixture of oatmeal and other healthy ingredients like bananas, protein powder and chia seeds could ever taste as good as everyone claimed. 

Going against my personal record of never making the recipes that I save, I decided to round up the ingredients and see if baked oats really lived up to the hype, or if they were just another recipe to leave untouched. 

The Ingredients 

I didn’t have to buy much in order to make the new breakfast dish. While there is some variation between recipes, most of them include the same basic list; oats, bananas, chia seeds and your choice of milk. Most recipes also require a blender, but you can do without if you don’t have one in your kitchen. 

Cookie Dough Baked Oats:

¾  cup of oats

1 tbsp chia seeds

½ vanilla protein powder

¾ of your favorite type of milk (I went with oat milk) 

½ tsp baking powder

1 tbsp honey 

1 tsp vanilla extract 

Chocolate chips (measured with your heart) 

Banana Cinnamon Baked Oats 

⅔ cup of oats 

½ tbsp chia seeds

1 scoop of vanilla protein powder 

⅔ cup of your favorite milk 

½  banana

½ tsp baking powder

1 tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon 

The Prep

While these oats aren’t difficult to make, they definitely aren’t a quick fix-up for a morning on the go. They cook in the oven like a cake, and if you’re like me, it will leave your kitchen very messy! However, the prep for these oats basically consists of measuring out your ingredients, adding them to the blender, sticking them in the oven, and cleaning up your kitchen. Overall, the process took around 30 minutes. 

For both recipes: All you have to do is add all of your ingredients to a blender, pour into an oven-safe container, and put in a 400-degree oven for around 17-20 minutes. The oats will rise like a cake and smell like one too. Take out of the oven and let cool for about 5 minutes before enjoying! 

The Taste

I cannot stop thinking about how good these baked oats tasted. They made my kitchen smell like a bakery and satisfied my morning sweet tooth. While I wouldn’t say that they are exactly like eating cake for breakfast, they are definitely a sweet and fun dish to switch up your normal breakfast routine and are much more delicious than eggs. The consistency is squishier than a normal cake, similar to oatmeal. The texture is thicker and richer than oatmeal, but if you’re not a fan of regular oatmeal, you most likely won’t like baked oats either. For being considered a healthy breakfast, baked oats tasted amazing.

Worth the Hype? 

If you like oatmeal and love sweets, you will love these baked oats. They are a morning delicacy that is both healthy and delicious. Although they can take a little bit extra effort in the morning to make, they are a fun treat both to make and eat. Overall, I would say that baked oats are definitely worth the hype, and with new recipes popping up on my for you page every day, I will definitely be trying more recipes for breakfast.