During the cold winter months, getting up early can feel like a chore. Sure, it’s one thing to get to work on time, but also getting up early to make an entire breakfast can be overwhelming. Thankfully, you have many ways to meal plan for your lunch, but what should you do about breakfast?
Sometimes it’s just not practical to take some fresh fruit or a pastry and go, so look at other ways to get nutrients without having to worry too much about preparation. One of the most effective ways to eliminate morning prep time and have a nutritious breakfast can be to utilize overnight oats recipes.
What Are Overnight Oats?
Overnight oats are a way of preparing (typically rolled) oats that are similar to muesli. It typically involves a mixture of raw oats that are soaked overnight in either water, milk, yogurt, or another type of liquid, which is then eaten raw, often with fruits and nuts. When contained in a jar, it becomes an easy grab-and-go meal for the morning!
The health benefits you can get from eating oats is plentiful. For starters, it can help you burn more fat in the long run, as the oats stimulate your metabolism significantly. (1)
Eating oats is also good for your heart, helping you reduce your cholesterol in the long run. If you incorporate oats into your diet on a regular basis, research has shown that it can help you maintain a healthier heart. (2)
Where Do I Start?
There are many different ways that you can prepare oats, though, so sometimes it can be hard to choose. To help make your choice easier, we’ve gone through many options and have made a list of the options that we believe are the tastiest recipes you can make in less than 5 minutes!
So, here’s our list of 21 Overnight Oats Recipes You Can Make In Less Than 5 Minutes:
(All of the below recipes should be assembled in a jar or other sort of container and placed in a refrigerator overnight after preparation is done)
1. Banana Walnut Rolled Oats
This is one of the most classic ways you can prepare your rolled oats! You can do this easily by filling up a jar with rolled oats, then adding milk until the oats are well-covered. Then, put in some walnuts, chia seeds, and a cut up banana. Then, put it in the fridge and wait until morning!
2. Choco Banana Surprise
For this recipe, just cut up a banana and mix it with cacao powder. Then layer your oats on top of it before adding a layer of peanut butter. Then, add another layer of oats before putting milk in the entire mixture to fill in the gaps. Leave it overnight and you are surely in for a treat when you wake up!
3. Citrus Swirl Overnight Oats
A unique way to prepare your oats is to fill the jar with lemon juice instead of milk. I prefer to use the lemon juice and then cut up an orange to put inside the oats, complimenting the citrus taste of the juice. If you top it with walnuts and a bit of yogurt, you’ll have a delicious treat once you mix it all together!
4. Smoothie Fruitiness
Ever have one of those days where you wish you could just have a smoothie for breakfast while also having a balanced meal? Well, this recipe allows you to do both of those things! For this, make a smoothie of your choice in a blender (we recommend ice, strawberries, plain yogurt, bananas, and blueberries) before using that smoothie as the basis for the liquid in your oats. Feel free to add some chopped up fruits for more texture!
5. Strawberry Delight Overnight Oats
One of the most simple recipes you can do is make your life pink by throwing some strawberry yogurt in-between your oats with some chia seeds! Then, chop up some strawberries before coating them in sugar (optional) and placing them in the jar for texture.
6. Flax-Filled Treat
For this recipe, fill your jar with half as much oats as you usually do, but add flax seeds for the other half. Then fill it with Greek yogurt and put cherries inside for a delicious mix of sweet and sour!
7. Classic Overnight Oats
This recipe is the most basic, allowing you to just put your oats in the jar and then milk on top. It’s very practical when you’re really tight on time, as there’s little to no prep!
8. Chocolate Cravings
Want a sweet breakfast that is also healthy? Try putting Greek yogurt in the jar with your oats and then adding a teaspoon of cocoa powder and mix it all together. If you need more chocolate, add as much as you’d like before topping it off with raspberries.
9. Green Smoothie
Similar to our smoothie recipe earlier on this list, this recipe involves you making a smoothie that you then use as the basis for the oats. We recommend putting bananas, avocado, strawberries, and spinach in your smoothie before adding it to the oats. The flavor is unique, but that’s why it works so well!
10. Pancake Overnight Oats
For this recipe, we recommend you soak your oats in milk before adding maple syrup. You can then chop up some nuts for texture and add a little peanut butter to re-create a flavor similar to the smell of pancakes on a lazy Saturday morning!
11. Banana Vanilla Deliciousness
We really love this recipe: put chopped up bananas in your jar of oats before adding Greek yogurt, vanilla extract, and a lot of cinnamon. You’ll love the combination of flavors!
12. Sunflower Seed Oats
Sunflower Seed Butter can be a wonderful vehicle for an oats recipe, often mimicking the same type of texture of yogurt. If you use this as the liquid in-between your oats, you can then add strawberries and bananas to make it a smashing breakfast
13. Apple Cinnamon Overnight Oats
For this recipe, we recommend putting milk in-between your oats, then chopping up an apple into multiple slices and each slice into smaller bits. Putting this in the jar with chia seeds and a good deal of cinnamon will satisfy your taste buds immensely!
14. Cookie Crumble Oats
Have a leftover batch of cookies from the night before? Put some milk into your oats, crumble the cookies over it, and mix it in for some delicious flavor. Save some crumble for the morning after when you are about it eat it to have a contrast in texture.
15. The King’s Oats
Elvis was known for loving his peanut butter and banana sandwiches—honor the King of Rock n’ Roll by putting milk in your oats, then covering them in peanut butter and sliced bananas! Chop up some peanuts for an extra kick of crunchy flavor.
16. Spring Oats
One of our favorite recipes to break out when spring rolls around is something that has the taste of flowers. Use your favorite rosewater tea as the basis for your oats, then add blueberries and strawberries to the mixture. Top it off with some lemon juice and you have a delicious treat for the season!
17. Iced Tea Overnight Oats
A wonderful way to prepare oats is to soak them in your favorite type of tea in place of water. We recommend green or chamomile tea, as it compliments the flavor of the oats best.
18. Carrot Cake Oats
Another classic recipe that seemingly everyone has their own recipe for, ours includes soaking your oats in milk before adding cream cheese, chia seeds, shredded carrots, and raisins. If you want an extra kick of sweetness, you can add vanilla extract, but we prefer it without.
19. Chips and Cream
This recipe involves putting vanilla yogurt in your oats and topping it in the morning with chocolate chips. This will give it a really nice texture and the vanilla will compliment the chocolate chips quite nicely. Also,it is a great recipe to eat when you’re craving cookies but don’t want to bake, let alone take on the calories!
20. Keepin’ It Minty and Sour
A nice, easy, and sour way to prepare your overnight oats is to soak them in plain yogurt before putting blueberries on top. Put in some mint leaves and mix them around for some extra flavor to compliment the fruit!
21. A Taste of Summer
When you’re missing the fruity, warm taste of summer, soak your oats in milk and put in some pear, pineapple, mango, banana, maple syrup, and chia seeds. This one will surely put a spring in your step and make you feel like it’s August!
FINAL THOUGHTS ON OVERNIGHT OATS
It’s clear that overnight oats are not only a healthy way for you to get nutrients in the morning but also an incredibly versatile one. We’ve listed our favorites, but there are plenty of other options if you’re craving something different, such as this list of more oats recipes.
So, what did you think of our list? Have you tried any of them out yet? Do you have your own favorite recipes? Start adding oats to your breakfast prep today and experience a nutritious, easy-to-make meal every morning!
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