How to make overnight oats, for a super healthy and filling breakfast you can take on-the-go!
Breakfast Overnight Oats
1 recipe + 15 flavors = endless healthy breakfast possibilities
Be sure to bookmark this post, so you can try a new flavor every day of the week!
All of the prep work is done the night before, giving you an instant healthy breakfast the next morning whenever you’re ready. With fifteen different flavors to choose, breakfast will never be boring again!
You may also like these homemade Protein Bars
Overnight oats in a jar
Any small container works here. I bought these adorable Le Parfait Overnight Jars specifically for this recipe – and now I’m obsessed and use the jars all the time for everything!
To make the recipe, simply add 1/2 cup oats and a pinch of salt to a mason jar or tupperware container. Stir in everything else, put the lid on the jar and shake well, then refrigerate overnight. The next day, just stir and enjoy.
Do you eat them hot or cold?
They are delicious either way! Just make sure to prepare the oats in a heat-safe container if you plan to microwave or warm them in the oven the next morning.
You could also transfer the prepared oats to a small saucepan and heat them up that way. If using yogurt, it’s best to not cook them; and especially in the warmer months, I like to eat them cold.
If you prefer to bake your oatmeal in the oven instead of eating it cold or cooking on the stovetop or microwave, try this recipe for Baked Oats.
Are they good for meal prep?
Stored covered in an airtight container in the fridge, the overnight oatmeal will last about five days, so it’s great to meal prep in advance for the week. You can also portion out extra servings of the dry ingredients into ziploc bags for your own homemade instant oatmeal packets like Quaker.
The original version has 6 Weight Watchers SmartPoints. Overnight oats are the perfect healthy solution if you’re one of those people who like to have breakfast as soon as they get up in the morning.
Can you make overnight steel cut oats?
You can! The results will have a chewy texture that some might even prefer to a version made with quick or rolled oats. They’re less chewy if you make them more than a day in advance.
Can you make vegan overnight oats?
Yes, they make a great vegan breakfast. Feel free to try out different plant-based milks in the recipe – almond milk, coconut milk, ricemilk, cashewmilk, soy milk, or even oat milk – to find your favorites.
Technically, you could use water instead of milk, but the results will be much less creamy. Most regular grocery stores will sell at least one brand of nondairy yogurt, and some even have vegan Greek yogurt.
Or you can skip the yogurt and just add more milk in its place. The recipe is suitable for many gluten free diets as well and is super versatile!
Overnight oatmeal flavors
- Peanut Butter Overnight Oats: Add 2 tbsp peanut butter to the recipe. Throw in a handful of mini chocolate chips if desired.
- Chocolate Chip Cookie: Use vanilla yogurt or add 1/8 tsp pure vanilla extract. Stir in 3-4 tsp chocolate chips, optional crushed walnuts, and a dash of cinnamon.
- Nutella: Use your favorite brand of chocolate hazelnut spread or my Homemade Nutella recipe as the nut butter. Add 1 tbsp regular and 1/2 tbsp dutch or additional regular cocoa powder. Top with toasted hazelnuts if you want.
- Blueberry Overnight Oats: Use fresh or frozen blueberries as the fruit. You can also use blueberry yogurt if you wish.
- Monkey Oats: Substitute mashed banana for the yogurt. Add 1-2 tbsp peanut butter and a handful of mini chocolate chips. Or top your oatmeal with Banana Ice Cream.
- Banana Bread: Add 1/4 tsp cinnamon and 1-2 tbsp crushed walnuts or pecans with the dry ingredients. Use sliced banana as your fruit of choice.
- Cinnamon Apple: Add 1/4 tsp cinnamon or apple pie spice. Use diced apple as your fruit of choice, and add 1-2 tbsp raisins and some crushed walnuts if desired.
- Mint Chocolate Chip: Add 1/8 to 1/4 tsp pure peppermint extract, depending on desired strength. Stir in 2-4 tsp mini chocolate chips. If you wish, you can also add a little spirulina powder for color and added nutrition.
Of course there’s also a chocolate version – just use this recipe for Chocolate Overnight Oats.
- High Protein Overnight Oats: Stir 1 scoop of your favorite protein powder into the base recipe. Add extra milk if needed.
- Pumpkin Pie: Substitute canned pumpkin for the yogurt. Add 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon and a few drops of pure vanilla extract.
- Carrot Cake: Add 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 2-3 tbsp shredded carrot, and optional 1 tbsp almond or coconut butter. You can also stir in a handful of raisins, shredded coconut, or chopped walnuts.
- Piña Colada: Use coconut yogurt and coconut milk. Add a few drops pure vanilla extract, and use diced pineapple as your fruit of choice (or skip the pineapple for plain coconut oatmeal).
- Creamy Coffee: Add 1 tsp instant coffee to the recipe. For an even creamier result, substitute nondairy creamer for half the milk of choice. You can also add 1/8 tsp pure vanilla extract if desired. (Use up leftover instant coffee in this Frappuccino Recipe.)
- Strawberry Shortcake: Use strawberry yogurt, and replace the milk of choice with either canned coconut milk or nondairy creamer. Use strawberries as your fruit of choice, and stir in some strawberry jam at the end if desired. The same idea can be applied to raspberries, blackberries, peaches, or cherries.
Above, watch the overnight oats recipe video
Overnight Oats
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup rolled oats or quick oats
- 1/2 cup milk of choice
- 1/2 cup yogurt or additional milk of choice
- sweetener of choice, as desired
- 1/8 tsp salt
- optional 1/2 cup fruit of choice
- optional 1-2 tbsp nut butter
- optional 1 tbsp chia seeds, or add-ins of choice
Instructions
- *This recipe is easily vegan if you choose nondairy yogurt and milk. Options include almond, cashew, soy, rice, oat, or coconut.Combine all ingredients in a lidded container or mason jar. Shake well, then refrigerate overnight. The next morning, simply stir and enjoy! If you make the recipe, don’t forget to rate it at the bottom of the post or leave a review. And if you come up with any other flavors, please do share!View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
More Healthy Breakfast Recipes
Healthy Banana Bread – with an oil free option
Or these Keto Pancakes
These look awesome! I’ve actually never made overnight oats, but I love these flavor combos.
So with you on brunch! On Christmas my family has a big brunch, and it’s delicious (one of my top 5 favorite meals every year), but I can’t for the life of me understand how they make it through present-opening, etc. before eating! I can work out before breakfast, but that’s about it. Any idle time and I realize how hungry I am. Naturally, I eat breakfast AND brunch on Christmas 😀
Yes!!! I am with both of you. Brunch is always lunch for me, even if it’s at 11 am. I’ve never tried overnight oats. Somehow I’ve always thought of it as intimidating, but this post makes it look anything but!
So funny, I’m actually the opposite and have had to make a real effort to eat breakfast in the morning because I know you’re supposed to eat breakfast, but I’m just never hungry when I wake up. I do love breakfast food though. And I like the step by step process photos. Would love to see you do more posts including them.
Look up intermittent fasting. If you’re not hungry in the morning, just don’t eat! You don’t actually need to!
Actually you do! Eating breakfast gets your metabolism going! You’ve been fasting all night and if you don’t eat in the morning, the body will store those calories into fat.!
This is called “starvation mode” and it has beed debunked. You can’t create extra energy out of thin air. I lost 30lbs and kept them off by doing intermitrent fasting & skipping breakfast and lunch because i truly wasn’t hungry in the mornings. The idea that you store any food as fat if you don’t eat for a bit longer is more than ridiculous. Weight gain and fat storage occurs at a calorie surplus and if you eat less than you need, you can’t gain weight.
But you have to be honest about it too. You can’t say you’re fasting and then gulp down 4 Starbucks coffees.
My husband at one time skipped breakfast and lunch often and would eat a big dinner. After being diagnosed with diabetes, we discovered diabetes is often linked to individuals who skip meals. His endocrinologist has told us not eating, especially carbs, puts your liver into “starvation “ mode and causes it to react in an unhealthy way. Just FYI
Agreed! You don’t need to!
My dad’s diabetes is helped by not eating breakfast. What it all comes down to is that every body is different. That’s why we have so many different diets that all have their fanatics – people who claim it is absolutely the best diet – and their vehement opposers. Not only is every body different, but every body is different at different times of their lives. Our bodies change as we age, and what worked amazingly at one time may stop working. Pay attention, and get occasional blood tests if that makes you feel better.
Love the photos! My kids can’t get enough of your breakfast oatmeal cupcakes. As soon as we finish this next batch, I will have to try this recipe on them.
Overnight oats are so convenient for students like me xD They’re easy to make and they can make a great breakfast. Thanks for these variations!
Hi Katie!
Do you know of a vegan yogurt you can recommend? Since whole soy went out of business I haven’t had much success in finding an alternative that I like as most taste very sweet or artificial. So far I’ve tried Kite Hill, Nancy’s, coconut grove, so delicious ( almond and coconut) and o’soy. Thank you so much!!
Also sad about Wholesoy. Best alternative so far (and still not the same) has been Coconut Dream Nondairy.
Have you tried the new So Delicious unsweetened coconut milk yogurt? I find that the vanilla has a bit of an odd aftertaste but the plain is excellent. I’ve just been eating it with fruit, but I’m looking forward to trying it in smoothies and overnight oats!
Personally, I like the Silk Soy Non-Dairy Plain. I add a bit of vanilla extract to it.
I find it at grocery stores, Sprouts, and Natural Grocers (best price). It’s only available in a larger container. Here’s what it looks like:
https://silk.com/plant-based-products/dairy-free-yogurt-alternatives/plain-soy-dairy-free-yogurt-alternative
I find most non-dairy yogurts too sweet or too high fat. And, many don’t have much protein.
Best non-dairy yogurt by far is Harmless Harvest from Whole Foods. No thickeners or aftertaste. Great with overnight oats!
We like Harmless Harvest.
Great recipes!! Thanks for sharing dear!!
Xoxo,
Love from http://www.trangscorner.com {a lifestyle, fashion, beauty, and food blog}
This is perfect! I just tried my first overnight oats a couple days ago (a peanut butter version yum) and loved them and was looking for new variations. These flavors look incredible! Oh and you are definitely not the only one who is thinking of breakfast when they go to bed! I must do that every night lol
Haha 😀 I totally do that! Good to know I’m not the only dreaming of breakfast. Sometimes I manage to squeeze some yoga in before devouring some oatmeal or whatnot but that’s pretty rare. And I always eat at least a piece of chocolate or a spoonful of peanut butter before the workout anyway 🙂
I was invited to an early yoga class once and woke up late so I had to skip breakfast. Maybe my energy was lagging from that, because I ended up falling asleep at the last pose! Luckily no one noticed!
So timely! I ran out of steel cut oats this morning and I was wondering what to make for breakfast for the rest of the week. I do have rolled oats and yogurt! And blueberries! This will be awesome. Thank you!
And I am right there with you about breakfast. I need to eat something in the morning. I guess if I ate a huge dinner, or if I snacked, it wouldn’t matter so much. But I stick with 3 meals per day and I do look forward to each one!
I saw this recipe yesterday and made it right away with the banana bread version, and now I am eating it this morning and it is delicious! I think you will approve of my decision to add chocolate chips 🙂 🙂 🙂
Don’t the bananas turn brown sitting in that overnite? That is why I’ve been hesitating trying a version with bananas……thanks!
“brown” isn’t bad, just a reaction with oxygen. If you put the banana in the night before it will be submerged in your milk and covered, or you could just put it in in the morning. Easy fix for those kids who won’t eat something if it isn’t perfect looking!
Thank you for sharing – I definitely needed this. My work day starts at 7 am, so when I get up at 5 am, I’m not yet awake enough to be hungry. So I like being able to take something to my office that I can eat at my desk that’s still healthy – not always an easy task. This fits the bill, though! http://www.enchantinglyemily.com
I love this recipe! Been making it for a couple of winters. So worth it!
I love all of your blog posts, but I really love when you post non dessert recipes like these, since I do not eat dessert every day.
Overnight oats is actually the only way I like to enjoy coconut yogurt XD more excuses to have it then!
Oatmeal has been my go-to breakfast of late. These look delicious.
I love overnight oats! It’s one of my favourite breakfasts. & I am with you on the whole breakfast thing. I just don’t understand how some people can go without breakfast. Like you I need it my breakfast before I can do any work or get moving 🙂