Crock Pot Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

Crock Pot Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal is the perfect hearty and healthy breakfast. The epitome of fall flavors is a combo of apples and cinnamon and it’s absolutely divine when mixed with your morning oatmeal. Sweet with hints of cinnamon and the goodness of apples and oats, rest assured you can start your day off right with this breakfast.

Best thing? You can make it ahead of time with 5 minutes of prep time in the crock pot. Make it once and have breakfast all week in a snap.

Slow Cooker Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

Today, our crock pot oatmeal recipe will be made with steel-cut oats. They are less processed than your typical rolled oat – and also take a bit longer to cook, hence the slow cooker use.

Our slow cooker apple cinnamon steel-cut oats (I know, a mouthful right??) has that creamy and comforting characteristic of regular oats, but with that no-mistake texture and chew of steel-cut oats.

Trust me when I say if what you’re looking for a is hearty, fruity, warm, and comforting breakfast, this steel-cut oats recipe is a winner.

Why I Love This Recipe

• It takes less than 5 minutes of prep work to make this breakfast.
• You can make a large batch of it and eat all week.
• Just like my Coconut Peach or Strawberry Cream Steel Cut Oat Recipes, the addition of fruit while it cooks is not only healthy but absolutely scrumptious!

The Ingredients You’ll Need for Crock Pot Oatmeal

Steel cut Oats – You can certainly use regular rolled oats for this recipe but I really prefer the texture and the chew that steel-cut oats lend to this hearty breakfast. Be sure to use regular steel-cut oats, not quick-cooking ones because that will affect the cooking time. I will give you the cooking times below in the recipe card if you want to use rolled oats instead.
Apple – I use only one apple in this recipe and the choice is yours on which kind to pick. I used a Gala apple which has a nice sweetness.
Milk and Cream – You can always substitute water for all the dairy in this oats recipe, but I really love the flavor and creaminess that the milk and cream uses. You can use all milk and skip the cream to save on some calories (but it’s ohhh so delicious with a little bit of cream!).
Sugar – I love the deep molasses flavor that brown sugar brings to this breakfast. Use regular white sugar if that’s all you have.
Cinnamon – Use the type of cinnamon you have on hand. The cinnamon adds sweetness to the oats without actually adding sugar.
Vanilla Extract – I think vanilla is essential to this recipe! Like the cinnamon, it adds a hint of warmth and sweetness to the cereal.

What Kind Of Apples Can I Use In This Recipe?

You can use pretty much any variety of apples you prefer for these slow-cooker oats. For this recipe I used Gala, but my favorite apples are Ambrosia. However, feel free to use:

• Gala
• Red Delicious
• Fuji
• MacIntosh
• Honeycrisp

I would not, however, use a granny smith. I think they are a tad too tart for this recipe.

How to Make Easy Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

It’s a matter of throwing everything into the slow cooker bowl and letting it do its thing. 

Granted, there’s one step beforehand that I like to do, and that’s grate the apples. 

I like grating the apples because it gives more “appley” flavor throughout this oatmeal recipe. You can certainly simply dice the apple into small pieces, that’s totally fine as well. Go with your preference, you’ll always pick the right way! (Remember to put some lemon juice over the apple slices to help them not turn too brown)

Line the slow cooker bowl with a liner or parchment paper if you want minimal cleanup. Then put all the ingredients together, along with the grated apple, and give a mix. Put the lid on, and simply wait!

A few hours later and voila, you have the perfect slow cooker apple cinnamon oatmeal.

Serve warm or even chilled if you like. I love it warm, with a splash of milk and a side of buttered toast. Seriously, it’s a breakfast of champions to me!

Check out this quick video below to see how it’s made!

Serving These Apple Cinnamon Oats

My most favorite way to serve steel-cut oats is in a bowl with a bit of table (or heavy) cream drizzled over top. But, if you want something different, the possibilities are endless when it comes to topping the oats. You can try a few different things suggested here and see what you like.

• Extra apple
• Different berries like blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, etc.
• Try adding some crushed/chopped nuts like cashews or pecans.
• Plump up some raisins in hot water for a few minutes, drain and top them on your oats.
• Dried Cranberries, treated the same way as the raisins, would be incredible with the apple and cinnamon.
• Applesauce
• Nut butter warmed and drizzled over top.
• Sprinkle some heart-healthy hemp hearts over the top of the oats as well.

Storing and Freezing

These oats store and even freeze like a dream! Portion out the amount you want per serving and then store in the fridge for up to five days or simply put them into a freezer-friendly container and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.

To thaw, take a portion out and thaw in the fridge overnight. Thawing the outside of the container by running hot water over the container to get them out and transfer into a bowl, is another option, and then reheat from there.

One other option for freezing is to take a small freezer-friendly bag and put the oats in the bag, pushing as much air out and freezing them flat in the bag. This way you can stack them in the freezer and they will thaw much more easily when you need them.

Questions You Might Have

*******PIN THIS SLOW COOKER APPLE CINNAMON OATMEAL RECIPE TO YOUR FAVORITE BOARD TO SAVE FOR LATER! *******