This Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal in the Slow Cooker brings all the best fall flavors straight to your bowl—think pumpkin puree, cinnamon, and a drizzle of maple syrup. It’s a hands-off, make-ahead breakfast that’ll keep the whole family happy and satisfied. The best part? It takes just minutes to prep the night before! Great for busy fall mornings!
Table of Contents
Why I Love This Recipe
- Effortless Mornings: There’s nothing better than a slow cooker recipe! Simply toss everything in before bed, and wake up to the smell of pumpkin spice perfection. This is one of my favorite low-effort breakfasts.
- Packed with Fall Flavor: This recipe is similar to my Slow Cooker Oatmeal recipe, but packed with fall flavors like pumpkin puree, warm spices, and a touch of maple syrup. It’s the ultimate autumn breakfast.
- Healthy and Filling: Oats, pumpkin, and just the right amount of sweetness make this a healthy start to your day. Plus, you can customize with more nutritious toppings!
- Kid-Friendly: This slow cooker oatmeal is like having pumpkin pie for breakfast… but healthy! Your kids will be obsessed just like mine.
- Pumpkin Perfection: We love all things pumpkin especially during the fall. If we’re not making this recipe we’re making Pumpkin Pear Bread, Flourless Pumpkin Chocolate Muffins or these adorable Pumpkin Pie Pop Tarts.
The Ingredients
- Steel-cut oats: For slow cooker oatmeal, I recommend using steel cut-oats as they are the heartiest oats and perfect for slow cooking.
- Milk of choice and Water: A combination of water and your milk of choice creates the perfect texture for this oatmeal. Store-bought or homemade almond milk or oat milk all work great here for extra creaminess.
- Pumpkin puree: Adds richness and that irresistible pumpkin flavor. It’s simple to use canned from the store, or you can make your own pumpkin puree!
- Pumpkin pie spice: If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, use a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves to bring out all the fall vibes.
- Maple Syrup (optional): You can add maple syrup to taste before cooking or let everyone customize their bowl by drizzling as much or as little as they want it on top after.
How to Make Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal in the Slow Cooker
Step 1: Place all the ingredients in the crock pot and stir to combine.
Step 2: Cover and cook on low for 4-8 hours (note that the cooking time can vary depending on your crock pot. Crock pots without non-stick surfaces tend to get hotter, so you’ll want to stick closer to a 5 hour cooking time).
Tips and Tricks
- Overnight Oats Made Easy: This is a great make ahead breakfast. Set the slow cooker to low before you go to bed, and by morning, you’ll have a warm, hearty meal waiting for everyone.
- Type of Oats: Use steel cut oats for this recipe. They hold up better than rolled oats when it comes to slow cooking.
- The Cook Time: Keep in mind that the cooking time can vary depending on your crock pot. Crock pots without non-stick surfaces tend to get hotter, so you’ll want to stick closer to a 5 hour cooking time.
- Custom Toppings: Stir in some dried cranberries, raisins, chopped apples, walnuts, or pecans, or a handful of chocolate chips right before serving for an extra treat.
- Storing Leftovers: If you have any leftover oatmeal (although it’s so good, you might not!), store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Reheat it on the stovetop or in the microwave with a splash of milk to loosen it up.
More Irresistible Oatmeal Recipes
There’s nothing better than pumpkin recipes, especially in the fall! This oatmeal is one of our go-to’s! It’s simple to make, delicious and kids absolutely love it! Be sure to let me know in the comments how it turned out!
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Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal in the Crock Pot
Ingredients
- 2 cups water
- 2 1/2 cups milk of choice
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice
- 1 cup steel cut oats
Instructions
- Place all the ingredients in the crock pot and stir to combine.
- Cover and cook on low for 4-8 hours (note that the cooking time can vary depending on your crock pot. Crock pots without non-stick surfaces tend to get hotter, so you’ll want to stick closer to a 5 hour cooking time).
Notes
- You can also use oat, almond, rice or any plant based milk if you want to make the oatmeal vegan.
Has anyone tried this with less liquid? I really like heavy sticky oatmeal, but don’t want to accidentally burn it. (I used to half the water content in instant as a kid.) And the munchkin has texture issues. If its too creamy he calls it slimy and wont eat it.
Thanks.
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[…] I love easy slow cooker recipes. And this one is as easy as they come. I’ve started to experiment with more slow cooker breakfasts lately and this one is a keeper. Put in on before you go to sleep and wake up to a delicious, warm, hearty and healthy breakfast. I know pumpkin spice is really popular in the fall, but who says you can’t enjoy it any time of the year? I followed the recipe that I found here on Weelicious. […]
Turned out very delicious and creamy. Very yummyy!!
made this last night in a mini slow cooker that holds a little over 5 cups. I cut the liquid to 2 cups milk and 1 1/2 cups water, added 1/4 cup maple syrup and an additional tsp of pumpkin pie spice – cooked it on the warming setting all night – like 10 hours – it came out fabulously creamy and delish! Next time i will add some raisins…
This looks delicious! I love anything with pumpkin!
My 19mo old usually like oatmeal but wasn’t at all interested in this. He took a few bites then flung the rest around or fed it to his bib. It was really mushy. I added some walnuts to mine for texture. Couldn’t really taste the spice. A lot stuck to the sides of my (small) crockpot and wasn’t edible. Are you supposed to stir? I left it overnight for about 8hrs and wasn’t really wanting to get up throughout the night to attend to it. Don’t think I’ll do oatmeal in the crockpot again. Maybe my cooking skills just aren’t up to it.
No! You need to use steel cut oats otherwise they will come out mushy! Rolled oats will cook too fast!
Can I use (Quaker) rolled oats for this recipe?
Made this 2 nights ago and it is soooo good! I used a 3 1/2-4 qt crockpot on low for 6 hours and it cooked up perfectly. My son LOVED it, with every bite he kept saying “puh-kin!” and ate it all up (19 months). My husband even liked it, and he usually doesn’t like when I add pumpkin to things!
Well I did not have any problem getting this to cook but its very pumpkiny! I could not taste much of the spice at all and we has to add more brown sugar than with our standard bowl of oats. Maybe less pumpkin..
I got your Weelicious cookbook for Christmas and I’ve become a super fan! I’m cooking for a 13 month old and she absolutely loves the Apple Slow Cooker Oatmeal. I never thought to use pumpkin. We are very “sugar conscious” eaters and I love that your recipes don’t pile on excess sugar. I’m completely going to try this!
[…] Get the recipe here. […]
I tried the pyrex method last night and it worked! I guess my crock pot is too big. So I greased a pyrex bowl and sat it inside the crock pot, then filled the crock pot with water to the brim of the pyrex bowl. Put all the oatmeal fixings inside the pyrex and set the crock pot to warm for about 9 hours. Might try a little less liquid next time but it was nearly perfect! I’m super excited to start trying different flavor variations!
I want so badly to love this recipe, I really do. So badly that I waited 6 months to get a crock pot and this was the first recipe I tried! The first time I tried cooking it per instructions; the second time I just left it on warm overnight. Both times all I got was slimy oat mush with no texture at all. I am using Quaker steel cut oats (not the quick-cooking kind). Any suggestions?
made it last nite in a crock pot. added little brown sugar. cooked on low for 6 hours. came out yummy. next time more sugar and cook 5 hours on low. i used slow cooker liners. it is a repeat tonite . hubby loved it.