Overnight Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal
Start this Overnight Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal before you head to bed and wake up to the glorious scent of warm cinnamon and maple syrup inviting you to sit down and enjoy a hot breakfast before beginning your day.
Ingredients
- ¼ cups Maple Syrup
- 2 cups Steel Cut Oats
- ⅓ cups Brown Sugar
- ½ teaspoons Salt
- 3 tablespoons Butter
- ¾ cups chop Pecans
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 6 cups Water
Containers
Supplies
Cooking Instructions
Freeze For Later Cooking Day Directions
These directions help you cook or prepare this meal PRIOR to being frozen for serving later (see Serving Day Directions when you are ready to prepare it to eat).
Why would I want to freeze this?
- Place maple syrup into indicated number of pint freezer bags.
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Make From Frozen Serving Day Directions
These directions help you cook or reheat this meal AFTER it's been frozen for when you are ready to eat it.
- Thaw: In fridge
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Make It Now Cooking Directions
These directions are for cooking this recipe to serve immediately and NOT to freeze for later.
- Coat inside of a 4-5 quart slow cooker with cooking spray.
- Add all ingredients to slow cooker and stir.
- Cook for 7-8 hours on low.
- Stir before serving.
Nutrition Facts
- Servings Per Recipe
- 6 Servings
- Serving Size
- about 1 cup Amount Per Serving
- Calories
- 471
- Total Fat
- 21g
- Saturated Fat
- 5g
- Trans Fat
- 0g
- Cholesterol
- 15mg
- Sodium
- 167mg
- Total Carbohydrates
- 65g
- Fiber
- 8g
- Sugar
- 21g
- Protein
- 9g
- WW Freestyle
- 17
64 Comments
Join the discussionI think the servings (4) is off on this recipe. It was to serve at least 8. But this recipe looks so yummy…I’m putting this in my slow cooker for tomorrows breakfast.
If you find that the servings are too large, this oatmeal also keeps really well in the refrigerator for a few days, so you can heat it up throughout the week. I usually just add a little milk to make it creamy again and microwave. Let us know how yours turns out!
I don’t quite understand the freezing part of this formula when the “directions” say to “Add all ingredients” and then the freezing directions say to “Place maple syrup in pint freezer bag. Place remaining ingredients in gallon freezer bag.” Could you clarify that for me?
I don’t know what “steel cut oats” are so I am assuming I can substitute Quaker oats, yes?
The picture really looks yummy and my favorite thing for breakfast is Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal. Can’t wait to try it.
Thanks
When you are making the oatmeal without freezing it, you can just add all of the ingredients to the slow cooker at the same time. When you are making it to freeze, though, you place the ingredients in the plastic bag before cooking and I’ve found that the maple syrup freezes better separately. Does that help? Steel cut oats can usually be found by the other oatmeal. I’ve tried using old-fashioned oats and they unfortunately don’t work, because they take less time to cook and burn by morning.
Thank you for your help. Yes that does explain what I asked.
I find it easiest to just put all the dry ingredients in a glass jar. Then you don’t need to freeze. Just dump the jar contents in the slow cooker. Add water and butter and maple syrup when I cook it.
It’s also great with some dried apple pieces and nutmeg in addition to the above.
First off thanks so much for all your recipes. I just love them. Second, so you add the water with all the ingredients and freeze that? And it doesn’t make the steel cut oats mooshy when you are thawing?
You’re right, adding the water before freezing would make it mushy. I updated the directions accordingly. Thank you so much for pointing that out!
But when cooking it to eat tomorrow the water goes in with everything else, right?
Jen, you will want to add water, yes. We hope this helps!
My family loves this recipe this will be the fifth time I’ve made it and i haven’t changed a thing we enjoy it just they way the recipe is. I’ve tried a month n a half of meals and there isn’t one that we haven’t liked. Keep the gest job up.
Just made this last night… it was fabulous!!! We’ll be making this again for sure.
Will add dried cranberries and raisins. Will it be too sweet? I might just add the maple syrup but ELIMINATE the brown sugar for the dried fruit in place of sugar.
Cranberries and raisins sound like a delicious addition to this oatmeal! Let us know how it turns out!
Just discovered your site and its genius.
THANKS! 🙂
Tricia,You know I have loved this site since you started it. I am currently looking for meals I can make as a single person. I have found lots of things I can make and freeze individual. I will me making this for breakfast as soon as I can get to the store! YUMMY!
Will the gluten free (certified) oats work for this recipe?
I don’t see why not!
Love this recipe! I substituted raisins for the pecans and it turned out great. nice way to wake up on a cold morning.
I would love to make this, Do you think I could just leave out the brown sugar and just do the Maple Syrup?
Viviana– I think that would work just fine!
I read the comments too late, rolled oats don’t work well. The oatmeal was really mushy but the taste was awesome. I put the leftovers in a muffin pan and froze them, putting them in a freezer zip lock to use in the future, just not quite sure what the best way will be to thaw them, microwave? leave in the frig overnight?
Hi Annette– Either way should work fine, but I generally thaw in the fridge overnight.
I made this in my rice cooker and cut the recipe in half because I’m the only one who eats oatmeal. I left it on warm overnight and it was perfect! Super yummy too!
I’m glad you enjoyed it! Good idea– I’ll have to try it in my rice cooker!
I just put it all together. I look forward to waking up to breakfast being ready! Thanks for the conversion chart.
So simple, and delish! Spraying with Pam made cleanup easy. I like to add diced apples and raisins just before serving.
HiIt looks Delish! But maybe I’m asking a silly or obvious question but what are steel cut oats? All I’ve ever tried are the Quaker 1 or 5 min oats.
Steel Cut oats are simply cut differently – ie not rolled. You could certainly sub old fashioned oats for this recipe. Quick oats will not work properly for this recipe.
How does this recipe work to make a batch then freeze it in individual servings for later use?
Yes it certainly does Beth! I freeze individual oatmeal in muffin tins for quick reheat for breakfast!
It tasted great!! On my 4th patch added cooked bacon pieces before serving… MUMMY
Bacon makes everything better!
Can anyone who’s made this recipe with gluten-free oats please post how they turned out!? Thank you – I’m hoping to do this for my family but we are gluten-free! 🙂
Would steel cut quick 3-minute oats work?
I am not sure you would get the same results with 3 minute steel cut oats. However if you do try, we would love to hear how it turns out!
My kids only eat oatmeal made with milk. Would milk work with the crockpot?
Yes – you can certainly sub some of the water for milk in this recipe! Enjoy!
Do you have a substitute for the butter that I could use? I’m dairy free thanks to an intolerant breastfeeding baby and this recipe looks fantastic!
Sarah – I would suggest using Dairy Free butter, ghee or coconut oil. Enjoy!
I’ve added a bit more maple syrup and skipped the butter and it turns out great.
Another great recipe from you guys. Thanks
Just made this and it’s awesome !! My slow cooker cooks super fast though and even on low, took about 3 hours. I”ll eat some this week and pop the rest in the freezer in tupperware containers.Thank you !
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing with us!
This looks great! If I want to add apples or blueberries, can I do it the night before also? Or do I need to do it in the morning? Thank you!
You could certainly do that the night before. Yum!
Made this last night and it fed our family of 9 (kids ages 2-13) for breakfast. Will definitely make again. I love that I don’t have to put sugar on the table. (toddlers/kids in the sugar bowl – can you say “mess”?) Thanks so much for sharing! 😀
Made this last night and the oatmeal looks nothing like it does in the picture, its super runny. I’m not sure what I did wrong?
I’m sorry to hear that it didn’t turn out for you. Was it cooked for the full 7-8 hours? I know I have tried to cut that time down before and it led to a pretty runny texture in the crockpot. I would suggest maybe either draining some of the liquid and cooking a bit longer, or adding in a bit more oats the next time you try the recipe.
I add dried fruit to it. It helps soak up the water and makes it extra yummy.
I would like to make this for a larger group. I would need to double the recipe. Do you know if I need to adjust the water if cooking in one 6.5 Qt crock?
Yes, would want to double the water. However, 12 cups is a lot of water so it might not be possible to double depending on the capacity of your slow cooker.
I just made this in my 5 quart crockpot yesterday. I “one and a halfed” the recipe, started it at 3pm on high heat and it was ready with time to spare for our breakfast for dinner family cookout at 7pm. I hadn’t frozen any of the ingredients beforehand. I used about 6 cups of milk to 3 cups of water and it turned out nice and thick like I like it. I kept the pecans out to be added as desired instead of cooked into the oatmeal. I added much more cinnamon than the recipe calls for because we just love cinnamon.My fiance, his grandmother, and myself (not oatmeal people) all loved it. It had a slightly nutty flavor even without the pecans, and the texture from the steel cut oats is much more to my liking than the typical quick oats. My fiance said it “tastes like Christmas morning.” (AWWW. I melted lol) Two thumbs up from the Hershey clan. Will be making this again!
WONDERFUL!!!! We love to hear this, thank you for sharing!!
This was fantastic!! Thank you for sharing. I love the smell of the house in the morning and my husband and i love them. Everything is now all ready so I can set before bed and enjoy for the next few mornings.
Love to hear this! ❤️
The instructions for “make it now” don’t say anything about adding water. i knew it looked dry before i turned the crockpot on, but i figured the recipe had to be right. now i have a burnt smell lingering throughout my house and i’ve probably destroyed my favorite crockpot. grrr!
We’re sorry to hear this didn’t turn out for you. On the left-hand side under “Ingredients,” there are “Serving Day Ingredients” (where you would find that it calls for water). Since you were making it now you would have wanted to include the water.
Do you need to freeze the maple syrup or can you just add it with the water in the morning?
You could for sure add it in the morning with the water 🙂
Anyone have trouble with the oatmeal getting done in only a few hours?
Making the oatmeal now in my crock pot. Trying to make it in 4 hours rather then over night. Stiring it and checking it at the 2 hour mark. Hopefully it will be done at least in 4hrs. Nice Christmas Eve morning breakfast for the family to wake up to.
Sounds like an excellent Christmas morning breakfast for the family Karen — please do let us know how it turns out!