Test Kitchen: Chocolate Chia Oatmeal Cups

Caroline Kohler, SAR ’19, ’21

Need an easy recipe that can serve as a filling snack, a healthy dessert, and even a sweet breakfast? These Chocolate Chia Oatmeal Cups are for you! With a few simple ingredients, this recipes packs lots of nutrition into a bite-sized snack.

What Makes it Healthy?

  • The oats are whole grains, which are rich in healthy carbs, B vitamins, and fiber. This will help give you energy and keep you full.
  • Chia seeds are a source of omega-3 fatty acids, which have anti-inflammatory and heart-healthy benefits.
  • Even the chocolate – in the form of cocoa powder – adds some antioxidants which keep your body functioning well.

Tips and Tricks

  • If you don’t have a muffin tin, you can add a little bit of extra oats and let the mixture absorb more of the liquid. Then it can be formed into cookies!
  • Speaking of which, you can let the mixture chill in the fridge to allow the oats to absorb the liquid. This is a helpful trick when working with whole grains to make them softer.
  • Since we had leftovers (for breakfast the next morning!), we found that these go really well with nut butter! You can experiment with adding in nut butter or chopped nuts before baking, or do what we did and spoon some on top.

Chocolate Chia Oatmeal Cups
Recipe modified from Olive Tree Nutrition
Yield: 12 muffins

Ingredients:
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons chia seeds
2 eggs
1 cup milk
⅓ cup honey
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
¼ cup mini chocolate chips
Cooking spray

Directions: 

  1. Preheat oven to 350⁰ F.
  2. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray. Set aside.
  3. Stir together oats, salt, baking powder and chia seeds in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside.
  4. In another medium to large bowl, whisk 2 eggs together. Add 1 cup milk and ⅓ cup honey and mix well.
  5. Sift the cocoa powder over the egg mixture and whisk well.
  6. Add the dry oat mix to the liquid mix and combine.
  7. Scoop the mixture into the muffin tin.
  8. Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top of each oat cup.
  9. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes until golden brown.
  10. Enjoy warm or at room temperature.

Recipe note: Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days in the refrigerator or wrap and freeze individually.