Overnight Oats Tutorial

I've posted a few Oatmeal recipes on the blog; from baked oatmeal to oatmeal bowls but I haven't touched on Overnight oats much. I've shared a few recipes on my social media sites (Instagram and facebook) but I've been holding off on a blog post because I really wanted to do a tutorial.  Here's the thing, it took me FOREVER to get on the overnight oats train because somewhere in my mind I assumed that you ate them COLD.... Yuck!  

I don't like eating many cold foods, especially if they are usually hot or were once hot. That's right, I don't like cold pizza!  So cold oatmeal hasn't been on the top of my must try list.  But somewhere along the line I figured out that after they sit in the fridge over night you can warm them up and then top them with delicious toppings!  So I figured I'd give it a try and now I make overnight oats for work almost every night before I go to bed.  

I did a little digging around about how to make over night oats and I found that almost every recipe is different and some don't turn out well at all.  The first couple I made worked beautifully and then a few turned out really runny and the oats didn't really a thicken all the liquid.  But my trial and error can be your asset as I learned how much milk to use based on the type of oats you use!

Below I have provided a very basic over night oats Tutorial for those who want to keep it simple.  I have personally taken to adding additional ingredients the night before including cinnamon and chia seeds as my go to dry ingredients.  My husband likes to have raisins or dried cranberries added into his as well so that's often a staple ingredient in ours.  With adding additional dry ingredients, the almond milk measurements might be slightly off so you will just want to make sure that the almond milk covers the oats but is not "Soupy".  

At the end of the Basic tutorial I will include my go to Overnight oats recipe. 

Basic Over night Oats tutorial 

Ingredients 

Old-Fashioned Oats:

• ½ cup old-fashioned oats

• ¾ cup almond milk
• 
  

Quick-Cooking Oats:

• ½ quick-cooking oats

• ¾ cup almond milk
• 
  

Steel-Cut Oats:

• ¼ cup steel-cut oats

• ¾ cup almond milk

Instructions

Old-Fashioned Oats

1. In a mason Jar with a lid, mix oats with almond milk. Refrigerator overnight.

1. In the morning, stir the oats, add toppings of your choice or warm up the oats in the microwave before adding toppings.

Quick-Cooking Oats

1. In a mason Jar with a lid, mix oats with almond milk. Refrigerate overnight.

1. In the morning, stir the oats, add toppings of your choice or warm up the oats in the microwave before adding toppings.

Steel-Cut Oats

1. In a microwave safe bowl, mix oats with almond milk. Microwave on HIGH for 3 minutes, keeping an eye on the oats so the milk does not boil over. You may have to stop and stir couple times.

1. Immediately, transfer the oats to a mason jar with a lid, close it shut, and refrigerate overnight.

1. In the morning, stir the oats, add toppings of your choice or warm up the oats in the microwave before adding toppings.

Topping Ideas

1. fresh berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries); brown sugar; coconut chips; almond butter; peanut butter; raisins; almonds; fruit preserves; walnuts; cinnamon; dry fruit; maple syrup; honey

My Go to Overnight Oats Recipe

Dry mixture

1/2 cup Organic Whole Oats
1 Tbsp Chia seeds
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/8 cup pumpkin seeds

Wet Mixture

3/4 cup almond milk (just enough to coat the dry mixture but not too much that it's soupy)
1/2 Tbsp Maple Syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp homemade peanut butter

Directions

Mix dry ingredients together in a mason jar.  Stir just to mix cinnamon into the mixture so that it doesn't clump together when the wet ingredients are added.

Add in Almond milk, stirring to make sure that it covers dry ingredients without being too soupy.  Is should just be coating all the oats.

Add in maple syrup and vanilla extract and stir to combine.

If you like, add in a table spoon of natural peanut butter and stir just slightly so that it does not full mix into the oats.  You kinda want it chunky through out the mixture.

Refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, warm up the oats in the microwave for 1-2 minutes then stir and enjoy!

Note: If you want to prep these ahead you can add all the dry ingredients into your jars at the beginning of the week and just add in your liquids the night before.  You could also make ahead a few days in advance as the oats will say fresh for 2-3 days in the fridge. 

Chocolate peanut butter overnight oats

I haven't really gotten on the over night oats train until now because I assumed you ate them cold (yuck). But I've since learned you warm them up before you eat them and then top them with delicious things! 

So of course for my first crack at it I had to use peanut butter! Since I had just made a big batch of homemade peanut butter I couldn't resist. I decided to add in some cocoa and a little honey! Yum 

In the morning I just opened it up and put it into the microwave for 1.5 minutes to heat and thicken it a bit more. It was the perfect consistency! 

Now you could eat it completely plain (not really plain since there is peanut butter and chocolate inside) or you can add whatever toppings you like. Fruit is a great option and bananas would be perfect on this. But it's the end of the week here which means we are low on everything fruit and veg! So I wisked together some peanut butter and maple syrup for a quick peanut sauce and sprinkled a few chocolate covered chia seeds on top! Super peanut butter and chocolate-y!! 

Chocolate peanut butter overnight oats

Ingredients

1/2 cup old fashioned oats

1/2 cup milk of your choice

1 Tsp cocoa

1 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp Homemade peanut butter 

Mason jar with lid 

Directions

Add all ingredients to jar, shake it up and put in the fridge over night. 

Microwave 1-1.5 minutes when ready to eat. 

Topping

Ingredients

1 Tbsp homemade peanut butter

1 tsp maple syrup

Directions

Wisk to make into peanut butter sauce 

Chocolate covered chia seeds (optional) 

Overnight Steel-Cut Oatmeal

Do you love steel-cut oatmeal, but not how long it takes to cook? This recipes makes it quick!

Total Time: 8 hrs. 11 min.
Prep Time: 5 min.
Cooking Time: 6 min.
Yield: 4 servings, about ½ cup each

Ingredients:
4 cups water
¼ tsp. sea salt (or Himalayan salt)
1 cup steel-cut oats
¼ cup nonfat milk (or unsweetened almond milk, or soy milk)

Preparation:
1. Bring water and salt to a boil in medium saucepan over medium-high heat.
2. Add oats; cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Remove from heat and cover. Let stand overnight.
3. The next morning, heat over medium heat. Add milk; cook, stirring frequently, for 3 to 5 minutes, or until hot.