Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Stovetop Recipe
If you love apple pie or apple crumble, you'll LOVE this Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal! Warm, cozy, and loaded with cooked apples plus all the delicious spices.
Note: This recipe dates back to 2013! But it's still one of my favorite breakfasts. So I have added some new photos and am sharing it again, for those of you that haven't been hanging around that long.
I can't think of anything better on a cold morning than a cozy bowl of oatmeal. I think that stovetop recipes can get a bad rap - they really don't take more than a few minutes. You can still get breakfast on the table (or in a to go cup) quickly, and the possibilities are basically endless.
This apple cinnamon oatmeal is my current favorite.
Fresh apples, apple pie spice, just a little brown sugar, and old fashioned oats. You can have a hearty, happy, warm, delicious breakfast in less than 10 minutes.
I think it's time for a Lucy update.
My little Lucy girl is getting big!! If you're new around here you can read more about Lucy here and here.
She is my snuggly little companion. She is smart and sweet and might be the laziest puppy ever.
I was sifting through some blog things today and I noticed that I might be a pretty slack Lucy mama because I never updated my "About"page to include her. Oops.
So here she is...
She really is a doll.
Like any puppy she has a few issues, but nothing major. Mostly she just doesn't like to be left alone. Ever. At all. She's not the greatest car rider either. She adjusts. And then readjusts. And then she fusses a little. And then she drools.
This morning I drove Evan to school. So we brought Lucy with us. We were completely engrossed in this puzzle game that Chad put on my phone while we waited in the neverending line of non-moving vehicles. We weren't really paying attention when it was time for Evan to get outta the car. Evan leaped out...
...annnnnd so did Lucy.
Evan exclaimed, "Oh no!, Lucy!!," and then took off running after her.
Fortunately Lucy wasn't trying to run away. She was just really excited about all the little kids and she was really sick of sitting in the car.
I had this brief flash of me having to leap out of the car to chase my puppy down. Just so we're clear about my carpool attire, it consists of a sports bra under a tank top, a pair of sweat pants, flip flops, a mop of curly disaster hair, and a cup of coffee glued to my hand. I was majorly relieved that I did not have to exit the vehicle.
Oh morning.
I eat oatmeal at least 3 mornings a week. It's basically perfect. You can dress it up or dress it down. You can make it taste like your favorite dessert. You can add fresh fruit, dried fruit, nuts, CHOCOLATE! Oatmeal is amazing.
This homemade apple cinnamon oatmeal really never fails me. Lots of good heart-healthy fuel for when you might need to chase a puppy across a school parking lot.
Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Stovetop Recipe
If you love apple pie or apple crumble, you’ll LOVE this Apple Cinnamon Stovetop Oatmeal! Warm, cozy, and loaded with cooked apples plus all the delicious spices.
Ingredients
- ½ tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 medium crisp apple, about 1 ½ cups diced
- 3 tablespoons honey (OR 2 tablespoons brown sugar), plus a little more to drizzle over the finished oatmeal
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- pinch of salt
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup old fashioned oats (or gluten free oats!)
- ½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)
- ½ cup milk (optional)
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium high heat. Add 1 cup of the apples, the honey or brown sugar, and sprinkle in the spices and salt. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the apples are softened.
- Pour in the water, turn the heat up to high, and bring to a low boil. Add the oats and reduce the heat to medium/medium high. Cook, stirring occasionally for 3-5 more minutes.
- Add the walnuts (if using), and continue cooking until most of the liquid is absorbed. Divide the oatmeal between two bowls, sprinkle each with the remaining apples, drizzle with a little more honey, and splash ¼ cup milk into each bowl.
If you love oatmeal,you should also try...
Iced Apple Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies
This was delicious! I used cardamom instead of cinnamon (just because I didn't want to have to get a stool to reach the cinnamon in the back on the cabinet lol) and I loved it! I stored the second serving in a mason jar and will eat it tomorrow for breakfast.
LOVE cardamom with my whole heart. Glad you enjoyed this, Megan!
Instead of water can you cook the oats in milk for a creamier texture?
You can but milk can boil over easily. I have a whole post on making stovetop oatmeal here: https://www.sugardishme.com/perfect-stovetop-oatmeal-recipe/
Such a delicious and fool-proof recipe that is easy to adjust to your liking.
I tripled this recipe so I could quickly heat up some breakfast before working this week.
I couldn't find my nutmeg so I used a bit of Allspice, substituted a third of the water with oatmilk, added flaxmeal, and subbed coconut sugar for brown.
**Advice to those making this recipe with cow/animal milk in the pot- it can curdle from the heat so best to to add it in the bowl right before serving 🙂
Husband loves it and we ate a bit after dinner for something sweet.
Heather, thank you so much for this recipe, I will be bookmarking it. 🙂
Your pup is adorable and even though it wasn't what I came to your page to see, I loved that it caught my eye and had me reading about your morning with your son.
Thank you so much for your tips and feedback and kind words! I appreciate you!
@Heather Tullos, You're welcome and thank YOU.
Hubs and I finished the tripled recipe this morning.
Can't wait to make another weekly batch, we both love it!
New to the blog. Love your beautiful pupper!! ??
I'm trying this oatmeal tomorrow! It's so cold where I am. 4° just last night. ?
Welcome, Gigi!c Stay warm and thank you so much for reading!
Dont listen to haters heather. Its your blog and its your space.do literally whatever you want, you worked hard to create this.also by the way lucy made my day! I dont know why people would even skip a dog story haha.saw her picture and immediately stopped and read it till the very end, waiting for more of her stories !
Thanks so much, Suhasini! Hope you enjoy the recipe!
-Heather
I haven’t tried to make this oatmeal yet, but it sounds delicious. It was annoying to have to scan through stories about a dog before I could get to the recipe (however cute she may be). Still using the recipient, just wish it were given at the top before the irrelevant dog post.
Hi Cara - sounds like a food blog is not the place you should be sourcing your recipes. There are LOADS of websites that offer just the recipe. I suggest you move along and use one of those. Don't let the door hit ya! - H
@Heather Tullos, sounds like you shouldn’t have a comment section if you’re incapable of accepting feedback. Also I’m with Cara. A simple “jump to recipe” button would do the trick. No need to alienate folks who are only looking for recipes (which is like 99% of your audience, FYI).
Sounds like you should be navigating one of the other literal thousands of recipe sites on the internet that have what you want. I have several hundred thousand readers, many of whom have been with me for years. You and Cara are the only people that have ever come at me looking to skip over the content that I worked hard to create. This shit is FREE. It takes some next level entitlement to complain about free things. ✌️
@Kathy,
Understand that these websites are found and put at the top of search engines by using algorithms and all sorts of other technical stuff to where these sites only stand out among millions of others on web browsers if they show that they are actually scrolled through and looked at, hence the blog posts before the recipe. Yes sometimes we just want the recipe and not the read, but it's a means to an end for the authors in order to generate views etc, otherwise you'd end up never finding them. Food for thought.
Thanks you, Christina! Most people don't have the faintest idea how the internet actually works, or how the free content they feel so entitled to actually comes to be. Appreciate you!
@Kathy, you're hilarious. This person did not simply suggest that a jump to recipe button would be helpful. They came at Heather sideways using words like annoying and irrelevant. I find it very amusing when people think that random people are allowed to be as rude as they want in their comments but if the content creator doesn't respond in a sweet way they are the ones who are in the wrong, and "shouldn't have a comment section" or "should have a thicker skin". Either everyone gets to say what they want, the way they want, or no one does.
??
Made this for breakfast this morning. Tasted great!
Thank you so much, Jo!
So easy and delicious! Great recipe for oatmeal lovers ?
Lovely recipe! What follows next is a series of unfortunate events that rests purely on my shoulders... I had to make two batches. In the first one something really weird happened with the milk (1 cup milk + 1 cup water), where it separated into a sort of curd and whey mixture. Smelled spoiled. Off it went! I was happy to start over, as I had a surplus of apples.
The second time I discovered I didn’t actually have old fashioned oats: I only had instant oats left. Oh well. In they go. Put in approx. 1,5 cups and let them bubble in the pot for maybe 7 minutes? (Got distracted.) And the oatmeal still turned out great! I quite liked the texture, actually.
PS: I’m pretty sure you’re allowed to advertise this as foolproof now 🙂
hahaha - thank you so much for this! ? Cheers to many more years of oatmeal success!
Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Do you reckon it’s possible to cook the apple with only honey and not butter? Trying to save calories/reduce fat.
super good my potbelly pigs love it because it has apples! i gave them each a spoon full.
Hi (: I was just wondering if you could cook the oats in the microwave and then add the cooked apples afterwards. I need to be quick in the mornings so I’m trying to think of a way to make this yummy breakfast in the time that I have. Xx
@Lucy, you could probably scale up the apple mixture to have on hand and then add to (already made) plain instant oatmeal! I know most brands sell canisters of quick oats, and packets of plain oats as well. That way you can make your oatmeal, put a few spoonfuls of cooked apple in, and be out the door.
Question: How many calories is this?
@Ciara Green, I made it using the brown sugar. I then tracked it in MyFitnessPal and they logged it at 523 calories based on the ingredients used. It tasted great so I will make it again. I prefer a high calorie breakfast and then eat smaller lighter meals for my lunch and last meal of the day.
Omg this was so good! I topped it with a big heaping spoon of almond butter. The best oatmeal I've ever had.
Thank you so much, Sabrina!
funny story about the dog goes to school. btw the oatmeal rocks