This easy Quinoa Breakfast Bake is layers of fresh fruit, quinoa, and oats smothered in a cinnamon and syrup egg mixture baked to perfection! A wholesome morning breakfast and a scrumptious way to start the day!
Just like steel cut oats in Instant Pot, whole wheat buttermilk pancakes, or air fryer breakfast casserole this recipe is a simple, no-fuss morning breakfast.
Delicious Quinoa Breakfast
Toasted coconut flakes, oats, and quinoa give this quinoa breakfast bake the heartiness and texture. It’s like quinoa granola meets healthy overnight oats meets a fruit crisp! This beautifully layered quinoa bake has something for everyone. What could be better than that?!
The fresh fruit gives breakfast casserole that sweetness with a little tartness and the egg, vanilla, cinnamon, and maple syrup give it a touch of sweetness and a smooth finish that lets you know you’re about to bite into a mouthful of deliciousness. If you love sweet breakfast treats, make Ukrainian sweet lazy pierogi next!
Having a slice of this quinoa bake right out of the oven is warming and well deserved, especially during the cooler months.
But what makes this one of the best quinoa recipes is that it is a dish you can eat all year round while using seasonal fruits and berries. It is just as good at room temperature or when eating leftovers straight out of the fridge, just like with syrniki (cheese pancakes). Serve it in a bowl with a dollop of yogurt for a filling and nutritious breakfast!
Ingredients for Quinoa Breakfast Bake
- Dry: Uncooked quinoa, uncooked steel cut oats, coconut flakes. Steel cut oats are highly nutritious and less processed than rolled oats. They have a similar texture to quinoa and are a little sturdier than rolled oats. When looking for coconut flakes, if you are watching the amount of sugar, make sure they are unsweetened.
- Liquids: Milk. I used almond milk, but you can really use any you’d like. Maple syrup or honey, vanilla extract, cooking spray.
- Fruits: Very ripe sliced bananas, fresh or frozen blueberries, fresh or frozen raspberries. Leftover healthy fruit salad could work, too!
- Eggs
- Seasonings: Cinnamon. Salt.
- Optional: Greek yogurt as a topping.
How to Make Quinoa Breakfast Bake
- Prep: Begin by rinsing quinoa and oats with running cold water. Drain and set aside. Preheat a small skillet and add coconut to toast. Stir frequently until golden brown. Watch for burning. Set aside. Preheat the oven and spray a square baking dish with cooking spray.
- Whisk: In a medium bowl, whisk milk, eggs, maple syrup, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
- Assemble: Lay half the sliced bananas, blueberries, and raspberries in a single layer on the bottom of the dish. Spread the quinoa and oats on top. Top with remaining berries.
- Pour: Slowly pour the syrup mixture, using just one corner of the dish. This is to help evenly spread the liquid throughout the dish without having the fruit float to the top. Pouring the liquid too quickly in the middle of the dish may interrupt the balance of evenly distributed flavours.
- Bake: Sprinkle with toasted coconut and bake uncovered.
- Cool: Remove from the oven and let cool. You can eat immediately but keep in mind it won’t be set and will be quite runny. If that is how you like it, then enjoy it!
- Cut: Once cooled, cut into slices and top with a dollop of Greek yogurt.
Make Ahead Tip: To make this dish ahead, assemble it completely, then cover and refrigerate for up to 48 hours.
Tips and Variations
- Customizable: You can use quick or rolled oats, eggs or egg whites, milk of choice and even add a scoop of protein powder.
- Rinse your quinoa: No matter which brand of quinoa you use, make sure to rinse it first. I do not usually recommend to do so in my other recipes like quinoa granola bars or quinoa casserole. But with this bake it adds weight that is needed to hold the quinoa down and helps it avoid floating to the top.
- Protein powder: The sweetness of entire dish depends on the fruit you use, also the kind of protein powder, if using any at all. I used very ripe bananas and a scoop of naturally sweetened VEGA vanilla protein powder once. No maple syrup was necessary.
- Fruit: You can use any fruit or berries. I just love blueberries in healthy trifle! Bake year-round and use whichever fruit is seasonal at the time. I’m thinking strawberries and rhubarb, peach, apples, or even cherries might be nice! If using frozen fruit no need to thaw first, toss them in frozen as is!
- A savory version: Completely overhaul the sweet and add some savory! This would be great for breakfast as well as dinner! Add any kind of veggies, mushrooms, peas, potatoes, or spinach, sprinkle in some flax or nutritional yeast, and season with turmeric and you’ve got yourself another fantastic option.
Can I Omit Quinoa?
Unfortunately this recipe is developed with quinoa. If you are not a fan of quinoa and prefer oatmeal, try this blueberry baked oatmeal recipe then. If you are looking for more whole grains, try this healthy french toast casserole.
Storing, Freezing and Reheating
Store: People have been known to enjoy this all week long! Perfect for busy mornings. Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Freeze: If you have leftovers or want to freeze a second batch, freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
Reheat: Thaw to room temperature and then bake at 375 until heated through.
More Favorite Quinoa Recipes
Quinoa Breakfast Bake
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup quinoa uncooked
- 1/2 cup steel cut oats uncooked
- 1/4 cup coconut flakes unsweetened
- 3 medium very ripe bananas sliced
- 1 1/2 cups blueberries fresh or frozen
- 1/2 cup raspberries fresh or frozen
- 2 cups any milk I used almond
- 2 large eggs
- 1 – 2 tbsp maple syrup or honey
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- Dash of salt
- Cooking spray I use Misto
- Greek yogurt for topping (optional)
Instructions
- Rinse quinoa and oats with cold running water, drain and set aside.
- Preheat small skillet on low-medium heat, add coconut and toast until golden brown, stirring frequently. Set aside.
- In medium bowl, whisk milk, eggs, maple syrup, vanilla extract, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and spray 8 x 8 square baking dish with cooking spray.
- Lay half of bananas, blueberries and raspberries in a single layer on a bottom. Using a spoon or spatula, spread rinsed quinoa and steel cut oats on top. Top with remaining banana and berries.
- Slowly pour liquid mixture in the corner of the baking dish without disturbing the set up. If you pour the liquid abruptly in the middle of the dish, all fruit might float to the top. We are looking for evenly distributed fruits and sweetness in every slice.
- Sprinkle with toasted coconut flakes and bake for 60 minutes uncovered.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for 45 – 60 minutes.
- Cut into 9 slices and serve hot, warm or cold with a dollop of Greek yogurt if desired. You can also dig in with a spoon right away. The bake won't be completely set but still delicious.
Notes
- Store: Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 5 days
- Freeze: Leftovers for up to 3 months.
- Make ahead: Assemble, cover and refrigerate for up to 48 hours. Bake as per instructions.
- Rinsing quinoa: It’s best to use a bowl for rinsing grains as quinoa is too small and tends to go through the holes of a mesh strainer (unless you have a very fine one). You want to rinse quinoa for sweet recipes to remove bitter saponin.
- Oats: A few readers reported to successfully use quick (regular) oats.
- Berries: Feel free to use any combination of berries (I used all blueberries this time).
- Protein: Add a scoop of protein powder if you wish.
- Egg whites: Replace eggs with 1/2 cup egg whites if you wish.
I made this for Christmas breakfast – prepped the whole thing ahead of time and it just went into the oven in the morning a couple hours before we wanted to eat.
It looked beautiful! And full of fiber! I really enjoyed it. It wasn’t my husband’s favorite – he said there were just so many flavors and textures that it a bit overwhelming.
Note: Tastes best the first day.
Fantastic! Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
This sounds delish!!! Can I use an egg replacement?
Sure!
If doing the Savory version do you omit the vanilla and cinnamon? Any substitute for the banana when doing sweet? Thank you
Yes for omitting the vanilla and cinnamon if you experiment with a savory version. You could try thin sliced apples or peaches, or add extra berries.
Can you double this recipe and put it in a 9×13 dish?
It has not been tested like that, but seems like it would work. You may need to increase baking time, just keep an eye on it.
So, I found out I’m allergic to oats -__- so I can’t make my regular baked oats breakfast. What can I substitute for the oats in this dish?
Sorry we haven’t tested it any other way, so I can’t recommend an oat substitute. If you try something different, be sure to let us know!
Thanks for a fantastic recipe, I went out to buy a few packets of steel cut oats so I can make this again…. and again.
It’s super chewy, delicious, wholesome and great to make on a Sunday afternoon, to last all week for breakfast, just keep covered in the fridge, have a slice with yoghurt and more berries. I even warm it up a little. Thanks so much
I am so happy to hear you loved this recipe, Andrea!
This looks yummy! Can you substitute the steel cut oats for old fashioned oats?
Hi Staci!
I find old fashioned oats cook much quicker and the texture will be different than steel cut oats. I would start checking the breakfast bake around the 40-45 minute mark (just a guess as I usually use steel cut oats).