Recipe: Baked Buckwheat Oatmeal with Blueberries & Almonds (2024)

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updated May 1, 2019

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It’s finally happening: Berry season is upon us. I can now stop staring at my bags of frozen Trader Joe’s berries, wondering when I’ll be able to pick up fresh ones in the store. Here in Seattle, we often see local cherries first and then, of course, all those gorgeous blueberries and strawberries, many from California. I’ve been scattering the blueberries on my yogurt in the morning, but then I thought about making something a bit more substantial — and trying to do so without veering into dessert territory (always an easy go-to for me).

So here’s a version of a baked oatmeal made with one of my favorite grains: buckwheat.

If you’re unfamiliar with buckwheat groats, they are the hulled seeds of the buckwheat plant and have a pleasant, mild flavor (when roasted their flavor becomes quite earthy). Not technically a grain or even “wheat,” buckwheat is actually a naturally gluten-free seed related to the rhubarb family. The whole groats can stand in for rice or quinoa in a pilaf-style dish, make a great whole-grain salad, or masquerade as a nutritious morning breakfast.

Perhaps like many of you, I was first introduced to the idea of baked oatmeal after reading Heidi Swanson’s cookbook, Super Natural Everyday. Since that time, I’ve seen spin-offs and tweaks — writers using different fruits or liquids, and adding nuts, seeds, and a variety of mix-ins.

I decided to do my own version using super nutritious and gluten-free buckwheat right alongside the oats, thinking this could make a breakfast bake with really interesting flavors and textures. I use coconut milk and coconut oil to give the bake a nice, sweet fragrance, and I worked to get the actual sweetener down as low as I felt it could go while still remaining delicious.

And after a few tries, I think we have a winner! The buckwheat groats stay a bit more toothsome than the oats, resulting in a really awesome overall texture. The blueberries become wonderful and jammy, and the almonds toast up into a fragrant golden-brown top. It smells like a fruit crisp in the oven but is much healthier, and it also holds up beautifully in the refrigerator so you can reheat it throughout the week. Sometimes I add a splash of milk to loosen up the leftovers when reheating, but otherwise, I just microwave it for a minute. It tastes just as great as it did the first day I made it.

I love to serve this with thick yogurt and an extra little glug of maple syrup. My husband loves to sprinkle his with a little flaky salt. The result is a dish that feels like a pretty special, involved breakfast (major upgrade from cereal!), but in reality it’s quite simple to make. If you’d like to experiment with other berries or nuts, go right ahead. Next time, I think I might try a cherry-hazelnut version, and when blackberries are in season, I obviously already have a plan for them.

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