Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

It had kind of snuck up on us, with Pumpkin Spice coffee pods making an appearance in stores back in August. The pumpkin spice offerings seemed to trickle in over the next month or so...

And then we hit FALL COLOUR in Quetico Provincial Park. It’s hard to ignore pumpkin season, when you’re just completely surrounded by oranges and yellows everywhere!

Anyway, I took all those gorgeous fall leaves as an indication that it was time to actually do up my skillet pumpkin oatmeal as a proper recipe, and share it.

I’m someone who usually deals in “eyeball it” and “season it til the ancestors tell you to stop” when cooking for ourselves after all... but that doesn’t work well for sharing a recipe with others!

This is both a pumpkin oatmeal, and a pumpkin spice oatmeal, btw. Recently saw a good friend venting about how “pumpkin spice” can mean either, but this has actual pumpkin in it, as well as the associated spice mix.

Skillet oatmeal recipes are definitely a camping breakfast staple, and this is a fun variation on that. It’s a quick and easy recipe to whip up when you’re enjoying some cool weather camping.

Not only is it a warm breakfast, it’s indulgent AND comforting. Basically dessert for breakfast!

Anyway, let’s look at what you’ll need to pack, to be able to cook this up on YOUR next camping trip!

Ingredients

This pumpkin oatmeal recipe uses pretty basic ingredients - most of them are pantry staples, and anything you don’t already have, won’t be hard to find in any grocery store.

As always, I have some ingredient notes for you:

Old-Fashioned Oats

This Skillet Pumpkin Oatmeal recipe uses Rolled Oats, which can also be labeled as old fashioned rolled oats.

Two things to note here:

1. Be sure to use certified gluten-free oats if you are avoiding gluten for any reason.

Oats themselves are gluten free, but they’re also HIGHLY likely to be cross-contaminated with wheat, if it’s not certified that they’re NOT.

2. Steel-cut oats, and any form of quick oats - AKA instant oats - aren’t going to work the same way in this recipe, as they all behave differently.

Because they’re processed and cut differently, they’ll take up liquid differently, for the same measure of oats. Steel cut oats will have a more tough texture, and quick cooking oats tend to make a mushy oatmeal, IMHO.

Pure Pumpkin Puree

This recipe was developed using actual pumpkin puree - which is not the same thing as pumpkin pie filling. They’re usually sold in the same area of the store, but “Pie filling” has additional thickeners, fillers and such, and won’t work as well.

Pure pumpkin will also give you a much better pumpkin taste, as pumpkin pie filling has been diluted with other stuff.

All that said, if you have homemade pumpkin puree, feel free to use that!

Maple Syrup

Use the actual, boiled-down sap from a maple tree, please!

Pancake syrup / table syrup / flavoured corn syrup is NOT the same thing. I mean you can use it in a pinch if you have to, but it won’t taste as good!

Milk

I developed this recipe using Unsweetened Almond Milk, as that’s has been my milk of choice for years now.

Sometimes I’ll use unsweetened coconut milk, lately I’ve been using an almond/cashew protein milk blend. They’re all good options now that I can no longer handle cow’s milk, and are great options when trying to keep low carb.

As far as dairy-free milk goes, Oat milk, Cashew Milk, Flax Milk, and Macadamia Milk are all good options for this skillet oatmeal recipe.

Almond, coconut, and oat are the most neutral / complementary tasting options, though - so just know that the other plant milk varieties may change the overall flavour of your oatmeal a bit.

Anyway, beyond the non-dairy milk options, regular milk works, too. Really, you can use whatever you like, but I’d recommend at least 2% fat, for texture reasons. Whole milk is great... I find 1% / skim milk to be too watery, IMHO.

On that note - if you really need to, you can use water instead of milk. I just definitely prefer the creamy texture of oatmeal cooked in some kind of milk!

Pumpkin Pie Spices

I used measured Cinnamon, Ground Ginger, Ground Cloves and Nutmeg ... but if you have a premade pumpkin pie spice mix, use a teaspoon or so of that, if you’d prefer!

Homemade pumpkin pie spice or a store bought mix, it’s all good!

Everything Else

Rounding out this recipe, you will need Pure Vanilla Extract and Salt.

Also consider having some optional garnish ingredients on hand. Chopped apples, a sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice, toasted walnuts, whipped cream, Greek yogurt, pepitas, etc are all great options.

If you have a sweet tooth, a drizzle of maple syrup on top is always nice. For that matter a little caramel sauce would make this oatmeal extra indulgent!

How to Make Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

The full recipe is in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post, here is the pictorial walk-through:

Get a medium fire going. If you’re cooking this at home, you can use medium heat on a stovetop.

In a large cast-iron skillet, combine the oats, spices, and salt. Add the almond milk and water, stir once again to combine.

Add the pumpkin puree and maple syrup, allow to simmer for another 5 minutes or so, or until the liquid has absorbed and the oats are the texture you’d like.

If you’d like, you can thin the oatmeal out with a little more water or milk, if desired.

Serve hot, with any garnish you might like.

Leftovers

Personally, I prefer this skillet pumpkin oatmeal served fresh off the campfire, but leftovers will last a few days, if you have too much.

Just allow it to cool, transfer it to an airtight container, and keep it in the fridge until you’re ready to eat it.

Leftovers are best served warm - you may want to add a little more liquid to thin it out!

More Camping Breakfast Recipes

Looking for some more easy - and tasty - camping breakfast ideas? I've got you covered:

Apple Fritter Bread Pudding
Apple Fritter French Toast
Bacon, Cheddar, and Broccoli Frittata
Bagel Breakfast Strata
Banana Protein Pancakes
Campfire Banana Bread
Campfire Cinnamon Rolls
Campfire Breakfast Skillet
Coffee over a Campfire
Garlic Chipotle Breakfast Hash
Gingerbread Protein Pancake Mix
Hobo Eggs
Homemade Camping Pancake Mix
Pumpkin Protein Pancake Mix
Traditional Bannock

Be sure to check out our other Camping Recipes, including Camping Desserts, Camping Snacks, Make-Ahead Camping Mix Recipes, and a ton of delicious Camping Main Dish Recipes!

Also, we had SO much fun designing gourmet jerky recipes for our camping trips, we started a whole new blog for them! Check out Dried & Tasty for all kinds of fun recipes to make in your food dehydrator!