Skillet Baked Oatmeal
Oven baked oatmeal rebuilt for a lid and a bed of coals. Sets up firm enough to cut and eat with your hands.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 4.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 116
- protein
- 10 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 8 min
- cook
- 35 min
- total time
- 43 min
- water
- 360 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Breakfast
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Old fashioned rolled oats | 3 1/2 cups | instant oats turn to paste |
|---|---|---|
| Powdered whole milk | 1/2 cup | reconstitutes into the 1 1/2 cups of milk the original wanted |
| Powdered eggs | 6 tbsp | stands in for 3 eggs, no cooler needed |
| Coconut oil | 2/3 cup | solid in the jar, liquid over heat |
| Honey | 1/2 cup | a squeeze bottle beats a jar |
| Baking powder | 2 tsp | |
| Cinnamon | 1 tsp | |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Vanilla extract | 1 tsp | or vanilla powder in the dry mix |
| Water | 360 ml |
Method
- Build a fire early and let it burn down. You want coals, not flames.
- Grease the dutch oven with a spoonful of the coconut oil while it warms.
- Stir the dry premix with 360 ml of water and the vanilla until there is no dry flour left at the bottom. Let it sit two minutes so the milk and egg powder hydrate.
- Melt the rest of the coconut oil into the pot, pour in the honey, then the oat batter. Level it.
- Lid on. Set the oven on a shallow bed of coals and shovel about twice as many coals onto the lid. Heat comes mostly from above or the bottom scorches.
- Bake 30 to 35 minutes. It is done when the center is set and the edges pull away from the pot.
- Pull it off the coals, lid off, and let it stand five minutes before cutting.
Baked oatmeal is a casserole, and a casserole is what a dutch oven is for. The only real conversions are the wet ingredients: milk becomes milk powder, eggs become egg powder, and both rehydrate in the same water the oats need anyway. Nothing in the pot needs a cooler.
The eggs and baking powder are structure, not richness. They are why this cuts into squares and travels in a bag for a second breakfast, instead of collapsing into porridge. Coal placement matters more than time: most of the heat goes on the lid, because a dutch oven sitting in a pile of coals burns the bottom long before the middle sets.
Packing
Oats, milk powder, egg powder, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla powder all go in one gallon bag at home. Coconut oil in a screw-top jar, honey in a squeeze bottle, both packed upright.
Variations
- Half a cup of dried fruit stirred into the batter. Add it dry; it takes water back from the oats and stops the middle going gluey.
- No dutch oven: bake it in a foil pan inside a covered grill over indirect coals for the same 35 minutes.
- Skip the milk and egg powder and use 2 tbsp of ground flax plus more water. It bakes softer and eats more like a pudding.
https://homeandkind.com/blogs/food-recipes/baked-oatmeal