The Best Mini Protein Pumpkin Baked Oats!

Enjoy this easy layered dessert for breakfast! I love eating it as a post workout dessert 🙂 

This recipe is full of spices, pumpkin flavor, the right amount of chewiness in the muffin/cake/oat layer topped with a sweet pumpkin “frosting”, sprinkled with cinnamon! What’s not to adore?

And before you ask, no, these aren’t “just” baked oats. They are SPECIAL.

Why you should make this recipe:

• high protein
• easy to make
• satisfying to make
• sugar free
• gluten free
• nut free
• vegan
• great for meal prep
• healthy and filling
• it’s layered!
• gut friendly (as someone with terrible gut health, I can approve of this recipe)
• beyond delicous!

Ingredients + Substitutions

Old-fashioned Oats – the main ingredient. Feel free to use gluten-free rolled oats. I recommend using old-fashioned / rolled oats because they give more texture and crunchiness, but if you don’t have them, quick oats are fine too. However, they might soak up more liquid.

Vegan Vanilla or Pumpkin Protein Powder – Pea or brown rice protein powder works well here, I use this one. The protein powder not only adds protein (duh) but also gives most of the sweetness.

I don’t recommend using whey or casein protein powders – please stick with the pea or brown rice protein powders, the measurements are a lot different from whey and casin. 

Note that if you’re not using Vega protein powder, which I totally fine, you may need to adjust the amount of milk slightly. 

Baking powder – so it rises a little.

Pumpkin spice – we’ve got pumpkin, of course, but we have to add some spice! I made my own pumpkin spice, and the ingredients are just down below. For me, the most important spice is cinnamon for sure, because or else why would this website be called I C Cinnamon?

Quick Substitute for pumpkin spice 

• ground cinnamon
• ground cardamom
• ground ginger
• ground nutmeg (or cumin if you don’t have it)

Flaxseed and chia seed – if you only have one of these, feel free to use 2 tablespoons of that instead. This is the vegan egg of this recipe, and if you are not vegan, 2 whole eggs work too.

Pure pumpkin puree – the star of this recipe! Not pumpkin pie filling, cuz it’s full of wacky ingredients, but if you only have that then use it 🙂 I use this canned organic pumpkin puree. Try to get ones that only has one ingredient in it – pumpkin.

Milk – Cow’s, Goat’s, almond, cashew, oat, walnut, it doesn’t matter. The milk is here to give more moisture and some creaminess.

I don’t recommend switching the milk with water for this one, however if you did run out of milk, you can obviously try. 

Tips and Variations

Variations: sprinkle some seeds, nuts, cinnamon on top! If you have a sweet tooth, feel free to add additional sweetener in the dry ingredients 🙂

Tips

• mix the ingredients well
• taste test – your oats, protein powder and pumpkin puree are variables that may lead to the recipe tasting different

Storage

To store, let the mini baked oats cool completely, and put them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. If you don’t have the pumpkin layer topping, you can store them at room temperature for the first 3 days.

To freeze, wrap the baked oats individually in parchment paper, then put them in a freezer friendly bag for 3 months.

To defrost, take the individual baked oats out of the freezer and into the fridge to defrost. You can also reheat them either in the microwave on medium to high heat or in the oven (320f/160c) for 5-10 minutes.

To store leftover pumpkin puree, watch the recipe video down below, instructions for freezing pumpkin puree are included!

I have more questions / suggestions!

Comments, suggestions and comments are more than welcome! All you have to do is fill in the simple contact form below. 

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