Overnight Oats

For nearly ten years, I ate the same breakfast on repeat: a toasted english muffin with a microwaved vegetarian sausage patty and melted slice of cheese, sandwiched together and eaten on the very long drive into work. I’ve learned to mix it up since then, and my latest favorite is overnight oats. I know I’m way behind the trend and everyone else seemed to get into these years ago, but I was put off by the idea of eating cold oatmeal out of a jar. I’ve always felt it was a metaphor for sadness, like in this song from Poi Dog Pondering. But hot oatmeal is delicious and incredibly healthy; the oats have soluble fiber that lowers blood sugar and cholesterol levels and promotes healthy gut bacteria. So I assemble these make-ahead convenient breakfasts in little glass bowls with dishwasher-safe lids. When I get hungry, I microwave them for about 60 seconds, give them a quick stir, and enjoy a warm nutritious comforting breakfast.

It’s super easy to make three of these little bowls at once, in the afternoon or evening or whenever you have a few minutes, and breakfast will be prepared for the next three days. Choose your favorite milk; this time I had a little whole milk left in the fridge and some oat milk, so one has the first and the other two the latter. Choose something fruity and sweet and something nutty and crunchy to add in. Frozen or dried fruits work great; if you have fresh fruit, that will need to be added the morning you eat it.

Note that these are small portions: I tend to eat small breakfasts. You can easily double this if you’d like a nice big bowl of oatmeal. I made three flavors today:

1. Peanut butter and jelly, using creamy Trader Joe’s peanut butter and strawberry preserves
2. Blueberry coconut, using frozen wild Maine blueberries and unsweetened dried coconut
3. Date almond, using one dried date and flaked almonds

Print Recipe

Overnight Oats

Author: [email protected]

Difficulty: Beginner Prep Time 15 mins Cook Time 1 min Rest Time 12 hrs Total Time 12 hrs 16 mins

Servings: 3

Ingredients for 3 portions of Overnight Oats:

Servings

• Three 1/4 cup portions of rolled oats (not steel-cut)
• Three 1/2 cups of your favorite milk

Bowl #1

• 1/4 cup frozen blueberries (no need to defrost)
• 1 tbsp shredded coconut

Bowl #2

• 1 medjool date, seed removed, tear it into small pieces
• 1 tbsp flaked almonds

Bowl #3

• 2 tbsp peanut butter (any sort)

• 2 tsp fruit preserves (strawberry is my favorite)

Instructions

1. I used three one-cup pyrex bowls with silicone lids. You could use cereal bowls with foil to cover them in a pinch; just choose a container that you can microwave, not a mason jar unless you want to dump it into a bowl later and have more dishes to wash.

2. Add oats to each bowl. Cover with milk. Sprinkle the fruits and nuts on the top. That's it! You just made breakfast for three days in mere minutes.

1. Let them sit for at least 8 hours before eating. These will keep in the fridge, covered, for about 3 days; I wouldn't let them go any longer as they might spoil after that. 

1. When you are hungry, simply remove the lid and microwave for about one minute. Give them a quick stir, and then breakfast is ready!