Overnight Oats :: How 15 Minutes on a Sunday Can Change Your Entire Week for the Better
I’ve never really been a daily breakfast person.
Weekend breakfast? Sure, let’s try whatever new thing is making the rounds on TikTok!
Brunch? Well, obviously. Who doesn’t love a bottomless mimosa?
Breakfast foods for dinner? Absolutely, I’ll fire up the electric griddle!
A somewhat nutritious meal before I leave the house to help get my day off to a great start? Nah, I’m good, thanks.
<face palm>
My 3 kids ages 4 and under are all still in daycare or Pre-K (where breakfast and lunch are both provided). Instead of adopting these ideas for during the week, I opted into the meal plan for our younger two so that it was one less thing on my plate. So the only time we really make breakfast at home is on the weekend.
But in an effort to “fuel our days” and curb expensive trips to Starbucks, my husband and I have started making overnight oats on Sundays to eat throughout the week and we’ve become overnight oats fans. So delicious and so easy. About 15 minutes of prep on a Sunday means 10 mindless breakfasts during the week. (My biggest problem is remembering to bring the jar of oats with me when I leave for work! I can remember allll the things for 3 tiny humans, but struggle to remember myself…)
We like to use pint-sized wide-mouth Mason jars with reusable plastic lids. I was tired of tearing up rolls of masking tape for labels, so we use these labels (we take them off prior to washing, but they’re dissolvable in case we forget!).
There are some recipes that blend overnight oats so the texture is a bit more palatable, but it doesn’t bother us so we haven’t tried it. But blending them with a little extra liquid and making an oat smoothie can solve the dreading issue of forgetting a spoon.
Overnight Oats – Basic Recipe
This recipe is for ONE serving. We make a 10x batch on Sundays so my husband and I have breakfast Monday-Friday.
1/2 cup milk (dairy or non-dairy)
1/4 yogurt (dairy or non-dairy)
1 tablespoon sweetener of choice (we use maple syrup or an overly ripe banana if we have it)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup rolled or old fashioned oats (not quick-cooking oats, they’ll get mushy)
OPTIONAL: 1 tablespoon chia seeds
OPTIONAL: powdered nutritional supplements such as collagen or protein powder
Label the jar lids using masking tape or removable labels with each flavor’s name.
No need to blend in the blender, but I like to use it when I make big batches to make it easier. Add your wet ingredients to a blender, blend, and pour approximately 3/4 cup into each of the jars.
I do the same base for all of them and then add specialty flavorings (see below) for each day and mix them well before adding my oats.
Put the oats and chia seeds in the mason jar and stir immediately so the chia seeds don’t clump together.
Cover and refrigerate up to 5 days.
Flavorings & Mix-Ins
Some flavorings we like are peanut butter, applesauce, pumpkin purée, cinnamon, apple or pumpkin pie spice, a tablespoon of regular or sugar-free pudding mix, nuts, extracts, etc. We also use flavored peanut butter powder sometimes. The sky’s the limit and there are tons of great recipes online.
Fresh fruit is only good in there about a day or 2, so I like to add that the day I plan to eat it. I also like to package chocolate chips or sprinkles separately to mix in right before I eat them so they don’t get a weird texture.
Suggested Flavors to Try
Turtle Cheesecake: Mix in 1/2 tablespoon cheesecake pudding mix, 1/2 tablespoon chocolate pudding mix, and a tablespoon of caramel sauce to your liquid base in your mason jar before adding oats & chia. Once your oats are added and mixed, top with more caramel sauce and pecans.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip: Add a heaping tablespoon peanut butter to your basic recipe and top with chocolate chips immediately before eating.
Strawberry Cheesecake: Mix in 1 tablespoon cheesecake pudding mix to your liquid base in your mason jar before adding oats & chia. Once your oats are added and mixed, top with fresh diced strawberries immediately before eating.
Pineapple Coconut: Add a heaping tablespoon sweetened or unsweetened coconut flakes and 2 drained tablespoons of crushed pineapple to your basic recipe.
