Overnight Oats are a staple breakfast for me. Not only are they a healthy nutritious start to your day, but they are quick and easy to make the night before, leaving you ample time to get ready in the morning. It’s also a breakfast that you can eat on the go, depending on what container you put it in. 

I have Overnight Oats at least four times a week at the moment and it provides me with a tasty breakfast that leaves me full for hours, more than cereal ever does for me.

For some, breakfast can feel like the most boring meal of the day, something they either skip or feel that they’re just eating because they ‘have to’. But by having some different breakfast ideas up your sleeve and trying new things in the morning, it can definitely take away the dull thought of eating weetabix every day. 

Overnight Oats have been an on-going breakfast trend on food TikTok for the past couple of years, especially for channels promoting healthy eating. They are essentially oats soaked in water or milk overnight with added yoghurt and toppings, which you then mix together the next day. This allows the oats to absorb the liquid so they are ready to eat in the morning when they’ve softened. Sometimes I don’t add water or milk and just have yoghurt or fruit, but for the best outcome, it is probably best to add some liquid to the oats.

Overnight Oats never get boring; there are always new videos online on how to make different flavours, and you can test out exciting topping combinations by adding an array of yoghurts, fruits, seeds, and chocolate products to make it more exciting and tasty too.

Below is my staple overnight oats recipe, with additional topping inspirations:

The Basic Overnight Oats 

What you need:

• A mason jar or something similar
• 40-50g porridge oats (depending on the size of your jar)
• 100ml water or milk
• 2-3 tbsp of yoghurt of choice. Recommended: plain greek style yoghurt as the fruit mixed in makes the overnight oats flavourful.
• 50g fruit. Recommended: banana, strawberries, or frozen berries.

Method:

1. Add the oats to the bottom of the mason jar and add the water or milk, mixing together. Press down.

2. Add the yoghurt on top of the oats.

3. Add the chopped fruit on top (if they’re not small berries). 

Alternatives 

• You can layer your overnight oats by doing oats, yoghurt, fruit, oats, yoghurt, fruit – this works nicely too.

Other ingredients to add:

• Cocoa powder (1 tsp) – mixed into the yoghurt
• Chia Seeds – add on top
• Sweetener such as honey or maple syrup – mixed into the yoghurt
• Peanut butter – added to a layer between the yoghurt and fruit
• Cinnamon – mixed into oats or sprinkled on top
• Chocolate chips – add on top

FeelGoodFoodie has a great recipe for over interesting overnight oats such as Apple Crumble or Banana Nutella.

@Max Boxall, @noashealthyeats, and @wellnesswsandra on social media (Instagram and TikTok) are great too for funky ideas.

Hungry for more? Check out these articles:

Recipe: Overnight Cheesecake Weetabix

Food of the fortnight: Pancakes

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