My bread machine honey oat bread recipe creates a delicious oatmeal bread that uses the natural sweetness of honey. Honey oat bread is perfect for sandwiches, paninis, toast, etc.

This recipe is for the home bakers who want to replace the “processed” white sugar found in many oat bread recipes with more natural honey.

Bread Machine Honey Oat Bread

Recipe Sections

Ingredients
Instructions
Recipe Video
Helpful Tips

This bread is mixed, kneaded & baked in your bread machine (and does not use an oven). My bread machine honey oat bread recipe shows you how to make 1.5 lb and 2 lb loaves. Since this honey oat bread recipe is done in a bread machine, it is simple & easy to make. It takes me about 5-10 minutes to prepare and then the bread machine does most of the hard work (such as mixing, kneading & baking).

Key Ingredients – Oat Flakes & Honey

Oat flakes in a measuring cup next to a bottle of honey.

However, if you want to make the dough in your bread machine but bake the bread in your OVEN, please visit my oven-baked Honey Oat Bread page for extra instructions.

Ingredients – 1.5 lb version

7/8 Cup – Milk (warm) – 207 milliliters
3 Tablespoons – Honey – 44 milliliters
3 Tablespoons – Unsalted Butter (softened) – 43 grams – If desired, you can replace the butter in this recipe with an equivalent amount of olive oil
2 1/4 Cups – Bread Flour – 270 grams
3/4 Cup – Oat Flakes – 68 grams – Do not pre-moisten the oat flakes
1 1/8 Teaspoons – Salt – 6.8 grams
1 1/8 Teaspoons – Bread Machine Yeast (Instant Yeast) – 3.4 grams – Not active dry yeast

Ingredients – 2 lb version

1 1/8 Cups – Milk (warm) – 266 milliliters
1/4 Cup – Honey – 58 milliliters
4 Tablespoons – Unsalted Butter (softened) – 57 grams – If desired, you can replace the butter in this recipe with an equivalent amount of olive oil
3 Cups – Bread Flour – 360 grams
1 Cup – Oat Flakes – 90 grams – Do not pre-moisten the oat flakes
1 1/2 Teaspoons – Salt – 9 grams
1 1/2 Teaspoons – Bread Machine Yeast (Instant Yeast) – 4.5 grams – Not active dry yeast

1/29/25 – Recipe updated to add 1.5 lb version

Servings – Roughly 12 slices

Equipment Needed – Measuring cup & spoons, silicone spatula, oven mitts, cooling rack and a bread machine.

Recipe Video – How Make 2 lb Bread Machine Honey Oat Bread

FYI – A short ad might play in front of the recipe video.

My Oven-Baked Honey Oat Bread Version Of This Recipe

Oven-baked honey oat bread on wooden cutting board.

Instructions

Bread machine settings – 1.5 or 2 pound loaf, light color and “basic/white” bread setting.
Unplug your bread machine.
Remove the bread pan from the unplugged bread machine (so when you add the ingredients, they can not accidentally spill into the machine).
Soften the butter. FYI – I like to use a microwave to semi-melt the butter for better mixability.
Pour the milk, honey & softened butter into the bread pan and then add the other ingredients. Place the instant yeast/bread machine yeast in last and the yeast should not touch the liquid (until the bread machine is turned on and the ingredients start to be mixed together by the bread machine). FYI – Many bakers like to make a crater/pocket in the top of the flour to hold the yeast so the yeast does not contact the liquid or salt in the bread pan.
Put the bread pan with ingredients back into the unplugged bread machine.
Plug in the bread machine. Enter the correct settings (1.5 lb or 2 lb, light color, basic/white bread) and press the “start” button.
When the bread machine has finished baking the bread, unplug the bread machine and remove the bread pan from the bread machine. Wear oven mitts as the bread pan & bread machine will be hot.
Remove the bread from the bread pan and place the bread on a wire cooling rack. Use oven mitts when removing the bread as the bread & bread pan will be hot.
Optional – Right after removing the bread from the bread pan (while the bread is still very hot), brush on 1 or 2 tablespoons of melted butter on the top crust of the bread. This creates a more buttery top to the bread. Use a pastry brush to brush on the butter.
Let the bread cool on the wire cooling rack for 1-2 hours before cutting.
Please read the tips section below for extra information on how to make this recipe successfully. You also can watch my recipe video to “see” how to perform each recipe step.

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Sliced Bread Machine Honey Oat Bread

Helpful Tips

The tips below are designed to help baking & bread making “novices”. Intermediate and advanced bread makers probably know most of these bread making tips.
Click on this “print recipe” link if you want to print out this recipe. It includes all of the recipe’s ingredients and instructions. However, the recipe print function does not include our tips section. Please read the tips section in order to avoid common recipe problems.
If you would rather “see” how this recipe is made, please watch the step-by-step recipe video on this page. It is a short & simple video that shows you the steps & ingredients involved in making this recipe and what the honey oat bread looks like when it is finished.
This recipe is part of Bread Dad’s series on Easy Bread Recipes such as banana bread, extra soft white bread, multigrain bread and French bread.

If you want to make the dough in your bread machine but bake the bread in your oven (in order to make a more “traditional looking” loaf versus bread machine “block” shaped loaf), you should visit my oven-baked Honey Oat Bread page for more details.
Optional – If you want to create an even SOFTER honey oat bread, use buttermilk instead of the milk called for in my recipe. Buttermilk is acidic and this helps to “tenderize” the gluten in the flour. Buttermilk is a great way to soften homemade bread. However, most people do not have it at home (thus the use of regular milk in this recipe).

You should make my 1.5 lb version first (before making the 2 lb version) until you have a better idea of what your machine can manage. Some bread machines with a 2 lb capacity have lots of extra capacity in their bread pans whereas other 2 lb machines have very little extra capacity. Unfortunately, the height of loaves can vary due to incorrect ingredient measurements, the heat of the kitchen, different flours with different gluten levels, different bread pan sizes & shapes, etc. Therefore, it is always safest to start with the 1.5 lb recipe even if you have a machine with a supposed 2 lb capacity. You will be able to see how much of your bread pan is filled by a 1.5 lb loaf and then determine if your bread pan can handle a larger 2lb loaf.
Of course, if you have a large 2 paddle bread machine (such as the Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso Plus or the West Bend 47413), you can ignore this advice and make the 2 lb version first. Most 2 paddle machines have lots of bread pan capacity (versus some 1 paddle machines).
I have also added a page to Bread Dad with the Bread Machine Pan Sizes for a number of popular bread machines. This should help you to determine if your machine is capable of handling Bread Dad’s 1 lb, 1.5 lb or 2 lb recipes. For example, some bread machines with a “2 lb loaf capacity” are better suited for my 1.5 lb recipes (as they can’t handle my fluffy 2 lb recipes) and some are better with my 2 lb recipes (as their pans have lots of extra space).

Important – The honey oat dough may initially look wetter than usual until the oat flakes can absorb the recipe’s moisture (oat flakes take longer than flour to absorb liquid). For example, if you are making dough with a bread machine, the dough during the first mixing/kneading cycle will look too wet. However, by the second (final) mixing/kneading cycle, the dough will look perfect.
FYI – After pressing the start button and 4 or 5 minutes of mixing/kneading, I like to take a look at my dough in order to see if the dough is too wet or too dry. Checking my dough can save me from a baking disaster. If it is too wet, I will add some flour (a little bit at a time) until the dough looks perfect. Obviously, if the it is too dry, I will add some milk (a little bit at a time) until the dough looks perfect. Recipes can be thrown off by using heavily compacted flour versus fluffed flour (as the compacted flour can add too much flour – and thus the dough might too dry). Even if you measure the ingredients with a kitchen scale, things can be thrown off. For example, if you use flour from an open bag/container, the flour might have absorbed a lot of moisture from the air. This extra & unplanned for moisture can cause the dough to be too wet (as the flour “weight” includes more moisture weight & less flour weight). Therefore, I like to check my dough to see if everything is going according to plan.
I also like to give my flour container a good shake (before making bread) in order to loosen up the flour. This lessens the chance of using heavily compacted flour when making a recipe.

As I said at the top of the page, this recipe does not create a super sweet bread. Rather, it makes a tasty oatmeal bread for people who want to use honey instead of processed sugars. Be aware that some store breads are even made with high fructose corn syrup. Therefore, read the ingredient labels on the bread that you purchase if you are trying to avoid processed sugars. Or make your own homemade bread where you know actually what is going into the bread!
Other bakers like to use honey in order to enhance the flavor of their baked goods. As you probably know, honey comes in many different flavors such as orange blossom honey, buckwheat honey, alfalfa honey and eucalyptus honey.

Do not add more honey than what is listed in my recipe. Extra honey means you will be adding extra liquid. Adding too much liquid to a bread recipe can throw off the liquid/dry ratio of a recipe. This can result in a greater potential for bread “collapses” or misshapen tops.
Have a problem getting the honey out of your measuring cup? Some people like to spray the interior of the measuring cup with cooking spray. This allows the honey to stick less to the sides of the measuring cup.
Have a problem with honey coming very slowly out of its container? Some people like to place the entire honey container in a bowl of warm water. The water will warm the honey and improve its viscosity (making it more pourable).
Optional – For a slightly different taste, you can replace the honey in this bread recipe with light molasses. Molasses will add an earthy, smokey and/or slightly burnt caramel flavor. Do NOT use blackstrap molasses as this type of molasses is very bitter.
Visitors – What type of honey do you use to make your honey oat bread (a generic supermarket honey or a specialty premium honey)? If you use a premium honey, do you think it improves the bread (e.g. adds a better flavor or higher level of ingredient quality & safety)? Or do you prefer the lower cost of generic supermarket honey? Please leave your honey thoughts in the comment section below.

I like to use old-fashioned oat flakes when making this honey oat bread. However, you can also use more processed “one minute” oatmeal if you do not have any old fashioned oat flakes. Personally, I think the old fashioned oat flakes help to add a better texture to the honey oat bread.
Oats add soluble fiber to this bread which helps with “regularity”, digestive health, etc.
You need to use DRY oat flakes when making this recipe. If you use wet oatmeal (pre-moistened oat flakes), you will be adding too much moisture to this recipe and you are more likely to experience problems (e.g. bread collapses).
Optional – You can add a “buttery” topping to this bread machine honey oat bread. Right after you remove the bread from the bread pan (while the bread is still hot), you can brush melted butter on the top of the bread. See the instructions in the recipe instructions above.
Optional – If you want to add an egg wash & oat flake topping to your oat bread, you will need to make my oven-baked Honey Oat Bread version of this recipe. See that page for further details.
Optional – If you are trying to cut down on saturated fat and want a healthier bread, you can replace the butter in this recipe with an equivalent amount of olive oil.
Visitors – What extra ingredients do you like to add to this bread? Multigrain? Seeds? Dried fruit? Chopped nuts? Please leave your honey oat “enhancement” ideas in the comment section below.
Visitor variations – Bonnie likes to add “¼ c. of sunflower seeds”

Use FRESH ingredients (e.g. flour) for the best results. Ingredients that have been sitting in the pantry for months can become stale or pick up weird smells & flavors.
Try to keep your ingredients (e.g. flour) in airtight ingredient containers in order to extend their shelf life. Airtight ingredient containers also help to prevent ingredient exposure to pests, dust, odors, etc.
Old flour (when not stored in an airtight container) can absorb a lot of moisture from the air. This extra moisture throws off recipes and can lead to bread collapses, etc.
This recipe calls for the use of bread flour. If you are out of bread flour, you can use all purpose flour in a pinch. However, an all purpose flour bread will be less airy and fluffy (when compared to honey oat bread made with bread flour).
Do NOT replace the bread flour in the recipe with oat flour. Due to its higher gluten, the bread flour in this recipe improves the structure (airiness) of the bread. In contrast, oat flour has little or no gluten. If you replace bread flour with oat flour, you will have a much denser bread. Due to the low amount of gluten, an oat flour bread has a hard time rising properly.

Do NOT use cold milk (or super hot milk) to make this recipe or the yeast may have trouble growing properly. Yeast is sort of like Goldilocks – it doesn’t like things too hot or too cold.
I like to use whole milk when making this bread because it adds a richer flavor. However, skim milk or plant-based milk (e.g. soy milk or oat milk) is okay too!
Make sure to level off the ingredients in your measuring spoons & cups. No “mountains” of ingredients in your spoons & cups!! If you add too much of an ingredient, you can have a baking problem. FYI – I like to level the ingredients in my measuring spoons & cups with the back of a butter knife.
Many of my international visitors like to use a kitchen scale in order to measure the weight of recipe ingredients (whereas Americans like to use measuring cups & spoons). The use of metric measurements (e.g. grams & milliliters) often provides more consistent results versus using measuring cups & spoons. Exact weight measurements help to avoid the problem of adding excess flour (e.g. adding heavily compacted flour versus fluffed flour).
Make sure NOT to confuse the 1.5 lb & 2 lb ingredient amounts (and accidentally transpose some of the ingredients from both lists)! Cough, cough… said with an embarrassed grin… I have made that mistake before!
You should let your bread cool down for 1 to 2 hours on the wire cooling rack before you cut any slices (or the slices will be “gummy” and not taste as good as expected). Excess interior moisture is released (via steam) during the cooldown period.

This bread recipe uses instant yeast or bread machine yeast. It is not focused on active dry yeast. This recipe is targeted towards instant yeast & bread machine yeast as many of our visitors are bread machine users.
Active dry yeast is different from instant yeast & bread machine yeast. Instant yeast & bread machine yeast are added directly to the recipe’s ingredients. In contrast, active dry yeast must be activated in water before being added to a recipe’s ingredients. Many bakers find it quicker to use instant yeast because you just add it to the dry ingredients. With active dry yeast, you need to spend roughly 10 minutes “proofing” (activating) the yeast with a liquid & sugar.
I would recommend NOT reducing the salt in this recipe. You generally want to keep the salt-to-yeast ratio at a 1:1 basis in most bread recipes (1:1 based on teaspoons to teaspoons and NOT grams to grams). The salt moderates the growth of the yeast. If you cut the salt (and disrupt this 1:1 ratio), the yeast will grow faster than expected. In turn, this leads to more bread collapses (because the yeast rises too high and then craters in the middle) and/or results in “slack” less manageable dough. In addition, less salt will impact the flavor and browning of the bread.

Cooler home temperatures in the winter can cause rising problems for bread dough. Ideally, your room temperature should be around 75-80 degrees F. Colder winter room temperatures can significantly delay the rise of the dough. You will need to raise the temperature of your kitchen (if you like a cold house in the winter) or find a warm spot for the dough to rise. I often put my dough (covered of course) next to a heating vent in the winter to make sure it is getting enough heat.
Conversely, dough can rise faster than expected in a very hot kitchen.
Kitchen humidity can also impact a recipe. A winter kitchen tends to be drier due to your heating system drying out the air. In contrast, a kitchen in the summer can be much more humid. This change in humidity impacts baking as flour can soak up humidity from the air. Therefore, you might have to add 1-2 teaspoons of liquid in the winter if the dough is looking too dry. Or you might have to add 1-2 teaspoons of flour in the summer if the dough is looking too wet. If your kitchen is very dry or humid, you might have to add even a little more (but start with 1 teaspoon at a time until you achieve the right consistency).
Of course, excessive kitchen humidity or dryness can impact a recipe at any time during the year (not just in the summer & winter)!

Other factors that can impact the rise of the dough include old or expired yeast, contaminated yeast (e.g. the yeast was left in an open jar & air moisture contaminated it), water that is too cold or too hot, using heavily chlorinated tap water, placing salt next to or on top of the yeast (salt can kill yeast or inhibit its growth), not covering the dough during the rising period (as the exterior of the dough can dry out & limit the ability to rise), etc.
Having trouble with bread collapses & misshapen bread tops? Make sure to read Bread Dad’s article on Bread Machine Bread Collapses. It has reasons and solutions to potential bread collapses.
If your dough is having trouble rising properly, you should check out my How To Test Yeast page. This yeast test will show you if your yeast is alive & active or dead/expired. It will save you from a few bread disasters!
If your bread comes out too dense, you should read Bread Dad’s Why Is My Bread Machine Bread So Dense? page. It covers potential reasons & solutions in order to prevent dense bread.
For information on other possible bread machine errors, please visit my Common Bread Machine Mistakes page.

If you have not made bread in a long time, please buy some NEW bread machine yeast or instant yeast before making your bread. Old yeast can die or lose its potency and this will lead to bread that does not rise properly. Yeast is not likely to be viable if it has been sitting in your pantry for years.
Once you have opened the container that contains the yeast, the yeast will last longer if you store the bottle in the refrigerator or freezer. Just make sure the bottle is sealed tight (as yeast will deteriorate quickly if exposed to air, moisture and/or heat).
The basic or white bread setting is usually setting 1 on most bread machines.
If you like recipes that use honey, you might also like to try Bread Dad’s recipes for Bread Machine Honey White Bread and Bread Machine Honey Wheat Bread. Or check out my oven baked recipes for Honey Banana Bread, Honey Oat Bread & Honey White Bread.

You can also use this homemade bread to make one of Bread Dad’s delicious & toasty Grilled Cheese & Panini Recipes.
My recipes are based on US ingredient measurements (e.g. US cups & tablespoons). However, as a courtesy to our European visitors, I have also included some very ROUGH European equivalents (e.g. grams & milliliters). Since I rarely use European measurements when baking, please let me know in the comment section below if any of the European ingredient measurements need to be changed (e.g. for XYZ ingredient, milliliters are more commonly used versus the grams information listed in the recipe).
Always wear oven mitts/gloves when dealing with a bread machine and/or oven. Both can get very hot!
For more easy bread ideas, please visit Bread Dad’s sections on Bread Machine Recipes and Homemade Bread Recipes.

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4.64 from 11 votes

Bread Machine Honey Oat Bread + Recipe Video

My bread machine honey oat bread recipe creates a delicious oatmeal bread that uses the natural sweetness of honey. Visit Bread Dad (BreadDad.com) for more easy bread machine recipes.

Prep Time15

Cook Time3

Total Time3 15

Course: Breakfast, Sandwich, Side Dish

Cuisine: American, European

Keyword: bread machine honey oat, bread maker honey oat, honey oat bread, honey oat bread machine, honey oat bread recipe, oat bread recipe

Servings: slices

Calories: 214kcal

Author: Bread Dad

Ingredients

Ingredients – 1.5 lb Version

7/8 Cup Milk (warm) – 207 milliliters
3 Tablespoons Honey – 44 milliliters
3 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter (softened) – 43 grams
2 1/4 Cups Bread Flour – 270 grams
3/4 Cup Oat Flakes – 68 grams – Do not pre-moisten the oat flakes
1 1/8 Teaspoons Salt – 6.8 grams
1 1/8 Teaspoons Bread Machine Yeast (Instant Yeast) – 3.4 grams – Not active dry yeast

Ingredients – 2 lb Version

1 1/8 Cups Milk (warm) – 266 milliliters
1/4 Cup Honey – 58 milliliters
4 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter (softened) – 57 grams
3 Cups Bread Flour – 360 grams
1 Cup Oat Flakes – 90 grams – Do not pre-moisten the oat flakes
1 1/2 Teaspoons Salt – 9 grams
1 1/2 Teaspoons Bread Machine Yeast (Instant Yeast) – 4.5 grams – Not active dry yeast

Instructions

Instructions – Mixing, Kneading & Baking in a Bread Machine

Bread machine settings – 1.5 lb or 2 lb loaf, light color and "basic/white" bread setting.
Unplug your bread machine.
Remove the bread pan from the unplugged bread machine (so when you add the ingredients, they can not accidentally spill into the machine).
Soften the butter. FYI – I like to use a microwave to semi-melt the butter for better mixability.
Pour the milk, honey & softened butter into the bread pan and then add the other ingredients. Place the instant yeast/bread machine yeast in last and the yeast should not touch the liquid (until the bread machine is turned on and the ingredients start to be mixed together by the bread machine). FYI – Many bakers like to make a crater/pocket in the top of the flour to hold the yeast so the yeast does not contact the liquid or salt in the bread pan.
Put the bread pan with ingredients back into the unplugged bread machine.
Plug in the bread machine. Enter the correct settings (1.5 lb or 2 lb, light color, basic/white bread) and press the "start" button.
When the bread machine has finished baking the bread, unplug the bread machine and remove the bread pan from the bread machine. Wear oven mitts as the bread pan & bread machine will be hot.
Remove the bread from the bread pan and place the bread on a wire cooling rack. Use oven mitts when removing the bread as the bread & bread pan will be hot.
Optional – Right after removing the bread from the bread pan (while the bread is still very hot), brush on 1 or 2 tablespoons of melted butter on the top crust of the bread. This creates a more buttery top to the bread. Use a pastry brush to brush on the butter.
Let the bread cool on the wire cooling rack for 1-2 hours before cutting.
Please read the recipe's tips section on Bread Dad for extra information on how to make this recipe successfully.

Notes

This is a Bread Dad recipe and may not be copied or reproduced. Material on this website is copyright protected under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Legal Disclaimer

Nutritional information based on 2 lb loaf version of recipe. The nutritional information is provided using recipe widgets such as WP Recipe Maker. These figures should only be considered as an estimate. They should not be construed as a guarantee of accuracy given visitors may use different serving sizes, ingredients, etc. The information is only provided as a courtesy to our visitors. See our legal disclaimer for additional nutrition disclosures.

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