Healthy Overnight Oats Recipe (+18 Flavors)
This is the only healthy overnight oats recipe you'll ever need! The THOUSANDS of 5-star ratings can't be wrong. Packed with 20g+ protein and 10g+ fiber, these oats are as nourishing as they are tasty. And with 18 flavor options, you're sure to find your perfect meal prep breakfast.
🔍 Recipe At-A-Glance: Healthy Overnight Oats Recipe
- ⏰ Prep Time: 5 minutes
- 🕰️ Chill Time: 4+ hours
- 🥣 Flavor Profile: The base recipe below is a amazing vanilla overnight oats flavor, but I also have nearly 20 other flavors to try like my strawberry cheesecake overnight oats, carrot cake overnight oats, or my super popular chocolate peanut butter overnight oats
- 💪 What Makes It Healthy: 20g+ protein and 10g+ of fiber per full-size serving, tons of gut-nourishing probiotics
- 🥄 Good For: Meal prep breakfasts, busy weekday mornings, kid breakfasts
- ↪️ Make Ahead: Designed for meal prep! Whip this up on the weekend to eat on all week.
- 🧡 Difficulty: If you can stir, you can make these overnight oats!
"I've been making overnight oats for a while now, using different recipes I've found online, and I gotta say, this is THE BEST recipe by far!
- FRAN -
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🧡 Why You'll Love This Recipe
"Hey! Aren't you the overnight oats lady?!" I've been stopped on the street more times that I can count to talk about my overnight oats (my job is so weird sometimes 😂). These oats are THAT good. I promise you'll love them, too!
Here's why you'll love this recipe:
- Make Ahead: Prep a batch of these overnight oats in literally 5 minutes
- So. Many. Flavors: I currently have 18 flavors (and counting) ranging from lemon poppyseed overnight oats to chai latte overnight oats to pina colada overnight oats-if you can dream it, I've probably already made it.
- Packed Full of Protein & Fiber: A full batch has 20g+ of protein and 10g+ of fiber without any added protein powder or fiber.
- So Easy To Make: If you can stir, you can make these.
- A recipe you can trust: The overnight oats recipes have been viral on the internet for well over a decade! With thousands of 5 star reviews, you can trust my oats recipes.
"LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! By far the best overnight oats I've made and tried"
- LYNN -
🥛 The Ingredients You Need
- Oats: I recommend rolled oats here. Quick cooking or steel cut oats won't have the same texture (but they are great in my slow cooker steel cut oats recipe).
- Greek Yogurt: any plain Greek yogurt will do, or you can use homemade yogurt, just make sure to strain it first (here's the yogurt strainer I use every week)
- Chia seeds: help them thicken up the oats as well as add protein and fiber, you can also swap in equal amounts of flax meal
- Honey or maple syrup: I prefer the flavor of maple syrup in these oats, but either option works-or leave out the sweetener all together if you want to cut back on sugar.
- Flavoring: the recipe listed here is for the base vanilla overnight oats recipe, but depending on what flavor you are making, you'll add all kinds of yummy goodies!
Make sure to check the recipe card below for the full ingredients list, along with quantities and my expert tips and tricks.
"I usually don't like oats, but this recipe...SOOO YUMMY, I want to eat it everyday, that's how good it is."
- IVANA -
🔁 Variations & Substitutions
- Make it vegan: Use maple syrup, plant-based milk (almond milk or oatmilk work great) and vegan Greek yogurt
- Make it gluten-free: These oats are naturally gluten-free as long as you choose certified gluten-free oats.
- No chia seeds? Swap in equal amounts of ground flax.
- Up the protein: Add a scoop of vanilla or unflavored protein powder!
- Make it sugar-free: Drop the sweetener and add a ½ mashed ripe banana. Or use stevia or monk fruit sweetener in place of the maple syrup or honey if you prefer.
🥣 How to Make Healthy Overnight Oats
Step 1: Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl.
Step 2: Mix well to combine.
Step 3: Spoon into a jar or other food storage container. I like either Weck 742 Half Liter jars or Ball Wide Mouth Pint jars for the full batch. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
Step 4: Serve cold topped with whatever toppings bring you joy: nut butter, nuts, chocolate chips, fruit, etc.
"I've almost tried all of the flavours now, and they're all amazing!! It's like having dessert for breakfast 🙂"
- TASH -
🙋🏻♀️ Healthy Overnight Oats FAQs
Yes! Overnight oats are packed with protein, fiber, and a good mix of macronutrients to make for a balanced breakfast.
Yes, you can use steel cut oats to make overnight oats but the final texture will be more chewy than creamy. Because steel cut oats are inherently less processed, you should increase the amount of liquid by ¼ cup, and prepare for a chewier oatmeal in the morning.
The recipes with fruit mix-ins, eat within three days. The ones without fresh fruit, you could get by with letting them chill in the fridge for up to a week.
👩🏻🍳 My Expert Tips & Tricks
- Make lots: doubling or tripling this recipe takes no extra time but gives you lots of extra breakfasts-perfect for big families!
- Boost the nutrition: add in protein powder, collagen powder, fiber supplements, oh my!
- Wait at least 4 hours: yes these are called "overnight" oats, but you can get away with eating them after at least 4 hours in the fridge
- Sweeten to taste: some people like breakfast foods sweeter than others, so start with a small amount of maple syrup or honey, taste your oats, then add more if you like.
🥣 All of My Healthy Overnight Oats Flavors
- Lemon Poppyseed Overnight Oats
- Chocolate Chip Banana Overnight Oats
- Chai Latte Overnight Oats
- Blueberry Overnight Oats
- Strawberry Cheesecake Overnight Oats
- Key Lime Pie Overnight Oats
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Overnight Oats
- Carrot Cake Overnight Oats
- Peanut Butter Banana Overnight Oats
- Chocolate Coffee Overnight Oats
- Cherry and Toasted Almond Overnight Oats
- Apple Cinnamon Overnight Oats
- Chocolate Peppermint Overnight Oats
- Piña Colada Overnight Oats
- Coconut Chocolate Overnight Oats
- Eggnog Overnight Oats Recipe
- Pumpkin Overnight Oats
If you tried these Healthy Overnight Oats or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments!
📖 Recipe
Healthy Overnight Oats Recipe (+18 Flavors)
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup plain Greek yogurt
- ½ cup heaping rolled oats
- ⅔ cup milk of any kind
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds or ground flaxmeal
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
- 0-2 tablespoons honey or maple syrup
Instructions
- Whisk together all ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Spoon into a jar with a tight-fitting lid.
- Close and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight before eating.
Notes
- This recipe is delicious on it's own, but it really shines topped with fresh fruit, nuts, or peanut butter!
- Doubling or tripling this recipe takes no extra time but gives you lots of extra breakfasts-perfect for big families!
- Feel free to add in protein powder, collagen powder, fiber supplements, or other nutrition boosters.
- This recipe is the base for all my other 18 overnight oats flavors! Find links to all of those in the post above.
Nutrition
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This blog post is sponsored by Almond Breeze. The content and opinions expressed here are mine.
I came across this on pinterest – my kids and i love overnight oats! i think we will have to try the peanut butter and jelly one!
I made these for the first time yesterday and had them for breakfast this morning. I used the basic vanilla recipe and added sliced strawberries in the morning. SO GOOD! I used agave rather than honey. I made a batch for tomorrow and tried adding protein powder. Thank you for sharing the recipe!
Thanks so much for including me in this round-up! I love overnight oats, probably my most favorite breakfast ever, so I can’t wait to try some (or all of these)!
I came across this on pinterest – my kids and i love overnight oats! i think we will have to try the peanut butter and jelly one!
I've tried overnight oats once with yogurt, oats and some fruit and it wasn't bad but I didn't love it , however I tried your base recipe with using dairy milk, regular yogurt and ommitted the vanilla... and boy it was a completely new experience! The ground flax seeds were a revelation! They do make a difference! And to think that we kept it at home just like a remedy for a bloated tummy! I can hardly wait to try some new combinations for my next breakfasts! Thank you for sharing!
I usually don't like oats, but this receipt...SOOO YUMMY, I want to eat it everyday, that's how good it is.
I found your amazing overnight oats recipes years ago and many of them became breakfast staples (strawberry cheesecake, carrot cake, pumpkin pie), and the peanut butter one is wonderful as an evening treat. But I just discovered that you added 7 more recipes!! I am so exited I want to try them all! 😀
Enjoy!!
I wanted to try one of your recipes, however, when I followed the arrow there was nothing but advertisements for packaged product. Please explain.
That link should be fixed now, and take you to the overnight oats recipe, rather than the page for all of our recipes!
Thank you so much.
It's a lifesaver recipe for quarantined work-from-home parents of 2 small kids. They think it's a dessert that they're (for some puzzling reason) allowed to have WHENEVER, so they make a run for the fridge first thing in the morning ))
We're based in Europe and I'm glad to report the quantities are perfect for the ingredients available here as well. 'Had to google US cup sizes, though.
Glad it is helping you through these times!
Can you use plastic containers for overnight oats?
How about blueberries?
Walnuts or pecans?
Yes, yes, and yes! You can make these your own, with whatever flavor you want. We did just post a blueberry recipe: https://wholefully.com/blueberry-overnight-oats/
Hi! Just discoverd these and ofcourse had to try them! I started with the vanilla oats, But when i was preparing them i noticed that i brought home a flavord kind of greek yoghurt... so now instead of vanilla oats They Will be salted caramel oats :d hahaha
Coudn’t resist tasting them and they tasted sooo yummie! Why isn’t it morning yet?! (I’m from belgium btw)
Hi! Can you soak the oaks to make overnight oats?
Also, is a batch 8 ounces? The recipe says it yields 2 servings. , but I get one 8-ounce jar. Are the serving 4 ounces?
A batch should make enough to fill a pint jar, so about 16 ounces. That can be 1 large serving or two smaller servings, depending on how hungry you are!
I’ve made your OOs recipes several times and love them, but I’ve got a question about the nutritional info. It states 25.9g carbs, 4.9g fiber, but 0g net carbs. Is there something I’m missing?
I sure hope so because we’re cutting out carbs more due to our health (I have several inflammatory AI conditions and hubs has an inflammatory intestinal nerve issue) and I’d love to continue to eat my favorite quick breakfast!
Hmm, I'm not sure. Those numbers are automatically calculated, so I'm not sure about the net carb numbers myself. You could try plugging it into another calculator to check.
Hi Cassie,
Great article and tips. Question though - for improved digestion, do you soak the oats with warm water and then make the overnight oats recipe? So basically 2 nights? Thank you!
I've found that just leaving them out on the counter as is overnight does the trick for me!
There is something magical about adding yogurt to overnight oats (I used Soy Delicious coconut milk brand), it just makes everything so crazy creamy and comforting! (fresh chia seeds are a must, too!) I've been making overnight oats for a while now, using different recipes I've found online, and I gotta say, this is THE BEST recipe by far! The ratios of wet to dry ingredients are perfect, the sweetness level is just right (I went with 1 Tbs of the maple syrup... I may drop it down to 1/2 Tbs, even), and the serving size was on point. I made the basic, and added banana slices and a sprinkling of chopped walnuts, and omg! I enjoyed it in silence -no online/phone distractions- and savored every last bit. I also made the chocolate peanut butter, and pumpkin spice ones and those are waiting in my fridge. I'm going to try making my own yogurt this week. I can only imagine it will take these overnight oats right over the top. Thank you Cassie! I just found you, and already I'm in love with Wholefully. ❤️
I love making these. I actually didn't like oatmeal too much until I attempted overnight oats. I've even been recommending these recipes to friends over the past few months. I make them all the time to take with me for lunch, or when I know I'm going to need something quick to eat the following day (or days). There's one I do, where I take the Basic Overnight Oat recipe and add the juice and zest from 1/2 an orange, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves.
Ooh, sounds like a great modification!
Thank you for these. I'd never made overnight oats, and these recipes prompted me to try.
I liked the chocolate peanut butter so much, I whipped up the classic - with a little added cinnamon - this morning.
Can it be made using water instead of milk or plant milk?
Yes, it just won't be quite as creamy!
I wonder does anyone pick up the milk??
AWESOME!! Thank you.