This is a guest post from Kath Younger with Kath Eats Real Food.
Hi all, it’s Kath from Kath Eats Real Food! I’ve been writing about the real food I’ve been eating and my love for oatmeal breakfasts for over five years now. On my Tribute To Oatmeal page, I have hundreds of bowls of creamy oatmeal filled with toppings galore. One of my favorite oat-based breakfasts happens to be overnight oats. Overnight oats are rolled oats soaked in milk and yogurt for a substantial period of time so they become plump enough to eat. Although you can eat oats plain, they are a bit more appealing when “cooked” or soaked one way or another.
Overnight oats have quite a few perks:
- There’s no cooking at all, which means no pots to clean.
- The breakfast takes 5 minutes to assemble the night before so you can start eating within minutes of waking or on the go.
- You can prep them in any kind of to-go container from Tupperware to a mason jar, so they travel well.
- Packed with protein from Greek yogurt and milk, this breakfast will keep you full all morning.
- You can customize them any way you like with various fruits, nuts, and mix-ins.
There are many variations to overnight oats – vegan versions, no yogurt, plus chia seeds, and more.
This is my very favorite combination:
Overnight Oats From Kath Eats
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup oats rolled
- 1/3 cup milk or more, depending on how thick you like it
- 1/3 cup Greek yogurt plain (or plain regular style if you like)
- 1/2 banana
- 1/2 tablespoon chia seeds
- pinch salt
- splash pure vanilla extract
- pinch cinnamon
Instructions
- Stir everything together in a bowl. Place in fridge overnight.
- In the morning top with something crunchy and something with healthy fats – like nut butter or nuts.
- It’s even more fun if you prepare the above in a near-empty jar of your favorite almond, peanut or sunflower butter. Scrape the sides as you enjoy! See more variations here.
- And for even more of a twist, prepare the oats in a blender and store in the fridge overnight. In the morning, blend everything together into a doughy, batter-like smoothie that I call a "Dough Boy." Add toppings to your heart's desire.
Notes
Nutrition Facts
Bon appétit! How do you eat your oatmeal?
Kath Younger, RD writes a healthy food and lifestyle blog called Kath Eats Real Food. The blog is a celebration of life through the lens of real food, documenting over five years of daily meals. She writes about everything from recipes to organization tips to encouraging readers to try new foods, including wheatberries, kale chips, chia seeds, and her famous whipped banana oatmeal. Kath recently launched a second blog, Baby KERF, to document her journey to motherhood.
Kath Younger, RD writes a healthy food and lifestyle blog called 
How many servings is the overnight recipe?
Hi. In our house, this is two servings. :)
Can I use quick oats?
Hi there. You can but you might find the texture a little more mushy. :)
A cup of oatmeal has as much protein as an egg. And a cup of oatmeal has almost as much protein as a cup of milk (and, incidentally, a LOT less sugar). So it’s not just the milk and yogurt that are providing the protein here!
I love warm oatmeal, but feel like I must be doing something wrong as I have tried a few variations of overnight oats and they have turned horrible!! They are a big, cold pile of mush flavored with whatever toppings I added. Am I missing something? :)
Hi Melissa. Maybe you just haven’t found the right combination of flavors for you.
I first ate cold oats in Switzerland and became addicted. The recipe they used was oats soaked in yogurt overnight then in the morning sweeten the oats with fresh squeezed orange juice. They then added diced apple and walnuts. I was told to add milk as needed if you thought the yogurt needed thinning. They also recommended using steel cut oats.
So you eat them cold?
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I’m not much of an oatmeal person, but this sounds good. If like to try it…but I guess I’m just a little confused. Do you eat it cold? I’ve definitely never tried cold oatmeal!
Sprinkle with pumpkin & sunflower seeds in the morning for some texture / crunch!
I don’t put milk in my oatmeal. Sometimes I’ll use oat milk in my granola. Otherwise I like to soak my oats in apple juice with currants and almonds and a sprinkle of cinnamon. :)
This is my favorite way to eat oatmeal. :)
Steel Cut oats with pumpkin
Yummy warm and spicy. My house smells like pumpkin pie :) This makes 4: 1 cup servings
Ingredients
1 cup canned Pumpkin
1 cup Steel Cut Oats with flax and bran (Rogers brand)
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbs cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
dash of salt
3 cups water
Tips
For sweetness you can add what you like ie white sugar,brown sugar, honey, even Maple syrup would be yummy
Directions
Put everything into a small crockpot before you go to bed and cook on low until morning 6-8 hours. Stir well and serve.
I make this all the time for my husband and myself. I tend to skip the geek yogurt and just add unsweetened chocolate of vanilla almond milk instead. We both love it and it’s so easy, just grab and go if you’re in a hurry.
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Just wanted to write in and say this recipe is amazing! I used to try and eat oatmeal regularly, but I just couldn’t get past the texture and taste. Fixing oats this way is SO much tastier. And the options in fixing it are limitless. I, personally, like preparing my own frozen peaches and usually add them, but I also use frozen organic berries and plain apple. The great thing about frozen fruit is it’ll defrost and soften overnight in the oat mixture and be the perfect temp to eat in the morning.
I need to to thank you for this great read!! I absolutely loved every bit of it.
I’ve got you book-marked to check out new stuff you post…
My kids will love the fun of assembling their own oatmeal the night before, and I will love not having to make everyone’s breakfast the next morning. Thanks for the idea!
I always check out the Kath eats site, there are some wonderful recipes there as well as here. x
Love oatmeal – called porridge over here – but can’t get my head around the overnight soaking as I prefer it cooked up with milk and honey. Does seem to keep me full all morning though.
Thank you, Kath, for sharing your oats recipe! I’ve made it twice this week for my husband and I and we love it!
This is delicious. I made some for my friend and I to try, we could not get enough of it. Strawberries and banana on top make two very delighted individuals :)
We have been eating this for years after discovering it when we were stationed in Germany. They call it muesli there and usually add a fresh tart apple grated into the mixture. I always put a little lemon or orange juice to keep the apple pretty.
THIS sounds like a great dessert too, kinda like a rice pudding replacement!
Kath is one of my favorite food bloggers! Also love her blog since our babies are just weeks apart! We need to do vegan overnight oats here due to food allergies, but they’re still just as yummy.
This is my version: http://www.mamacado.com/2012/12/easy-breakfast-vegan-overnight-oats.html
The idea you have for oats is great! It’s neat that there’s no cooking involved for it which makes it easy for cooking challenged people like me. Thank you for the recipe!!
Does anyone know how this works for large batches? Can you just quadruple the quantities? We have 6 children.
Don’t know if anyone has responded to you, but yes, Jen! You can make this in big batches, it works the same way. I actually make 5 individual mason jars of mine on Sunday night to eat through the week. I’ve also done it by making one big batch-it’s very forgiving, just triple or quadruple the recipe. I make enough for a week. It’s a little more soggy on Friday than Monday, but it still tastes great. Also, I do NOT use yogurt. I am lactose intolerant, and so I use almond milk instead of milk & yogurt. Very yummy, my favorite is to fix it with almond mix, stone ground oats, cinnamon and vanilla extract. Then, in the morning, I chop up a granny smith apple and stir it in. Adds a great crunch, and it tastes like cinnamon apples! I like the granny smith because of the tartness and the crunch, but I’m sure any apple would work. Good luck!
Tried it, like it! I topped it w/ PB, blueberries, strawberries, homemade granola, and drizzled honey.. pretty good! Don’t really care for the banana in it.. was a bit soggier than I prefer. Hubby also actually liked it too and he detests regular oatmeal!! I highly suggest adding crunch as Kath recommends. I also feel really great and energized after eating it. Thanks for the share!!
I love making overnight oats! I usually put strawberries in ours. I was disappointed to click over on that blog and see a post basically giving free PR to General Mills and people saying it changed their opinion about GM. Just because they flew a blogger out and have really fancy digs shouldn’t make people feel good about supporting them. It’s unfortunate that they’re huge supporters of Monsanto and spend millions fighting the labeling of GMO products. Lisa, I know that you don’t have a degree in nutrition but I love that you DO talk about harmful GMO’s and other ingredients in the foods you eat. Your blog is truly about REAL FOOD. I’m disappointed you linked to the other blog b/c it could mislead people from the message you are trying to send here. Just a thought. Thanks for all of the great ideas you bring us here every day!
I have never heard of Kath, but clicked over to her blog and the first post I see is one where she is shilling for General Mills. There is absolutely nothing about GM that is “real food”, even their so called “healthy options.”. I am appalled that this blog would feature a post from someone so obviously not committed to eating and promoting “real food.”. Seems like her commitment to real food can be bought with a cereal bar (of which she selected Kix and Lucky Charms, both of which are obviously real foods found in nature and served in an unadulterated state).
I have been an avid reader of 100 days but no more. Very disappointing.
Gosh Emily I am sorry to hear that you have been an avid reader of our blog, but after seeing one thing you didn’t like a guest poster’s site (after she shared a real food recipe with us) that you are leaving. Actually I have to say I am surprised as well…we obviously don’t condone the majority of General Mills’ products over here, but I also don’t control other people’s sites. When reading blogs I basically just soak up what information is useful to me and leave it at that.
Thanks for your reply…that comment was written in “the heat of the moment”. I completely agree that you don’t have control over other people’s sites. What was disappointing to me was that you linked to someone who obviously doesn’t share the real food values you work so hard to promote and educate people about. As Jill said below, I feel like it hurts your message to affiliate with a blogger who doesn’t line up with your ideals. By linking to Ms. Younger’s blog and sending readers her way it makes it seem like you view her as a kindred spirit, which (after further reading into her blog and some of her food recommendations) you all clearly are not.
I apologize for how my comment came across – General Mills makes me ragey, and I felt like you may have been hoodwinked by Ms. Younger.
Kim I put mine in the microwave for 15 seconds to take the chill off unless I have time to remove it from the fridge for an hour before I eat it. My husband prefers his warm tho!
Hi Kath and Lisa!
I’m a dietitian too :) You have me convinced to try the overnight oats! I see them around quite a bit, but for some reason haven’t tried. Cold oatmeal, no cooking, it all sounds great with warm weather finally coming our way! This is how we have it all the time, and I’m sure it would work perfectly! Chocolate Oatmeal! …only more often than not have it without chocolate! PB-Banana Oatmeal then?! Here you go! http://fresh-you.blogspot.com/2012/01/dessert-for-breakfast-chocolate-oatmeal.html THANK YOU for the extra push to try overnight oats! Happy weekend to all :) Colleen :)
Thanks for hosting this guest post. It’s always great to discover new real food blogs to add to my list.
The kids and I love overnight oats! I think I’ll try your version (minus the salt) for our next batch. :) Thanks!
Such a great and healthy breakfast!
I can hardly wait to try these!! Perfect for summer. Question: how can I make using kefir? Would I replace milk or yogurt? Or both?
Yes! Kefir could be used in place of the milk and yogurt
This is called Birchermuesli in Europe. I make mine without milk. My recipe is: a large pot of yoghurt of choice (greek is good but watch the cals), two cups of oats, one cup of raisins and chopped dried ready to eat apricots, a teaspoon of cinnamon and a large grated apple (with peel). I mix it all and then I thin it down with apple juice until it looks slightly too wet. That’s fine as the oats will soak it up and you may need to add more juice.
Thank you for sharing! I have heard this is a European concept and some call it summer porridge. I love the idea of grating an apple for added sweetness. I will have to try that.
Kath…Love overnight oats! I first tried them after reading your blog a couple years ago. Fun to see you on here as a guest =)
P.S. The oats, and any other grains, are improved by toasting. That can be done in a skillet. Cool, then add fruit etc. Store on counter top in Mason jar, for quick handsful.
This is called Muesli, and Swiss and Germans have been eating it forever. The original way is to mix all your dry ingredients, and store in a jar. Serve with milk or yogurt, or soak overnight as you’ve suggested. A famous version used to be served (maybe, still?) at the old Sylvia Hotel in Vancouver.
Ugh, this again? I’d love some different oatmeal recipes. It seems like the same ones are posted over and over and over.
Unfortunately, I just cannot get on board with overnight oats. Tried it once (according to Kath’s recipe) and they just made me gag. Warm oats are the only way for me! :)
reminds me of meusli
Quick question… should this oatmeal be eaten cold? I hope it’s okay to warm it up!
I prefer it cold, but you can certainly warm it up. Since there’s yogurt involved you probably don’t want to actually cook it, but taking the chill out is totally fine. Alternatively, you could soak it in just milk to reduce the cooking time in the morning.
We do steel cut oats in the slow cooker overnight (similar to this: http://www.simplebites.net/how-to-cook-apple-pie-steel-cut-oats-in-a-slow-cooker/). I put out raisins, nuts, maple syrup, shredded coconut, and fresh fruit and everyone loves customizing their bowl with toppings. But now that summer’s here, I will have to give this a try!
Kath, I love your blog! I found it one day when I was looking for oatmeal recipes. My daughters favorite breakfast is this one. We call it “Kenzie’s special breakfast”. It’s one of the few things that I can always count on her to eat. As a matter of fact, we’ve had it for breakfast the last 3 mornings. Thanks for sharing!
Hmmm when I read about blending it in a blender for the next morning, my first thought was: “Can I make pancakes with it?” If you try please let me know.
I have been making something like this for years, & love it! I don’t leave it overnight, I just make it in the morning & eat it right away. I like raw oats. This is my favorite: http://moveeatlivewell.blogspot.com/2012/04/yogurt-with-pears-oats-walnuts-easy.html
Wow, that’s even easier than less than 2 minutes in the micro wave in the morning..and no exposure to microwave..I’ll be trying this tonight as I eat oatmeal with flax seed and coconut oil about every morning!
Could you use steel cut oats instead?
I don’t think they would get cooked enough just from soaking overnight
Thanks for sharing your daughter with us Barbara!
As the person who first gave Kath oatmeal (her mom), it’s been so much fun to follow her adult passion for oatmeal! Great recipe.
AWESOME! I love overnight oats, good stuff.
Great guest blogger! I read Kath every day :) Her banana whipped oatmeal is the only way I’ll eat it now!