This easy maple brown sugar oatmeal recipe is simple and delicious. So much better than packets and a family favorite breakfast recipe. Made with quick oats, maple syrup, brown sugar and toasted pecans.
Breakfast is my FAVORITE meal of the day. With 100+ Sweet and Savory Breakfast Ideas on the site, you are sure to find a dish that fuels you for the day!
What’s to love about this Brown Sugar Oatmeal
- Quick and Easy: This quick and easy breakfast recipe takes less than 10 minutes!
- 5-Ingredient Recipe: The base is only 5 pantry staple ingredients.
- Easy to Customize: You can customize this recipe easily to fit your tastes by substituting ingredients or adding mix-in’s!
Did anyone else grow up on individually packaged oatmeal? My mom would always buy a variety box and I would fight my sisters for the Quaker Instant Maple and Brown Sugar packets.
To this day it is one of my favorite flavors. However, we’ve moved on from the instant packs. Making homemade maple brown sugar oatmeal is super simple. All you need is quick oats, water, a dash of brown sugar, maple syrup, cinnamon, and ten minutes of your time.
That’s right, I said TEN MINUTES. That is all you need for this easy breakfast recipe. It is filling, family approved, and perfect for busy weekday mornings.
Brown Sugar Cinnamon Oatmeal Ingredients
This oatmeal with maple and brown sugar is speedy to make thanks to the quick oats. One minute of cooking in the boiling water and you are ready to go. We love to top ours with fresh blueberries, pecans, almonds, and even peanut butter!
- Oats: I use quick oats. See notes below for maple brown sugar oatmeal with old fashioned oats.
- Water: While water works best for us, you can always substitute this with milk for a more creamy finished dish.
- Brown Sugar: The star of the show. Light brown or dark brown sugar works in this easy breakfast recipe.
- Maple Syrup: Grab pure maple syrup and not the processed pancake topping (which I still absolutely love, just not for this recipe).
- Cinnamon- Optional, but a tasty way to spice things up.
How to make Brown Sugar Oatmeal
Making this recipe is simple, quick, and tasty. Not surprisingly, all of the items required by my ten year old when he is starving in the mornings. We love how easy it is to customize and add in toppings.
- Bring water to a boil in a small pan.
- Stir in your oats and cook for 1 minute.
- Remove from the heat and stir in brown sugar, maple syrup, and cinnamon.
- Serve immediately.
How to make Brown Sugar Oatmeal ahead of time
Place the individual portions of brown sugar oatmeal in the freezer. If using resealable bags, remove excess air before sealing. Label the containers or bags with the date to keep track of their freshness.
When you’re ready to enjoy the oatmeal, simply remove a portion from the freezer and let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Once thawed, reheat the oatmeal in the microwave or on the stovetop, stirring occasionally, until it reaches the desired temperature. Add a splash of milk or water if needed to adjust the consistency.
Tips for making Maple Oatmeal
All oats begin as groats, or kernels of grain that are later processed into different varieties. Meaning that they each provide the same health benefits. What makes each oat variety different is the way they are processed.
Old Fashioned Oatmeal – This version of oatmeal is flat and flaky in appearance and often referred to as rolled oats. They typically take five minutes to cook and tend to soak up more water than quick cooking oats. Old fashioned is the variety I reach for when making granola, cookies, or muffins.
Quick Cooking Oats – Quick cooking oatmeal are rolled oats that have been coarsely chopped. By breaking them down into smaller pieces, you have a quicker cooking oatmeal with a slightly finer texture.
Yes. You definitely can. However, I suggest adding slightly more water and cooking for 5 minutes instead of 1.
While this recipe calls for brown sugar, I know that many of you are on the hunt for more healthy alternatives.
Maple Syrup
Ripe Mashed Bananas
Honey
Agave
Dates
Coconut Sugar
Sometimes you need a little extra to help with either filling you up or flavor. Here are our go-to oatmeal mix-in’s for our morning oats:
Fresh fruit of any kind. Banana’s, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries. A handful of any of these will go a long way.
Nuts: Toasted pecans, walnuts, or walnuts give a little added protein as well as a nice texture.
Dried Fruit: We have dried banana chips, mangos, and blueberries in our pantry almost always. These are a great way to add in some extra nutrition.
Nut Butters: A spoonful of nut butter goes a long way in flavor and protein. Try peanut butter with chopped bananas.
More Oatmeal Recipes to Try:
- The BEST Baked Oatmeal
- Coconut Spice Oatmeal
- Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal
- Carrot Cake Oatmeal
- Overnight Oats
- Raspberry Overnight Oats
More Filling Breakfast Ideas:
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Cinnamon Brown Sugar Oatmeal with Maple
Ingredients
- 1¼ cup water
- 3/4 cup quick cooking oats
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Bring water to a boil in a small pan.
- Stir in your oats and continue to cook for one minute.
- Remove from the heat and stir in sugar, syrup, and cinnamon.
- Serve immediately.
Nutrition
Equipment
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Comments & Reviews
Rose says
Great recipe! Very tasty!
Jesseca says
Thank you, Rose!
Megan says
Oooo looks yummy! Can’t wait to try this out out! Question for you, if I don’t have maple syrup would you recommend using honey or maybe regular pancake syrup? I have both of those, but not maple syrup unfortunately! Need to get some!! Thanks for sharing your recipe! 🙂
Jesseca says
Hi Megan, we’ve made it with both and it’s equally delicious. If you’re using pancake syrup, start with less and add more to taste.
Jenny says
Yum! We like this much better than the packets and it is just as simple to make.
Caitlin says
This recipe sucked really bad.. you need to add milk for sure! Yuck!!
Jesseca says
Good news is that is an easy swap. Just use water in place of milk.
We’ve tested the recipe time and time again. It’s possible you did something wrong. I’m happy to troubleshoot.
Sara says
@Caitlin, I disagree. I do not normally comment on recipes, but we really like this one. It is way better than the packets. We add milk on top after cooking.